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CHAPTERTHIRTY-FOUR
Ayoung woman was coming out of Tides when Andie arrived for her afternoon shift.
“Good afternoon!” Andie chirped.
“Afternoon.” The woman mumbled, keeping her head down and shuffling away as if afraid.
Jane was standing in the lobby with a clipboard in her hand.
“Who was that?” Andie gestured toward the door.
“Latest interviewee.”
“Not a keeper?” Andie said as Jane ripped the paper off the clipboard and tossed it in the trash.
“Afraid not.” Jane motioned for Andie to follow her into the sitting room. “Did you see her? She was definitely not the outgoing type. We need someone who would be personable with the guests.”
“That’s too bad. How many people are you going to have to interview before you find the right one?” Andie asked. Just like Shane had suggested last night, she should be spending less time looking for her Civil War solider’s family and more time helping her sister. She didn’t even know if there were any Koslachowskis left or it they would even care about the papers of some long-forgotten relative. “I should be helping you with the interviews.”
Jane waved her off. “Don’t worry about it. You have the antique business to run. I just have Tides.”
“But still.” A pinch of guilt made Andie decide that if a new application came in, she would offer to interview the next person.
Jane took the couch, and Andie flopped into the chair. Cooper trotted over to lie in the puddle of sun coming in from the picture window. Jane frowned at Andie. “You seem a little down. Is something wrong?”
Andie reached over and plucked a chocolate kiss out of the dish. “Not really.” She unwrapped the kiss and popped it into her mouth.
Jane took her own chocolate kiss out and started to unwrap it. “Seriously. What’s wrong?”
Andie felt silly. Her problem with the Civil War document was nothing compared to other people’s problems. On the other hand, she was grateful her sister cared. For many years, Jane and Andie had been estranged. Now that she’d moved back to town, they enjoyed a close relationship, and she wanted to keep it that way. That meant telling her everything, no matter how silly it seemed. “It’s just the Civil War document. I’ve run into a dead end trying to find the family.”
“Oh, that’s too bad. That seems like something a family would want. So what are you going to do? Are you just giving up?”
Andie picked another kiss out of the bowl. Jane did the same.
Andie rolled the velvety chocolate around in her mouth slowly as she thought about what she was going to do. “I think so. I might’ve been getting a little obsessed about it.”
They plucked two more kisses out of the bowl and unwrapped them.
“So what will you do with the document?” Jane asked as she popped her kiss into her mouth.
“Not sure. It doesn’t feel right to sell it. Maybe I’ll just save it in case someone comes looking.”
“That sounds like a good idea.” Jane plucked another kiss out of the bowl.
“What about you? Is it causing problems with Mike that you haven’t found someone to take more shifts at Tides? I could add a few to my schedule.” Andie leaned forward and took another kiss from the bowl.
“Don’t worry about it. I thought he was upset that I couldn’t go to lunch the other day, but then I bribed him with some fresh banana bread, and everything seems to be okay.”
Andie laughed. Scooping a handful of the kisses out of the dish, she settled back into her chair. “Well, that’s good. You guys make a nice couple.”
Jane smiled, her cheeks turning the slightest shade of pink. “We do, don’t we?”
The two sisters chatted about some ideas for bringing more guests to Tides. They exchanged town gossip and wondered how their mother was getting along at the assisted living facility.
Suddenly, Andie looked at the bowl. “Oh my gosh, we ate this whole bowl of chocolate kisses!”
Jane looked at the pile of silver foil wrappings in front of her. “Geez, I guess I wasn’t paying attention. Guess I’ll have to have salad for supper.”
