The Cliffside Inn

by Jessie Newton

  Mandie looked at Duke and Robin and said, “You guys are good parents.”

  “I might fall down dead,” Duke joked, and in the next moment, he pulled their almost-sixteen-year-old into a hug. “Love you, Mandie-moo.”

  “Okay, Dad,” she said. “No. Just no.” They laughed together, and the family huddle broke up.

  On the way into the kitchen, Mandie said, “Mom?”

  She turned back and caught the anxiety on her daughter’s face. “What is it, Mandie?” she asked.

  Mandie looked over her shoulder to where Duke and Jamie were going into the kitchen, and then she looked at Robin again.

  “Something happened at Alice’s yesterday, and I need your advice.”

  Robin’s stomach swooped and slid around inside her, and she was instantly grateful she hadn’t had any cake at her mother’s. “Sure,” she said as bravely as she could. “Do we need to get Dad?”

  “No,” Mandie said.

  “Let’s go in my office,” Robin said, and she led the way in there, though she was sure the floor would vanish beneath her feet at any moment. With the door closed, she faced her daughter again. “Do I need to be worried?”

  “I just didn’t know how to handle a situation,” Mandie said. “Charlie and Ginny had some friends over, and we were all vibing in the pool, having fun. Then one of his friends—some doofus named Dalton—pulled out a joint.” She pressed her palms together, clearly nervous.

  Robin wanted to gather her into a tight hug and tell her everything would be okay. “Did you smoke it?”

  “No,” Mandie said. “But he wanted me to.”

  “What did Charlie do?” Robin did not want to call Alice and even be thinking the words pot or marijuana.

  “He just let him smoke it near the back fence.”

  “Did he smoke any?”

  “No,” Mandie said.

  “Did anyone else?”

  “No,” Mandie said. “Then Ginny came out, and she was livid. She told Dalton to leave and that he couldn’t come back if he brought weed with him again. And I wondered…I should’ve done that.”

  “You did fine,” Robin said, doing what she wanted to do—take her daughter into her arms and shelter her from the bad things of the world. “Next time, if something like that happens, you can decide if you want to be more like Ginny, or if you want to let Dalton do what Dalton wants to do.”

  Mandie nodded against Robin’s shoulder, and they stood together for several moments. It sure was nice, and Robin was glad her daughter trusted her enough to confide in her.

  “Now, let’s go bake a cake,” Robin said, shifting her feet. “Otherwise, your sister will stage a riot, and I know at least one other person who’ll be on her side.”

  Mandie laughed, and they said, “Dad,” together as they left the office.

  Robin needed to focus on her family today. She could call Alice about the pot tomorrow.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Alice pulled up to the Cliffside Inn with a plate of mint-frosted brownies. Two plates, actually. One for the group to share, and one specifically for Robin, as her best friend had called that morning and told Alice about the marijuana consumption that had happened on her property over the weekend.

  Charlie had already been at school, and now Alice was at the inn, so she wouldn’t see him until later that night. She had texted him with Dalton. Marijuana by the pool. We need to talk.

  He’d sent her no less than a dozen messages, most of them paragraphs long about how sorry he was, and he didn’t know, and Dalton had gone down by the fence until Ginny chased him away.

  Alice still needed to talk to him—and Ginny—and go over an exit plan for when situations like that arose. Anything they weren’t comfortable with, they needed to know how to handle. Right now, it was marijuana use. Tomorrow it could be a girl sending him naked pictures, and next week, he could find himself in a situation that could land him in jail.

  As a lawyer, Alice knew how quickly things could escalate, and how easily good people could make bad decisions, and how devastating the consequences could be for years to come.

  Robin must’ve been watching for her, because the petite blonde came out of the front door as Alice shouldered her purse and balanced the two plates of brownies in her hand.

  “One of these if for you,” Alice said.

  Robin smiled and took the plate, her eyes never leaving Alice’s. “How are you?”

  “Good,” Alice said, and it was only a partial lie. “You?”

