The Summer Cottage: Includes a bonus story

by Annie Rains

  “Isn’t that wrong though? Finders keepers isn’t a real thing. It’s stealing,” the boy said, frowning deeply. “And we don’t steal in this family.”

  Jake rubbed the side of his cheek where a new growth of hair was filling in. He’d just rolled out of bed before heading down the beach this morning as well. “That’s a good family policy to have,” he told the boy, who couldn’t have been older than seven or eight. He looked back up at the woman. “I should’ve introduced myself to you earlier, but there wasn’t really a chance. I’m Jake. Otherwise known as J.” He gestured at his Labrador retriever mix at his side. “And this is Bailey.”

  Her gaze flicked to his dog and back to him. “Well, thank you again for returning my bracelet, Jake,” she said with a too-quick smile. She took a tiny step backward. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to make breakfast for my son.”

  Jake’s gaze dropped to the purple jelly evidence on the boy’s mouth again. As a lawyer, Jake wasn’t one to miss details. It was his job to notice.

  “I’ve already eaten,” the boy said.

  “Well, I also need to, um…” The woman trailed off, not meeting Jake’s gaze again.

  “Brush your hair and get dressed for the day?” Jake supplied. He was usually a lot more charming than this with a beautiful woman. The brunette standing in front of him looked anything but charmed.

  “Yes.” She smoothed her hand over her mussed hair. “That too.” A shy smile curled at the corners of her mouth. Before he could appreciate it too much, it disappeared. “It was nice to meet you,” she said, looking at him now.

  “We didn’t meet, actually. I introduced myself, but you never told me your name.”

  The woman hesitated. Maybe she was just shy, but the impression he got from her was one of guardedness. “I’m Trisha.”

  Jake offered his hand for her to shake. She looked at it for a moment and then seemed to take a breath as she slid her palm against his. “I’ve never met a Trisha before,” he said. “You’ll be hard to forget.” He released her hand and took a step backward. He would’ve asked the boy’s name, too, but something told him he’d be pushing his luck with the inquiry. Instead he waved at the two of them. “See you around the lake.”

  Jake walked Bailey for another good twenty minutes. Bailey needed the exercise as much as he did. Plus, Jake was stalling. Grandma Vi didn’t know he was back yet, and she certainly didn’t know the reason he was here.

  But he couldn’t delay going to see her forever. He turned and headed toward his grandmother’s house beyond the twelve cottages. He didn’t suspect she would love the idea of selling the Somerset Rental Cottages. But Jake agreed with his parents, aunt, and uncles. Considering Vi’s recent health issues and the fact that the property was edging closer toward foreclosure with each passing month, there was no choice.

  And since his family had nominated him to come here and convince Vi, he didn’t really have much choice either.

  Chapter Two

  Jake!” Grandma Vi moved a lot slower than she had at Christmastime when Jake last saw her. She still moved faster than most people he knew in her age group though. “I didn’t know you were coming to town,” she said as she opened the door for him.

  Jake stepped inside. “Sorry I didn’t call,” he said, noticing that Vi wasn’t alone.

  “We’re family. You don’t have to apologize for visiting.” Vi turned toward Trisha, who was standing in the living room, adding to the growing mystery of who she was and why she was here. “Trisha, this is my favorite grandson, Jake.”

  Jake chuckled and narrowed his eyes at his grandmother. “I bet you say that to your other eight grandchildren too.”

  “You are the only boy, so that makes you the favorite grandson.”

  This was true. Jake was the only male grandchild, but there were seven other grandchildren. Half of them were defense lawyers at what used to be Fletcher and Sons. Now it was called Fletcher Law Practice. Jake was the only one in his family who’d become a prosecutor. He guessed that made him the black sheep of the family.

  Jake gave Trisha a nod and a smile. In return, she lifted her hand and offered a slight wave.

  Vi’s gaze bounced between him and Trisha. “It appears that you two have already met.”

  Jake slipped his fingers into the pockets of his jeans, rolling his shoulders out until they felt more relaxed. “Trisha and I ran into each other on the lake this morning. She was waking Mr. Santorini.”

