The Beach at Painter's Cove

by Shelley Noble

  “You guess? I saw that look.”

  “No, I just mean, there’s still hope for Ben.”

  “I think you can get that out of your mind.”

  “But you like him.”

  “I do. I hope he likes me, but he’s your brother.”

  “So brothers get to have lives, too.”

  “I like him; I do. But it would be weird. I’ve known him since I’ve known you. He’s seen some of our less than savory moments.”

  “You’re talking about a man who spends his day knee-deep in stinky marsh muck.”

  “True.”

  There was a commotion in the mud room and both of them went out to see if Paolo needed help. He pushed the door open, ushering a wet and dripping Stephanie ahead of him.

  “I think we’ve had a wardrobe malfunction,” Paolo said, and put two bottles of wine on the counter.

  Issy came out. “Steph, what’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

  “No, nothing’s wrong,” she gasped. She looked from one to the other then at the floor. “I got wet.”

  “I’ll say you did.” Chloe tossed her a dish towel. “Dry those feet before you track mud across the floor. I spend enough time doing that with Ben.”

  Steph took the towel. Sat down and took off her sandals, which Chloe took out to the mudroom, carrying them at the ends of two fingers.

  Steph shivered. “Where is Aunt Fae?”

  “I’m right here,” Fae said from the doorway to the housekeeper’s quarters. “I suppose you’ll be needing some dry clothes from my paltry selections.”

  Steph nodded.

  “Then come along. Tomorrow I’ll make an emergency stop at the cottage for supplies. This could be a long summer. Of course we haven’t even started on the attic. No telling what gems we’ll find up there.”

  Fae led Steph away.

  “Did she say where she got wet?” Issy asked.

  Paolo shook his head and took the corkscrew Chloe handed him.

  “She was coming to the kitchen when I went out. I nearly ran into her. I excused myself, held the door open, but she shook her head then followed me to the car.

  “I must say, Issy. You do have a colorful family. She asked me where I came from. When I said Manhattan, she said, ‘No, really come from,’ and I said a was born in Milan but came to New York when I was ten. She gave me such a look. Then she asked me if I was staying long. And I said at least until tomorrow.

  “Then she nodded and clammed up. I got out the wine, she followed me inside and didn’t say a word until you asked her if she was okay. Was she someplace that would get her in trouble?”

  “No. Along the beach, sometimes the waves get rough in a storm, but not much undertow. There’s a place near the boulders over in the cove that’s pretty deep. The scene of Leo’s ‘infamous dive to love.’ But I don’t know why she’d be over there.”

  Issy shrugged. The cork was pulled out, glasses were poured, and the topic changed to where they were going to eat.

  Fae rummaged in the closet for something for Stephanie to wear. Something not too old lady. Something flattering. Huh. She hadn’t thought about flattering—not true, Fae, you’re a big liar, you think about the way you look every day. She decided on a pair of gauze harem pants that would work if she tied them up and then folded the waist over.

  “Are you going to get out of those wet clothes?”

  Steph nodded, blushed.

  And Fae understood. She didn’t want to undress in front of her. “Just us chickens here,” she said.

  “What?”

  “Nothing. Why don’t you put on these and this shirt and call me to help you with keeping them up.”

  “Okay.”

  Fae put the things on the bed and went to stand outside the door. While she was standing there she tried to remember if there had been an age when she’d been embarrassed to get naked in front of other people. She chuckled to herself. If ever there was a time to dress and undress in the dark, it was now, when her skin was sagging and wrinkled, and her breasts and butt were headed south.

  Too bad the classic painters didn’t portray old people as they did young models. Beautiful naked old people, not just the hags of fairy tales and morality plays.

  “You done in there?”

  “Yes,” came the muffled reply.

  Fae went back inside. Steph stood in the middle of the little room holding up the pants with both hands. If she stayed at the Muses much longer, Fae would have to search for the old sewing machine and do some serious alterations.

