Page 22 of Wishes at Water's Edge
Jacob glanced behind him, saying, “Umm,” as if he was trying to delay answering the question. “I’m looking to make some repairs in it. It’s still in good shape even though it’s been empty.”
“But—” She frowned in confusion. “Who asked you to make repairs? If the house doesn’t belong to anyone—or did someone buy it?”
“Uh, no, it hasn’t been sold.” Jacob stammered a bit as he answered. “But this house needs to be fixed up at some point, so I was asked to assess what needs to be done to it.”
“Oh.” She smiled. That made a great deal of sense. If it hadn’t been for the odd way he was behaving, she wouldn’t have given the matter another thought. “And it looks pretty good?”
“Yeah, I’d say so. Some things need to be repaired, but they’re the kind of things that would have needed fixing even if people still lived in there. There’s a plumbing issue with the upstairs bathroom sink, and there’s a crack in one of the windows downstairs, but that’s pretty much it.”
“Oh, good.” She smiled. “Are you done here then?”
“Yeah.” He turned around and gave the house an almost wistful smile. “For now… yeah, for now I’m done here.”
“Okay.” The wheels of her mind were turning. The answer he’d given her was a perfectly reasonable explanation, but she still felt a bit suspicious about his behavior. Why had he been acting strangely flustered again?
For a moment, she considered coming right out and asking him about it, but then she decided that she was reading too much into things and she should give it a rest.
“I’ll see you later,” she said, wrapping her arms around him and giving him a kiss. “For dinner?”
“I wouldn’t miss it.” He gave her another peck on the lips, grinning like nothing in the world was wrong.
Dean was right,she thought.I’m making this into a big deal when it isn’t anything at all. Right?
“Bye. Have a good day today.”
“You too, sweetheart! It was so nice to bump into you. Have an amazing day at work.”
They smiled and waved to each other as they went their separate ways on the sidewalk. Hazel continued to stroll toward the doctor’s office, but now, instead of the beautiful day, herthoughts were on Jacob and his odd behavior. Try as she might to think about something else, the encounter stayed on her mind for the rest of the day.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Julia sipped the steaming hot latte that she’d just purchased from Ocean Breeze Café and let a ripple of contentment go through her. She was walking to The Lighthouse Grill for work, and she found it to be a delightful morning. It was colder than it had been in a long time, but she was bundled up pleasantly against the cold.
A dead leaf scuttled across the sidewalk in a gust of wind. She glanced up at the oak tree that overshadowed her path, noting that although many of its leaves were just starting to turn colors, some of them had fully completed the process already and were beginning to fall from the tree.
I guess sometimes, some things are ready before other things are,she thought with a sigh.It’s inconvenient when those things are involved in planning a wedding.
She bit her lip as she thought about Turtle Dove Hall. She hadn’t received any updates from Lindsay or Jacob, and she knew that if Cooper had gotten any, he would have shared them with her. She realized that she was close by to the wedding venue, and that if she stopped there before she went to The Lighthouse Grill, she would still be able to get to work on time.
She wondered if she even wanted to know about the state of the wedding venue. She dreaded hearing more bad news, but at the same time she couldn’t resist the temptation to investigate.
She turned a corner and saw the beautiful old building gleaming in the morning sunlight. She looked at it wistfully as she made her way up the steps and gingerly pushed open the front doors.
Her footsteps echoed softly as she stepped inside the vast space. She could smell a damp, almost musty smell, and she knew that didn’t bode well. The floor had been cleaned, but when she looked up at the ceiling, she saw that it was still peeling. The walls, too, were now showing signs of water damage.
She was beginning to think that no one else was there, but then she noticed Jacob’s tool backpack and a slew of supplies on the floor near where the damaged vintage-inspired wallpaper was being torn off, presumably for repairs.
She didn’t see Jacob, and she was about to pull her out cellphone to call him, when she saw him and another person step into the main room from one of the side doorways. At first, Julia assumed the other person was Lindsay, but then she saw that it was Hazel.
Hazel was speaking to Jacob in an animated way as he walked back to his work station. They were holding hands, but they didn’t seem to be united over their topic of conversation.
“And I think that adding an accent wall of green wallpaper to the living room will make that wall of frames look even better, don’t you?” Hazel’s tone was eager and cheerful, but she watched Jacob’s face with concern, as if she was worried about what his reaction was going to be.
“Uh, I mean, it could. Potentially.” Jacob gave her a half-hearted smile as he crouched down amidst his supplies, looking for a tool.
“Don’t you like green?” Hazel asked, looking disappointed by his reaction.
“I like green fine.”
