74 Seaside Avenue

“I told her this morning. Speaking of which …” Justine grew thoughtful.

“Yes?” Seth urged.

“She didn’t say she had a doctor’s appointment.”

“So? Should she have?”

“No, I guess not, but it makes me wonder….” She suspected there was a reason her mother didn’t want her to know about the appointment, and that concerned Justine. Charlotte might have said it was “routine,” but was Olivia expecting bad news?

As if sensing her unease, Seth brought his arm around her waist. She felt so thankful to have her husband back. The arson had briefly changed him into an angry, vengeful man, but after Warren Saget—a local builder and onetime boyfriend of hers—was arrested, a burden had been lifted from her husband’s shoulders. Seth was once again the man she knew and loved.

He held her for a long moment as though he, too, recognized how close they’d come to destroying everything that was important to them both.

“Do you want me to fire up the barbecue?” he asked as he released her.

“Please.”

“Can I help with dinner, too, Mommy?” Leif entered the kitchen with Penny at his heels.

“You sure can.” Justine smiled at her son. “You can help me set the table—after you wash your hands.”

“Okay.”

They all headed outside, and while Seth was busy on the patio, Justine and Leif wiped the glass-topped table and adjusted the umbrella. Leif took great pleasure in carefully arranging the bright green place mats he’d chosen and the napkins with their multicolored butterflies.

When they’d finished dinner, Leif and his father cleared the table. Justine dealt with the leftovers and cleaned up the kitchen. Until recently, she hadn’t realized how much she’d missed meal preparation; she’d always assumed that cooking wasn’t her forte. Her mother and grandmother were the ones who enjoyed working in the kitchen. Then she’d married Seth and in those first few months while they renovated the old Captain’s Galley and planned their new restaurant, Justine had taken pride in preparing their meals. She’d gone to Olivia and Charlotte for recipes and ideas, and for the first time as an adult, she’d connected with her mother in ways she never would’ve thought possible. Her relationship with her grandmother, always good, grew even closer.

“I talked to my grandmother about recipes,” she said.

“Recipes?” Seth repeated, washing his hands. “For the tearoom?”

She nodded. “You know, I’ve rediscovered how much I actually enjoy cooking.”

Seth blinked. “Hold on a minute. You enjoy cooking?”

“Yes.” She rolled her eyes at his feigned shock.

“Answer me this,” her husband teased. “Exactly who was standing over a hot barbecue this evening?”

“Seth Gunderson, flipping a few chicken breasts on the grill is not cooking.”

“It is as far as I’m concerned.”

“You’re being ridiculous.”

“Am not.” He laughed, then caught Justine around the waist.

She laughed, too. Everything was going to be better now. In fact, it already was.

Four

Rachel Pendergast dumped a load of towels in the washer at the Get Nailed salon. Adding the soap, she closed the lid and turned the dial, waiting to be sure the water had started. She was taking advantage of a break between customers to deal with the laundry, a chore that needed to be done every day. When she left the small lunchroom she discovered her best friend, Teri, sitting in the chair at Rachel’s station.

“Teri!” Rachel couldn’t restrain her excitement. It’d been less than a month since she’d seen her but it felt longer. Not only did she miss Teri, but Nate, her navy boyfriend, had recently been transferred to San Diego.

Teri slid off the chair. She held her arms wide and they hugged and giggled like teenagers. The salon just wasn’t the same without Teri’s wisecracks and her caustic but funny view of life. Rachel had missed chatting with her about Nate. And Bruce.

“Thank heaven you’re back at work,” Rachel cried. Looking Teri in the eye, she said, “You are back, aren’t you?”

“We’ll see. I need to talk to Jane first.”

Rachel was sure there wouldn’t be any problem getting Teri on staff again. “Jane’s at the bank. She’ll return any minute.”

Rachel didn’t really understand why Bobby had insisted Teri leave her job. She knew there’d been some kind of threat against Teri, although she assumed it actually had more to do with Bobby.

Two men had confronted Teri in the parking lot, and soon afterward, Bobby had asked her not to work at the salon until he got everything straightened out. Although Jane had hired a perfectly adequate replacement to fill in, the other woman wasn’t Teri.

“I finally managed to convince Bobby that either I went back to work or I’d go insane,” Teri explained, smiling over at Jeannie who was cutting a young woman’s hair nearby.

