Page 72 of Sunsets at the Beach House

“Do you think I’m the right woman?”

His mouth lifted in a lopsided smile. “For me or for Dinah?”

“For you. Pardon my French, but I don’t give a flying fig what your sister thinks, no matter how much of a saint you believe her to be.”

He laughed. “Yes, I think you’re very much the right woman for me. You’re probably the only one I’ve ever known who is capable of standing up to her. But I don’t want there to be trouble. Dinah’s not a bad person.”

“I’m sure she’s not. But it seems to me no one’s ever given her any boundaries. You in particular.” Margo couldn’t say there wouldn’t be trouble, because that might be a lie. She wasn’t about to let this woman push her around. Or Conrad. Not while Margo was there to do something about it. “You deserve to live the life you want, Conrad.”

“I know. And I understand what you’re saying about giving Dinah boundaries. I’m not so sure they’d mean anything to her. She does what she wants.”

“Because she’s been allowed to. Running roughshod over people isn’t any way to behave.” Margo could feel herself getting worked up. She took a few breaths. “Look, I like you very much. What we have is clearly something special. I will be kind and civilized to your sister, without question. But her opinions about your life don’t matter to me. Only your opinions do, because you’re the one I’m involved with.”

“I appreciate that.”

She hesitated before saying anything, because it seemed like he wasn’t done. “Sounded to me like you had more to say.”

“Just that…” He shook his head. “I wish she wasn’t coming.”

Margo had to ask her next question, if for no other reason than her own peace of mind. “And if she tells you that I’m not right for you or tries to run me off, what are you going to do then?”

He took his eyes off the road for a second to look at her. “I’m not giving up that easy. I am a Marine, after all.”

“Good,” Margo said. Call it women’s intuition, but she didn’t think it was going to be quite that simple.

Willie and Miguel were back at Dunes West and sitting in one of the big conference rooms. They’d been given drinks. Willie had asked for and received a mocha latte, which wasn’t as good as Java Jams’, but was still pretty tasty, so she was impressed. Miguel had a regular coffee. And a plate of cookies, mostly nice ones, had been brought in.

Willie had eaten two of them so far. A little powdered sugar-covered one that was barely more than a bite. It was buttery and melted in her mouth. Very nice. And a small chocolate chip cookie that, unfortunately, contained walnuts. Not so nice.

They were meeting with the exterior people. Landscaping, hardscaping, waterscaping. So much ’scaping.

Miguel, who seemed to know a lot more about landscaping than Willie had ever imagined, was pointing to the survey of their lot, and talking about plants and trees and how the driveway should be.

None of that really mattered to Willie, so long as it looked nice and was easy enough to maintain. Something that would be done by a yard company, not her or Miguel. Her days of working outside were over. If Miguel wanted to putter, that was fine, but the bulk of the work would be hired out.

What she would say something about was the backyard living space. She wanted a good pool, a nice hot tub, plenty of shaded space, a summer kitchen, a firepit, maybe even a swinging seat, and plenty of the right kind of lighting.

She liked those fancy bulbs that people strung around in long strands. They were romantic and not too bright. The best romantic lighting never was. Everyone looked better in candlelight and that was the opposite of bright.

She popped half of another cookie into her mouth. This one was sort of long and covered in white chocolate with multicolored sprinkles. Not bad.

“What do you think?” Miguel asked her.

She shrugged and pointed at her mouth, then held up one finger while she chewed. She took a drink of her mocha latte to wash down the crumbs. “I think you know a lot more than I do about landscaping. If you’re happy, I’m happy. When do we talk about the pool and the backyard?”

He smiled. “Next. But do you want flowering things? Or more green? Or variegated plants?”

“I like color,” she said. “Flowers are nice, but they only last so long. I like something that’s easy to maintain. And like I said, if it makes you happy, I know I’ll like it.”

“Okay.” He looked at the man jotting down notes. “Put in some of those variegated crotons in the front and I’d definitely like some nice palms lining the driveway. I’d like some hedges at the property lines for privacy, too.”

The man, who Willie thought was named Peter or Paul or something else that sounded like an Apostle, nodded. “For the driveway, we can do some fishtail palms. Those have beautiful, fringed branches that will give you a lot of visual interest.”

“Sounds good,” Miguel said. “I like those. Very pretty.”

“For the property lines, there’s a lot to choose from. When we get closer to that point, you’re welcome to meet me at the nursery and hand-select what you like.”

“Really?” Miguel’s eyes lit up. “I would like that very much.”

---