Page 29 of Summer Longing
“The house is perfection,” Ruth said, trying to keep her voice low too. “I adore it. I have to ask: Are you considering selling? Because if you are, I’m very interested.Very.”
Fern looked surprised. “Oh. That’s interesting, but no, we aren’t considering selling.”
Ruth nodded. She had not expected Fern to say,Great, write me a check and let’s do this.She considered even this preliminary conversation to be progress.
Fern turned her back, readying the tea. When she handed Ruth the hot cardboard cup, sweet steam rising from an opening in the lid, she said, “Again, thanks for your patience.”
“No problem,” Ruth said, although truly, it was. But she didn’t want to make too big a fuss. She had her eye on the bigger picture.People sell to people they like.
Holding her cup of masala chai, she walked to the shelves and scanned the silver tins, each wrapped in a navy-blue ribbon and labeled.
“Expensive, aren’t they?” said the woman in black, appearing beside her and shaking her head.
“Well, quality things often are,” said Ruth.
“I guess if you’re looking to buy a house around here, money isn’t an object.”
Ruth turned away, thinking the woman was just one of the town’s eccentrics. She selected a blend labeledSTRAWBERRY MEADOWSand carried it to the counter. “I’ll take this too.”
Chapter Thirteen
Elise had heard about the sleepless nights from her friends with newborns, but it was something else entirely to experience them. Waking up every few hours left her mentally fragmented in a way her college all-nighters hadn’t. And yet, she had never felt more fulfilled than she did in those bleary-eyed, predawn moments when she pulled Mira from her bassinet, held her little body close, and tried to rock away her tears while she warmed a bottle.
It was the workday that was unbearable. The town’s weekend population had ballooned from pleasantly bustling to downright crowded. It was not, perhaps, the best time for Fern to be away from the store. But Jaci’s offer to introduce Fern to her friend at the Boston Seaport farmers’ market had proved too tempting to resist.
“I have to check it out,” Fern said. “This could lead to secondary revenue streams.”
Fine, that was hard to argue with, but it also left her to deal with both the shop and Mira alone—the latter of which, she knew, was a situation of her own making.
Elise packed up a diaper bag filled with supplies, strapped Mira into the car seat on wheels, and walked out the front gate toward the Beach Rose Inn. Rachel, that angel, had agreed to babysit for the day.
“Elise, hey—I was just coming to talk to you.”
Elise looked up to see Brian Correia. Brian was a Provincetown native, the great-grandson of a fisherman and a second-generation police officer. Brian’s wife, Beth, owned a bakery in the center of town. Fern and Elise had met the couple their first summer here at one of the Barroses’ many parties.
“Oh, hey, Brian. What’s up?”
Preoccupied with the logistics of her day, Elise didn’t realize for a moment that Brian was looking at Mira—and that this was not a social call.
When she figured out what was going on, she could barely breathe. But she told herself that it was crucial to act normally, that Brian was law enforcement but he was also a friend.
“Can we go inside and talk?” he said, glancing back at Shell Haven.
“Is everything okay?” she said, her voice an octave too high.
“That’s what I’m here to check out. The station got a call about a newborn who doesn’t seem to have parents in town.” He looked down at Mira. “Is this a relative of yours or Fern’s?”
Elise swallowed hard. It was one thing to keep a secret; it was another thing entirely to tell a blatant lie. She wanted to be honest with Brian, but he would have no choice but to take Mira away from her. So instead, she would have to tell a version of the truth.
“No,” she said. “She’s not ours. But we’re in the process of trying to adopt her.”
“Oh!” he said. “That’s great news. Beth and I know how much you two have wanted to start a family.”
Tears came to her eyes, mostly of relief that the conversation was out of treacherous territory.
“We do.”
“I didn’t mean to upset you,” he said.