“Where’s Bobby?”

“At home,” Teri said. “I love that man to distraction, but I couldn’t stand his overprotectiveness.” She paused, glancing over her shoulder. “The only way I could get him to agree was to promise I’d have James drive me to and from work. James is supposed to be my bodyguard.”

“James?” Rachel couldn’t believe it. Bobby’s driver was no bodyguard. First of all, he was as thin as a beanpole without any apparent muscle. If Teri found herself in danger, she’d probably end up saving James.

“So, can you stay this afternoon?”

“I can until I talk to Jane, but after that I’ll need to get back to the house. Otherwise, Bobby’s likely to send out a search party.” She laughed at her own joke. “Bobby isn’t overjoyed about me working, but he understands that I like my job and want to be here.”

“I’m glad he’s decided to be reasonable.”

“Trust me, I am, too,” Teri said with a sigh of relief.

Rachel looked closely at her friend, struck by how lovely Teri was. She’d always been impulsive, gregarious and outrageous. A little cynical, too, especially about men and relationships. And then she’d met Bobby Polgar. She remained her larger-than-life self, but over the past few months she’d changed. She’d become … softer, Rachel thought. More hopeful, less cynical. And it was all due to Bobby.

Only love could explain the way two such dissimilar people had fallen for each other. A deep, true love, the kind that changed people for the better. The kind that offered acceptance and trust. Bobby came alive when he was with Teri. Anyone who’d ever met him or seen him in front of a chessboard would acknowledge that he was a genius and a bit … she cast about for the right word … eccentric. With Teri, he became human—likeable, and on occasion even funny. Although he usually didn’t mean to be. He was simply naive in ways that were endearing.

Whether she and Nate had a love like Teri and Bobby’s, she didn’t know. She suspected they needed more time, and this enforced separation wasn’t making their situation any easier.

“So,” Teri said, sitting down in the chair again and crossing her legs. “Bring me up to speed. You miss Nate?”

Rachel nodded. “A lot,” she said, feeling bereft without him. Talking on the phone helped, but it wasn’t enough. “He calls me almost every day.”

“Like Bobby used to?” Teri asked.

Rachel laughed. “Not quite. Nate phones when he can, and that’s usually in the evenings.” While courting Teri, Bobby had faithfully phoned at precisely the same hour every day, Pacific Standard Time, regardless of where he happened to be.

“What about Bruce?”

“What about him?” Rachel asked, her voice sharper than she’d intended.

“Are you seeing him?”

“No!” she returned vehemently. Bruce, a widower, had become a friend and his daughter, Jolene—well, Jolene was special to her. In many ways Jolene reminded Rachel of herself as a girl. She, too, had lost her mother at an early age; she’d been raised by an aunt who’d died a few years ago. Jolene needed a female influence in her life, and that was the role Rachel played.

“Why do you say no as if it’s the most repugnant thought imaginable?” Teri asked. “You make it sound like dating Bruce is something you could never even consider. We both know that isn’t true. The two of you are just so well suited.”

Rachel frowned. “What makes you say that?”

Teri shook her head, implying it should be obvious. “It’s like you’re already married. That’s what anyone seeing you together would think if they didn’t know better. You practically finish each other’s sentences.”

Rachel dismissed that observation with an airy wave of her hand. Teri was fond of Bruce, which made her partial to the idea of Rachel’s being involved with him. “We’re friends,” she said firmly. “That’s all.”

Teri cocked her head. “He’s kissed you.”

Rachel rolled her eyes. “Do you have a hidden camera? Are you watching every move?”

“No,” Teri said. “You told me about it.”

“I did?”

“It’s true, isn’t it?”

“Well, yes, but it was a—”

“Friendly kiss,” Teri finished for her.

“Sort of.” In retrospect, she thought Bruce might’ve wanted it to be more. His kiss had come as a surprise, but as kisses went, it was nice. She mulled that over and decided nice was a weak description. Nice sounded so bland, like unsalted popcorn. That wasn’t really how she’d felt about it—but maybe it was all she wanted to feel. “I like Bruce, don’t get me wrong, just not in that way.”

“You mean it?” Teri asked.

