It wasn’t hard to assign roles to the three men in the picture. Rueben had been an architect in Charleston for a few years. Zach was obviously the art student. Her father, the renowned artist.
She scanned the article, learning that the three of them had worked on a new children’s wing in the public library, and she sent that article to print too.
Zach’s name had been listed as Zach Oakwood, not Zach Watkins.
He’d lied.
She had no idea why he’d had to follow her from New Jersey in June, spewing some story about being her half-brother. Her father was dead; she couldn’t ask him. Zach had attacked her in the street; she’d promised Aaron she’d stay away from him.
As she gathered the papers from the printer, she knew she had to get to the lighthouse as soon as she could.
Chapter Twelve
Alice took pictures of the three checks she’d been given for her last three cases that had all wrapped up within days of each other.
She sat at her oversized desk in her law office, the air conditioner humming as she tapped through the app to deposit her money.
She’d promised Eloise she’d come help at the Cliffside Inn that morning, and she’d just finished up Louise’s power of attorney and her will, adding them both to the woman’s portal.
If she left in the next five minutes, she’d make the ten-oh-five ferry, and she’d be right on time to meet Robin at the ferry station. They could share a ride up to the inn, and that would save Alice some money.
She hated that she had to think about saving money at all, and a breath of relief moved through her as the deposits finished loading and she got a confirmation message on her screen.
It had been so long since she’d worried about money that she’d forgotten what the constant stress of that looked and felt like. The past few months had definitely re-introduced that back into her life, and while Alice didn’t like it, she was willing to deal with it over being married to Frank.
As it was, she couldn’t believe she’d stayed with him as long as she had. She was rebuilding her pride one day at a time, but the truth was, that was taking longer than she’d like.
She had supreme confidence in her ability to argue for her clients’ rights. She couldn’t believe she’d turned such a blind eye to Frank’s infidelity for so long, or how much it was affecting her now.
How little did she think of herself to put up with that? What had been so amazing about Frank? Had the money, the big house, the prestige of being PTA President, been worth it?
Alice shook her head to get the thoughts to go. She needed to see a counselor, but they cost money, and while Frank had upheld his end of the divorce decrees, she didn’t quite have the money to pay for therapy. Not yet.
She needed to get going, and she stood as she tapped to exit the deposit portion of the banking app. She hadn’t been removed from the joint account yet, and she hadn’t expected to be—Frank transferred his alimony and child support through their bank accounts.
She had a personal savings account, her personal checking account, where she’d just deposited her checks, and the joint checking Frank had left in her name.
He had access to her personal savings and the joint checking, but not her personal checking.
“These aren’t right,” she said, sitting back down as she stared at the numbers on the screen.
She’d gotten a notification last night about the large deposit in her personal savings. Frank had transferred that month’s money. She’d left it, because she could move it later, when she needed to pay the bills.
It was all gone.
“More is gone,” she said, tapping to open the account. She tried to keep a few hundred dollars in there as a small cushion, but the account balance was below one hundred dollars.
The last two transactions were telling. The second-to-last had been Frank depositing the monthly amount to pay for the house on Rocky Ridge, the cars, her alimony, and the child support, as agreed.
The last transaction was a transfer of that amount, plus an additional three hundred dollars that did not belong to Frank.
Alice peered at the transaction numbers, trying to make sense of them. It looked like the money had gone right back to the checking account it had originated from, and Alice tapped back to her main screen, her throat so narrow she couldn’t swallow.
What had Frank done? Without that money, she couldn’t pay for anything this month.
She tried to breathe in slowly as she waited for the absurdly slow Internet to work on her complex app. It finally loaded, and she tapped on their joint checking account.
Sure enough, the last two transactions were the same she’d seen in her account, simply reversed. Frank had paid the monthly amount, and then taken it back, plus three hundred dollars.
He had not texted. He hadn’t called. There had been no explanation at all.
