A Nantucket Affair

by Pamela M. Kelley

“I’m not worried. It will sell. It just might not be as fast as we’d hoped.”

  At eight thirty, Chase’s cell phone rang, and it was Lauren. He answered and put it on speakerphone so Lauren could hear.

  “So, I’m sorry to call so late, but I have good news. Really good news. I’m late calling because,” she paused dramatically, “I was waiting for a second offer! We have two good offers!” She went on to explain the details of the two offers. They were twenty thousand dollars apart, but the lower offer was a cash offer. They wouldn’t have to wait for the buyer to secure financing.

  “What else can you tell us about the buyers?” Beth asked.

  “Well, the cash offer is from an established couple here on the island and I think they want to buy it for one of their kids. The other offer is a young couple with a baby and it would be their first home. He works remotely for a big software company, and she works part time at Pacific National Bank on Main Street.

  “Well, that’s great news. Thank you. Beth and I will discuss and give you a call back.”

  He ended the call and turned to Beth. “So, what do you think? Kind of a no-brainer, right? Should I call Lauren back and say we’re taking the higher offer?” Beth wasn’t surprised that he immediately wanted to go with that offer. It was quite a bit more money.

  “Well, maybe. What if we asked her to counter-offer the cash people by twenty thousand and let them know we have another offer, but if they can do that we’ll take it?”

  “That’s not a bad idea at all. I like it. Best of both worlds.” Chase called Lauren back and she agreed to present the counteroffer to the cash buyers.

  They didn’t hear anything further until the next day at lunchtime. Chase and Beth were both in the office when Lauren called.

  “Bad news, I’m afraid. They rejected your counteroffer.”

  “Shoot. Did they come up at all?” Chase asked.

  “No, they said they are comfortable with the original offer and if it doesn’t work out, they saw another house they might go with. Discuss and call me back!”

  “So, we go with the higher offer, right? We could really use that twenty thousand.”

  Beth hesitated. She hated to say no to a cash offer as she’d seen so many real estate deals fall apart at the last minute. But still, twenty thousand was too much money to say no to.

  “Go ahead and call her back.”

  Chapter 24

  “I really can’t stand this thing.” Rhett scowled at the CPAP mask he was about to put on. It was his third night wearing it and so far, neither he or Lisa had slept much. He just wasn’t used to it and either had it on too tight or too loose, and ended up pulling it off in the middle of the night. Every time he struggled with it or got up, it woke Lisa, too. She was sleeping more lightly because she was worried about him getting sleep. Eventually, he’d get it back on and they’d both fall asleep again.

  Over breakfast Saturday morning before Lisa was heading off-island to go shopping, Rhett was in a rare grumpy mood.

  “I don’t think I’m ever going to get used to that thing. I might just take a break from it for a few days.”

  Lisa took a sip of her coffee and considered her words. “You could do that. But do you remember what the doctor said? That if it stays untreated, there is the possibility of sudden cardiac arrest. You could go to sleep and never wake up. If you don’t mind that, then by all means take a break. I would miss you, though, if anything happened. Just saying.”

  Rhett sighed. “I hate when you make perfect sense and I’m an idiot. Fine, I’ll wear the stupid thing.”

  “Did you give Peter a call like I suggested? He’s worn one for years and might set your mind at ease.”

  “No, I totally forgot. I will call him.” He topped off his coffee and sat back down. “How are bookings this week? Still steady?”

  Lisa pulled out her smartphone and searched for the Airbnb booking site.

  “It has been steady. I haven’t looked yet this morning to see if any new reservations came in.” The site loaded, and she was happy to see that the one vacant room she had left for the next day was just filled. She smiled and scrolled down to look at the newest reviews. There were three new ones. Two were five-star reviews, but best of all one of them was the one-star from the Laceys that was changed to a five.

  “Looks like maybe my strategy worked,” Lisa said.

  “What strategy is that?”