“Don’t you remember when I first started spending time with Jolene? Bruce made it abundantly clear that he had no interest in getting involved.” She wasn’t likely to forget the look on his face the day Jolene announced that she’d chosen Rachel to be her new mother. Bruce had nearly swallowed his tongue. He’d wanted it understood that he had no romantic intentions whatsoever. Rachel had taken him at his word. She simply didn’t see him in those terms. Besides, she had a boyfriend.

“I’d rather talk about Nate,” she said, preferring to change the subject.

“I’d rather discuss Bruce,” Teri countered.

“Why?”

Teri shrugged. “For one thing, I find him more interesting than Nate.”

“In what way?” Rachel asked coldly—knowing she shouldn’t have responded at all.

“Well, Bruce is down-to-earth and he doesn’t have an inflated ego and … and he’s a good dad.”

“Right,” Jeannie said, entering uninvited into the conversation. She pointed her curling iron at Rachel as she stood behind her client. “Bruce called her the other day.”

“To see if Jolene could spend the night on Friday.” Rachel wondered how her love life had become the business of the entire salon.

“She was on the line for a l-o-o-ong time,” Jeannie told Teri, dragging out the word.

“It was my cell,” Rachel explained, in case anyone thought she’d been tying up the business line with a personal call.

“You did seem to be enjoying yourself. I heard you laughing.”

Bruce was witty, or he could be. But Rachel ignored the comment. To acknowledge it would only invite further conversation and she was trying to avoid that.

“Whenever she’s on the phone with Nate,” Jeannie went on to say, “it’s like she wants to cry.”

“I miss Nate,” Rachel said, throwing her hands in the air. “We’re in love, and we have to be apart.”

“I still think you should pick Bruce,” Jeannie said stubbornly.

“Why don’t we take a poll?” Teri suggested. She got up and turned in a complete circle, indicating that everyone in the salon should take part in the vote.

“This is crazy,” Rachel said, refusing to listen. Teri could organize her vote, but she wasn’t sticking around to participate. It didn’t matter what other people thought.

She was in love with Nate and had been from almost their first date, which she’d bought at the Dog and Bachelor charity auction three summers ago. Okay, he was younger by five years, but that had never bothered him and it didn’t bother her, either. What did concern her were his political connections; his father was a Pennsylvania congressman with higher political aspirations.

Then she’d met his mother, and that hadn’t gone well. Unfortunately, Nate had been oblivious to the verbal jabs the other woman had directed at her. He thought Rachel was imagining things, but she knew. Although Patrice Olsen didn’t actually say so, she considered Rachel an inappropriate choice for her son.

Teri, who’d obviously abandoned her plan to hold a runoff vote between Nate and Bruce, trailed her into the kitchen. Rachel had just slipped a frozen entrée into the microwave. The washing machine churned nearby, and the sound of sloshing water punctuated her angry thoughts.

“Don’t you remember what it was like when you met Bobby?” Rachel said, whirling around to face her friend.

“I didn’t want to fall in love with him.”

“But you did.”

A sigh escaped Teri’s lips. “Bobby made it impossible not to. I’ll never forget the night he brought me a dozen romantic greeting cards, flowers and about fifty pounds of expensive chocolate.”

Bobby had been trying to romance Teri, and according to his “research,” that was the way to do it. Naturally, being Bobby, he’d gone completely overboard.

“How could I turn him down when he asked if he could kiss me?” Teri said plaintively.

“You couldn’t,” Rachel agreed.

“What can I say? The man swept me off my feet.”

“You feel about Bobby the way I feel about Nate,” Rachel said and hoped Teri would leave it at that. All this talk about her and Bruce had unsettled her. She didn’t want to think of Jolene’s father as anything more than a friend.

“No, you don’t,” Teri said softly. “You forget I know you, Rachel, probably better than anyone else here. We’ve been friends for a long time.”

Rachel grew even more uncomfortable. She opened the microwave and took out her lunch. Steam rose from the entrée as she gingerly lifted it onto a small plate and carried it to the two-person table.

“I know Nate wants to marry you.”

Rachel had shared that information with Teri and regretted it now. “Your point is?”

“My point is if you truly loved him, you wouldn’t have hesitated. You would’ve accepted his proposal, packed up your life and followed him to San Diego. You didn’t.”