  “Good,” Robin said, and at least Alice wasn’t the only one using four-letter words to hide the truth. “Eloise has some news, and we want the low-down on Frank.”

  “I’m prepared to share,” Alice said, smiling. “No special group codes required.”

  “All the kids will be here on the three-fifty ferry,” she said. “Up to the inn by four-twenty, Mandie thinks, and AJ is buying dinner for everyone.”

  “Feels like what we did this summer,” Alice said, her grin widening. She’d loved this summer and having all of her friends and their families in her house. It was exactly what she’d needed after she’d finally found the courage to cut ties with Frank.

  “So let’s get the adult conversation out of the way,” Robin said, turning toward the front door.

  “Something’s different about the inn,” Alice said, sweeping the majestic front of it.

  “Eloise had the windows cleaned today,” Robin said. “Doesn’t it look great?”

  Inside, Alice said, “Yes, it’s amazing. She’s making such good progress on it.”

  “That’s all us, honey,” Robin said, laughing afterward.

  Alice laughed too, because she and Robin had been working on the inn with Eloise for a couple of weeks now. With AJ in town, and Aaron and Duke coming to help, the work really was getting done quickly.

  “She tried staining the floor this morning,” Robin said. “So that’s the smell. We’re actually in the caretaker’s suite.” She led the way through the inn to the back door. Across the patio they went, and Robin opened the door to the caretaker’s suite and held it for Alice to enter first.

  “She brought the mint brownies,” Eloise said. “Praise the Lord.”

  AJ laughed, but Alice thought that might have more to do with whatever text she’d just gotten and less with what Eloise had said. She handed the plate to Eloise, who put it on the breakfast bar beside a plate of cream cheese squares—those were Eloise’s mother’s recipe—and half an applesauce cake. That came from Robin.

  A store-bought plastic container of pink-iced cookies sat next to that, and it hadn’t been opened. At least AJ knew where a grocery store was, bless her heart.

  “Who are you texting?” Alice asked. “Your goldfish?”

  AJ looked up, pure joy in her eyes. “I shouldn’t have lied about that,” she said, some of that emotion fading.

  “Hey, you don’t answer to me,” Alice said. “I’m thinking of getting a fish too, if they’re good kissers.” She smiled at AJ and put her arm around the other woman’s shoulders.

  “They’re not,” AJ said with a giggle. “But you know who is?” She tilted her phone toward Alice, who read the name Matty.

  Her brain fired, trying to figure out who that was. All at once, she knew. “Oh, my goodness,” she said, somehow speaking and gasping at the same time. “Matt Hymas?”

  “She went out with him last night,” Robin said from the other side of the room. “Got home very late. Stood on the porch kissing him for a very long time.”

  “I did not,” AJ said, turning toward Robin. “Get home that late.”

  All four of them burst out laughing, even Alice, though she was very aware that of the four women there, she was the only one without someone wonderful to kiss.

  She told herself she didn’t even want that. Over the years, she’d grown used to taking care of herself and the twins alone, and she actually thrived doing it.

  “He knows you live in Brooklynn, right?” Eloise asked,
sobering first.

  “Yes,” AJ said, practically floating as she moved over to the couch. “We’re reconnecting.”

  “I bet,” Alice said.

  “No,” AJ said. “Not that way.”

  “Not yet,” Robin said.

  “Not at all,” AJ said. “I’m only going to be here for seven more days, and…”

  “And what?” Alice asked, taking the middle cushion on the couch.”

  “And I don’t know,” AJ admitted. “But we’re not here to talk about me. Eloise said she talked to her brother.” AJ was a master at changing the subject, and this time was no exception.

  “I talked to him this morning,” Eloise said. “He said he can’t tell me anything over the phone, and he’s got a ticket out of Portland on Wednesday morning.” She wore her nerves on her face, and Alice wanted to comfort her. She had a brownie in her hand as she took the armchair next to the couch. “I talked to all three banks this morning, and the money is still there. There have been no deposits or withdrawals in seventeen years, and the amount of money I suddenly find myself with is staggering.”

