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This phone call was only proof of that.
“I can wait until October if I have to,” she said. That was three full months from now, but Eloise had been running the inn for a couple of years now. Three months was nothing in the grand scheme of things, though Eloise felt one or two breaths away from complete exhaustion.
“I’m planning to come to the cove on Monday,” Julia said. “Would that work for us to go over the contract?”
“Absolutely.” Eloise would hire Julia on the spot if she could leave Nantucket. “We can go to lunch or meet at the inn.”
“Perfect. Thanks, El.”
“You’re the one doing me a favor.”
“I’m excited,” Julia said. “I’ll see you soon.”
“Yep.” Eloise hung up and quickly turned back to the living room. She hustled over to the nest of pillows and blankets and gave Billie a look. “See? Fast.”
Billie didn’t even look at her.
“Julia is going to come work for me.” Eloise picked up a handful of popcorn and put it in her mouth. “I’ll be able to be home more.”
“Really?” Billie lifted the remote and turned down the volume. “She is? For real?”
Eloise smiled and nodded. “As soon as she can. We’ll sign paperwork on Monday.”
Billie grinned widely, and it had been a while since Eloise had seen her smile like that. “I’m glad, El.”
“You can come up and work on Monday too,” she said. “The pool company is coming to do the pool.” She threw back the popcorn, pretending not to watch Billie.
Her eyes had widened, and they sparkled in the bright light of the TV. “Yeah,” she said. “Okay, fine.”
Yeah, fine. Billie had a crush on the eighteen-year-old son of the owner of the pool cleaning company, and Eloise gave her a grin. Then they both focused on the movie, with their snacks, drinks, and blessed air conditioning.
ChapterSixteen
“Iknew we’d be the last to arrive.” Kelli peered through her window as the RideShare driver brought the car to a stop in Robin’s driveway. “This is a nice house.”
Shad didn’t say anything about the house. Kelli wasn’t even sure why she’d mentioned it. Her stomach ached, and she wasn’t sure why. She hadn’t eaten much that day, and she hated doing all of the summer fun things that families did without her son.
“Come on, honey,” Shad said. “Are we going in?” He poked his head back into the car, and she realized he’d already paid and gotten out.
“Sorry.” She got out too, and he met her and took her hand in his.
“You okay?” He looked at her with compassion and concern.
“Yes.” She gave him a smile. “I just miss Parker.”
“I know.”
They walked up the sidewalk and right into the house. Kelli wouldn’t have knocked anyway, but the door had been left ajar. Laughter filled the air, and it started to infuse into her soul too. Of course she wanted to be here. Everyone she loved was here.
Maybe not her sisters, or her mother, but everyone else Kelli had surrounded herself with lately.
“Kelli and Shad are here!” Robin yelled, and if it had been Alice or AJ, Kelli would’ve suspected them of having too much to drink already. But Robin? She didn’t normally drink, and the party wasn’t even supposed to start for another hour. Kelli and Shad had come “early” to help and hang out.
Alice and the twins stood in the kitchen, cutting up watermelon. Charlie looked like he might use the knife on his twin, and Mandie snatched it away from him. “Enough. You two are officially separated for the rest of the night.”
“Hey,” he said.
“I’m not going to listen to you snipe at each other anymore.” Mandie looked like she meant business, and she pointed with the tip of the knife for Charlie to leave the kitchen. He glared at her and then gave Ginny a terribly loud death look before he stomped out of the kitchen.
