Page 86 of Sunsets at the Beach House

Margo wrapped the breakables in dishtowels to keep them safe. From the kitchen, she took her oldest cookbook, mostly because she thought Claire might like to have it. She slowly walked through the rest of her house, taking pride in the fact that there was very little nonsense in it.

She didn’t like clutter and, as result, had nearly zero. Although perhaps the magazines could use sorting. Most of them were never going to get read, so they might as well go into the recycling. That, however, would require taking the bin out and as she wouldn’t be here to return it to her garage, it couldn’t happen. The magazines would just have to stay where they were.

She stopped in front of a group of framed photos on the wall. One of them was a wedding picture of Bryan and Claire.

The wedding had been nice enough, but her strongest memory of the day was the speech Bryan’s best man had given, in which he’d said he hoped “everything worked out.” What sort of a thing was that to say at a wedding?

Unless he’d known Bryan was incapable of being faithful.

With a frustrated hmph, she frowned at the picture, wondering how her daughter was getting on being back in that house. She hoped Claire was doing all right. Margo imagined that having Danny and Kat there was a big help. They would steer her in a different direction if she started to go down a bad path.

Conrad came back into the house, rubbing his hands together. “Boxes are in the car. What else have you got for me?”

“Not much. Just one more box.”

He made a face. “Seriously?”

She shrugged. “I am not an overly sentimental person, Conrad. I don’t keep every little thing that comes my way.”

“Well, I hope you keep me.”

She laughed. “You’re not a little thing, though, are you?”

He grinned. “No, I am not.” He looked around. “No photo albums? No folders full of the kids’ artwork?”

“I have some of those things, but I don’t need to bring them with me.”

He gave her a look that said she was being foolish. “And what if the house burns down? Or the movers lose them? Or there’s a flood?”

“Are you going to name every possible worst-case scenario that could happen?”

“Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. That’s the military way. I’m just saying, wouldn’t you rather have them with you?”

“What makes you think your garage couldn’t be the site of some natural disaster just as easily?”

“True. It could happen. But the chances are better there that I’d be home and able to get to them in time to save them.”

Smirking lightly, she acquiesced. He had an answer for everything. She supposed that was one of the reasons she enjoyed his company so much. “All right. I’ll pack up a couple more things.”

In the end, she only managed two more boxes, but that seemed to satisfy Conrad. After he put them in his car, she closed up the house and they drove off to Claire’s to see what they could help with there. It was nice to be behind the wheel of her own vehicle again, but she missed Conrad’s company.

Not surprisingly, Claire’s house was a hub of activity, with cars parked along the street in both directions. They each found a spot, got out, and walked to the house together.

Conrad shook his head. “I don’t think they’re going to need us.”

“They might not. In fact, we might just be in the way. But I promised we’d come, so we at least need to check in.”

“Agreed. Who knows? Maybe we could take a few boxes with us. Although they do have that rental truck.”

“Whatever they need,” Margo said.

The garage door was up, so they went in that way. Danny was on the top rungs of a ladder, taking boxes off the highest shelf.

“Hello,” Margo called out.

He looked down, smiling. “Hey, there. Claire’s in her bedroom if you’re looking for her.”

“Thank you.” Margo gestured to Conrad and introduced him. “This is Conrad, my boyfriend. I don’t think you’ve met him yet.” She smiled at Conrad. “This is Danny Rojas, our next-door neighbor. He and Claire are starting the bakery together.”

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