An Invincible Summer (Wyndham Beach), Mariah Stewart [best classic novels TXT] 📗

on to it, collecting rent, sounded like a good idea for a while. But when we sat down to negotiate, I think he figured he might as well unload the whole thing, and I’m glad he did. I love this building, and once it’s fixed up, it’s going to be great. Fred lost a lot of business to online retailers and the bigger chains because the place was so shabby, no one other than locals bothered to come in. To tell you the truth, even I hadn’t realized what a mess this place was, because I was here so often.”

Maggie nodded. “The familiar often goes unnoticed. After a while, we don’t see the flaws.”

“Exactly. And as far as his stock was concerned—let’s face it, Fred’s orders weren’t always up to date. Sometimes bestsellers were a month or more late, and his displays were haphazard. And he never advertised. With just a little effort, he could have pulled in more customers from the academy and visiting parents. The school has a lot of big weekends he could have capitalized on, but judging from his sales history, he never took advantage of the influx of out-of-towners.”

“Good point. I hadn’t thought of that. The school brings a lot of people into town, so maybe you should plan events around their schedule. The sailing school in the summer could bring in more sales, too.”

“That’s what I’m hoping. Then there’s the space on the second and third floors. I think I could get zoning approval for apartments.”

“Did you ever see yourself as a shop owner slash bookseller slash landlady?” Maggie teased. She knelt to push aside dead leaves from what might have been a flower bed, but nothing of interest grew under the debris.

“No. But this town needs a bookstore, and I needed something positive to do with my life. The more I thought about it, the more it seemed right, so I figured, why not? It’s a nice reminder all life’s surprises aren’t necessarily bad ones.”

“You’re preaching to the choir there.” Maggie smiled, recalling the surprise that had popped into her life recently. Definitely not a bad thing. “I’ll work out back here for you, see if I can make it look a little nicer. Not as good as a professional landscaper, but I can improve what’s here.”

“That would be great, Mags, thank you. I won’t turn down help. You have such a great eye, I’m sure it will look fabulous when you’re finished. But are you sure you want to spend your time working here when you could be with your girls?”

Maggie held up her tattooed left wrist. “Waves of the same sea, girlfriend.”

“Ah, there is that.” Liddy started to hug Maggie just as Maggie’s pocket buzzed.

Maggie took her phone from her pocket. “That’s my reminder I need to get going.”

“Appointment?”

“Sort of.” Maggie smiled. “I’m meeting Brett for coffee at Ground Me.”

“Going public, are you? You know it’ll be all over town before noon.” Liddy lowered her voice to a stage whisper and mimicked a gossip. “You’ll never believe who I saw having coffee together this morning. Our chief of police and that nice widow, Maggie Flynn. You remember Maggie Lloyd, Ellen’s daughter? She grew up here, moved to Philadelphia, and married some hotshot lawyer. He died and she moved back, bought the Wakefield house. Didn’t she and the chief used to have a thing . . . or am I thinking of someone else?”

Maggie laughed. “Well, people might as well get used to seeing us together.”

“You and Brett are . . . what are you doing, anyway?”

“We’ve been talking a lot lately. And there’s been a lot to talk about, what with me living here and Joe finding us. It’s like the past smacked us both in the face, and we’re trying to deal with that. We both know we want a relationship with Joe, so it’s only natural we have some sort of relationship with each other. We’ll see how it goes.”

“You’re not thinking about . . .”

“Right now, I’m trying not to think. I just want to take things day by day. I never dreamed our lives would play out this way. Now we share a son and a couple of grandchildren. We both want to know them and want them to be part of our lives. As for Brett—I’m leaving my options open.”

“Wow. Just . . . wow.”

“Like I said, day by day. I don’t feel any need to look beyond right now. Oh, except I invited Joe and his kids for Fourth of July. We’ll do the parade, then go back to the house for a cookout, fireworks at the park later.”

“Don’t forget the carousel. Emma said Owen Harrison promised he’d be back in time to have it set up in the park for the kids. I’m not sure how she managed to talk him into it.”

“Ha. It must have been Emma’s charm.”

“Are you sure you’re ready to have everyone together so soon?”

“The sooner the better. I figure it’s like ripping off a Band-Aid. One swipe and it’s done.”

“Grace and Nat are okay with it?”

“They’re both on board, and so far no one’s voiced any objections, so I’m taking that as a good sign. Even Grace is trying. I think she’ll be fine once she meets Joe.” She hoped Grace would be fine. Her daughter had promised to keep an open mind. “You’ll come over after the parade, right?”

“Wild horses couldn’t keep me away. What can I bring?”

Maggie’s phone rang, and she answered it. “Yes, I’m on my way. Five minutes. Order a coffee for me, a . . .” She laughed. “Right. Thanks for remembering. See you soon.”

Liddy raised an eyebrow. “Tell me he remembers how you take your coffee.”

“He does.”

“That’s amazing. After all these years . . .”

“Nah. It’s only since Sunday night. We had dinner with Joe.” Ignoring Liddy’s dropped jaw, Maggie grabbed her bag from the grass. “Gotta go. Talk to you later.” She stepped inside the shop. “Oh, and since you asked, bring potato salad. No one makes better.”

“I was thinking more along the lines