  “Well, remember that one-star review from the Laceys? Turns out the wife is a friend of Lillian’s that owns the Red Rose Bed and Breakfast. He said he was going to talk to his wife and have her change that review, but until today it was unchanged. But a few days ago, I referred some business to Lillian.”

  “Why on earth would you do that?”

  “Well, to service my customer, for one thing. The Hardys wanted to extend their stay on Nantucket, but their room was already booked after their initial end date. They wanted something similar, so I called Lillian to see if she had a room and she was surprised and appreciative of the referral. I told her I’d be happy to continue sending people her way if we were full.”

  “Oh, that was smart.”

  “I did casually drop mention of the review into the conversation too and how the husband was horrified but the wife had yet to change the review, which was such a disappointment. I didn’t mention that I knew they knew her. But it’s interesting how it immediately came down.”

  “Good. All is as it should be, then. All right, while you go shopping, maybe I’ll go try to take a nap and see if I can get that mask to cooperate.”

  Chapter 25

  Kristen called Andrew and told him that she was fine going by herself to pick up Tyler. She knew he would have to find someone to watch the gallery, and she thought it might be nice for them to have some time alone.

  She drove onto the Steamship Authority and settled in to read for a few hours until they reached Hyannis. It was hard for her to concentrate on the story, though, as her mind was whirling, going from excitement to see Tyler to worry about him staying sober. She wanted to support and help him as best as she could, but she wasn’t sure what that meant, what she could do. But she figured that going to the Al-Anon meetings would help her learn, and that she’d get support there for herself, too.

  Tyler was waiting downstairs when she arrived. He didn’t have much with him, just a giant duffle bag and his laptop. He smiled when he saw her, and her heart did a flip. He looked like the Tyler she’d first met, healthy and handsome. He’d had his hair cut just a little, and it looked good. And he was wearing a hunter green v-neck sweater that she’d given him. It brought out the green in his eyes. He pulled her in for a hug and a grateful kiss.

  “Thank you so much for coming. You have no idea how much I was looking forward to this day.”

  “Of course.” She smiled and gave him another quick kiss. “I’ve been looking forward to it a bit, too.”

  They chatted easily on the way back to Hyannis. Their conversation was light. Kristen filled him in on all the latest gossip, and he told her funny stories about his time at Murphy House. They stopped at Trader Joe’s in Hyannis to stock up on snacks that were much less expensive and not as available on the island. They had some time to kill before the ferry left, so they had a quick bite to eat at Tiki Port, Kristen’s favorite Chinese restaurant.

  Once they were on the boat, after chatting for a bit, Tyler started to yawn and Kristen suggested he take a nap while she read on her Kindle for a bit. This time, she was able to read instead of wondering about Tyler. She had a good feeling about him. He seemed like the Tyler she first met. And she was optimistic that the month-long stay gave him what he needed to stay sober. He’d been in touch with Scotty, and they were going to a meeting tonight. He wanted her to meet Scotty, finally, which she thought was a good step.

  Tyler woke as the boat pulled into the pier. Once it was fully docked, they drove home. She walked him home and showed him the refrigerator which she and Andrew had fully stocked with hea
lthy food—lots of veggies, fruit and bottled water. And ice cream.

  “You got my favorite flavor? Mint chocolate chip. You and Andrew, I owe you both so much.”

  Kristen wrapped her arms around him and hugged him close. “You don’t owe me a thing. I just want to do what I can to help you stay healthy and strong. You’re important to me.”

  He touched his lips gently to hers. “Do you have any idea how important you are to me? I was falling in love with you before this all happened and during my time away I realized that I am there. I’m totally in love with you, and I know I don’t deserve your love, but I wanted you to know that.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. Everyone deserves love. And I’ve more than fallen, too. I love you, Tyler, and I’m so glad you’re home.”

  It was almost four in the afternoon, and Kristen figured Tyler probably wanted to settle back in and get unpacked.

  “Do you want to come by for dinner in a while? I could make one of those kitchen sink pasta dishes that you like?”

