Mariah Stewart - On Sunset Beach

“Hey, I can paddle from here to Smith Island and not get winded.”

“I guess that would impress me more if I knew where Smith Island was.”

“Ah, you’re not from around here, are you.” It wasn’t really a question.

“No, but I do enjoy my visits.”

“Come here often?”

“Not as often as I’d like.”

“Are you staying here at the inn?”

“No, I’m staying with my friend. She and her fiancé live in town.”

“You on vacation? How long are you here for?”

“I’m not really sure.” She should probably introduce herself. After all, I know who he is, she thought, and I should let him know why I’m here. “I was asked to—”

An out-of-breath Gabi, Dune by her side, seemed to appear out of nowhere. “Can we go now?” She seemed surprised when she realized that Carly was engaged in conversation. “Oh. Sorry. I didn’t know—”

“Apology accepted. Now, where’s the fire?” Carly asked.

“Paige just called me. Her dad got a van full of rescued dogs from someplace and Paige has to walk them and she said I could help. But they’re already unloading the van …”

“Okay, got it,” Carly said. She turned to Ford and explained. “Gabi’s friend’s dad is the town vet, and runs a shelter for rescued dogs.”

“Nice,” was all he said.

“Well, it was good to see you again. Maybe we’ll run into each other again sometime.”

“I hope so.”

For a moment, Carly thought he was about to say something else, but instead he merely stepped out of the path so that she and Gabi could get around him.

Carly could feel his gaze on her back almost as far as the parking lot. She’d just reached her car when she heard her name.

“Carly.” Grace was waving from several cars away. “I saw you from the window in my office, and I said to myself, she’s just the person I wanted to see.”

“How are you, Grace?”

“I’m very well.” Grace turned to Gabi. “How’d your match go?”

“Won two, lost the last one.” Gabi shrugged, and then sighed softly, as if she knew her trip to the shelter would be delayed and there was nothing she could do about it.

“Good for you. I heard you were doing very well with your lessons.” Grace turned to Carly. “Our coach here speaks very highly of Gabi. He thinks she shows a great deal of promise.”

“I’ll be sure to pass that on to Ellie.” Sensing Gabi’s impatience, Carly unlocked the car doors. “Was there something you wanted to tell me?”

“I’m almost through with the list of people on Carolina’s list. You know, the list of—”

“People she gave paintings to.” Carly leaned back against the car and gave Grace her undivided attention. “I was going to call you about that.”

“I have a few more names to trace. You know, all of the people on Carolina’s list are deceased, so it’s their descendants we have to identify. I may not be able to trace them all, so I’ll need a few more days. In the meantime, I think I mentioned that I’d like to do a series of articles on you and the proposed gallery. Sort of follow your progress from week to week. We want to play this up as much as possible, you know. Of course, it really is a big deal, but if we can …”

“Yes, certainly. That’s a great idea. I’m going to be meeting with Cameron and Ellie and their subcontractors at the carriage house this week. I expect I’ll be there in the mornings, at the very least. Give me a day or two, then stop over. Say maybe Wednesday or Thursday? By then I should have a good idea of exactly what the work will entail.”

“Wednesday will be perfect. I’ll try to have the list completed by then. But I think once we have everyone identified, you might want to consider letting me make the contacts. Where some folks might hesitate to talk to a stranger …”

“I totally agree, Grace. I certainly wouldn’t tell a stranger what I’ve inherited from someone in my family, let alone let that stranger into my home. It makes much more sense if you make the initial contacts and break the ice.” Carly nodded. “I appreciate your offer to help.”

“Well, then. I’ll bring my list along on Wednesday and we’ll go over what all still has to be done.” Grace stepped back from the car. “I’ll see you then.”

“Thanks, Grace. I’m looking forward to it.”

Carly started the car, and backed out of the parking space. She’d just begun to accelerate when she saw Ford jog up toward the inn. She rolled down her window and waved as she pulled away. He slowed down and returned the wave, a smile on his face.