Acting quickly, before she could second-guess anything, Alice transferred the money back to her account and then called the bank.
“Yes,” she said. “I need to make sure my ex-husband can’t remove money from my personal savings account. How can I do that?”
Twenty minutes later, Alice had severed the connection between her personal savings and the joint account she shared with Frank.
She was late getting to Sanctuary Island now, and as she left the house, she called Frank. He didn’t answer, of course, not that Alice had expected him to.
“Frank,” she said crisply. “It’s Alice, and I need to talk to you about the finances. Call me back as your earliest convenience.”
She hung up, wishing she’d told him to call her back as soon as possible. She didn’t care if it was convenient for him. Nothing about their arrangement was all that convenient for her, and he didn’t care. She’d left plenty of money in the joint checking account. So much that she should seriously file a petition with the judge in New York to get more of it. Frank was obviously still doing very well with his firm, and there was no reason for him to take any of her money.
She stewed on the situation the whole way to Sanctuary Island, but by the time the RideShare driver pulled up to the Cliffside Inn, Alice had buried the troubling transactions as deeply as they would go.
“There you are,” Robin said when Alice walked through the front doors. She pushed her sweaty bangs back off her forehead. “I just got your texts a couple of minutes ago, though I assume you sent them a while ago.”
“Yeah,” Alice said, stepping in and giving Robin a quick hug. “Sorry, I had a couple of extra things to do this morning, and I didn’t get out of the house on time.”
“I wish I had a couple of extra things to do,” Robin said, glancing over her shoulder. “Eloise isn’t getting the air conditioning fixed until next week.”
“That’s the soonest they could come,” Eloise said as she came out of the room just inside the front door. “I have fans.”
Alice beamed at her friend and hugged Eloise too. “Things are looking better and better every time I come,” she said as she stepped back and looked around at the little of the inn she could see.
Eloise blinked and then burst out laughing. “You’re so full of it,” she said amidst her giggles. “It just gets worse and worse as the days go by. Aaron came over the weekend, and he looked like I’d hit him with one of the pipes I pulled out of the bathroom.”
“She’s right,” Robin said. “It’s a huge mess.”
“We have to demo it all to get it ready to fix up,” Eloise said. “Today, we’re finishing this front room, which I’m going to convert to an upscale lobby and breakfast nook.” She turned back to the room, and Alice followed her.
“What used to be in here?” she asked, taking in the piles of stuff in the middle of the room. The wallpaper had been stripped from the walls, and the carpet in half the room had been ripped up to reveal some wood floors underneath.
“It was part of a family suite,” Eloise said. “There were three beds in here.” She put her hands on her hips and sighed. �
��So I’ll have one less room, but no one rented this suite very often. I think a lobby and breakfast bar will be better. In the hours during check-in, I’m going to have hot teas, coffees, and chocolates. Freshly baked cookies. Local artisans who can come give samples. I’ve already talked to Jane Byrd, and she’s going to bring her salted caramels. She can give out samples and have gift boxes and bags to sell. She’s excited.” Eloise looked at Alice and Robin, and Alice could see the excitement on Eloise’s face too.
How she had the vision for the rooms in the inn, Alice didn’t know. When she looked in the room, she just saw ruin and junk. She had no idea how to transform it from what it was into something else.
Eloise did, though, and Alice could pick up whatever she was told and haul it outside. She could help pull a carpet roll all the way back. She could make trip after trip to a Dumpster with armfuls of ancient wallpaper.
“Are you moved in to the caretaker’s suite?” Robin asked.
“Yes,” Eloise said, glancing at them. She looked away again, and Robin swung her gaze to Alice. Her eyebrows went up as if to say, Did you see that?
Yes, Alice had seen it. “How did shopping go with Aaron and the girls last week?” Alice asked. “We haven’t had lunch yet to get all the news.”
“No news,” Eloise said. “It went really great. Billie asked me to come into the dressing room with her, and I didn’t undermine Aaron by siding with her instead of him.”
