“Those children are lucky to have you, Shelley Anderson. I bet you’re a fine teacher.”
Well, all right! Shelley looked at Bart’s teasing expression, and felt herself relax. She’d been on target about him after all. A miracle, when she didn’t trust her own judgment about men anymore. Not even about older gents.
“Mom, can we go?” Josh’s voice held a distinctive whine, and Shelley stifled a groan as she glanced at him on the leather office couch and recognized his all-too-familiar sullen expression. The car magazine that Bart had provided hadn’t held Josh’s attention very long.
A noisy commotion at the doorway prevented her from answering her son. Two youngsters, a boy and a girl, darted into the room and scrambled toward Bart, Lila right behind them.
“Hi, Papa Bart,” the children said simultaneously, the girl crawling onto the older man’s lap and kissing him. Her blond hair was pulled back into a ponytail; her grin would no doubt leave a trail of broken hearts in the future.
“Sorry, Granddad,” said Lila. “Just wanted to tell you I’m taking them to their game. They insisted on seeing you first.”
“Surprise visits just break my heart,” said Bart, winking at Shelley and returning the little girl’s kiss. “This angel is Lila’s daughter, Katie. She’s my great-granddaughter. Looks just like me, wouldn’t you say?”
Shelley almost giggled herself. The patriarch obviously loved center stage as much as he loved those children.
“And this young man is my grandson by proxy, by the name of Casey Parker. Parker Plumbing’s just across the street. His grandpa and dad couldn’t run the place without him.”
The boy’s eyes shone with delight, and he nodded vigorously. “Looks like these powerhouses are ready to hit one out of the park,” continued Bart, his voice as serious as an announcer’s.
The kids giggled, but Shelley’s eyes were on her own son, who was sitting at the edge of the couch now. Transformed. His eyes shone with interest. He leaned forward, looking ready to join the other children.
“You play for Ted Williams, too?” asked Josh.
Bart’s two young visitors turned as one unit toward Josh, the backs of their red jackets visible to Shelley for the first time. The words Ted Williams Little League were written there in big letters.
“Yup,” answered Katie.
“It’s the only l-l-league in t-town,” said Casey, a wide grin on his face.
“My jacket’s blue,” replied Josh, standing up and turning around to show them the name of the revered baseball hero.
“Ted Williams?” chorused the pair. Now three puzzled faces turned to Shelley.
“The color of your jacket depends where you live,” she said.
Katie recovered first. “So, are you moving here?” she asked with a hand on her hip. “I’ll tell the coach to put you on our team and you’ll get a red one.”
Casey nodded in agreement. “Everybody p-p-plays!”
Bart’s voice saved Shelley from replying. “We’ve also got a summer league. Starts in June, right after school lets out.”
Shelley’s heart danced a jig as she heard the Realtor’s words. As she looked at her son’s happier face and the friendly children in the room, she knew Bart Quinn would somehow make it possible for her to rent a place. She exhaled in relief, not realizing until that moment how much she’d been counting on a summer at the beach.
She wanted to shout with happiness, but had to be content with a smile for Mr. Quinn. She was about to speak to him when she heard her daughter’s voice for the first time since Lila and the children had appeared.
“But, Mommy, if we stay here all summer, how will Daddy find us?”
Deep silence filled the room after Emily’s question. Shelley crossed to where her daughter was sitting and squatted in front of her.
“That’s simple. We’re going to tell Daddy exactly where we are. With the address and directions and everything. He’ll find us and visit with you and Josh. Don’t worry.” She wished she believed the words herself. If only Carl would stick to his promises, the kids would feel more secure.
Emily dimpled up at her, for the moment happy again. Maybe this time Shelley had said the right thing.
Lila’s voice penetrated her musings, and Shelley rose to her feet. The other woman was gathering her charges to take them to their game.
“Nice meeting you, Mrs. Anderson. And you too, kiddos.” She turned to her grandfather. “Taking them to Sea View House?”
Bart Quinn nodded. “You bet your sweet petutie I am. It’s perfect for them.”