  She wrapped a canvas belt around the girl’s waist and folded the excess fabric over the top. “Where were you that you got so wet?”

  “I fell in the water. I didn’t know there was a big drop-off there.”

  “You were by the boulders?”

  Steph nodded.

  “Why did you go over there?” Fae didn’t need to ask. She knew the answer. She could feel it as sure as she could feel the breeze through the half-open window.

  “I saw him.”

  Fae picked up the soggy overalls and T-shirt. Flapped them out and hung them temporarily on the windowsill. Waited for Steph to say more.

  Steph followed her to the window and whispered, “The Elf King. He was practicing his war moves in the meadow. Is he going to fight Paolo?”

  This had gotten totally out of control. Fae needed to nip this right now. And yet she couldn’t tell the truth. She sat down on the bed. Patted the place next to her.

  Stephanie sat.

  “You know how I said some people don’t see things that other people do?”

  Steph nodded.

  “Well . . .” Fae hesitated, choosing her words carefully. Things were beginning to unravel. She’d known they would eventually and she was shocked that she was so unprepared.

  “Aunt Fae?”

  “Just because they don’t see them doesn’t mean they aren’t there.”

  “Like the Elf King and the faeries I saw.”

  “You saw faeries?”

  “Last night, I couldn’t sleep. It was only one faerie but I saw his light in the woods.”

  “Oh Lord,” Fae mumbled.

  “What? Wasn’t I supposed to see them? I didn’t mean to. I was just looking out the window.”

  “No, child. There’s nothing wrong with seeing faeries, but . . . but just don’t follow them.”

  “Why not?”

  Yes, Fae. Why not? “Let me explain. Some people . . . well, you know how the earth is a planet in the solar system?”

  Steph nodded, but she was frowning.

  “And the solar system is in a galaxy at the very edge of a vast cloud of galaxies? There are people who say that even something that large is small enough in the scheme of things to sit on a pinhead.”

  “That’s weird. It couldn’t do that.”

  “We don’t know that, do we? But that’s not really the point,” she said, and hurried on. “Most people won’t believe something they can’t see or prove. Some people can see more than others.”

  “Like us?”

  “Like us. We get into trouble trying to convince other people of what we see and believe, and they will never be convinced because they can never see what we do.”

  “So that’s why you said not to tell Mom, not because of the sex stuff.”

  “Well, yes—but also because of the sex stuff. When you try to trap that world, try to confuse the boundaries of the different worlds, then it disappears. You destroy it. It’s sort of like Grammy living in the past so much. She’s happy there. It doesn’t do any harm until people mess with it. Then all hell will break lose.”

  “It isn’t fair. She should be able to do what she wants.”

  “Exactly, if it doesn’t hurt her or anyone else. And it doesn’t. But some people can’t see that, and because they can’t, they want to force her into the world they understand.”

  “I get it. I think. Do you want the book back? I’ve almost finished it.”

  “No, no. Just keep it
safe. It’s old like everything else we have, but it’s special. And so are you.”

  Steph nodded.

  “Now let’s go help with the dinner so Issy can go and have some fun with her friends.”

  Steph stood up and started for the door. Fae held it closed. “And don’t worry about Paolo. Something tells me he’s going to be just fine.”

  Chapter 18

  They took Chloe’s car to the restaurant since she had to get up for work the next morning and Ben was meeting them there, and could drive them home later.

  “He said he’d meet us at Wharfside,” Chloe said. “It’s a little trendy, but not snooty yet, the food is good, and they don’t rush you through dinner. Though I expect we’ll end up at the Den afterward. It’s only a couple of blocks—and worlds—away.” She glanced in the backseat at Paolo. “It’s the local hangout for about a hundred years now. No trip would be complete without a stop there.”

  “I’m intrigued,” Paolo said.

  “Ben may be a little late. He’s coming straight from work; he tends to get involved and forget the time.”

  Paolo laughed. “Sounds like Issy and me. It’s good to have work that you love.”

  Chloe sighed. “Yes.”