“Oh, honestly, Teri, if you’re gauging my feelings on that, you’re completely off-base.”

“Am I?”

“Yes,” she snapped. Sitting down at the table, she reached for a napkin and smoothed it over her lap. “Would you mind if we discussed something else now?”

“I guess.”

“Good.” She picked up the fork and sampled her first bite.

Jeannie stepped into the compact kitchen. “Listen, about Bruce Peyton—”

Rachel set down her fork with a clang, interrupting Jeannie’s statement, whatever it was. She didn’t want to hear his name again. If it wasn’t Teri, it was some other friend or colleague. People just wouldn’t let the subject drop and frankly she was bored with it. “What about him?” she asked with exaggerated patience.

Jeannie opened the small refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of cold water. “A couple of my clients are hot to trot with him.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“He’s not hard on the eyes,” Jeannie said, twisting off the cap and taking a deep swallow. “They’ve been noticing him….”

“Good for them,” Rachel murmured, returning to her lunch. “I hope it works out for him and whoever he’s dating.”

“I don’t think he’s dating anyone,” Jeannie told her.

“I have no idea.” That wasn’t actually true. Jolene kept her informed, and while Bruce did go out on occasion, those dates had never amounted to anything.

Jeannie left the lunchroom, but Teri stayed. After a moment, she gently pressed Rachel’s shoulder.

“You’ll know,” she murmured. “When it’s the right man, everything will be clear and you’ll wonder why it took you so long to see what was already there in front of you.”

“That’s how it was with you and Bobby?” she couldn’t keep from asking.

A joyful smile softened Teri’s face. “I promised myself I wouldn’t marry him. He had James deliver this huge diamond but I wasn’t going to do it. I had absolutely no intention of marrying Bobby Polgar. Good grief, I hadn’t even been to bed with him and here he was insisting I marry him.”

Rachel smiled at the memory of Teri’s misery the night she’d come to see her. Miserable and in love and so afraid she’d ruin Bobby’s life if she married him.

But Rachel could see, even then, that they were meant to be together. Bobby knew it, too, because he refused to let her go. Teri had figured it out fast enough; Rachel could only take hope from that.

Jane walked in just then, breaking into Rachel’s musing. The happiness that lit her face when she saw Teri was all Rachel needed to know. Teri would be back at the salon where she belonged.

Five

Linnette McAfee’s heart was broken. She’d been in love for the first time in her life and it was over. Just like that. Over. Cal had gone off to rescue wild horses and while he was away, he’d fallen in love with Vicki Newman, the local vet.

Linnette still couldn’t understand how it had happened—and yet, she could. It was her. Something was wrong with her. Not Cal. Not Vicki. Her. Fresh tears filled her eyes as she indulged in this bout of self-pity.

The doorbell chimed and she jumped at the sound. The last thing she wanted now was company. It could only be one of two people—her mother or her sister, Gloria—and she wasn’t in the mood to deal with either of them.

Everyone was angry with her because she’d decided to leave Cedar Cove. Her friends at work, especially Chad Timmons, had said that if anyone left, it should be Cal. Well, he wasn’t leaving, and Linnette didn’t have it in her to watch Cal and Vicki together and pretend her heart wasn’t broken. All right, she was overreacting. She was being overdramatic. But she didn’t care.

The doorbell chimed again, longer this time. She couldn’t ignore it, so she wiped the tears from her cheeks and forced a smile. It crumpled the instant she saw her mother.

“Hi, Mom.”

Corrie McAfee opened the screen door and stepped into the second-floor apartment. With comforting, cooing sounds, she put her arms around Linnette. “Oh honey, I’m so sorry.”

“I know, I know.” Despite her efforts to be strong, Linnette buried her face in her mother’s shoulder. Sometimes a girl needed her mother and Linnette wasn’t too proud to admit it.

“Let me make some tea,” Corrie said, leading her into the kitchen.

While Linnette sat at the small table and pulled one tissue after another from the box, her mother set a kettle of water on the stove.

“I was hoping to leave before this,” Linnette blubbered between hiccuping sobs. She wanted her mother to understand that she wasn’t going to be talked out of moving. “But the clinic needs me until a replacement can be hired and trained.”

“You are going to stay a bit longer, aren’t you?”

