Four Short Weeks

by Kay Correll

  “Oh, that would be wonderful.” Lillian glanced at her watch. She had time before lunch to run to the historical society. “I’ll be over in a few minutes.”

  “I’ll be here.”

  “Still looking to find out who wrote the journal?” Robin asked.

  “I am. Etta had some more ideas. I’m going to run over there now. I’ll be back before the lunch crowd hits.”

  “Good luck.”

  She headed to The Nest to grab the journal, then went to the Historical Society. Etta greeted her as she entered. “I hope this works. Maybe we can find some kind of clue.”

  Lillian wrote down the date of the Sandcastle Festival and they did some quick math to figure out approximately fifty and a hundred years later. Etta looked through some actual paper copies in the back while Lillian looked at digital scans.

  Etta came hurrying out of the back storage room. “Look. I found something.” She carefully spread the paper out on a large table.

  Lillian leaned over the table and looked at the section Etta pointed to. “Fifty years ago. It says that fifty years ago Jane Belle and Clara and Anna Smith won the sandcastle making competition with a sandcastle lighthouse.” She turned to Etta. “Look, her friend Jane was a Belle. From the family that founded the island. And do you think Clara and Anna were sisters?”

  “Or maybe cousins?” Etta suggested.

  “And Smith for a last name. Really? Can’t they help me out a little bit more?” Lillian laughed. “But at least I have the writer’s name now. Anna Smith.” Just knowing the name made her feel better. Anna.

  “Do you have any other dates or events we could look into?”

  “Not yet, but I’ll keep reading and let you know.” She glanced at her watch. “But now, I need to leave and get back to work. I really appreciate your help. I’m so glad you thought of these columns.”

  “Me, too. This is fascinating trying to unravel the mystery.” Etta walked her to the door. “Let me know if you find out anything else, and I’ll research it for you.”

  “Thanks, Etta.” She slipped outside into the sunshine and hurried back to the inn. After the lunch crowd died down, she needed to get busy making dinner for Gary.

  Lunch ran long, with a larger than usual crowd. Then a room on the top floor of the inn got a leak, and she had to clean up the water mess and track down a plumber. Then someone came in to ask about holding an event at the inn and Robin was busy, so Lillian talked with them. She finally glanced at her watch. She had exactly forty-five minutes to change and make dinner for Gary. That just wasn’t going to work.

  “What’s wrong?” Robin walked up to the reception desk. “I can see from the look on your face that something is.”

  Lillian set down a stack of papers with a frustrated sigh. “I offered to make dinner for Gary tonight. But then things got crazy here and now I don’t have enough time. I guess I’ll just call him and cancel. We’ll do it another time.”

  “Sara said you had another date planned with Gary tonight.”

  “No secrets here.” Lillian grinned.

  “You could go snag dinner from Jay, throw it in the oven to keep it warm, and enjoy your evening almost as planned,” Robin suggested.

  She frowned. It wasn’t exactly what she’d hoped for. She’d wanted to cook, enjoyed cooking. But there really wasn’t time. “That’s a good idea. I’ll grab something from Jay and still have time to get ready.”

  A grin spread across Robin’s lips. “Good. I don’t want to have to explain to Sara how I couldn’t keep up with everything happening at the inn today so you could have your date.”

  Lillian headed to the kitchen to beg dinner from Jay.

  Chapter 18

  Gary got cleaned up and dressed and sat at the table in the kitchen, jotting down notes and waiting for it to be time to walk over to the inn. He didn’t want to turn up early and look overly eager, but he sure wasn’t going to be late, either.

  Scratching at the door caught his attention. Lucky was waiting for him on the stoop. “Come on in. I’ll get your dinner before I leave.” He opened the door and Lucky trotted in as if it were no big deal. Progress.

  He got the dog some food and water. Lucky ate the food, and Gary noticed it wasn’t at such a frantic pace as before. More progress.