“That’s all news,” Robin said, plenty of encouragement in her voice. “That’s great, Eloise.”
“Did you ask him about you know,” Alice said. “Your future?”
Eloise stepped away from the group and bent to pick up a fake plant. A groan came out of her mouth, and Alice barely had time to exchange another look with Robin before Eloise turned to face them. “Yes,” she said. “It was okay.” She took the plant past them as if she’d take it outside and leave them there.
Robin nudged Alice, who glared back at her. “Your turn,” she hissed.
“No,” Alice whispered back. “Let her have a minute. She’ll tell us when she’s ready.”
“Have you met Eloise?” Robin asked.
“If it was bad, she’d have texted us,” Alice argued. She hadn’t heard from Eloise—other than to set the time and date to come help with the inn this week—since last week.
Robin sighed and went to pick up the ugliest lamp Alice had ever seen. “Fine. Pick something up and let’s go.”
Alice grabbed a box of old light bulbs, a statue of Poseidon, and a box full of pamphlets that were probably from 1982. She went outside with the other two women to find Eloise on her way back in.
“You don’t have first rights of refusal,” Alice said, almost out of the corner of her mouth. “Robin wants the news.”
“Okay,” Eloise said, but she didn’t slow down or stop.
They hauled out the entire pile of junk in the main room before Eloise even slowed down. “Come get something to drink,” she said. “I have shrimp salad from Mort’s too.”
“Mort’s?” Robin asked. “When did you get that?”
“This morning,” Eloise said. She led them through the inn to the back door, down the steps, and over to the entrance to the caretaker’s suite. She could get to it from the kitchen in the inn too, but Eloise claimed she didn’t like going that way. Apparently, the floor was covered in an unknown substance, and she didn’t want to track that into her house.
Alice, the last one through the door, paused and looked around. “Wow, Eloise. This is amazing.”
“Isn’t it?” Eloise beamed around at the small space. She’d pulled up the carpet here too. All of the mold had been removed. A fresh coat of bright white paint shone down from the walls and ceiling.
To Alice’s left sat a built-in counter that ran the length of the wall. A new dishwasher, stove, sink, and fridge punctuated the countertop, and Eloise had put in a temporary breakfast bar with two barstools to separate the kitchen area from the living area.
A couch sat in front of the windows, with an armchair facing the wall, which had built-in bookcases. A TV sat on the shelf there, along with several of Eloise’s trinkets and pictures.
“Kelli came and helped with the curtains,” Eloise said. “Aren’t they cute?”
“They sure are,” Robin said.
Alice admired the red-and-white striped curtains too. “They remind me of a lighthouse.”
“Exactly,” Eloise said, smiling. “Come eat.”
They followed her into the kitchen nook while she told them about the single bedroom and bathroom, which were down a short hall and also remodeled.
“Do you like living here?” Alice asked. “It’s pretty far from anyone else.”
“Sure,” Eloise said, that false note in her voice another giveaway that she was hiding something. She served the shrimp salad and got out cans of diet cola and bottled lemonade.
Alice loved everything about the caretaker’s suite. It screamed Eloise—the whole inn did—and she experienced a moment of joy for her friend.
“How’s Aaron?” she asked, and Robin nodded as she took a bite of her salad.
“He’s good,” Eloise said. “He admitted that he wasn’t too keen to rush into another marriage.”
“Rush?” Robin asked. “Come on, Aaron.”
Eloise smiled at her. “I was a little annoyed with him, I’ll admit.” She took a bite of her shrimp salad too. “I understand where he’s coming from, but I’m not his ex-wife.”
“Exactly,” Robin said. She looked at Alice, but Alice didn’t have anything to say. Robin had never been divorced. She didn’t know how she’d feel. Eloise had been divorced, but it had been twenty years ago. She’d had plenty of time to heal and move on.