  “What do you do, Chloe?”

  “I’m an administrator in the local elementary school.”

  “Sounds . . .”

  “Boring,” she said. “It is. I went to culinary school for a year, but it was just too expensive and I didn’t really enjoy the environment.”

  “Besides,” Issy said, “she already cooks better than most chefs I know. She’s kept us fed since I got here. For which I owe her forever.” She reached over and tweaked one of Chloe’s stray curls. “Among about a million other things.”

  Chloe batted her hand away. “I like to cook.”

  “I love cooking,” Paolo said. “Especially when someone else is doing the cooking and I’m doing the eating.”

  They laughed at that and in a few minutes they were pulling into the parking lot of Wharfside.

  “I called ahead to make a reservation. Strangely enough, Ben doesn’t like to eat outside. I mean he’s always eating outside, so when he goes to a restaurant, he’s into the creature comforts, as he calls them. But there’s a nice indoor porch with a really good view.”

  “Well, I agree with Ben,” Paolo said once they were seated. “I enjoy the occasional picnic with champagne, but give me a waiter and a wine list any day.”

  Chloe laughed. She was obviously smitten. Paolo had that effect on most women; men, too. As far as Issy knew, he didn’t have a girlfriend; he’d mentioned dates occasionally, but never anyone consistently. He said he would know when he met her, and he hadn’t met her yet.

  But Chloe was her friend and not to be trifled with. Issy laughed out loud at what she was thinking.

  “What?” Chloe and Paolo said together.

  “Nothing. I was just thinking.”

  “Well, no more thinking tonight,” Paolo said. “Now, shall we wait for Ben or shall we order a bottle of something now?”

  They ordered a bottle and it arrived at the same time as Ben.

  “Sorry I’m late.”

  Issy stared. Ben Collins, he of the stinky clothes and uncontrollable cowlick, was wearing dress pants and a button shirt, though it was open at the collar and the sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. The cowlick was firmly gelled in place.

  “You must be Paolo,” he said as Paolo stood and reached across the table to shake his hand. He sat down, then frowned at Issy. “What?”

  “I don’t know. I expected muddy boots and a fish smell. But this . . .”

  “I’d rather be in muddy boots, but I had to give a report at the lab today. I can go back and look for some old clothes if that would make you feel more comfortable.”

  “No. Sorry.” She turned to Paolo. “When we were growing up, he was already mucking about saving the salt marshes. Which is a good thing, but he always had jars of disgusting stuff in his bedroom, in the mud room—”

  “In the fridge,” added Chloe.

  “In the fridge,” Issy said.

  “I made a sign that said ‘Do Not Touch.’” Ben held out his glass for Paolo to pour.

  “But it was in the fridge,” Chloe explained. “We thought it was iced tea.”

  Paolo made a face. “You didn’t.”

  “Issy did.”

  “You didn’t,” said Paolo.

  “I did,” Issy said with a shudder. “It was disgusting. Really disgusting.”

  “Served you right,” Ben said with a smile. “It was part of my plankton experiment for biology class. She wrecked my control group, but no one ever touched my specimens again.”

  Issy laughed. “Come on, we had some good times.”

  “Great times,” Chloe added.

  “We did.” Ben’s look went from Chloe to Issy and rested there. “Some of the best times. Weird.” He shook his head. “These two drove me crazy.”

  Paolo laughed. “I know what you mean. She drives me crazy, too.”

  A moment passed while they both looked at Issy. Then Paolo said, “And now you’re a marine biologist?”

  And the conversation was back on track.

  “Yes—”

  “And working on his Ph.D. in marine ecology,” Chloe added.

  “Working is right, sold my soul to the university lab to pay for it. But I’m almost done.”

  “And what will you do when you’re a doctor?”

  “Muck about in the salt marshes, but the fish will respect me more.”

  “I had no idea,” Issy said.

  Ben gave her a look that lasted so long that she had to fight not to squirm beneath it. “I know, I didn’t ask. I think it’s great, Ben.”

