Page 36 of The Cottage on Blueberry Bay

He nodded. “Sure.”

Meredith turned and walked down the driveway and took the long way back to Jacob’s place.

His heart sank as Ginny smiled when he walked back into the house.

“So? What did she say?” Ginny asked.

“She’s going to sell.” Quinn just said it.

Ginny’s smile dropped. “What?”

Kyle shut off the water. “Can’t we buy it?”

Quinn laughed at his son’s naivety. “We don’t have that kind of money.”

Quinn needed to work for a Something, Something, and Associates, to afford that property, not a one-man show whose biggest client was dead.

“Let’s not freak out yet,” Quinn said. “I mean, she may find a buyer who wants what we do.”

“To keep a million-dollar piece of property a blueberry field?” Kyle said, rolling his eyes.

With each of her grandson’s words, Ginny’s expression of worry deepened in the lines on her face.

“It’s not the end of the world,” Quinn said. “This is just a piece of property. We’ll be fine.”

Ginny sat down at the table, rubbing the wood under her hand. “This is more than just a piece of property.”

Quinn didn’t want to speculate. “Maybe someone will buy it as a farm. Let’s not worry yet.”

To Ginny, Jacob’s property was more than just a blueberry field. It was tradition. A piece of land that tied a community together. It was a way of life that would immediately change if Meredith sold.

“What if we help her find a buyer that wants to keep the place?” he said aloud but not sure why. Who would want to buy a dilapidated, centuries-old cape?

The rest of the night, Quinn stayed awake thinking of business ideas to pitch to Meredith before she left.

Could it be turned into a quaint bed-and-breakfast? Could she turn it into a wedding venue? Could a fine art museum buy it for Jacob’s work?

With every idea that came to Quinn, so did all the ways it wouldn’t work.

Just when the dust had finally seemed to settle in his life, now this.

Worst-case scenario, she would sell to some developer, and the whole place would be torn down, ripped apart, and built on. Blueberry Bay would be a place known for the blueberries they once had.

There weren’t many places like Blueberry Bay left in Maine, where the coastline hadn’t been touched like Jacob’s property.

And there were plenty of people who wanted to get their hands on Jacob’s property, no matter the consequences to the landowners around them.

As he watched the nightly news with Ginny, he peeked through the windows to Jacob’s, noticing the lights were still on.

How could this day have gone so bad so quickly?

If he had known she was going to show up, he would have asked permission to clean the house and get it ready for her.

“I’m sorry I messed up,” he said to Ginny. “I should’ve stayed down there in Massachusetts and told her about everything.”

“How would you know she’d react this way?” Ginny said. “Jacob had been a pretty lousy father.”

“I just can’t imagine him choosing that for himself.” Quinn still couldn’t believe Jacob, who loved Kyle so much, would choose not to know his own daughter.

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