Page 7 of A Brambleberry Summer

She immediately regretted her words, especially when Wyatt raised a skeptical eyebrow.

“Your house seems sad.”

Logan giggled. “Houses can’t be sad. They’re just houses.”

She shrugged. “This is no ordinary house. I think you will find that after you have been here a few nights. Come. I will show you your apartment.”

She did not wait for a response, but simply walked up the front steps and into the entryway.

“There are three levels of the house with three apartments, one taking up each level. We share the foyer. We try to keep the outside door locked for the security of our residents. I will give you the code, as well as the key.”

She was even more vigilant about that right now for Jen’s sake.

Wyatt nodded. “Makes sense.”

“Your apartment has a separate key. It is on the ground floor. I live on the top floor. If you have any questions or problems, you can find me there or at the store.”

“My sister told me you have another new tenant on the second floor.”

Rosa’s protective instincts flared. “This is true. Her name is Jen Ryan. She lives there with her daughter, Addie, who is six.”

“I don’t believe I know her.”

It was one thing for Wyatt to look atherwith suspicion. She could not let him turn his police detective’s scrutiny toward Jen.

“Jen and Addie only moved here a short time ago from Utah. She is a friend of mine from university.”

“Ah. That must be why her name doesn’t ring a bell. What brought her to Cannon Beach?”

Rosa’s hackles rose. Jen did not need all these questions. It would not do for Wyatt to become too curious. “She works for me. She was looking for a change and I needed someone to help me at the gift store.”

He nodded. “Guess I haven’t been in for a while or I might have met her already.”

He hadn’t been in ever, as far as she could remember. But then, Wyatt Townsend was not the sort to buy shell wind chimes or lighthouse-shaped knickknacks.

“I can introduce you after I show you your apartment, if you would like.”

“Sure.”

Better to get their introduction out of the way. With luck, Wyatt could then forget about Jen.

She would have to send a text to Jen to warn her before showing up at her door with a police detective.

She had already told the other woman about the new tenant moving in. As she had expected, Jen had been both apprehensive and relieved, for a complex mix of reasons.

“This house is big,” Logan exclaimed, looking up at the grand entry stairway, one of Rosa’s favorite parts of Brambleberry House.

She smiled, in full agreement. “Yes. Each apartment has at least two bedrooms and two bathrooms. And each has a lovely view of the ocean.”

She unlocked the first-floor apartment and swung open the door. Immediately, the sweet scent of freesia drifted through the air.

It wasn’t unusual to smell flowers at random places in the house. She knew her aunt Anna and Sage Spencer believed the ghost of the previous owner still walked the halls.

Abigail Dandridge had died a decade ago and left the house jointly to Anna and Sage. She had been dear friends to them and also had left Anna By-The-Wind, the gift shop in town that Rosa was a part owner of and now running.

All the old-timers in town still remembered Abigail with fondness. Hardly a week went by when someone did not come into the shop with a memory of Abigail.

Rosa wished she could have known her. She also wanted to be the sort of person whom people remembered with such fondness.

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