  “I have a better idea. I think I saw some fresh haddock in the refrigerator. How about letting me cook for you? I can make a decent baked haddock and I have a fridge full of veggies to go with it.”

  Kristen laughed. “Okay, if you’re sure you’re up for it?

  “Why don’t you come by around five thirty? Scotty said he’d be by at seven to go to a meeting with me and I want to introduce you two.”

  “Perfect. I’ll see you then.”

  At five thirty sharp, Kristen knocked on Tyler’s door. He hollered for her to come in, and she stepped inside and took a deep breath. Something smelled wonderful, lots of butter and lemon. Her stomach growled in anticipation. Tyler was in the kitchen with the oven door open, checking the haddock.

  “It should be ready in a few minutes. What is that?”

  Kristen held out a bag of chocolate chip cookies. She had them in the freezer and took them out to thaw when she got home earlier.

  “Dessert. Leftover cookies.”

  “Excellent. Help yourself to whatever you want to drink. I’d offer you wine, but as you can imagine there’s none of that in the house.”

  “I don’t need wine. Water is perfectly fine.” Kristen set the cookies on the counter and grabbed a bottle of water. “Can I do anything to help?”

  “Sure. Do you want to find some salad dressing in the fridge? The salads are all set.” She found a bottle of Italian dressing and set it by the two salads.

  “Those are impressive.” The salads weren’t your typical garden salads. They were full of all kinds of interesting things—artichoke hearts, chick peas, sliced avocado, bits of blue cheese and crumbled bacon.

  “I like a good salad. And you guys put all this cool stuff in the fridge so we have to take advantage.”

  A few minutes later, Tyler pulled a sheet pan of roasted potatoes and baked haddock out of the oven.

  “Are those Ritz crackers?” She’d once told him that was the secret to her mother’s seafood stuffing.

  “Is there any other way? Butter, lemon and crushed Ritz crackers. I’ve made it a bunch of times now. It’s hard to screw up and is delicious.”

  They ate at Tyler’s island and it was almost like he’d never relapsed. She helped him clean up when they were done and as they were finishing up, there was a knock on the door and she realized it was probably Scotty, Tyler’s sponsor. As much as she wanted to meet him, it was also a reminder that Tyler had relapsed and even though he seemed perfectly fine now, it was going to take work to stay there.

  Scotty walked in holding a gallon of mint chocolate chip ice cream and handed it to Tyler. “Welcome home.”

  Tyler pulled him in for a quick hug. “Thank you.” He took the ice cream and put it next to the other gallon in the freezer.

  “Scotty, this is Kristen. Kristen, Scotty. You guys are two of the most important people in my life. I thought it was about time you met.”

  “It’s good to meet you. Tyler talks about you a lot.” Scotty reached out his hand and Kristen shook it. His hand was strong and calloused. She wasn’t sure what he did for work, but guessed it was something physical.

  “I’ve heard a lot about you, too.”

  “You’re Chase’s sister, right?”

  Kristen nodded.

  “I do some work with him from time to time. I’m an electrician.” He reached in his wallet and pulled out a business car and handed it to her. “My cell phone is on there, just in case you ever need to reach me for anything.” Tyler nodded as she took the car.

  “Hopefully you’ll never need to call Scotty or my brother about me again, but just in case.”

  “And on that note, we should head off to that meeting. Nice to meet you, Kristen.”

  “I’ll call you later.” Tyler gave her a quick kiss, and she walked out with them and headed home.

  Chapter 26

  A week before Chase and Beth were supposed to close with their buyers, Lauren called with some frustrating news. Chase had stopped into the office for lunch and thought Lauren was calling with good news and put her on speakerphone.

  “I’ve been dreading this call all day. I was hoping that a miracle would happen and they’d get it figured out, but your buyers just let me know that despite their pleading, the bank has declined to finance the mortgage for the house. They’re out.”