  Vi frowned. “You know he prefers to be called Mr. S. Was he”—she lowered her voice—“clothed?”

  Jake grinned. “Is he ever dressed before dawn?”

  Vi shared a glance with Trisha. “You’ve only been here a month, and you already deserve a raise.”

  Jake felt his smile drop as he looked between them for answers. “What does that mean?” His grandmother was a one-woman show when it came to running the Somerset Rental Cottages. She’d always refused to hire anyone for anything. There were some things she couldn’t do herself, of course, but those were times she got friends and family to pitch in.

  Vi gestured at Trisha, who had taken the half hour since they’d met to change clothes and brush her chestnut-colored hair back into a ponytail. “Trisha is my new property manager. After my little…medical issue, I decided it was time for some assistance. She has been so much help to me already.”

  Jake was speechless for a moment. “That little medical issue, Grandma, was a stroke that could have killed you.”

  “Could have, but didn’t. A colonoscopy can kill you, too, by the way. It’s been documented,” Vi said.

  Jake’s mouth dropped. The lawyer in him took over. “No, that would be medical negligence that killed whoever you’re talking about. Not the procedure, which saves many lives each year.”

  Vi laughed quietly. “Oh, it’s so good to have you home, Jake. We have the best debates, don’t we? Always have.”

  Jake wanted to argue more. He wasn’t home. Somerset Lake hadn’t been home to him in a long time. Neither was the DC area, where he was coming from. He’d wanted to make his own way in life so he’d stubbornly gone north when the rest of his relatives had gone south. But there was nothing up there for him anymore, and after years of his family tugging on him to join them, he’d finally agreed. He was headed in that direction and aiming to take Vi with him.

  He looked at Trisha again. This woman was going to complicate things. It would be a lot easier to convince Vi she wasn’t up to handling the family’s rental properties if she was still handling it on her own. “You hired someone to help? That’s a surprise.”

  “Well, it was time. And it’s been amazing to have someone here to relieve me of some of the daily chores involved in running these properties.” Vi clapped her hands together at her chest. “Why don’t we catch up over breakfast?” She turned to Trisha. “You and Petey can join us, too, of course.”

  Jake noticed that the boy, Petey, was sitting on Vi’s couch with a book in his lap. A boy after Jake’s own heart.

  Trisha shook her head, a beautiful smile blooming on her lips. “No, thank you, Vi. Petey ate earlier, and I need to take this list of yours to Hannigan’s Market.”

  “You’ll check to see if Tammy needs anything?” Vi asked.

  Tammy lived in Ivy Cottage right next to Mr. S.

  “Of course.” Trisha was still smiling.

  For a moment, Jake couldn’t take his eyes off her. She possessed an unassuming beauty that seemed to grow the more you looked at her.

  “So breakfast?” Vi turned back to him.

  “I would never turn down a home-cooked meal from you,” Jake said, partly relieved that Trisha had declined to stay. The other part of him was disappointed though. Sharing breakfast with a beautiful woman wouldn’t be a bad start to his day.

  * * *

  “What are you doing, Mom?” Petey stepped over to where Trisha was sitting. They’d already been to the market, picked up groceries for Vi and Tammy, another cottage resident, and d
elivered them. Now Trisha was holding an old camera that she’d found while packing up her home in Sweetwater Springs last month. It was a nice camera. Expensive. And she felt a little guilty owning it because maybe her ex had purchased it with money from cheating his clients.

  “Just looking at this old camera.” It wasn’t old though. It’d never even been used.

  “Dad gave it to you, right?” Petey leaned in to get a better look at it.

  “Yep.” After Peter’s arrest, the feds took most of the things of value that Trisha owned. “I don’t even know how to use it. I can’t find the manual that came with it.” Trisha laid the camera on a small outdoor table in front of her.

  The table was part of the porch furniture. It had taken Trisha a good hour when she’d moved in just to clean this one table from the grime that had set in from being outside. Then she’d done the chairs, working her way through all the porch furniture. She’d also cleaned Vi’s, and now she was going to Mrs. Beaver’s house once a week and slowly reviving hers as well. The job description as property manager here wasn’t set in stone, but Trisha didn’t want for anything to do either.

