Page 106 of The Cottage on Blueberry Bay

“Muriel got lost seven times,” Ryan had complained.

“Oh my goodness, you’d think he’d be happy since he didn’t have to pay for any of the gas,” Muriel had shot back.

“It’s good to see you guys!” Meredith had said, hugging each of her children a little tighter and longer than usual.

During the auction, Meredith and the family sat on the side of the barn away from the buyers as Greg, along with a woman who wore a very posh designer dress, started the bidding for the pieces they’d put up for auction. She hadn’t noticed until Remy whispered in her ear that the governor of Maine sat in the crowd bidding on Jacob’s harbor painting.

Jacob’s pieces went for prices Meredith couldn’t fathom. Never in a million years would she believe anyone should spend that kind of money on a painting, but there were over seventy-five people who had been specially invited to attend and more than willing to pay. Greg kept hitting the gavel at numbers Meredith could only imagine, and she lost track of how much had been auctioned off in total.

In the end, all the paintings went for more than their asking price. Greg’s buzz, networking, and word of mouth had paid off just like he said it would.

Meredith was thrilled.

She could have even saved the house in Andover if she had just waited long enough, but she didn’t have any regrets. Not with Quinn standing on the side, staring at her with that look in his eyes. She loved the feeling she had when he looked at her like that. Like she was the most beautiful woman in the whole room.

He smiled at her when she looked back at him when the last painting came up.

It had been the one of the boat in the harbor. The one she had offered to Quinn, but he hadn’t taken.

“We’ll start the bidding at twenty-two hundred. Twenty-two hundred,” Greg said, echoing the number to make the buyers certain of its price.

A man in a flannel lifted his paddle.

“Is that…?” Meredith whispered to Remy.

She nodded. “Yes, it’s the news anchor from NBC.”

Meredith giggled at the idea that Ron Humphries was sitting in her barn buying one of her father’s paintings.

“Do we have a twenty-five hundred?”

“Ten thousand,” a voice called out.

“That’s the governor!” Remy hissed in Meredith’s ear. “He wants it for the mansion.”

“Fifteen!” the news anchor shouted before grinning at the governor.

The governor crossed his arms over his rather large belly and said, “Twenty.”

By the time the two gentlemen stopped bidding, the governor won the painting at fifty-six thousand dollars.

Meredith almost threw up from the anxiety of the whole thing.

“Will they have to pay that?” she asked Remy, who laughed at the whole scene.

Greg looked as though he wasn’t at all surprised.

The whole family took pictures with the governor and Ron Humphries. Greg and the group of art collectors and buyers mingled in the barn under the twinkling fairy lights.

Meredith’s children all stood with her as Quinn came up to her again and kissed her on the cheek.

“Quinn, these are my three wonderful children, Cora, Muriel, and Ryan.” She stood like a proud momma showing off her chicks.

Quinn held out his hand to all three.

“Quinn is a special friend of mine,” Meredith said, then she smiled at him.

Cora lifted her eyebrows when Quinn turned to greet Muriel and Ryan, and Meredith smiled at her eldest. She wouldn’t hide her feelings. If her daughter wanted to know how she felt about Quinn, she would tell her. Meredith was done holding in her feelings for fear of upsetting anyone. Now she was going to be open and honest no matter what.

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