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CHAPTERTWO
Jane hung her white apron on the hook in the kitchen and clipped the leash to Cooper’s collar. She didn’t remember Liz well from when they were kids, but she had empathy for the woman. Liz seemed a little bit sad and lost, and Jane felt bad that Liz apparently hadn’t gotten along with her father.
Having had a wonderful relationship with both of her parents, Jane couldn’t imagine what a bad one would be like. She hoped that while Liz was in town, she could make peace with the past.
It was funny because Mr. Weston had always seemed nice whenever she’d interacted with him at Tall Pines, the assisted living facility where Jane’s mom, Addie, lived. He’d always been ready with a warm smile, never bitter and angry like some of the people that lived there. It was hard to imagine him not being a good father, but people often mellowed as they aged.
Brenda, the cook, was just cleaning up the breakfast dishes.
“I’m off to Sandcastles. You’re in charge.” Jane met her sister and best friends for coffee several mornings a week at Sandcastles Bakery, which was owned by one of her friends, Claire.
Brenda hung the dish drying towel over the faucet. “Okee-doke. I can hold down the fort until Andie comes in an hour.”
“Thank you.” Jane gave her a little hug. She didn’t know what she would do without Brenda. She’d been working at Tides as long as Jane could remember and had helped her mother immensely, especially when Addie’s memory had started to fail.
Jane’s phone dinged as she rushed out the door. She smiled when she saw a text from her boyfriend, Mike. But the smile faded when she noticed the text’s subject.
How is the search for a helper going?
Jane had met Mike earlier that summer, and the two became fast friends and then even more. These days, she spent a lot of time at Mike’s new condo, but she still had a lot of responsibilities at Tides. Mike had been urging her to find some good help so she could take more time off. And she deserved time off. After all, she was supposed to be retired now but had delayed her retirement to run the place after her mother got sick.
But it was hard to find someone to run things. It had to be someone she trusted with her family business. Someone who would show up on time. Someone who would be pleasant and cordial to the guests. In a small town like Lobster Bay, that special someone was hard to find.
Working on it!
She felt guilty as she typed the response because she wasn’t exactlyworkingon it—more like thinking about it.
“Who are we going to get to help at the inn?” she asked Cooper as they walked the two blocks through the quaint town to the bakery.
Cooper glanced up at her. Was he frowning? It certainly seemed that way. Perhaps he was criticizing her lack of effort on the subject.
“I know I should be looking harder. Should I put an ad in the paper?”
Cooper answered her by stopping to sniff a shrub on the corner.
“But I love running the inn now and greeting the guests myself…”
Cooper barked softly.
“I know it’s not fair to expect Andie to keep coming over to watch the place. She has her own business.”
When their mom’s memory issues had boiled over, Andie came back to town just to help for a little while. It was a bit awkward because the two sisters hadn’t been especially close as adults. Andie had left town decades ago for an important job in the big city and rarely came to visit. But she’d decided to stay, and Jane was pleased their relationship had been rekindled. Now Andie had a thriving antique business in town, and she deserved to spend most of her time on that.
Sandcastles, with its multihued awning and sidewalk café, came into view, and Jane picked up the pace. She could see her friends Maxi and Claire seated at a round table near the large planter, which was brimming with colorful flowers even this late in the season. Andie wasn’t there yet, but a plate of pastries was already on the table, and steam swirled up from the coffee mugs at each place setting.
She made a mental note to work harder to find someone who would take some shifts at Tides. She and Mike were going to meet that night for dinner at one of their favorite restaurants, Oarweeds, and she wanted to have some progress to report to him.
“Maybe it will be nice enough to sit out on the patio for dinner tonight,” she said to Cooper.
Cooper wagged his tail.
“And hopefully I’ll be able to talk about a better plan for getting help at Tides so Mike won’t be disappointed.”
