Nantucket Threads

by Pamela M. Kelley

  Lisa had just settled back in her chair with her fresh cup of coffee and was checking Facebook on her phone when the front door opened and Rhett came in. He took off his coat and shoes before joining her. His hair was mussed from the wind and his cheeks were bright red from the cold. She thought he looked adorable. He handed her a stack of letters. She’d forgotten to bring in the mail from the day before.

  “How is it out there?” she asked as Rhett poured himself a black coffee before joining her. He wasn’t a big breakfast eater. He usually had coffee first, then maybe a bagel or a piece of toast.

  “It’s not too bad right now. Looks like the calm before the storm though, so I’m glad I got that done now before the second wave comes later today.”

  “I think the worst of it is behind us, though. They are only saying another inch or two tonight. It might get very cold though.” Lisa glanced at the mail, which was mostly bills and clothing catalogs. Something from the town of Nantucket caught her eye, and she slid open the envelope, which was addressed to her and the Beach Plum Cove Inn. She pulled out a single sheet of paper, a letter, read it once and then again out loud.

  “Rhett, listen to this.”

  Dear Mrs. Hodges, it has come to our attention that you are in violation of the town of Nantucket’s Board of Health, which prohibits a bed-and-breakfast from serving hot food. We have reports that on more than one occasion, you have served hot items such as quiche or waffles. This is a warning that you must cease and desist the serving of hot food immediately and you are fined accordingly.

  Rhett frowned. “You can’t serve quiche? Are they serious? Is this something new?”

  “I have no idea. I just assumed it was fine to serve quiche and waffles. Who would ever think you couldn’t do that?”

  “What else does it say?” Rhett asked.

  “Not much. Hold on. Okay, it says hot food can only be served if it is prepared in a commercial kitchen that is on the premises.”

  “Hmm, well there goes that idea then.”

  “What idea?”

  “I was thinking you could bake your quiches at my restaurant, then bring them here. But they want the commercial kitchen on the premises. How could this have been missed? Didn’t they come here and inspect before granting you a license?”

  “They did, but now that I think of it, the usual person was out sick, so they had someone filling in that kept getting phone calls, so she was a little distracted. And they came later in the morning. It had been a busy day, and the quiche was gone, so it looked like I was compliant. Just fruit, muffins, coffee and juice were left.”

  “Well, that’s too bad. People love your quiche. And you mention it in your ads, too?”

  “Actually, we don’t. Kate suggested that I not be too specific in case I didn’t feel like making quiche or eggs one day. So, we just said something like a lovely continental breakfast.”

  “I wonder how they found out then?” Rhett said.

  Lisa thought about it and had an idea.

  “People often mention the quiche in reviews on TripAdvisor and other places. And I’m sure my competitors, Violet and others, check out their own reviews as well as others and saw it. So someone—I don’t know who—but someone notified them.”

  “Well, it’s just a fine. Could be worse. At least they didn’t shut you down. And think, now it’s less work for you.” Rhett tried to get her to look on the bright side.

  “I suppose. Oh well. On another note, Marley is going to join us for dinner tonight. I thought that might be fun for her. Us too. I told her around six.”

  Lisa opened the door when Marley knocked at six o’clock sharp. Marley handed her a bottle of wine as she stepped inside.

  “Oh, thank you. You didn’t have to bring anything. I didn’t expect it.”

  “I stopped at that Bradford’s Liquors when I was out yesterday and picked up a few bottles of wine. Decoy is one of my favorites. It’s a really smooth cabernet, made by the same people that make Duckhorn, which is fabulous, but expensive. My ex used to always order it when we went out. Decoy is more my speed.”

  “I can’t wait to try it. Let’s have it now. Come into the kitchen. I just put out the cheese and crackers.”

  Lisa led the way to where Rhett was already sitting at the kitchen island, eyeing the cheese.

  “Look at the wine Marley brought for us. Have you had this one?”