“Who’s that?” Gabi turned in her seat to look.

“That’s Grace’s son, Ford.”

“The guy they had the party for?”

Carly nodded.

“Then he’s Diana’s uncle. She said her grandmother’s all upset and worried ’cause he spends all his time alone kayaking or reading. Diana heard her grandmother telling her father. She said he should be going out or doing something with people and not acting like a recluse.” Gabi remained turned around until they reached the driveway. “But wow. He is hot.” The teenager glanced at Carly and grinned. “But you probably noticed that.”

Carly slowed to allow another car to pass her before making the turn onto Charles Street.

“Probably …”

Grace rarely cursed, but was in the mood to do so now. When she’d seen Carly standing alone near the tennis courts at the same time Ford was carrying his kayak onto the dock, she realized this was her chance to introduce them. She’d sprung up from her chair and started across the lobby, but she was stopped twice before she could get to the door. By the time she made it outside, Carly was getting into her car and Ford was nowhere to be seen.

“Damn.” Back in her office, she slumped into her chair, glad that no one could hear her behind the closed door.

She’d been wanting Ford and Carly to meet in the worst way. There was some sort of connection there, she felt it. Every time she looked at the young woman, she could almost, but not quite, read it. She was going to be important somehow. Grace wished she knew more, but her spirits having apparently deserted her, there was no help coming from that quarter.

“Thanks, Alice,” she said drily. “Thanks for nothing. Honestly, I don’t know what your problem is these days, but I wish you’d get over it.”

Grace had been at her Ouija board every night since she’d first sensed something dark around her son. She asked and cajoled and all but begged, but the usually reliable Alice, her old friend and sometimes spirit guide, had seemingly abandoned her. Grace’s own sensitivity, as she liked to think of it, was generally spot-on, but she was having some difficulty understanding what she’d been picking up, both from her son, and more recently from Carly. How, Grace asked herself, could Carly matter if she and Ford never met? She’d been hoping to introduce them at the welcome-home party, but it seemed Ford was either talking to someone on the opposite side of the room, or he’d disappeared.

“Kids can be so frustrating.” She sighed heavily. “Doesn’t matter how old they get, they can still frustrate the devil out of you.”

She opened her laptop and began to lay the groundwork for the article she’d write following her meeting later this week with Carly. She already knew how to begin, so all she’d need would be a few quotes from Carly and a few photos, and she’d be good to go. If she worked quickly enough, she’d have the article to the printer in time for next week’s edition of the Gazette. The following week’s article would be longer, and she’d need to spend more time with Carly so that her readers could get the sense of being there as the gallery came to life.

She finished as much of the article as she could, leaving room for her quotes, and turned off her computer.

“Alice, I know you’re around,” she said aloud. “I could use a little help here, you know? My boy’s back but I don’t know for how long. I don’t want him to leave again. I know, I know, selfish of me. But he’s such a restless soul right now …”

She sighed again and got up from her desk. “I’d do anything, you know,” she said as she turned off the office light. “Anything to have him stay. Anything at all …”

Before she closed the door behind her, she added, “Be a friend, would you, and see what you can arrange.”

CARLY couldn’t have been more pleased by the way the carriage house was shaping up. The walls were now the right shade of white (“White white, not cream or screaming white,” she’d told Cameron, and he’d delivered) and the partition bisecting the room was almost complete. She’d spent time measuring every painting, cutting out paper templates for each to pin to the partition to determine spacing so that she wouldn’t have to haul the actual works back and forth from Ellie’s house. Evenings she spent working on the last part of her book, but it was becoming more and more difficult to concentrate. With school out for the summer, it seemed that every night a small crowd of Gabi’s friends gathered at Ellie’s to hang out. Some nights they watched movies in the living room, sometimes they sat on the back porch and played music to which they’d sing along. Other nights, the group might consist only of Gabi’s girlfriends, and they’d congregate in her bedroom, where there’d be much laughing and talking and yes, playing of music. Loud music, accompanied by group sing-alongs.