“No!” He stared at her, his whole body tensing at the notion of being separated from Davey for part of each week, like some of the divorced families he knew. “Why would you even say that?”
“You have to admit,” she said, “things aren’t going well for you, Paul. We can provide so much more. And we think Wendy would have wanted us to have Davey.” She smiled at him, a shaky, stiff smile. “Just think about it. The last thing we want is a court battle.”
Paul tried to relax his fists, breathed deeply to keep his calm. They might not want a court battle, but that was what they’d get if they tried to take custody of Davey away from him.
ON TUESDAY MORNING, Mary walked toward the cottage she was already calling Victory Cottage in her mind. Paul and Amber had done background work and recommended it strongly for the new program. Today, she was to meet her real estate agent there and make a final decision. Her head was spinning, but she’d pretty much decided she wanted to go forward with it.
Paul and Amber had all kinds of good ideas for the property, and listening to them, she’d been wholly convinced that buying it and renovating it for the new program was the right move.
Too bad Paul wasn’t as happy as she and Amber were at the prospect of finalizing the purchase. When they’d talked over coffee earlier this morning, Paul had been as jumpy as a feral cat.
More than that, she’d once again detected a vibe between them that was almost certainly intense attraction. She wondered where that would go, whether that was why Paul seemed on edge. Maybe he wanted something to happen between them and Amber didn’t.
But there was no time to speculate on other people’s romantic relationships. She had a house to buy.
It was a cloudy December day, quite chilly, and for a moment, she wondered whether the business model was a good one. Buy up property, put it to good and charitable use during the off-season, and make the money during the tourist season to support it. That was the plan, and it seemed to be working for the Healing Heroes cottage, which had been rented out steadily for the past two high seasons with rates that would pay the mortgage the rest of the year.
It would be sustainable even when she was gone, and that was her goal.
The only issue was the gloomy weather during the off-season. But most places had gray skies at this time of year, and plenty were chillier than the Eastern Shore of Maryland.
She headed up the sidewalk and tapped on the storm door. There was her real estate agent coming to the door, along with...Kirk James, holding a stack of paperwork? Really?
Heather opened the door for her. “I hope you don’t mind, but since you want everything pushed through quickly, I brought my mentor. He’s the one who knows how to do that.”
Kirk dipped his chin and looked at her over his reading glasses, some kind of challenge in his eyes. He knew she didn’t want to work with him, be with him, of course he did; he wasn’t stupid. It was just that he had a sales background, which fit his personality, and he wasn’t used to taking no for an answer.
At the same time, as Julie had said, male pride was sensitive. And he was offering up his time and expertise without any real hope of a return on his investment. “I appreciate that, Kirk,” she said, and suddenly her last little bit of doubt was gone. “I do want it pushed through. Let’s get an inspection, make an offer, all of it.”
Heather glanced at Kirk, then back at Mary. “Um, can I ask why everything needs to go through in a hurry?”
No, you can’t. She didn’t say that, of course. That was a small town; everyone knew some of your business and wanted to know more. “I have my reasons,” she said. “Leave it at that.”
“All right,” Kirk said. “I’ll need to make some calls. What’s your deadline?”
“The sooner, the better.” They walked through the cottage one more time and talked about some more of the details. Then all three of them headed into town together. The real estate office was just down the street from the bookstore; everything was close together in Pleasant Shores.
The sun was peeking through the clouds now, and Mary’s mood was improving, too. This was going to work, and if it did, a weight would be lifted from Mary’s shoulders. If she could get the house purchased for this project, that would be one bunch of money Imogene couldn’t access. And maybe, if this worked...maybe she’d finally feel like she’d done enough and could stand up to her stepdaughter. “I really appreciate you taking the time to work on this, Kirk,” she said.
He smiled. “Not a problem.” In this mode, being businesslike rather than predatory, he was actually an appealing man.
Mary was feeling so good about things that it took her a minute to process why, as they got close to the bookstore, her heart was sinking. Then she froze.
There was Imogene. In the doorway, waiting for her. Mary’s feeling of hopefulness faded away and the day seemed to get darker.
Kirk and Heather had walked on, but now they looked back, saw her standing there unmoving, and stopped. “Are you okay?” Heather asked.
“I’m fine.” Slowly, miserably, she took a step toward the bookstore and Imogene, then another.
Imogene gave a glance toward Kirk and Heather and then focused on Mary. “Where have you been?”
Her rude tone goaded Mary out of her passive misery. “Did we have a plan to get together today?”
Imogene didn’t answer her question. Her skin sagged and dark circles resided under her eyes. “I need to talk to you.”
“All right.” Mary squared her shoulders. “We can talk in the store.”
“Now, just a
