Page 32 of Rebuilding Friendship Inn

“I actually like Liam,” she said. “It’s kind of a pretty-boy name, though. You think?”

He shrugged and said, “I have no idea. What I do know is all this talk about babies and names and you quitting your job has me starving.” He grinned and got out of the car. He jogged around to help her, and since she was big and slow and cumbersome, she’d only opened the door and gotten her legs out before he arrived.

He helped her up and kept her hands in his. Laurel faced Chips, which was one of their favorite fast-casual fish shops here on Diamond Island. “You’re really okay with me not going back to work?” she asked.

“Yes, Laurel,” he said, and she knew he was serious when he used her name. He usually called her “hon,” or “sweetheart” or “baby” or even “my love.” When he used her name, she never doubted him.

“I haven’t decided for sure,” she said. “I just wanted to talk to you about it.”

“I think you’re right.” He reached to open the door to Chips, and he held it as she went into the blessed air conditioning first. “If you’re going back, we better figure out child care.”

“Yeah.” She didn’t want to do that, and deep down, she’d already decided. Now, she just needed to talk to Aaron and go over the finances with Paul so she could sleep better at night.

ChapterTwelve

Clara looked up from the newly installed countertop as the door to Friendship Inn opened. She expected to see Tessa Simmons enter, and she did. The woman had shoulder-length, dark brown hair, a quick smile, and a good, hardworking spirit.

She came to the inn a few mornings each week, and she worked incredibly hard. With her help, over the past few weeks, Clara and Scott had managed to clean out the administrative offices, get the new furniture and fixtures installed, and have a functional office space in the inn.

Outside, Scott had been working with the construction crews to get the debris off the property. They still had a long way to go, but every day the piles got a little smaller. The inn was structurally sound now, at least on the north side. It would need to be refinished once all the debris was gone, and Scott had been working with a landscape architect friend back in Montpelier to design the green space they’d put where that half of the inn had been.

“Good morning,” she said to Tessa. She straightened from the counter, where she’d been leaning over, studying the list of things that needed to be done next.

It felt like the list would never be finished, and after she’d spoken to Eloise for only a few minutes, Clara had realized it wouldn’t be. Ever. Eloise had opened the Cliffside Inn a couple of years ago, and she still had a monster-long to-do list every single day.

It’ll consume you, Eloise said.You have to find a way for it not to do that.

Clara didn’t know how to do that, at least right now.

She didn’t know how to get a restaurant to come into the spaces she had. All the emails and phone calls she’d put out had either gone unanswered or the answer had been no, thanks.

Friendship Island was hard to get to, they said.

The space doesn’t fit our needs, she’d heard.

We’re not looking to expand to such a small market, one manager had told her.

Her spirits existed about an inch off the floor, especially when Tessa said, “They didn’t come fix the stairs,” her eyes stuck on the huge, could-be-beautiful staircase that led up to the second floor from the back of the lobby.

Clara followed her gaze. “No,” she said, sudden tension in her jaw. “I got the same thing as yesterday. ‘We’ll be there tomorrow.’”

Tessa looked at her. “Maybe you need to find someone else.”

“Maybe.” Clara didn’t knowwho.She hadn’t lived in Five Island Cove for decades, and she didn’t have the connections other business owners may have had. She’d talked to Eloise for a few minutes, but she didn’t want to bother the woman. She’d asked for stories about Friendship Inn and Island, and lots of her mother’s girls had said they’d talk to her.

She hadn’t followed up. That had never happened.

She wasn’t sure why she was sabotaging herself, but it sure felt like she was. Clara instantly pushed against that idea, because why would someone make their own life harder?

“Are we going up to the second level?” Tessa asked. She gathered her hair into a blunt ponytail at the nape of her neck and secured it with a black elastic band.

“No,” Clara said. “The stairs are unsafe, and there’s no working elevator.” She didn’t even want to talk about how much an elevator cost. Not only that, but in order to get a grant to pay for it, she had to request and receive and turn in three current bids. With all the construction happening on Five Island Cove right now, bids changed every day, it seemed, and Clara had started to think perhaps she should just pay for the elevator instead of trying to get the grant.

“So the second café space today,” Tessa said. She turned toward the left corner of the space, and Clara watched the disappointment roll across her face. To her credit, Tessa wiped it away before she looked at Clara again. “I’ll get the cart. Is Lena here today?”

“I left her with my mother,” Clara said. “They went walking with AJ and Jean, and then Jean is going to do some private sewing lessons with Lena.”

“Oh, that’s fantastic.” Tessa seemed like she really thought so too. She was warm and genuine, if a bit distant sometimes too. She definitely got in a groove of working, and she didn’t need to talk to anyone while she did.

---