“Maybe you’re going into the wrong field,” he told him, his tone wry. “Maybe you should be writing an advice column.”
“Nah. I think I’ll stick to the whole biomedical thing,” Jimmy replied, clearly taking Wade seriously. “Women and relationships are way too complicated.”
“But you certainly seem to have Gabi pegged.”
A grin split Jimmy’s face. “Lucky guess. I was pretty much just trying to yank your chain.”
Wade shook his head. “I’ll pick you up at six-fifteen,” he said. “Try to leave the smart-aleck attitude at home.”
“What can I say? It’s just who I am,” Jimmy responded unrepentantly.
And that, Wade thought, might be annoying at times, but it was part of the charm that was going to make this exceptional young man a huge success someday.
* * *
Gabi left the Seaside Café convinced that her instincts about having met a new friend were correct. The ninety minutes she and Meg had spent getting acquainted had revealed that they had similar outlooks on life. They’d both come late to the concept of a more laid-back lifestyle.
While she didn’t have a bad marriage in common with Meg, she did have the whole experience with Paul to color her view of relationships.
After listening to Meg talk about her ex-husband for several minutes, she regarded her with surprise. “You don’t sound bitter.”
Meg laughed. “That’s because I have three years of recovery under my belt. If you’d met me right after I moved here, believe me, you would have heard a much different version. The vitriol poured out of me if anyone even mentioned my husband.”
“What changed? Just time smoothing away the rough edges from the divorce?”
“That and the realization that my daughter needs her dad in her life. She doesn’t need me bad-mouthing him at every turn. Not that the transition has been entirely about her. I’ve actually reached the point now where I’m glad about what happened. It made me reevaluate my life.” She gave Gabi a penetrating look. “I think that’s what you’re doing, too. Maybe you’ll thank your guy some day for turning your life around.”
“Not quite there yet,” Gabi said. “I’m still thinking he turned my world upside down. If I do find a new direction, maybe then that will change.”
Meg nodded. “Then let’s go and see Sally. She could be the key to unlocking this bright new future for you.”
They drove to a small property hidden away in a thick grove of pine trees. The first thing Gabi noticed about the very ordinary house were the dozens of wind chimes hanging from the porch ceiling.
“Oh, my,” she whispered as a breeze stirred and set off a musical symphony of sound.
Meg grinned. “It’s something, isn’t it? I feel good every time I step out of my car when I come out here. I’ve nicknamed it Wind Chime Point. We’ll find Sally in her workshop, I imagine. Even though she knew we were coming, she probably lost track of time.”
Reluctant to walk away from the sunlit rainbows of color and rippling sound on the porch, Gabi followed Meg around the side of the house. As at Wade’s, the garage had been transformed into a studio. This one, though, was filled with light from huge, newly installed windows. Tables held panes of glass in every color imaginable. A very petite woman was standing at one of those tables with a cutting tool, creating rectangular strips from rose-colored glass. The music of a string quartet filled the room. Gabi immediately felt as if she’d walked into an atmosphere of buoyant optimism.
Meg walked around the table until she was in Sally’s line of vision. Even then, the artist gave a start. A grin spread across her face as she took off her goggles and gloves, then punched a button that quieted the music.
“Is it that late already?” she asked guiltily. “I promised myself I’d go inside and make sweet tea before you got here.”
Meg laughed. “No need. We’ve just had a late lunch. Sally, this is Gabi Castle, the woman I told you about. Gabi, this is Sally Foster.”
“I fell in love with your work the minute I saw it,” Gabi told her. “I’ve always loved wind chimes, but yours are extraordinary. They’re truly works of art.”
A smile spread across Sally’s face. “Did you tell her that flattery is a surefire way to win me over?” she asked Meg.
“I didn’t need to say a word,” Meg assured her. “She’s sincere. She said the same thing to Lily when she came into the store, and then to me earlier this morning. The surprise is that she wants to give this a try herself.”
Sally looked Gabi over as if trying to assess why anyone would suddenly make such a seemingly out-of-the-blue decision. “Any particular reason?”
“Lots of them,” Gabi said.
Sally lifted a brow. “You do know nothing stays secret in this area for long. I imagine I could fill you in on your story. Pregnant. Dumped. Fired.” She grinned. “How am I doing?”
Gabi laughed. “Right on every count.”
“Don’t feel bad. Everyone knew my story within days of my moving here, too. Took me a while to get used to that, but now I think it’s part of the charm.”
“To be honest, so do I,” Gabi said, sensing another friend in the making.
“Why wind chimes?” Sally asked.
“Here’s the very short version,” Gabi said. “When I came over to stay with my grandmother a couple of weeks ago, the sound of the wind chimes on her porch took me back to childhood, when life was a whole lot simpler. They filled me with that sense of innocence and possibilities. When I saw yours, something just came together for me. I thought maybe if I could learn to create wind chimes, I could also create those same feelings.”
Sally glanced at Meg, and a look of understanding and commiseration passed between them.
“That’s a lot to expect from a wind chime,” Sally said.
“Probably, but it is