“Perhaps he’s not ready,” Alice said quietly.
“It’s on his mind now,” Eloise said. “Which is good. I don’t need to push him. I just needed to know where he was.”
“And you’re happy with where he is?” Alice asked, scooping up another forkful of her salad.
Eloise nodded, her face taking on a pink hue and a glow. “I’ve actually been staying with him for a couple of nights now.”
Robin choked and coughed, her face turning red too. “Eloise,” she gasped, reaching for a can of soda. She popped the top and drank, putting on quite the show.
Eloise actually rolled her eyes, but Alice just watched them both.
Robin lowered her can. “You’re staying the night?” She looked from Eloise to Alice and back. “All night? Like, you have a toothbrush and stuff in his house?”
“Yes,” Eloise said.
“What do the girls say?” Robin asked, her lunch completely forgotten, though Mort’s made some of the best shrimp salad on the planet.
“Aaron takes Billie to school in the morning,” Eloise said. “She hasn’t said anything about it to me. He’s spoken to them. I take Grace to the elementary school, and then I come here to work.” She forked another bite of seafood into her mouth. “If we’ve agreed to get together, I go back there in the evening.”
“Are you—?” Robin cut off, and Alice hoped it was because her question was far too personal.
“He’s amazing,” Eloise said with a sigh. “I told him I loved him last week.” She looked down at the counter, pure happiness streaming from her. “He said it back.”
“Oh, my goodness,” Robin said, pressing one hand to her heartbeat. “Eloise!” She squealed and went around the breakfast bar to embrace Eloise. “I’m so happy for you. You deserve the very best, and Aaron is perfect for you.” They hopped a little, and Alice’s guilt and jealousy started to tornado together inside her.
She hadn’t been planning to tell them about Frank’s antics with the money, but this only solidified that decision. Of course she was happy for Eloise. Of course she was.
When Robin started around the breakfast bar again, Alice stepped over to Eloise. “Congratulations, El,” she said, much quieter than Robin. “I agree with Robin. He i
s perfect for you, and you’ve waited a long time for someone like him.” She pulled away and looked into Eloise’s eyes. Thankfully, she was well-versed enough to bury anything she didn’t want anyone to see, and Alice felt certain Eloise didn’t detect any of her jealousy, resentment, or guilt.
“Okay,” Eloise said. She inhaled deeply. “Has anyone heard what Kelli is doing? We’re still doing our Wednesday lunches, right?”
Kristen.
Alice seized onto the name, because she needed someone she could confide in. Eloise and Robin would happily take whatever Alice had to tell them about Frank. Anything she wanted to unload about Ginny’s new senior boyfriend, or life, or her law practice. She knew that.
For some reason, Alice didn’t want to give them one more thing to feel bad for her about. The last time all of the Seafaring Girls had gotten together, she’d been a complete wreck. She’d lost a ton of weight, and she’d disappeared after returning from New York to find her friends had forgotten about her.
That hadn’t been true, and Alice still felt silly about it. Robin and Eloise didn’t need to know about the money issues. Not yet.
Alice didn’t even know if there were any money issues to tell them about.
She could talk to Kristen though, and she determined to call the woman who had been like a mother to her the moment she left the inn.
Chapter Thirteen
“I’m taking the weekend off,” Eloise grumbled to herself as she stretched up to peel off another piece of disgusting, dated wallpaper.
Thankfully, the old stuff had given up the fight pretty easily, and it was really just a matter of her going through the motions of pulling it all down.
At only five-foot-three, she wasn’t tall enough to reach the ceilings, and she hated climbing up and down on the step stools and chairs she’d been using. She had lost ten pounds in the past two weeks since starting work on the inn, so she supposed that was a positive.
She certainly felt sexier as she dressed to go out with Aaron, and when he undressed her…Eloise was very happy for the reduced waistline and a bit more muscle in her core and arms.
The Cliffside Inn Page 11