  “Well, pup—I mean Lucky. I have a dinner date tonight. I’m headed there now. Sorry I can’t sit around and chat with you.” He picked up the empty food bowl but put the water bowl on the stoop in case Lucky wandered back by later tonight. He walked out the door and Lucky followed him.

  “I have to leave, okay? But you make sure you come back in the morning for breakfast. And if you get thirsty, I’m just going to leave water out for you all the time, okay?”

  Lucky wagged his tail. Gary headed down the sidewalk to The Nest. Lucky followed along beside him. “Oh, you want to go on a walk? You’re certainly welcome to come along with me.”

  Gary and Lucky strolled down the sidewalk to the inn and around the side of it to The Nest. Lillian answered his knock.

  “I see you brought a friend with you.”

  Lillian stood in the doorway in a pair of simple black slacks and a teal, collared short-sleeve knit top. She looked lovely. He brought his thoughts from how great Lillian looked—and her warm, welcoming smile—and replied, “Lucky. His name is Lucky. We just decided that today, didn’t we, pup?” The dog wagged his tail in reply.

  “Why don’t you two come in?”

  “Lucky, you want to come in and join us?” The dog followed him inside.

  “I have a confession to make.” Lillian stood in the kitchen with a slightly guilty look on her face. “I know I invited you for a home-cooked meal, but I got tied up with work stuff at the inn. So… I grabbed some dinner from Jay. I hope that’s okay. I have it warming in the oven. I’m sorry, the day just kind of got away from me. I promise I’ll make good on my offer for a home-cooked meal.”

  “That’s fine,” he assured her. He didn’t care who cooked the meal, he just wanted to spend time with her. And that surprised him because it had been a very long time since he’d wanted to spend time with a woman. He was always too busy or too stressed or just not really interested in the women he dated off and on.

  He was interested in Lillian, and it had only been a week or so since he’d first met her.

  “I opened a bottle of wine to let it breathe if you’d like that. Or there’s beer in the fridge,” Lillian offered.

  “Wine is fine.”

  “I’ll pour us some and we can go outside and unwind for a bit before we eat.”

  They went outside and Lucky plopped down beside him at the foot of his chair. He mindlessly petted the dog’s head.

  “Oh, feels good to be off my feet.” Lillian leaned back in her chair and stretched out her legs, then slipped off her shoes. “Looks like Lucky is getting used to you.”

  “I think so. The next thing I’d like to do is give him a bath. I just didn’t want to rush things.”

  “That’s probably a good idea. Take things slowly.”

  “He sat outside watching me work for most of the morning. I almost finished the deck today. I think it turned out great and I was able to use most of the older floorboards. They were still in good shape. But there’s an all-new support system under the deck.”

  “Oh, I’ll have to come see it tomorrow.”

  He quickly tried to suppress his automatic dopey grin at knowing he’d be seeing her tomorrow, too.

  Lillian was pleased she now had a reason to visit Gary tomorrow. Not that she really needed a reason. It was perfectly normal for her to go check on the progress he was making, right? After all, he was working for her, fixing up Magnolia House.

  She took a sip of her wine and sighed. “That’s really good. Tally recommended it to me.”

  “Tally from Magic Cafe?”

  “Yes, she really knows her wines and finds some of the best wines at reasonable prices. I try and offer different wines here at the inn than sh
e has at her restaurant. Though, I’ll freely admit she probably has a better wine list than we do.” Why was she just chattering away like this?

  Gary took a sip of the wine. “This is good.”

  She wondered how long they could chat about wine…

  Gary leaned back in his chair, resting one tanned arm on the armrest, balancing his glass of wine. “I admire how efficiently you run the inn. And you keep it in really nice shape.”

  The heat of a blush flushed her face. “Ah… thank you.”

  “It’s easy to see you love the place and love your job.”

  “I do. Even when it gets a bit crazy like today. Can’t imagine doing anything else.” She smiled at him. “And how about you? Are you retired now?”

  “Not exactly. Just taking a bit of a leave of absence, I guess you’d call it.”

