“It’s wonderful to see you. I’ve been wanting to drop by, but...” She faltered. “Well, I wasn’t sure how you’d feel about that. There was the situation with Luke and me, and then Hannah and I lost touch.” She shrugged. “You know what I’m talking about.”
Seth noted that Jenny flushed with guilt, clearly aware that she hadn’t hidden her displeasure over Abby’s return well enough from everyone. Word had apparently gotten around. She straightened her shoulders and managed a smile.
“You’d have been welcome, of course,” she told Abby, her good manners saving the day. “Are you expecting someone? If not, why don’t you join us? Hannah and Luke will be along any minute. Jack holds one of the big tables for us.”
The invitation, coming from her rather than left to him, surprised Seth almost as much as it evidently surprised Abby.
“I’d love to, if you’re sure it would be okay,” she said at once, looking from Jenny to Seth and back again.
“No reason it wouldn’t be,” Jenny said. “I want to hear more about these plans of yours for Blue Heron Cove. I like getting information straight from the horse’s mouth. It’s easier to make up my own mind that way, though I’ll tell you straight out, I think it’s just what Seaview Key needs.”
Abby grinned. “And I’m always eager to talk about Blue Heron Cove, especially to a supporter,” she said, then winked at Seth. “And I’m even more eager to get you involved in this project that Seth and I have been given.”
Jenny looked startled. “What project is that?”
“The rescue boat Luke and I have been talking about,” Seth reminded her. “We need to raise the money for it, and we need to do it quickly. Last night Luke coerced Abby and me into chairing a committee to make it happen.”
Jenny rolled her eyes. “I imagine what you know about raising money would fit on the head of a pin,” she said to Seth.
“Exactly, which is why Abby needs your help,” he said. “You game?”
“I’m always willing to get involved in a good cause,” Jenny said, regarding Abby with a more favorable expression as they made their way to the table Jack always reserved for them. “Any thoughts about what you want to do?”
“A few,” Abby told her.
Seth sat back and listened with amazement as Abby rattled off half a dozen ideas that she’d apparently come up with overnight. It seemed to him she probably hadn’t slept any better than he had if she’d been busy making all those notes. Even Jenny looked pleasantly surprised.
“You’ve given this some thought,” she said approvingly. “And you were just given this assignment last night? I’m impressed.”
Abby shrugged. “Sometimes I do my best thinking in the middle of the night when I can’t sleep,” she said, casting a pointed look in Seth’s direction.
Jenny’s gaze narrowed suspiciously as she looked between the two of them, but just then Luke and Hannah arrived. If Hannah was taken aback by Abby’s presence, it didn’t show. And once she heard about Abby’s ideas for raising money for the boat, she joined in eagerly, offering to take charge of the press conference on Monday to kick things off. Luke sat back, looking satisfied with himself.
Seth regarded him with amusement. He leaned close and whispered, “Mission accomplished?”
Luke looked startled. “What?”
“Seems like peace and cooperation reign. Wasn’t that your intention?”
Luke laughed. “One of them, anyway. Getting the money for that boat trumps everything, though. It sounds as if Abby has that under control already.”
“You heard her ideas. She’s like some kind of fund-raising dynamo. And she says she’ll make a contribution on Monday at that press conference to kick off the drive.”
“That makes sense to me. Creating a big public hoopla will get people involved and excited.”
Seth shook his head at Luke’s seeming naïveté. “It will also help her when she goes to the council for those permits.”
Luke must have heard the note of disapproval in his voice because he merely lifted a brow. “That’s the way of the world, Seth. Nothing wrong with a win-win for everybody. You said that yourself, so why the cynical reaction now?”
“Double standard,” Seth suggested, hoping Luke would leave it at that since he hadn’t figured out his reaction. “Then again, you’ve made a sizable contribution and you’re not looking to be in the limelight.”
“Entirely different,” Luke replied. “I don’t need to build community support for me or the clinic. Plus, my backing for a rescue boat is expected.”
Seth still struggled to make peace with Abby’s public approach. Or maybe he was struggling to make peace with the fact that she was in a position to make such a magnanimous gesture in the first place. Her obviously healthy bank account nagged at him like a particularly aggravating gnat. He had a hunch that was the real issue—and one that wouldn’t go away.
* * *
Abby’s hand instinctively settled on top of Seth’s as she leaned in to make a point to Luke and Hannah. She wasn’t even aware of the gesture until she noted three pairs of eyes—Luke’s, Hannah’s and Grandma Jenny’s—focused on her hand atop Seth’s, rather than paying attention to what she was saying. She glanced at Seth and saw that he looked equally startled.
Embarrassed, she withdrew her hand, and tried to cover the awkward moment with a rapid-fire list of suggestions for their fund-raising efforts beyond the already agreed-to kick-off press conference on Monday.
“I’m leaning toward a big fish fry in January, at the height of tourist season, if we can get Jack to cooperate and maybe donate his time,” she said. “We should consider doing it in the park to accommodate more people, but we could move it here if the weather’s bad.”
Lesley Ann overheard her. “I know Dad will want to help, no matter where you hold it,” she said at once. “And I think all the fishermen who supply us will want to pitch in, too, especially Dave Hawkins. Ever since his heart attack
