Page 5 of The Beach Cottage
“Just a coincidence. He finished up the construction project he was working on, and I’m taking some time off between jobs, so I thought I’d come home for a while.”
“I bet your mum is happy to see you.”
He shrugged. “I guess. She’s never really happy these days, but I wanted to see her anyway.”
Rob stood waiting by the door, tapping at something on his phone screen. He looked up in surprise at the two of them as they approached.
“What on earth?”
“We had an incident,” Rowan replied.
“I can see that. Quite the welcome there, sis.” Rob shook his head. “I’d give you a hug, but…”
Her brother was tall and muscular. He wore a perpetually mischievous smile, and his personality matched the smile to perfection.
“Why’d you bring him?” she asked, dipping her head in Rowan’s direction while she fished in her pocket for keys.
“Nice manners,” Rowan replied.
“Come on—it’s time to bury the hatchet. Don’t you think?” Rob said.
She unlocked the door. “He humiliated me in front of the entire school. It’s not something you forget.”
“It was twenty-five years ago,” Rowan objected. “You can’t still hold that against me.”
He had a point. Perhaps it was time for her to let it go and move on. After all, they’d both been teenagers at the time, and she was ready to admit she’d done more than a few silly and thoughtless things as a teen. She’d decided to weed the drama out of her life lately, to become more mature and to grow as a person. She read somewhere that’s what people did in their forties, and since she’d passed the halfway mark in that decade, she figured it was time she took the plunge herself. “Fine, I suppose I can put it behind me. It was a long time ago.”
“Finally. Thank you.” Rowan grinned. “Of course, now I’ll have this roll in the mud to hold over your head for the rest of time. Anyhoo, I’m going to head home and grab a shower and a change of clothes. Lovely to see you as always, Pen.”
He gave a mock bow and walked away. Penny watched him go, agape. She never could think of a retort when Rowan was around. It was as though all the clever words floated right out of her head and there was only a big, wide blank space between her ears.
“He still gets under your skin, I see,” Rob said.
She shook her head. “Not at all. I’m perfectly at ease.”
He laughed and leaned over to kiss the only clean spot on her forehead. “It’s good to see you again, sis. I’ve missed you.”
Three
There was one thing in Beatrice’s life that was working out the way she’d intended. Her marriage might have fallen apart, her children had left home, her boyfriend had broken up with her, but her brand-new business venture was taking shape, and a buzz of excitement sent her heart into a flutter any time she thought about it.
The renovations on the café were going to plan. She loved the look of the place. It was attached to the side of Eveleigh’s Books, a small boutique bookshop run by one of her best high school friends. And with the addition of the café, they were both hoping business would boom. There was a decided lack of decent coffee on the island, and Bea intended to fill that gap.
The bookshop was long and thin, with a set of stairs at the entrance. It was built in a style of timber that was reminiscent of old wooden docks, just as the attached café was. It’d been painted in blues and whites, with natural timber shining through in places as well. And there was an old ship’s wheel attached to the front of the shop. Bea wondered if it confused customers who were looking for books, but the bookshop seemed to do a roaring trade, so people must’ve found it without too much difficulty.
Her contractor was almost finished, and Bea was helping out by oiling the hardwood bench in the newly renovated kitchen. She pushed her hair back behind her shoulders and sighed. A bead of sweat trickled down the side of her face beneath the scarf wrapped around her hair. The February heat was getting to Bea. She’d managed to survive an entire summer on the island with plenty of dips in the ocean and lots of evening walks along the beach in the ocean breeze, but the humidity the past week had been unbearable.
“It’s looking good in here.” Eveleigh poked her head around a drop cloth separating the bookshop from the café. Her shiny red hair swung ahead of her shoulders, her fringe dangling across her large brown eyes. Usually she wore it in tight curls, today it was straight.
“Thanks. I think so too. I’m really excited about how everything’s coming together.”
“I’m making coffee. Would you like one?” Evie’s invitation came at the perfect time. Bea’s back ached, her knees were sore from squatting and bending so much, and her head was light since she’d forgotten to eat lunch.
She wiped her hands on the apron around her waist and set down her paintbrush. “That would be great.”
Bea followed Evie into the small kitchen behind the bookshop and sat at the round table while Evie got to work making coffees for both of them. There was a clean cloth draped over a cake in the centre of the table, and Evie pulled it back. “Hummingbird cake?”
“Wow. You made this? It looks delicious.”