Linnette didn’t have any other choice. She couldn’t let the clinic go short-staffed; she’d worked there since it opened and the place meant a lot to her. But her job wasn’t the only problem. She’d signed a lease for the apartment and it was either pay the rent or find someone to sublet. That very day, she’d posted an ad online and in the local paper. She’d also talked to a rental agent. Unless she managed to get someone to take over the lease, she’d have to stay much longer than she wanted to.

“I can’t stand to see you hurting like this,” Corrie said, taking two mugs from the cupboard. “This is as hard on me as it is on you. I don’t know what Cal was thinking.”

“Oh, Mom! Cal can love anyone he wants.” Even after he’d ended the relationship, she couldn’t stop defending him. That was another reason she had to leave. Linnette still loved Cal, and because of that, she wanted him to be happy. If it meant he was with another woman, then … then she’d simply leave.

The kettle whistled and steam shot into the air. Her mother removed it from the burner and poured the boiling water into the waiting pot, then added tea leaves. When she’d finished, she carried the pot of steeping tea to the kitchen table.

Years ago, when Linnette was a schoolgirl, her mother had made tea for her whenever she was sick. But it wasn’t the flu or a stomachache that bothered her now, and she seriously doubted a cup of tea would ease her aching heart.

“I’ve decided to put my things in storage,” Linnette said. She’d been considering what to do with her furniture for some time. Not that she had much to store. At first she’d assumed she could keep her belongings in her parents’ basement, but then she realized it was her responsibility, not her parents’.

“Dad and I can keep them for you,” her mother offered, exactly as Linnette had known she would.

“No, Mom, this is what I’m doing.” It would be easy to let her mother talk her out of her plans. The whole process would start with something small, some favor like the one she’d just suggested, and then gradually, Corrie would wear her down. Next thing she knew, Linnette would be staying in Cedar Cove.

Her mother seemed surprised by Linnette’s persistence and shrugged her shoulders. “If you’re sure.”

“I am,” Linnette reiterated.

Corrie reached for the teapot and filled both their cups, muttering, “It’s a waste of good money.”

“Perhaps.”

“So …” Corrie tensed. “Where do you plan to go?”

“I don’t know yet,” Linnette said noncommittally.

This news appeared to startle her mother. “You mean to say you’re just heading out the door with no destination in mind?”

Linnette nodded. “I guess so.”

“That’s so unlike you.” Corrie looked even more distressed.

“I’m sorry, Mom, but.” Linnette didn’t know how to finish her response; she had nothing reassuring to say.

Her mother was right. Acting this impulsively was unlike her. She craved structure, needed it. Once she’d decided to become a physician assistant, she’d listed all the required courses, and calculated how long it would take to obtain her degree. Then, with the full force of her determination, she’d set out to achieve it. Never before, not on a trip or in life, had she left without a road map. Until now.

“In other words, you’re running away,” her mother said anxiously.

Linnette had no intention of denying it. “You could say that.” She took a sip of tea and not surprisingly it burned her mouth. She set down the mug.

“Do you think that’s wise?”

“Probably not. I’ll admit it’s not a rational decision, Mom. I’m responding to pain. I’m fully aware that none of this makes sense to you or anyone else. All I can tell you is that leaving feels right.”

“Cal should move,” Corrie said in a stubborn voice.

“Mother!”

“He doesn’t have family here and you do.”

“No one has to move anywhere,” she said. “I’m the one who wants to get out of Cedar Cove.”

“Then go,” her mother said. “But don’t do it like this,” she pleaded. “Request a leave of absence from work. Take however long you need. But to quit like this, pack up your belongings and move out of your apartment, it’s so …”

“Drastic?” Linnette inserted.

“Yes, drastic,” her mother agreed. “I can’t imagine why you feel the need to flee like this with … with your tail between your legs. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Cal and Vicki didn’t either. I’m walking away because I’m the one who’s hurting.”

“And therefore the one least qualified to be making this kind of decision,” her mother said.

“Mother, don’t you see.” Linnette began. She sighed. “It’s time for me to do something that’s more … out of my comfort zone. My life is so regimented, so … so, I don’t know, so perfect.”

“In other words, you’re looking for a way to screw it up?”

That made Linnette smile. “No. I’m looking for a way to escape. I’m seeking adventure,” she said grandly.