  Warmth filled Alice’s soul. She didn’t want to ask, but her curiosity pricked at her. Thankfully, it was Robin who said, “How much, Eloise?”

  “A little over three million,” she said, frowning.

  “Why are you upset about this?” AJ demanded. “I’d be thrilled if my no-good father left me three million dollars.”

  “Would you?” Alice asked quietly, and the room fell silent. She looked around at everyone, wishing Kelli was there with them. Kristen was supposed to come too, and Alice remembered that the two of them were coming together after Kelli got off work.

  “I suspect that Eloise is torn about actually accepting the money,” Alice said into the void. “It’s a lot of money, but it feels tainted by her father’s gambling habit. She worries that if she takes it, she’ll be hurting someone else.” Alice watched Eloise as she spoke, and tears gathered in the other woman’s eyes.

  “She doesn’t want to think of her father as a benevolent, caring man, who left her a fortune, because that is not who she knows her father to be. He was a violent, cruel man who drank too much and abandoned her and her mother when they needed him most.”

  “Alice,” Robin said.

  Alice flicked her gaze to Robin, and nodded. “Sorry, I’ll stop.”

  “No,” Eloise said, a sob slipping from her mouth in the next moment. Alice quickly got off the couch and knelt in front of her, accepting her into a tight hug.

  “You’re right, Alice. That’s all exactly right.” Eloise cried openly, and Alice wasn’t surprised when Robin went to her shoulder and started patting it, nor when AJ positioned herself behind Alice, as if she needed help holding up Eloise.

  Alice did, because most of the time, she felt one breath away from a complete collapse herself, and offering a helping hand or shoulder to cry on for someone else was difficult.

  Alice felt a closeness with these women she’d experienced a few times in the past several months, and she knew she wouldn’t even be here without Robin’s foresight and strength.

  She wouldn’t weigh what she did without Eloise, and she wouldn’t be practicing law without AJ’s confidence in her. She wouldn’t realize her own strength by seeing it in other women without Kelli.

  Alice’s own emotions surged, and before she knew it, she was crying too.

  “Alice,” Eloise said, pulling back. “You never cry.”

  Alice swiped quickly at her eyes. “I just love you, El, and I hate that you have these conflicting feelings to deal with.” She stood and straightened her blouse, taking a moment to breathe as she brushed something invisible from it. “I know exactly what they feel like, and it is not fun.” She retook her seat on the couch and crossed her legs, wishing she could contain all she felt as easily.

  “What’s the news with Frank?” Robin asked, still standing beside Eloise.

  “I spoke with him,” Alice said, finding a deep well of strength inside her that had somehow not been emptied yet. “He’s agreed to continue to pay as much as possible through a payment app. He is actively looking for another job, and he assured me he is not going to file for bankruptcy.” Alice delivered her news with as little emotion as possible. She didn’t believe anything Frank said, but she could convey his message to her friends.

  She’d made a checklist yesterday while the twins slept late, and then as Ginny cooked up sausage and a batch of strawberry pancakes.

  Alice could trade in her expensive vehicles for cheaper models to make the payments doable for herself. She could sell the house and move to a more practical location for her and the twins to ensure she could pay the mortgage herself.

  With dedication and tenacity and the ability to think outside the box, she could build her practice here in Five Island Cove.

  She was going to start there, and hopefully steadily increase her own income so she wasn’t so reliant on Frank to pay for things. The cars and house were things she’d do as last resorts, because right now, Frank was still able to pay as per the terms of their divorce.

  Robin wore questions in her eyes as she came to sit beside Alice again, but she didn’t vocalize any of them. “And Ginny?”

  “Still dating Robbie,” Alice said with a sigh. “I think it’s harder to have your daughter be dating a boy.” She looked at Robin. “I’m not sure how you’ve done this. I trust Ginny; it’s Robbie I don’t trust. I find myself wanting to look at his phone or call his mother every five minutes.”

  Robin smiled at her and linked her arm through Alice’s. “I’d be going nuts if I didn’t have you to check with about everything.”