  “Hi there!” A voice floated on the air toward Trisha, coming from the south side of the lake. A woman with long, auburn hair in a ponytail was headed toward her. She looked to be in her thirties or maybe her late twenties.

  Trisha didn’t invite her up her steps, but the woman climbed up anyway, stopping at the top stair and resting against the banister. She was holding a plate of something that looked and smelled delicious.

  “Hello, neighbor. I’m Lucy Hannigan,” she said. “I live down the lake. I heard there was a newcomer in Somerset so I came to see for myself. I’m ashamed that it took me this long to get here.” She lifted the plate. “But I come bearing cinnamon buns hot from my oven. Hopefully that makes up for my rudeness.”

  Trisha stood and stepped closer, leaning in to get a better look at the tray of treats. “Wow, that’s very kind of you.”

  “Full disclosure, because there’s no such thing as secrets in this Hallmark town, I bought these sticky buns at the market and warmed them in the oven before heading over.”

  Trisha tried to ignore the whole no-secrets-in-a-small-town line. Maybe she should’ve moved to the city, but she’d never been a city girl at heart. She liked the slow pace of a town that only held a thousand people or less. Somerset Lake’s population was a little over five hundred. Trisha also liked knowing everyone’s name and their story; she just didn’t want people to know her story.

  Lucy offered her the plate of cinnamon buns. “Careful. They’re hot,” she warned.

  “I’m Petey,” Trisha’s son said first, making Trisha realize that for the second time today, she hadn’t introduced herself to someone she was in a conversation with. “I’m seven years old, and I want to be an engineer when I grow up. Or an architect. I like to build.”

  “Wow. That’s ambitious.” Lucy looked down at him with a warm smile.

  “Or I want to be a veterinarian like my uncle Chase because I like animals. But my mom won’t let me have a pet.”

  Lucy shared a look with Trisha. “Well, pets are a lot of work,” she offered, helping Trisha’s case. “You have to feed them, walk them, bathe them.” She tapped the list out on her well-manicured fingers. “I have a little dog at home, and she’s very demanding.”

  “Why didn’t you walk her down here?” Petey asked, ever ready with a question. For that reason, Trisha thought he’d make a better lawyer or reporter.

  “Well,” Lucy said, “because she would’ve tried to eat your cinnamon buns. And they’re for you and your mom.” Lucy looked back up at Trisha.

  Time to introduce myself. “Thank you for these.” Trisha offered her hand to shake. “I’m Trisha. It’s nice to meet another neighbor.”

  Lucy shook her hand and seemed to look around the deck, which had very little on it. Just a couple chairs and one drooping plant that needed watering. “You’ll meet us all eventually. The crowd on my stretch is younger than the folks over here. This stretch of property used to be more of a place for retirees on vacation. You know, the whole live in the south in the summer and fly farther south for the winter.”

  Trisha surprised herself by laughing. “Yeah, I’ve heard that about the Somerset Rental Cottages. I’m the property manager here.”

  “Oh?” Lucy apparently hadn’t heard that bit of information. “Interesting. So what are Vi’s plans for these old cottages?”

  Trisha set the plate of cinnamon buns down on the outdoor table. “Renovate them and rent them out. To anyone. Vi would actually like to attract a younger crowd, just to change the perception of this place.”

  Lucy’s gaze roamed over Juniper Cottage, no doubt taking in the wear. There was a lot of work to be done before people would flock to live here. Trisha wasn’t in charge of doing all that work herself. Vi wanted her ideas though. She wanted Trisha to do the legwork and find the necessary and cheapest contractors. Vi didn’t have a lot of money to invest so frugality was important.

  Trisha’s first priority in her job title was caring for those who already lived on the lake though. And those residents were needier than Trisha would’ve expected.

  “So anyway”—Lucy pointed down the shore—“if you ever need anything, I’m in a neighborhood called The Village. Turn in there and head straight down Christmas Lane. I’m in the pink house at the end. You can’t miss it.”

  “Christmas Lane?”