  “I have. We actually have that in the restaurant and Duckhorn too. We sell a lot more of the Decoy.”

  Lisa opened the wine and poured them all a glass, and they joined Rhett at the island. “We’ll eat in about a half hour or so. I just put the lasagna in the oven to heat up.”

  They chatted easily as they sipped wine and snacked on the cheese and crackers. Lisa remembered that she needed to update Marley about the breakfast situation.

  “So, I found out this morning that evidently I’m not supposed to be serving any hot food—which includes quiche, waffles, the puff pastry dish I served this morning. I might add some cold cereals to try to make up for it. I am sorry about that.”

  “Don’t be sorry. It’s not your fault. As delicious as the egg thing this morning was, I am much better off eating lighter, so it’s totally fine by me. As soon as this snow is gone, I want to get out and walk along the beach. I could easily see myself gaining weight this month.”

  Lisa was relieved but still disappointed. She enjoyed making her quiches and other hot foods for her guests.

  “You know, I’ve been thinking about this a bit,” Rhett said. “If you’re interested, we could probably renovate your kitchen pretty easily to comply with what qualifies as a commercial kitchen. We could upgrade your existing kitchen or another option is we could do an addition, so it’s connected to but separate from the kitchen. That way, if you ever wanted to hire some help, you could have a separate entrance.”

  “Hmm. That seems like a big undertaking just to be able to make one quiche every few days,” Lisa said.

  “Well, I was thinking you might want to go a bit bigger than that. Which is another advantage of the separate kitchen. You love to cook and especially in the winter, you have free time on your hands. What if you made some quiches and other items and sold them?”

  “Sold them? To who?” Lisa was curious, but a bit confused about what he had mind. But Marley chimed in.

  “That’s a great idea. If it’s something you think you’d like to do. You could sell to local restaurants.”

  “Like my place, for instance,” Rhett said with a grin. “We could sell your key lime pie easily. I’ve thought about putting that on the menu and haven’t gotten around to it. It’s one more thing they don’t have time to make. But if it’s done for us…”

  “There’s also online sales, too. Gourmet food is a huge seller. You could do it direct or through a food site like Gold Belly.”

  “What’s Gold Belly?” Lisa had no idea what she was referring to.

  “Oh, you are in for a treat. Look it up, but don’t do it when you’re hungry or you’ll get in trouble. Restaurants and food shops all over the country sell their most famous dishes through Gold Belly. You can get lobster rolls from Legal Seafoods, a cannoli kit from Mike’s Pastry in the North End, Banana Cream Pie from Magnolia Bakery down South.”

  “Really? That does sound like something I’d like. I’ll check it out.”

  Lisa started feeling a little excited about the idea. The bed-and-breakfast was great, but it didn’t take up much of her time. Maybe there was something more she could do.

  “How difficult would it be to get something like this going?” she asked both Rhett and Marley.

  “Well, you’d have to get on someone’s schedule for the construction. Though you do have an in there.” Rhett grinned. Lisa’s son, Chase, owned and operated a construction company on Nantucket. He’d done the initial renovation to convert her home into a bed-and-breakfast. He could probably do a small addition pretty easily.

  “I could check with Chase. This is his s
low time of year.”

  “And I can help you make sure it’s compliant, like I’ve done with all my restaurants. I can get us a discount on the equipment too.”

  “I could help you put a plan together for online sales, if you think you might want to do that,” Marley offered.

  “Thank you. I’m going to sleep on this. But it feels like it might be a good thing. And I’m lucky to have both of you with your expertise to help. It kind of feels like a sign.”

  Marley smiled. “It does, doesn’t it?”

  Chapter 10

  The thrill of the nor’easter wore off by Saturday morning when Izzy woke up to a dark, cold house. They’d had fun the night before. She and Mia had stayed up late watching old movies, snacking on junk food and drinking hot chocolate. They loved watching the snow falling over the harbor and kept the outside light on so they could see it coming down. It was blowing furiously and they could see the trees swaying and whipping in the heavy wind.