“It is perfect for some, isn’t it?” replied Lila, her words slowing as she spoke.
Shelley wondered at the sudden change in Lila’s voice, a wistfulness, perhaps a yearning. But she had no time to brood. Bart was urging her, Josh and Emily to follow him to his vehicle.
“With both of us out, tell Jane she’s on her own,” Bart said to Lila when they reached the exit. “The phones are all hers.”
“Will do. For someone new to the business, she’s having a great season. I’m glad we hired her.”
Bart grunted. “The old intuition still works.”
Lila’s blue eyes sparkled with laughter, as she patted her grandfather on the arm. “The old everything still works on this guy. Anyway, hope to see you again, Mrs. Anderson.”
“Same here. Please call me Shelley.”
Lila smiled, then glanced at Bart. “She’ll fit right in, I think.” She faced Shelley again. “We’re very informal around here. Can’t be otherwise, living next to the ocean in a place where everyone knows everything about you.”
“But I’ll only be around for two months.”
“Doesn’t matter. In two weeks you’ll feel like you’ve lived here forever. All it takes is a breakfast at the Diner on the Dunes, a dinner at the Lobster Pot and, most important, an evening at Neptune’s Park.” Lila pivoted to Emily and Josh. “You’re going to love that place. Ferris wheels and roller coasters, and fun houses, and bumper cars…you are going to have a great time.”
Shelley watched her children’s eyes grow bigger and rounder with every word Lila spoke. Finally the woman looked at her watch and made a running exit with her two charges. “Can’t be late for the game.”
“Thanks,” said Shelley to Lila’s retreating back, before looking at Bart Quinn again. “Your granddaughter is terrific.”
“That she is. She’s happy today and it does my heart good. Seems to be getting a bit easier in recent times, less pretending…but…” The old man shook his head, silent and pensive. “Well, now,” he said, a moment later, “are you ready to visit the house?”
“Absolutely,” replied Shelley, more than willing to change the topic of conversation. Lila’s troubles belonged to Lila, just as hers belonged to her. No one seemed able to escape disappointment or sadness in life, and she couldn’t do anything about that. The only action she could take was to cope with her own problems as best she could.
Shelley motioned for the children to join her, and in less than two minutes, they all bundled into Bart Quinn’s ten-year-old black Lincoln Town Car. He was almost as proud of that car as he was of his grandkids. “The trunk’s so big,” he bragged, “I could pack my whole Main Street office in it!”
The man loved life. He laughed often. Shelley wished she laughed more herself. She wished her fairy-tale life—with handsome husband and two children—had had a happy ending. She wished…she wished… She was a fool to wish. What was the old saying? If wishes were horses, beggars would ride? She looked around her. Well, she was riding in a Lincoln, wasn’t she?
They drove back along Main Street where the usual variety of businesses was located. Near Bart’s office were a diner, a bank and a barbershop called the Cove Clippers. They passed Parker Plumbing and Hardware and turned left on Outlook Drive. Bart drove straight down the street where more houses stood, and Shelley could soon see the ocean straight ahead in the near distance. She could smell it, too.
“Almost t
here,” began Bart. “It’s a special house, you know. People who live there for even a short while, go away happier.”
And leprechauns live under toadstools. “Are you sure it’s the house?” asked Shelley. “Or is it merely being on vacation that helps?”
“Well, young lady, I wouldn’t want to say for sure, but Laura McCloud, who lives there now, has no complaints. And she hasn’t taken a swim even once! But lately, she smiles all the time, especially when she looks at Matt Parker.”
Whoa! Information overload. Too many names with no faces.
“Are you saying the house is already rented?”
“Only until next month. Laura’s lease ends the week before Memorial Day. You and the children can spend the holiday weekend here if you’d like. And then come back in June as soon as convenient.”
“That’s more than I expected, Mr. Quinn. You really can pull rabbits out of the hat.”
Bart Quinn guffawed, turned left on Beach Street and pointed toward a big house on the first corner lot. “Here’s the old girl.”
