Page 103 of The Cottage on Blueberry Bay

Her father always thought of everyone’s feelings. Remy would want to be there too.

They drove up the hill, past the Congregational Church, then the fire station. When she took a left, following the shore, Gordon rolled down the window.

“This is what I remember.” He inhaled a deep breath.

Meredith took in the familiar briny scent, and she suddenly couldn’t wait to get back to the cottage.

They drove down Blueberry Bay Lane to the very end, where The Cottage by the Sea sat.

“She made a sign!” Meredith squealed out as she pulled up to the cottage.

Hanging above the door, a sign read, “Legîteen bord de Mer.”

“It’s perfect!” she said as she got out of the car, meeting Remy at the front door. “I love it!”

“I knew you would,” Remy said. “Wait until you see what Greg and I did in the barn for the auction.”

They brought Gordon around the cottage, showing him each of the rooms and explaining what they had done to clean it out and make it look the way it did.

“It was mostly Remy,” Meredith said.

“You did all the planning and organizing,” Remy said.

All three retreated to the back porch as Remy pulled dinner out of the oven.

“I made pulled pork with a blueberry chutney sauce.” Remy closed her eyes and sniffed in the aroma. “It’s absolutely delicious.”

They ate at the table they had brought out to the porch and talked about the auction tomorrow.

“Quinn and Kyle have been a godsend,” Remy said. “It’s too bad about Quinn’s new job being so far away.”

“What?” Meredith said.

“Yeah, he moved to be closer to the firm in Portland. I thought you knew?” Remy looked confused.

Meredith put her fork down. “I knew he was going, but not so soon. What about Kyle?”

“I guess Quinn’s going to come home on the weekends so Kyle can finish his senior year here with his friends.” Remy shrugged. “I don’t know the whole story because things have been just crazy, but he just moved out a few days ago.”

Meredith couldn’t believe it. Quinn had left Blueberry Bay?

When Meredith woke up the next morning, she felt a rejuvenation from a good night’s sleep that she hadn’t felt back at the house in Andover. She had missed waking up to the gentle lull of the waves and the soft rays lighting up her room.

As she got dressed, she unpacked some of her things from her luggage, putting her clothes into drawers and in the closet, and she started thinking about incorporating some of the things she had kept from the Andover house into the cottage and start making ither cottage.

She went downstairs, noticing Gordon and Remy were still asleep.

As she walked by the coffee maker, she turned it on and went to grab a glass of water. She stood at the sink, looking out the window at the water, wondering if the auction would go as Remy believed.

Something caught her eye off in the distance, and she saw Quinn walking the path to the beach. She almost went out the door to follow him, ask him about the move, but she stopped herself. He wasn’t expecting her. He might not even know she was in town. He hadn’t texted or called after she had left.

Why was she going to chase after him?

“Hey, sugarplum,” Gordon said, walking into the kitchen.

“Hey, Dad.” She walked to the coffee machine and pulled out a few mugs from the cabinet. “Do you want cream or milk?”

“Cream if you’ve got it,” he said, walking to the door and looking out its window to the back porch. “I’m going to take it outside.”

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