  The power had stayed on, so they thought they’d been lucky, but sometime while they were sleeping it went out. Izzy guessed it was soon after they went to bed because the heat had obviously been off for a while. She checked the thermostat, and it was only sixty degrees. Ten degrees cooler than normal. She got up and dressed in layers and realized she had no way to make hot coffee. But then, with relief, she remembered that Mia’s stove was gas, so she could at least heat some water for a cup of tea.

  She was curled up on the sofa, wrapped in one of Mia’s fleece throws, cupping the mug in her hands to feel its warmth and occasionally taking a sip when Mia padded into the room, followed by Penny. Mia looked half-awake as she looked around for her hat and gloves, found her coat and boots and went to take Penny outside.

  “I can make you a cup of hot tea, if you want?” Izzy offered.

  “If you do, I will love you forever,” Mia said.

  Izzy heated up some water on the stove and when Mia and Penny returned, she poured it into a mug and added the tea bag. Mia joined her in the living room and they looked at each other miserably as they sipped their tea.

  “This isn’t fun anymore,” Izzy said as she looked around the dark room.

  “No, it’s not. Maybe the power will come on soon though.”

  “I hope so. But if not, it’s only going to get colder by tonight. We need a Plan B.”

  “Sam and his family picked a great week to go to Florida,” Mia said. Her boyfriend Sam, his two girls and his parents left a few days ago, missing the storm completely.

  “I ran into Will yesterday on my way home. He said we’re welcome to stay with him if we lose power. He has a generator and a wood stove.”

  “That’s tempting. His place has plenty of room for all of us too. Let’s give it a few hours and see if the power comes on.”

  Izzy’s phone rang a few minutes later, and she saw that it was Rick.

  “Hi there. Do you have power where you are?”

  “No. Mine went out last night. I hear it won’t be back on for most of us until tomorrow. I think they’re waiting until this new storm is done too. Why don’t you come here? I can come get you.”

  “I’m not going to leave Mia, and if you don’t have power either, doesn’t make sense for us to leave.”

  “I suppose you’re right. If you change your mind, let me know.”

  “I will. Thanks, Rick.”

  Mia laughed. “He doesn’t have power either, but wanted you to go to his place?”

  “Yeah. If we’re going to leave, it will be to go somewhere warm.”

  A few hours later, the temperature had dropped to fifty-eight and Izzy was about to call Will when her phone rang and he was calling her to check in.

  “I was just about to call you!”

  “Do you guys want to come here? I have a roaring fire, the generator is fired up, and I was thinking about making burgers for dinner. Sound good? I can come anytime to get you both.”

  “That all sounds wonderful. I think we’re ready now.” Izzy glanced at Mia, who had Penny in her lap for warmth and was still shivering. She nodded and said, “Ask if it’s okay if Penny comes too?”

  Will heard her and laughed. “Of course it is. I’ll leave in a few minutes.”

  Will’s truck pulled up twenty minutes later, and they all climbed in. Izzy got in the front and Mia in the back, with Penny on her lap. The truck was nice and warm, and Izzy realized how cold they’d been. There was almost no one on the road as they drove the short distance to Will’s house.

  It didn’t take long to get to his house, and Izzy smiled as they pulled into the driveway and saw the lights on and the smoke rising from the chimney. Will’s house looked wonderful. They went inside and Will showed them where his guest bedrooms were and he gave them the grand tour. They’d been there a few times over the summer for cookouts, but had mostly been outside or just in the kitchen.

  Will worked in construction and in addition to specializing in restoration work, he also built custom furniture. Over the past few years, he’d been working on his house in between projects. He’d picked the house up at a bargain price, as there had been a fire and the owners didn’t want to deal with rebuilding. So, it was the perfect property for Will. It was bigger than he needed, with four bedrooms, but it was a deal he couldn’t pass up.