Shelley stared. Sea View House was huge. Two and a half stories, a big sloping roof, gray weathered wooden shingles, a saltbox style from the early days of colonial New England. A wide porch ran the width of the house, and a white picket fence bordered the yard.
“Wow!” she said. She’d imagined a tiny cottage. “Far grander than anything I expected.”
“But you’ll not be leasing it all,” said Bart, pulling the car into the driveway. “Did I forget to mention that? You’ll have the first floor, known around here as the Captain’s Quarters. It’s plenty roomy. In fact, with three bedrooms, it can accommodate your little family and any visitors you may get.”
The children climbed out of the big car before Shelley did and headed up the driveway toward the back of the house.
“Hang on a minute, kids,” called Shelley, scrambling after them. The sea was their backyard neighbor. She’d prefer to introduce her children to that particular neighbor and make sure they viewed the ocean’s power and vastness with respect.
“Go after them,” said Bart. “Laura’s not home now, so I’ll find my way in and meet you on the back porch. But take your time. Have a grand adventure.”
The breeze blew steadily as Shelley, Josh and Emily made their way up the driveway, through a grassy backyard and then onto the sand. Today the air was cool enough without needing the ocean breeze for relief. But Shelley knew that in July and August, the wind would be a blessing.
Shelley studied the back of the house. The covered porch on this side was large, too, with wide steps leading up to it from the yard. A couple of rocking chairs stood empty, and Shelley could imagine herself sitting on them at the end of the day, listening to the sounds of the Atlantic.
The bright sun shone down as she, Emily and Josh walked closer to the shore. When she looked out to sea, the vast blue sky blended with the blue-green of the ocean to form an inseparable horizon. “Look out there, kids. Look at it.” She raised her arm, pointing out over the ocean. Then she twirled in a circle on the sand. Miles of beach in each direction, and dead ahead, the magnificent Atlantic.
“But no one’s here, Mommy,” said Emily. “It’s just us.”
“That’s because it’s still too cold to go swimming. But just you wait. In the summer, there’ll be loads of kids to play with.”
She turned to her silent son. “Think you’ll enjoy spending the summer here?”
He cocked his head, eyes narrowing. “We can’t hide, Mommy. Daddy’s going to find us, you know. He’s smart.”
Shelley cupped her son’s troubled face in her hands and tilted it until he looked straight at her. “We’re not running away from Daddy, Josh. We’re not hiding. He’ll know where we are all the time. I promise you that.” Whether Carl chose to visit was another story. Shelley didn’t voice her doubts aloud.
She sighed deeply. Emily had thought her dad would get lost finding them, and Josh thought they were hiding from him. Her two children had put their own spins on her idea, but both had the same fear. Loss of a father. Too bad their philandering, superbusy father didn’t deserve such loyalty.
The image of Carl and his blond associate locked in a tight embrace was never far from her mind. A naive, unsuspecting wife didn’t forget shock or betrayal easily.
“Let’s walk to the waterline,” said Shelley, putting a hand in each of her children’s. She’d rent the house in any case, but she’d really hoped for a buy-in from the kids. “Let’s get the feeling of what’s it like near the ocean. Maybe we’ll find a lobster!”
“Oh, Mom,” sighed Josh. “You need a trap to get lobster. You need to go out in deep water.”
Josh kept talking as they walked, and soon the children were busy searching for shells in the hard sand. Gradually their excitement built as they exclaimed over each discovery. Little by little, Shelley felt her body relax. The three Andersons were going to spend the summer at the beach. She, for one, couldn’t wait.
And neither could Bart Quinn. She ushered the children to the back porch and through the door that led to the kitchen. The Realtor sat at a square Parsons table studying a calendar. Foot-wide gray planked flooring seemed to flow from the porches throughout the house. Tied-back Cape Cod curtains allowed daylight in through the windows, but the eastern exposure would insure a cool kitchen at the end of long summer days.
