Page 28 of Coastal Reflections

Michelle shook her head. “It’s actually better than I would have expected. You play, um, decently.”

“Yeah?” Theo’s grin was radiant now. “I saw the way you listened during the show the other night. I’d say we were better than decent, because you really seemed to be enjoying yourself.”

“Hardly.” Michelle lifted her chin defiantly, while at the same time wondering why she couldn’t just be honest with this man and tell him how she really felt about his playing. And him. “Don’t flatter yourself too much.”

Theo shrugged as a couple of his friends whistled. “You’re a hard woman to impress.”

Michelle tossed her hair. “Good thing you aren’t trying to impress me, then,” she said, and turned on her heel and started back toward her car.

Theo’s band didn’t start playing again until she’d reached her jeep. She tugged open the passenger door and put the pizzas inside, then hurried around to the driver’s door and clambered in. She checked her reflection in the mirror and was mortified to see that she was still blushing an exotic shade of pink.

She shook her head, wanting to kick herself for letting herself get so visibly rattled in front of Theo and his friends.

Why did I have to act so jumpy and defensive? she thought with a groan. It’s normal to want to stop and listen to music. I could have just admitted I was doing that. And why on earth did I have to start blushing so hard?

She shut her eyes, hoping that Theo hadn’t been able to see the shade of pink that her face had been in the dim light. She tutted, wishing that her body hadn’t betrayed her like that. If she wasn’t careful, Theo was going to think she had an absolutely massive crush on him or something.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Elaine pushed her cart slowly through Fresh Picks Grocery. Soft classical music was playing over the loudspeakers, and the other shoppers were moving at a leisurely pace as they did their morning shopping. Elaine felt comfortable and quiet, although she was feeling a little sleepy. She hadn’t slept well the night before, fretting as she thought about Audrey’s situation with Clark. Now she was trying her best to put it from her mind, choosing instead to focus on the long grocery shopping list she held in her hand.

They’d gotten behind in their grocery shopping, and Michelle had brought home pizzas from The Brick Oven the night before. They were all feeling tired and rattled, Elaine could tell. Even Michelle, who usually was the driving force of cheerfulness amongst the three of them, had seemed strangely quiet and distracted at dinner.

Elaine peered at one of the items on the list, which had been written in Audrey’s curled handwriting. It took her a few seconds to realize what it said, but then she recognized the word “noodles.” Elaine always did the shopping for The Birchwood House’s breakfasts, since she’d decided to captain that ship, so to speak, but Audrey typically did the shopping for the other meals, which were just for the three of them instead of a whole dining room full of guests. Because of her distracted state, however, Audrey had forgotten to go shopping, and that morning Elaine had volunteered to get the job done. She’d insisted that she loved going grocery shopping, which was true—but she’d left out the fact that she was feeling unusually tired that morning.

She’d just finished stocking her cart with a slew of nonperishable items for their pantry—noodles, soup cans, tomato and alfredo sauce, and even some canned vegetables, although they preferred to buy fresh. She wanted to make sure they were prepared with extra food in case they ever found themselves in a similar situation again.

I hate to plan for trouble, Elaine thought with a sigh. Ordinarily, Audrey is very on top of the grocery shopping—and we did have the ingredients for lasagna. I hate to think that we need to be ready for a time when we’re all too tired to cook and we didn’t make it to the store, but I guess that’s life. Being ready to cook some easy pasta or just eat canned soup for dinner isn’t a bad thing.

She made a mental note to buy a couple bags of frozen meatballs, even though those weren’t on the list. They usually made meatballs from scratch, but that was because they liked to cook. She knew it would be smart to be prepared for more days when they weren’t up for making an elaborate meal. She didn’t know how much longer Clark would be in town, and if he continued to stay, he was going to continue to drain all their energies.

She made her way to the freezer aisle, perusing the frozen items with interest. She decided to pick up a few frozen pizzas as well. Those were always good in a pinch. She was just about to grab a couple when she felt her phone buzz in the pocket of the sweater she was wearing, and she pulled it out curiously. It was a text from Audrey, and her heart sank before she opened it. Somehow, she knew instinctively that it was bad news.

“Oh no,” she murmured as soon as she read what Audrey had sent.

Audrey’s message had been brief, but Elaine could sense her daughter’s distress even though she hadn’t stated that she was upset. Clark had texted her, threatening legal action if she didn’t hand over the grandfather clock.

Elaine shook her head, feeling fiercely protective of her daughter. She felt sure that Clark was just bluffing—what legal action could he possibly take? The clock belonged to Audrey, and the Sutton family. Just because it had belonged in Clark’s house once didn’t mean that it belonged to him now. Right?

She quickly typed out an encouraging text to Audrey, telling her to stay strong. She assured her that Clark was not going to get the clock, and that they would be able to stop him somehow and get him to leave Coral Sands.

She sent the text and was just about to slip her phone in her pocket when she got an email notification. It was an email from a magazine that she didn’t subscribe to, and she clicked on the email curiously. She sucked in her breath, her heart pounding when she saw that it was from the editor of a magazine, informing her that The Birchwood House had been featured in one of its articles.

Oh my goodness, she thought. Another one! I know it’s impractical to keep freaking out every time we get a review, but I don’t think I can help it! My hands are shaking.

She didn’t want to wait to read the article, and she looked it up online as she stood in the middle of the freezer aisle. Other customers milled past her, perusing the freezers in a nonchalant manner.

Her eyes raced across the words of the article, and it soon became clear that it was another stellar review. The author gushed about how charming The Birchwood House was, and how they were leaning into the season of autumn, making the mansion the perfect weekend getaway for anyone whose favorite season was fall.

Elaine let out a yelp of excitement, unable to stop herself. The customers surrounding her paused and glanced at her curiously—and in one case, disapprovingly—but she didn’t care what they thought. She was wild with excitement.

I need to tell Shep, she thought, suddenly feeling an involuntary urge to run to Townsend’s and give him the news. She looked down at her grocery list and shook her head a moment later. I can’t possibly finish the shopping right this second. I’m too distracted. I’ll come back to it.

She pushed her cart to the front of the store, looking around for a place where she might be able to leave it. She pushed it in front of a display of cookies and then she tried to push it in front of one of the closed registers.

None of this will do, she thought, biting her lip. I’ll just tell the store I need to leave and come back. I won’t be a minute.

“Excuse me,” she said, hurrying up to one of the check-out clerks. “I need to leave my cart here. Nothing in it is perishable. I’ll be back in just a few minutes.”