  “Thank you.”

  He took a sip of wine and opened his menu.

  “But you still have your cowlick.”

  His free hand went to his head, as she knew it would.

  She flashed teeth at him. “Not tonight. You look very distinguished. So how’s the flounder here?”

  The flounder was delicious, grilled with lemon, and served with a vegetable salsa and fingerling potatoes. Everyone enjoyed their meal and they ordered a second bottle of wine.

  Ben asked Paolo about the D.C. installation. Paolo gave him the bare essentials, but Issy thought he seemed subdued, which was weird because he always waxed eloquently over art. But it passed and soon he was expressing admiration for the Muses. “It’s like an architectural compendium of great art.”

  “One that needs to be organized and weeded out,” Issy agreed. “I started a little bit yesterday but it’s going to be a long haul.”

  “I can help if you like,” Paolo said.

  Issy looked up. Interesting; was he planning to stay for a while? It would be great but was this about meeting Chloe? Already? It seemed unlike Paolo.

  “How long are you planning to stay?” Chloe asked.

  “It sort of depends.”

  Issy narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re welcome, of course. Did Dell put you on vacation because I took time off?”

  “Not exactly.”

  Her stomach started to churn. “Then what?”

  “I quit.”

  Silence.

  “Why? What happened? What about the new installation?”

  Paolo studied his wineglass. “Shit happened after you left. Well, actually we didn’t tell you about it.”

  “What?”

  “One of the paintings didn’t make it to D.C. For a few panicked minutes we were afraid it had been stolen.”

  “But it wasn’t,” Issy said.

  “No, but Dell had to make a special trip down with the crate. He was pissed.”

  “What? He didn’t call me.”

  “No. But he did say that if you had been there it wouldn’t have happened. I agreed and told him it was entirely our fault.”

  “But you guys were checking things off when I left. How did that happen?”

>   “Evidently, I said I put it on the truck, but I didn’t.”

  Issy gave him what they called the Look. “Wait a minute, you don’t do the actual loading.”

  “No, but we double-checked each tag as the paintings were loaded onto the truck. Deirdre called it out, I checked it, and gave her a thumbs-up, she checked it off again.” He turned to Ben and Chloe. “We deal with really expensive pieces. You can’t be too careful.”

  “She must have skipped over something but checked it off anyway?” Issy asked.

  Paolo shrugged. “Let’s just say I didn’t look at my cell phone once during the procedure.”

  “No.” Unlike Deirdre, who was notorious for sneaking peeks to see who had texted, called, or messaged her. “You explained it to Dell?”

  “I tried. It doesn’t matter.”

  “It does, too. I’ll call him first thing in the morning.”

  He covered her hand in his. “No. I’ve made my decision.”

  He sighed. “Sorry, guys, terrible dinner conversation, but it will be over in a second.” He took a breath. “She told him the only reason I had the job was because I was sleeping with you. She said I really didn’t do any work, was just kept around for show. I haven’t slept with Issy, if anyone wants to know.” He looked at Chloe first, then at Ben.

  “I’ll kill her,” Issy said.

  “No. I can’t work with her, especially with you gone.”

  “But I’m only on vacation.” Issy frowned. “Aren’t I?”

  “Of course, Dell’s not a total fool. But I’m sure she’s already hustled herself up the ladder to my position. And you’ll be stuck with her.”

  “That’s why she’s in D.C. for the opening instead of you.”

  Paolo nodded.

  “She’ll be going after me next.”

  “She probably has already started. I was going to tell you, but when I saw what a mess things are here . . . Cara, don’t worry about me.”

  “I can’t believe it.”

  “So if you need someone to help catalog, I’m your man. Now, let’s not let it spoil a lovely evening. Who needs more wine?”

  They all left the restaurant feeling happy, even Issy, who, though she knew she had huge issues to deal with, and even more now that Paolo had quit his job at the Cluny, was suddenly determined to enjoy her friends.