  Alice leaned her head back and looked at the ceiling. “If he wasn’t two years older than her, I think I’d feel differently about it.”

  “She’s smart,” Eloise said, and Alice nodded. Ginny was smart. Hopefully, she’d know what to do if a situation arose she didn’t want to be in. Heaven knew Alice had spent enough time telling her what to say, what to do, and to just call. Alice would drop everything and get to her as fast as she could.

  “We had dinner at my mother’s last night,” Robin said, and Alice was grateful she’d taken the spotlight. “She said she’d make crab legs, and she asked me to prepare my garlic-parsley compound butter.” She sighed, the sound heavy and long. “Then she lied and said they didn’t have crab legs, so we had hamburgers and hot dogs. But you should’ve seen Mandie pull out this big bag of crab legs and ask my mother why she’d lied to us.”

  Alice turned and looked at Robin, surprise filling her. Robin started to laugh, and that broke the mood in the room.

  AJ started talking about her date with Matt, and Alice enjoyed the enthusiasm in her. After all these years, and all the broken and disastrous relationships she’d had, AJ still possessed a healthy amount of hope.

  Alice fed off of it, because she needed some of that. She was tired of feeling jaded and lied to, and as she listened to AJ detail how chivalrous and sweet Matt Hymas was, Alice felt like perhaps she could find someone else to be happy with.

  Life didn’t have to end just because her marriage to Frank had. She didn’t have to live the rest of her life unhappy and alone, even if she craved solitude sometimes.

  AJ had never been married, and she spoke with hope and excitement about the prospect of finally finding the just-right man that she could love and who would love her unconditionally.

  Alice wanted that too, and while she wasn’t going to rush into the dating pool, for the first time, it was a possibility.

  The door opened, and Kelli arrived with Parker on one side and Kristen on the other. The twins followed, and Alice stood to greet them. She drew them both to her in a double hug as Robin did the same with Mandie and Jamie.

  “I’m sorry, Mom,” Charlie said, and Alice believed him. For how mature he was, she sometimes forgot how sweet and kind he was. He never wanted to disappoint her, and Alice appreciated that.

  He stepped back
at the same time Ginny did, their twin timing sometimes uncanny. “I called Doctor Michaels,” he said. “And rescheduled for Thursday. I didn’t see anything on the calendar.”

  “Okay,” Alice said. “You didn’t want to go tomorrow?”

  “They’re having basketball tryouts,” Ginny said, rolling her eyes. “He’s not tall enough to make the team. He’s only trying out because Robbie is.”

  “Hey,” Alice said, slicing a look in her direction while trying to gauge Charlie’s reaction to what she’d said. “We don’t put each other down.” She reached out and pushed her son’s hair off his forehead, smoothing it back so she could see his whole face. “You’re a brilliant player. Not everyone has to be seven feet tall to make the team.”

  He wore a look between fear and resignation, but he nodded. “Thanks, Mom.”

  Ginny said, “Sorry, Charlie. I’m sure you’ll do great at the tryouts,” before heading into the kitchen with Kelli and Eloise and Parker to get an after-school treat.

  Alice drew Charlie a little further out of the way. “I don’t want Dalton at the house without me there again.”

  “Okay,” he said.

  “And you owe your girlfriend an apology for putting her in that situation. It made her extremely uncomfortable, and she didn’t know what to do.”

  Charlie hung his head. “I know. I will.”

  “And you need to tell your sister thank you for handling it as well as she did.”

  Charlie looked up then, his irritation plain. “Really? Mom, she’s so annoying. She’s all over that school, signing up for everything. And everyone loves her, even my friends. I’m just the loser in her shadow.” The darkness on his face didn’t comfort Alice, as she’d seen it in Frank’s eyes many times.

  Alice looked over to the kitchen, where Ginny chatted with Eloise and Kelli as if she were one of them. She was mature, and capable, and smart. Charlie had existed in her shadow his entire life, though Alice had never tried to make him feel that way.

  “I’ll talk to her about that.” She focused on Charlie again. “You’re not a loser.”

  He sighed. “I know. I don’t want to talk about this.”