Page 6 of Windward Hearts

“Honestly, I would consider going myself if not for—” Felicity grimaced. “The school year. I can’t exactly hand my class off to a substitute for weeks in the middle of the term.”

“We’re real birds of a feather, us Landers,” Hope said. “We’re all trying to take care of each other all the time.”

“There are worse things,” Felicity said with a laugh. “But yes. It would end up just being a race to who could care for the other the best, and nobody would actually get any rest.”

“And then there’s me,” Hope said. “Who needs an emotional reset, but not a physical one.”

“Bingo,” Felicity said.

Hope was nodding along. It definitely wasn’t a bad idea. And even though Hope loved Boston, and loved being near enough to her sister that little drop-ins like this were possible, she did miss Miriam and hadn’t been to see her nearly recently enough.

“You know,” she told her sister, “you might be a genius.”

Felicity beamed. “I’ve only been telling you this for years.”

The sisters both laughed and clinked their mugs together. And by the time that Felicity headed back to teach her afternoon class, Hope’s mind was already made up.

It was time for a reset. And where better to take it than in Magnolia Shore?

CHAPTER FOUR

Eleanor packed her cooler bag with the casserole dish full of enchiladas she’d made for Miriam, then added a bowl of fruit salad atop it. She assessed the balance of the bag, then decided that, yes, she could add the homemade guacamole without making the whole thing too heavy to carry.

She fretted that the food would spill during the entire short drive to Miriam’s and felt more than pleased with herself when she arrived without incident.

Eleanor was not nearly as pleased as Miriam, however, who met her at the door with a beaming grin.

“Oh, Eleanor,” she said, her voice sounding, to Eleanor’s relief, much stronger than it had a few days ago when Eleanor had last stopped by. “You are too sweet. You have to stop bringing me food, though. Between you and the rest of the book club, I haven’t set foot in my kitchen in weeks!”

“That’s the point,” Eleanor said, pressing a kiss to her friend’s cheek, which also felt less heated and papery than it had during their previous meeting. “We want you to rest.”

When Miriam had first come down with a cough a few weeks prior, the older woman had insisted that it was just the usual kind of winter sniffles that everyone got as February dragged into March and people grew so weary of the cold that their immune systems just gave up for a week or so. Miriam’s friends had argued that this was not an actual medical diagnosis and that she, for all her talents, was not an actual medical doctor, and had nagged her until she’d made an appointment.

Which was for the best, because Miriam had been suffering from pneumonia.

Her cough got worse before it got better, but fortunately the older lady hadn’t needed to go to the hospital at any point. Her friends had cared diligently for her, which Miriam had grudgingly accepted.

She’d reminded everyone incessantly, however, that this didn’t mean that she was old. Or feeble.

Nobody would dare question that, but that didn’t mean they weren’t concerned.

“I have already rested,” Miriam complained, although she did dutifully report to the armchair where she’d spent most of her time as she recuperated, accompanied by the stack of books that Eleanor made sure to keep replenished. “If I rest any more, I’m going to ossify.”

“At least nobody can criticize your vocabulary,” Eleanor said with a wink.

“And nobody ever better try,” Miriam retorted, shaking her fist. She was smiling, though.

Eleanor tucked the food into the fridge, which still had some leftovers that Eleanor recognized as coming from Diana. The book club group had made a meal train plan for Miriam, since they knew that, given the slightest provocation, she would start overexerting herself.

“You seem like your mood is kicking up,” Eleanor teased as she came back into the living room with a couple of fresh mugs of tea. “Last time I was here, I worried you were going to bonk me over the head and steal my car for a getaway.”

“I thought about it,” Miriam joked, “but you’re lucky that I love you so much. Also, I suspect it would cause friction in the book club if I took out its founding member, and I do miss coming to book club so very much. Too bad it’s full of a bunch of tyrants that care about my health.”

“Oh, yes, we’re just terrible,” Eleanor said with a wink.

“The worst,” Miriam agreed, laughing.

Eleanor blew her a kiss.