  He didn’t seem eager to talk about it, so she let it drop. Maybe he’d gotten burned out on his job and needed a break. Or maybe he’d saved up his vacation days. Or maybe it was really none of her business. She rose from her chair. “I’ll go get dinner on the table. You sit out here and enjoy yourself.”

  Gary jumped up. “No, I’ll come in and help.”

  They went inside, dished up the food, and sat at the table. She wished she would have thought to get out the candles. But why? It wasn’t like this was some big romantic dinner or anything. But candlelight was always so… welcoming. Okay, and romantic. Which this dinner wasn’t, she reminded herself yet again.

  After dinner they went outside, and she scattered a few mason jars filled with fairy lights around them. They should provide just enough to see each other while they talked since the moon was barely a crescent of light tonight.

  “Those are nice.” He nodded at the lights.

  “I think they’re so pretty. I have these, and some that are in wine bottles. Oh, and one that is in a clear vase I found at a thrift shop. I’ve really gotten into fairy lights. They put out such a delicate, pretty light.” There she was, yammering again. She was sure he wasn’t interested in her lighting collection.

  The night had cooled a bit, and she shivered.

  “Are you cold?”

  “A bit. I’ll just pop in and get a throw to wrap up in.” She grabbed her favorite teal throw, and when she returned, he had settled in the loveseat at the end of the deck. She looked at the space on the loveseat beside him or the chair across from him.

  “Come, join me.” He patted the spot beside him.

  She joined him on the loveseat, acutely aware of how close they were. She settled the throw over their laps and his leg brushed hers. The cozy light from the mason jars and the sparkling stars above made the deck a magical place.

  He turned and looked at her for a moment, then took her hand in his and smiled. They sat in silence for a while, looking out over the sea. Even though it wasn’t light enough to make out each wave, they could see the white of the waves as they broke near the shore.

  “This is nice,” he finally said and squeezed her hand.

  She liked the feeling of her hand in his. The warmth. The comfortable feeling of just sitting next to him.

  He looked at her closely and she saw—something—in his eyes. He leaned a fraction of an inch closer and she held her breath. Was he going to kiss her? Did she want him to? Her heart crashed in her chest just like the waves they’d been watching. His eyes locked with hers.

  Then he looked away abruptly at the sound of a door opening.

  “Hi Gary, Aunt Lil, hope I’m not interrupting. Just got home and saw the fairy lights out here. Wanted to let you know I’m here.” Sara stood by the doorway to the deck.

  “Do you want to join us?” Lillian asked, a bit disoriented from jumping from is-he-going-to-kiss-me to greeting her niece.

  “No, I’m tired. I’m just going to head to bed.”

  “Okay, good night. Love you.”

  “Love you, too. Good night, Gary.”

  “Night, Sara.” Gary’s deep voice wrapped around them as Sara walked back inside.

  Lillian sat there wondering if he was going to look at her again with that gaze of anticipation.

  “She’s right. It’s getting late. I should let you get inside.” Gary let go of her hand and stood.

  She wanted to grab his hand again. Wanted to sit with him. Wanted him… to kiss her. But the moment was gone. She stood and gathered the throw, holding it tightly against her. “You’re right. It is getting late.” She held back the words she wanted to say. Stay for a while. Look at me like that again. Kiss me…

  “I’m going to walk back the beach way. I’ll see you tomorrow when you come catch up on the progress.”

  “Okay, see you tomorrow.” She watched him walk down the beach with Lucky at his side until the darkness swallowed them up.

  Had he been getting ready to kiss her? Had she just imagined the whole thing? She guessed she’d never know. But… she had wanted him too. Which was silly because she’d only known him what? A week? And maybe she’d misread the situation, anyway.

  She sighed and headed inside with her confused thoughts taunting her.

