Page 49 of The Cottage on Blueberry Bay

Quinn looked around. “You could…”

“You could market an oceanside estate sale and fine art auction during the Blueberry Festival. You’d get tons of eyes on this property,” Remy said. “You could fix the old place up and sell it for a killing.”

Quinn froze as Meredith seemed to be thinking the idea over. “I don’t know the first thing about renovating a house.”

“You don’t necessarily have to renovate it, just reorganize and stage it,” Remy said. “I could totally help.”

Ginny shot Quinn a look. All afternoon, she had thought she was getting to the women, but who were they kidding? Why would Meredith want Jacob’s run-down cottage and blueberry farm? He wasn’t even sure if it was worth it for him at this point.

Meredith pulled out another landscape and studied it as Quinn waited for her response.

“Let’s talk about all this later,” Meredith said to Remy, but she clearly didn’t want to speak in front of everyone.

“Nice meeting you girls,” Hazel said, waving as she picked up her things before leaving the barn. “Make sure you stop by the library before you leave.”

“We will,” Remy said in delight. “Everyone here is so wonderful.”

Quinn watched as Meredith collected a few of the paintings and held them in her hands. “Thanks for everything today.”

“Want some help with those?” Quinn asked, reaching out as the paintings started to slip out of her hands.

“Um…” Meredith glanced down at two others and, with some reluctance, she said, “Sure.”

Quinn grabbed the two on the floor. “Would you like any others?”

“Just the ones of my mom or painted by my mom.” She nodded at a few more stacked against each other. “Thanks.”

He nodded as he picked up the rest and followed her out of the barn, hooking the paintings under his arms. The frames wobbled as the assorted sizes hung by his sides awkwardly while they walked back to the house.

“How long do you think you’ll stay?” Remy asked, carrying her own stack of paintings. They were small frames with different Blueberry Bay scenes—one of a beach rose, another of a sailboat in the harbor, and one of a dog resting on the porch.

Meredith shrugged. “I have no idea. Like you said, I have nowhere to go or no one to go home to.”

Even he could hear the tone change in Meredith’s voice with the last part of her sentence. Remy gave a little groan.

“I didn’t mean to say it like that, Mer,” Remy said. “I just meant, don’t rush to get rid of this place. Take your time was all I meant to say.”

Meredith sighed. “Well, I heard you and…” She suddenly stopped in her tracks. She looked at Quinn, then put the paintings down carefully, resting them against her legs, and said, “I need to take a rest.”

She put her hands on her hips and looked out at the water, gathering her breath.

“I can take it all from here,” Quinn said, reaching over to pick up the paintings. “Go ahead and I’ll come back if I need to.”

Meredith immediately grabbed them away. “I’m fine.”

Then she picked them up and walked straight to the house without stopping. He looked at Remy, who rolled her eyes.

“She’s a bit stubborn, that one,” Remy said, following her sister toward the house. “But usually not so much.”

He gave a smile, but immediately frowned as she walked ahead. There was no way they would convince her to keep the cottage. He might as well just call the real estate agent for her.

When they got to Jacob’s cottage, he saw Meredith talking to someone on the front porch, but he couldn’t make out who it was until he turned the corner.

Kyle stood holding the paintings in his hand as Meredith opened the house. The lawnmower sat in the middle of the unfinished lawn, and he silently thanked the heavens above that Kyle had been on his best behavior since the arrival of Jacob’s family.

“This is really nice of you, but not necessary,” Meredith said as he reached the porch. “You don’t have to mow the lawn for us.” This gave her pause, and then she said, “Will I have to pay you?”

Quinn rushed to Kyle’s side and shook his hands out. “No, no, no. Kyle’s responsibility around here is to mow the lawns.”

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