“It’s not as if I can go around town knocking on doors,” she grumbled. “No matter what you think, I’m old.”
“And not half as frail as you’d like everyone to believe,” he countered. “Besides, is knocking on doors what Jenny asked you to do?”
“No,” she admitted. “She said something about calling some of the people I had as students, telling them about the fish fry and selling them tickets. Since I taught most of the people on this island at one time or another, she seemed to think I’d have some influence.”
“The way I hear it, a lot of them idolized you.”
She waved off the comment. “More of them were terrified of me. That’s exactly the way I wanted it.”
“Either way works for our purposes, don’t you think? They’ll scoop up those tickets out of respect or fear.”
A sound escaped that might have been a bark of laughter. “You think you’re smart, don’t you?”
Seth ignored the question. “What did you tell Jenny?”
“That I’d do it, of course.” She frowned at him. “Doesn’t mean I’m happy about being bamboozled into it or that I’m going to jump on the bandwagon for every cause the people around here dream up.”
“Of course not,” he said solemnly, feeling triumphant.
“I doubt I’ll even go to that fish fry thing,” she said.
“Not even as my date?” Seth said, determined to get her there.
Pink tinted her cheeks. “Don’t try to sweet-talk me, young man. You’ve gotten your way. I’m going to help. Be satisfied with that.” She gave him a sly look. “Besides, the way I hear it, you have your eye on Abby Dawson.”
“Who told you that?”
“I may be leading a life that seems isolated to you, but I still have my sources around this town,” she told him. “You’d do well to remember that. There are very few secrets in Seaview Key.” She studied him curiously. “Is it true? About you and Abby, I mean?”
“We just met,” Seth equivocated.
“That’s not an answer. If you were one of my students, I’d take off points for evasiveness.”
Seth laughed. “Then it’s a good thing you’re not grading me,” he said. “Now, I need to run. The press conference to kick off the drive to raise money for the boat is starting any minute.”
Ella Mae struggled to her feet. “Then we’d better hurry.”
“You’re coming with me?” he asked innocently, hiding yet another triumphant smile.
“Might as well. It’s not as if I have a lot to do,” she said, a twinkle in her eyes. “Besides, Abby’s going to be there. I can get the lay of the land with you two for myself. I was always the first person in town to figure out when two young people were sweet on each other. I was the most hated chaperone at the high school dances because they couldn’t put anything over on me. I never let them sneak off together,” she said proudly.
“I’m going to regret dragging you out of your shell, aren’t I?” Seth said with an exaggerated sigh.
She gave him a surprisingly impish look. “You know what they say about awakening a sleeping beast. Do so at your own peril.”
Seth laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Too late,” she told him.
Seth tucked her arm through his and helped her down the front steps. She walked gingerly to his car and settled in, her shoulders squared regally. She patted the purse in her lap. “I’ve already started my list,” she told him. “I imagine I can sell a few tickets before Abby even finishes making her pitch. I think I’ll make a contest of it. Jenny thinks she can outsell me, but I have other ideas.”
Seth could only hope she didn’t put that same level of determination behind any meddling she decided to do into his life.
* * *
It seemed perfectly natural to Abby that Hannah had taken over making the arrangements for the press conference to announce the town’s drive to raise money for a much-needed rescue boat. She obviously had the public-relations expertise that the rest of them lacked. Based on a series of phone calls Hannah made to clarify a few details, Abby was a little in awe of the full-throttle way Hannah tackled the assignment, especially with so little advance notice. She must have been working the phone all Sunday afternoon and into the night.
Abby was even more in awe when she showed up at town hall for the kickoff and found a crowd milling around out front.
Luke and Seth were both there, of course, along with Seaview Key’s part-time mayor, Sandra Whittier, who was in her seventies and a member of one of the village’s founding families. The editor of the local weekly was there with his camera. Hannah had even lured someone from a TV station on the mainland with the promise of an exclusive about what this rescue boat would mean to the island community and how many lives it might save.
There were several other people on the steps at town hall, too.
“Who are they?” Abby asked Hannah, imagining them to be town officials.
“People who came close to losing their lives because we didn’t have a rescue boat,” Hannah explained. “Their testimonials will stress the importance of this.”
“And you pulled all of this together overnight?” Abby said, amazed.
Hannah grinned. “I was motivated. My husband really, really wants this boat and the community needs it. You’ve got a lot of money to raise, my friend. Just doing my part.”
Hannah orchestrated the press conference like the pro she was, with a brief speech from Luke, comments from the people whose lives had once been in jeopardy, and then the presentation of Abby’s check to kick off the fund-raising drive. The crowd applauded enthusiastically, with a number of people coming up afterward to thank Abby and to welcome her back to town. A few people even put bills and
