Page 27 of The Cottage on Blueberry Bay

She held out her hands. “Please don’t do this just for me,” she said, wondering how much an hour the attorney charged.

He stopped when he opened the screen door, the hinges creaking as the rusted springs turned. “We all want to help.”

Meredith almost laughed at the idea that these perfect strangers would want to help her. They wanted something from her more likely, but she hushed herself because of the way Quinn Michaud looked at her. He was serious.

“Well, thank you,” she said. “But I just need to figure this all out. I don’t plan on staying more than a night or two.”

CHAPTER11

Quinn pounded twice on Kyle’s door, then opened it. There on his bed lay his son, with his earbuds stuffed into his ears.

“What?” his son shouted, not shutting off whatever he was listening to.

Teenagers, thought Quinn. “Turn off your music.”

With an eye roll, Kyle did what he was told. His only son had his moments, but overall, he was a very good boy.

“I need your help with something,” he said, not giving the details yet.

“What is it?” Kyle grumbled.

Quinn silently groaned inside his head because he knew he’d get a hard time from his son. “I need to get Jacob’s house cleaned up. Just enough for someone to stay the night.”

“Like, clean toilets?” Kyle scrunched his face as if he already had his hand down a drain.

“No, I’ll take care of the bathrooms, though it wouldn’t hurt if you did clean some toilets around here,” he said.

“What do I need to do?” Kyle cut him off.

“I’ll probably need help with moving things around,” Quinn said. He knew Jacob had his idiosyncrasies, the way he lived being one of them. “I need you to run some errands.”

Quinn handed him his credit card. “Run to the hardware store and get a couple boxes of heavy-duty trash bags and all the cleaning supplies you can.”

Kyle nodded, taking the card. “Anything else?”

“Grab dinner from Parker’s.” Quinn would probably regret all this wining and dining. “Enough for four.”

Kyle made a face.

“We’re inviting our new neighbor,” Quinn said.

“Must be some neighbor,” Kyle said.

Quinn looked out Kyle’s bedroom window, which faced Jacob’s place. The woman had been sitting on the porch talking into her phone since he’d left her. He wondered if she was calling her fancy attorney in the city or setting up appointments with real estate developers. She would be crazy if she weren’t. The property alone was worth selling.

Why hadn’t Jacob made the land conservation when he’d had the chance? He could’ve given the house to his daughter but saved the land for the community.

Quinn had no faith that this woman would do right by Jacob. She obviously had been hurt by him. And could he blame her? Being a parent himself, he couldn’t imagine choosing to never see Kyle. All the things that Lisa missed with Kyle haunted him at night.

“Where did Gram go?” Kyle asked, grabbing his phone from the bed.

“She’s out gathering the ladies.” Quinn watched as Ms. Johnson stuck her phone in her back pocket.

“That’s Jacob’s daughter?” Kyle said, and so loudly, Quinn saw Ms. Johnson turn to face the window.

“Yes.” Quinn stepped away from the window.

“She doesn’t look like him at all,” Kyle said.

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