  Lucy grinned. “We love the holidays around here. Just wait.” Lucy looked between Trisha and Petey for a moment. “So just the two of you, huh?”

  Tension rolled back between Trisha’s shoulder blades. “Yes, it’s just us.” And she hoped Lucy didn’t ask the next obvious question: Where was Petey’s father?

  Lucy apparently had more class than that. “Well, maybe you’ll come downtown with me one Friday night. There’s live music and dancing in the summers. It’s a good time. We call it Sunset Over Somerset. You’ll meet a lot of people, and I’d be popular if I was the one to lure the town newbie down there.”

  Trisha smiled because it seemed like the polite thing to do. But she had no intention of going downtown with Lucy, even if she seemed nice. And even if Trisha missed having a close friend nearby. Her best friend Sophie in Sweetwater Springs was only a phone call away, but it wasn’t the same.

  “What an amazing view this stretch of lake has,” Lucy said with a long sigh as her gaze roamed over the lake and then snagged on Jake, who was sitting on the neighboring deck. She looked at Trisha with wide eyes and an open mouth. “Jake is back?”

  Trisha couldn’t figure out if Lucy looked shocked or excited. “Just for a couple weeks or so. You know him?”

  Lucy’s expression was unreadable. “Of course I do. He was one of those guys that all the girls had an eye for growing up. He only ever had eyes for my friend Rachel though.” Lucy’s gaze lowered for a moment. Then she looked back up at Trisha with bright eyes and a brighter smile. “Well it’s official, my new friend. You definitely have the best view on this lake.”

  * * *

  Later that morning, Jake headed down Vi’s pier, where his amphibious seaplane was tied to the end post. It’d been kept in a large garage, getting tended to whenever Jake came to visit. Now he’d have access to it for a decent stretch of time. In his experience, there was no better way to relax than to immerse yourself in the clouds.

  He walked toward the plane with Bailey matching his pace. When he reached the end of the pier, he opened the door to his plane. He’d started flying these birds when he was fifteen. His grandfather had owned one, and he’d taught Jake everything he knew.

  Bailey jumped up onto the seat of the seaplane, knowing the routine. Jake unwound the rope securing the plane to its post and prepared to cast off. Then he walked around to the pilot’s side, hopped in, and took a seat, his hand moving to pet Bailey’s head before turning the key.

  The plane purred to life. It was a smooth sound
, clearing all of Jake’s troubles immediately. Ah, yes. This was one of the things Jake still loved about being here at Somerset Lake.

  He taxied the plane slowly, keeping his speed below seven knots and making sure the area was clear of other seacraft or swimmers before gaining momentum. Then he operated the gears on autopilot, bringing the plane in a nose-up position. The rudders dipped below the lake’s surface, and then…Liftoff! They were airborne. The buzz, like music, filled Jake’s ears.

  Once they were leveled out, Bailey started shifting around restlessly, which wasn’t like her at all. Usually she kept her tongue out and her gaze pinned forward, enthralled by the experience. This time, she twisted to look in the small back area of the plane, panting more loudly than normal. An emergency kit and some life preservers were the only items back there.

  “Whatcha doin’, girl?” Jake petted her back. “It’s okay.”

  Maybe some kind of animal had stowed away with them. A rabbit or a cat.

  Ah, geez. If that was the case, Bailey would go nuts, and this plane would take a dive in no time.

  Bailey’s panting increased. She seemed excited about something. Jake kept his gaze forward, steadying the plane until they reached twelve hundred feet. Then he turned to see what was going on.

  Two dark eyes peeked out from behind a seat.

  Jake’s heart took its own sort of dive straight to the bottom of his stomach. “What are you doing in here?” he snapped. He didn’t mean to, but this was not good.

  What was the kid’s name again? Jake tried to remember.

  The boy didn’t respond. His eyes were wide, and his complexion was paler than Jake remembered.

  “Kid? Are you okay?” Jake moved his gaze from the cabin to the front windshield and back. “Kid? What are you doing here?”

  The boy opened his mouth. “I…I was just…I was…I was just playing,” he finally stammered. And if Jake wasn’t mistaken, he was on the verge of tears. “I didn’t know…”