  All the rooms had gleaming hard wood floors, but the room Will was the most proud of was his office. It had wall-to-wall built-in book cases, cabinets and a desk, and he’d made all of it. The wood was dark and polished and Izzy was so impressed.

  “I can’t believe you did this yourself. It’s really beautiful work, Will.”

  Mia chimed in too. “It’s stunning.”

  He looked a bit embarrassed but also pleased by the compliments.

  “Thank you, both. So, that’s the grand tour. Are you guys hungry? I could make my famous juicy Lucy burgers.”

  Izzy’s stomach immediately growled, and she laughed. “Yes, please. What can we do to help?”

  “Maybe you two can throw a salad together while I put the burgers on the grill. See what you can find in the fridge. And help yourself to anything you want to drink. There’s wine, beer, and bottled water.”

  Mia poured herself a glass of red wine while Izzy found a water and they searched to see what Will had for salad. Quite a bit, as it turned out. They made a salad with lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, onion, and avocado and tossed it with Italian dressing. Will’s burgers, with the cheese stuffed in the middle, were as good as ever and they had a good time laughing and chatting as they ate at the big round table in his kitchen, while Penny slept by Mia’s feet. She’d fed Penny before Will arrived, so she wasn’t begging for their food.

  Izzy and Mia insisted on doing the dishes while Will went to clean up his grill. He came back in the kitchen with a deck of cards and suggested they play a few rounds of pitch, which they all loved. A few rounds turned into a few more as they decided to up the stakes and toss in a dollar each, winner take all. It was a fun game and a competitive one, but none of them took it too seriously. Mia was the lucky one with a winning streak that had her winning three games in a row.

  “I’m so glad you guys decided to come here. I would have been bored by myself,” Will admitted.

  “And we would have been miserable and freezing. So, thank you. This has been fun. We should play cards more often.”

  “We should. Speaking of games, are we all on for trivia on Tuesday? The snow should be long gone by then,” Will said. At least a few times a month Izzy, Mia, Sam and Will met downtown for dinner and a night of team trivia.

  “I’m up for it. And I think Sam will be too. They fly back on Monday,” Mia said.

  “I’m in,” Izzy said.

  “So, you like Izzy’s idea to expand the store? She said you’re going to help open up the wall between the unit next door?” Mia said.

  Izzy knew that Mia still had some reservations but thought highly of Will’s opinion.

  “Like it? I think I may have actually suggested
it. I think it’s a fantastic idea.”

  Izzy laughed. “He did. He stopped in the day I found out that the woman next to me wasn’t going to renew her lease. It had crossed my mind of course and I was wondering if it might make sense and he just came right out and said, ‘You should grab that.’”

  “I did. It seemed obvious to me. There’s so much foot traffic right there and every woman I know on Nantucket raves about Izzy’s store.”

  “They do?” Izzy hadn’t heard that before.

  He nodded. “Yes. Everyone. Caroline used to say your store was the only reasonably priced one downtown that had nice stuff. And I was at Chase’s office just the other day as we’re working on a project together and his wife Beth walked in with one of your bags. She’d gone there on her lunch break and she said you have the best shoes. She showed us the black boots she bought.”

  Izzy smiled. “Those boots have been popular. That is so nice to hear.”

  “He’s right, Izzy. You do an amazing job with that store,” Mia said. “You know I’m more cautious, but I do think it’s a good idea. I’m excited for you.”

  Izzy felt happy tears well up and laughed. “Thank you. Sorry I’m a little emotional…It really is true about the hormones. I’m happy, though. It’s all good.”

  “Now, we just have to get you to end things with Rick once and for all,” Mia said and then immediately looked as though she regretted her words when a strange look came across Will’s face. Izzy knew her sister had spoken impulsively.

  “You’re not back with him, are you?” He sounded shocked and disappointed.

  “No. I just met him for dinner the other night. I’d agreed to see him, to talk. He seems to be doing well. He went through an anger management course, for twelve weeks and he really does seem better.”