  Chapter 19

  Lillian headed over to Magnolia House after helping with the breakfast crowd and working the front desk for a bit. She walked the beach way, and the sand was warm beneath her bare feet. Brilliant blue sky stretched above her, the exact shade that had inspired the sky blue color of a crayon, she was sure. A heavy breeze blew in off the water and tossed her hair around her shoulders as she walked.

  Gary was standing on the deck and waved to her as she approached. She was surprised to see he’d finished the deck except for part of the railing. He’d finished the steps leading up to it, too. This would have taken Vince weeks and weeks to do. If he’d even shown up to do it.

  She climbed the stairs and Gary put down the hammer he was using. A wide grin spread across his face and she felt her face break into an answering smile. The sun highlighted the few gray hairs on his head and spread warm light across his chiseled jawline. A navy t-shirt stretched across his broad chest.

  “Morning, Lil. Glad you could make it over to see the progress.”

  Yes, she should ask him to show her everything. She should. She hadn’t just come over here so she could see him… stare at him…

  He’d tanned up quite a bit since he’d gotten to the island. His skin was no longer that pale shade of Northern as she thought of it. His cheeks were kissed with a light redness from the sunshine.

  He looked… good. Very good. Handsome and healthy and— Oh, for goodness’ sake, quit staring at him.

  She broke her glance away and looked over at Lucky, stretched out in the sunshine. The dog wagged his tail once when he saw her looking at him. “You gave him a bath.”

  Gary grinned. “I did. It was kind of an ordeal, but we got through it. I was afraid he might bolt out of here after the bath, but he came outside to bask in the sun to dry.”

  She walked over to the dog and knelt down to pet him. “You look very handsome all cleaned up, Lucky.”

  The dog looked at her with a look she’d swear said ‘I know.’ She stood back up, holding the railing to make sure she didn’t lose her balance.

  They both turned at the sound of someone coming up the deck stairs. “George, Ida, how great to see you.” She hurried over to greet the couple.

  “Gary, this is George and Ida. They owned the house before I bought it.”

  Gary nodded at them.

  “We stopped by the inn to see you and they said you were over here. We got your message. Sorry, we were away on a trip so it took us a bit to get back to you,” George said as he walked across the deck, looking at it. “This looks nice. The deck needed new supports. I always meant to get to it the last few years we were here, but just never got around to it.” He looked at Gary. “Did you do this?”

  “I did.”

  “You do really nice work.”

  Lillian was strangely pleased that George approved of Gary’s work. That was silly, was
n’t it? But she was happy that so many people thought his work was good since she’d just trusted her instincts and hired him on the spot.

  Ida turned to Lillian. “So, you found a journal here? Hidden in the wall?”

  “Gary did. Want to see where it was hidden?”

  Ida nodded. Gary led them all inside and showed them the hidden compartment in the wall.

  “Well, I’ll be. I’ve never had any idea that was there.” George walked over and peered inside it.

  “We have no idea whose journal it could be,” Ida said. “Have you figured it out?”

  “I have a name. Anna Smith.” Lillian nodded. “And she started the journal in 1898. But that’s all I have. Oh, and she has a sister, or maybe a cousin, Clara.”

  “Have you checked on previous owners of the house?” George turned around, rubbing his chin.

  “Most of the records—the actual deeds— from that time period are lost. Big storm destroyed them long ago.”

  “That’s too bad.” Ida shook her head. “I used to do some genealogy research. Maybe you could get some information from the census records of the island at that time. You have the author’s name and her last name. And maybe Clara is her sister.”

  “That’s a great idea. Why didn’t I think of that?”

  “Lots of those records are online,” Ida said. “You might be able to track her down that way or get another lead.”

  “I’d really like to find her ancestors and give them this journal. It’s such a wonderful piece of history. Seems a shame to let it sit and not find its rightful family.” Lillian sighed. “I’ll have to keep looking. I appreciate the suggestion to try the census records.”

  George and Ida walked back through the house, and George admired Gary’s handiwork. He pointed to the kitchen cabinets. “Those cabinets were the bane of my existence. Could never get the doors to hang properly. Look at them now. All straight.”