  “What about the other couple, that had the cash offer? Can we see if they might still be interested?” Beth asked.

  “Or should we do another open house? I hate to lose the twenty thousand,” Chase said.

  “We could do that, but there’re no guarantees we’ll get another offer that fast, let alone a cash offer. Realistically, you’re probably looking at another month or two at least unless that couple is still interested and you are willing to accept their offer.”

  Chase glanced at Beth and she nodded. She’d wanted to take the cash offer from the beginning.

  “Okay, please see if that couple is still interested,” Chase said.

  “Will do. Stay tuned..”

  “Well, that stinks. I thought we’d be closing next week.” Chase stood and crumpled his bag of chips and tossed it in the trash. “I’m going to head back out to the job site. I’ll keep you posted if Lauren calls.”

  Later that afternoon, Chase called with an update.

  “The cash buyers are out—they are closing on a different property next week. That could have been us.”

  Beth resisted the urge to say, “I told you so.”

  “So, Lauren will do another open house then? It’s a great property, I’m sure we’ll have more interest. Nothing we can do about it, except cross our fingers and hope Lauren can get it done again.”

  “Right. She said she’ll do one next Saturday so we’ll wait and see.”

  “The Nantucket Affair event is that night. Would be great to have something to celebrate.

  Saturday afternoon, after the open house, while Beth was being lazy on the living room sofa, clicking the remote and catching up on episodes of the reality show Bachelor in Paradise, Chase’s cell phone rang. He’d left it on the coffee table while he was in the shower. The water stopped as the phone rang and Beth saw from the caller ID that it was Lauren. She hollered for Chase to hurry. He ran out of the bathroom, wrapped in a towel and answered the phone on speaker.

  “Hi Lauren, please tell us you have good news?”

  “Well, I’m not calling with an offer, but I am calling to let you know that not one, not two, but three different clients said they are going to be making an offer. They all know there’s multiple interest, so they said they’d get back to me later today with specifics.”

  “That’s great news,” Beth said.

  “It is. And I think you might be pleasantly surprised by one of them, but I don’t want to get your hopes up so I’m not saying anything more until I have an official offer. Are you both going to be at A Nantucket Affair tonight?”

  “We are,” Chase answered for both of them.

 
; “Good. I’ll have my cell of course and if the offers come in the way we want them, maybe we’ll be drinking champagne!”

  Chapter 27

  “Curt really outdid himself this year. Everything looks stunning. And we got very lucky with the weather. It couldn’t be more perfect tonight.” Lisa took a sip of her chardonnay and gazed around the beach, where several huge white and gray tents were set up and what looked like hundreds of tables, all covered in snowy linens, flowers and vintage lanterns with candles inside. The dress was ‘creative black tie’ so there was a sea of gorgeous dresses on the women and distinguished suits on the men. Tuxedo clad waiters strolled by with silver platters of mouth-watering hors d’oeuvres.

  “He really did,” Sue agreed as she selected a mini-crab cake from one of the passing platters.

  “Did I hear my name?” Curt laughed as he finished talking with someone and turned toward Lisa, Sue and Paige. Rhett and Peter were off getting drinks and all of Lisa’s kids and their partners were floating around the event somewhere.

  “I was just saying you did a great job, Curt. This is lovely.”

  He beamed, and Lisa knew the compliment was appreciated. “Thank you. We had an excellent team, and it was a lot of fun to make it happen. Oh, will you ladies excuse me? I see someone I need to go talk to.”

  Lisa noticed that Curt gave Sue a quick kiss before he left them, and she’d also noticed lately that the vibe between them seemed different. They both looked happier.

  “Things seem good with you and Curt?”

  “They are much better. Going into the office helped, and brought us closer together. We’re both making more of an effort and have had a few date nights recently. I forgot how much fun dating used to be.” She smiled and Lisa was happy for her.

  “How’s Rhett doing with his mask? Is it getting any better? Peter mentioned he called a few weeks ago and was frustrated,” Paige asked.