“Laura knew we’d be visiting and left the house neat and clean. So, let’s take a walk through.” Bart Quinn suited action to words and rose from the table.
“I want to sleep with Mommy in this house,” said Emily.
“You can do that, little lady,” replied Bart. “There’s a big bed in the master bedroom.”
“Goody.”
The apartment was everything Bart had promised and Shelley had hoped for. Three lovely bedrooms, one of which seemed to be serving as an office now, an entry hall with a living room to one side and a separate dining room to the other. Large, but comfortable and informal, they were rooms to be used every day, not just for company. Chintz covered the couches and chairs, and braided area rugs lay on the planked floors.
“Cozy,” said Shelley as she looked around. Not so big that she’d be cleaning all the time, but big enough for them to have space. In fact… “Josh! Emily! I have a great idea.” She waited until they were in front of her. “How about we ask Nana and Poppy to stay with us for a few weeks?”
Her children’s eyes shone. A natural grin crossed Josh’s face. “Yeah,” he said. “That would be good. Then we wouldn’t be alone.”
Her heart dropped. Again disappointment filled her. When would she get used to knowing that her son didn’t feel secure with having just one parent around? Or more probably, he didn’t feel secure with her as the only parent. His grandparents would reinforce his own sense of normalcy and security.
She glanced at Bart Quinn. Nothing passed his notice. She’d already learned that, and what she saw now confirmed her theory. Kindness and understanding.
“Buck up, boyo,” said Bart, focusing his eyes on Josh. “You’ll have so much to do and so many new friends to play with, you won’t have time to be lonely or alone…unless you want to be.”
Without waiting for Josh to reply, he turned his attention to Shelley. “As a matter of fact,” he continued, “you won’t be the only adult at Sea View House, either.”
“What do you mean?” asked Shelley, realizing Bart wasn’t including her parents in his announcement.
“I started to tell you earlier, but somehow got sidetracked. The upstairs has already been rented for the summer. A professor from California who just accepted a job at Harvard,” explained Bart Quinn. “Poor man lost his wife not too long ago. Still has a grief in his heart.”
“The upstairs?” asked Shelley, taken by surprise, and not absorbing the other details.
“We call it the Crow’s Nest around here. When the current William Adams renovated the place, he built two separate apartments, with separate entrances, so th
at his idea for providing an affordable rental property would be practical. We charge market price for some tenants, which helps the trust to maintain the house. No one in town but the board of directors and me knows who’s who.”
“I’m not a charity case, Mr. Quinn. I can support my family just fine.”
“And who’s saying you can’t?” replied Bart, a definite Irish brogue lacing his voice. “Saints preserve us! Surely not I.” He pointed to the front windows overlooking the shady, tree-lined street and then pointed to the back ones, where they could see the waters of the Atlantic cresting in small steady waves. “What price do we put on that?”
Quinn paused, but Shelly knew he didn’t expect an answer.
“Sea View House is not about money, my dear. Sea View House levels the playing field. Financial problems shouldn’t make personal hard times harder. That’s what my friend William Adams believes, as have all the generations in his family before him. Many people have benefited from their philosophy. Ordinary people, just like you and me, who need a bit of a vacation, who need to carve a bit of time to regain their equilibrium.”
Shelley understood his message all too well. Hadn’t she come to Pilgrim Cove searching for just that type of reprieve? Searching for time and space to come to terms, to help herself and her children? Hoping she could afford the luxury of it? She hadn’t realized, however, that people like William Adams existed in real life.
“Time is a gift,” she murmured.
“Aye, it’s that. And what could be more precious?”
Shelley looked hard at her children. Bart Quinn struck a chord. What could be more precious than an endless summer with Josh and Emily?
Confident once more, she reached into her purse for a pen. “Where’s the lease, Mr. Quinn? I’m ready to sign.”
AN HOUR LATER, Bart Quinn stood at his office window watching Shelley Anderson drive down Main Street on her way back to Boston. But she’d return at the end of next month for the Memorial Day weekend and then again in mid-June for the summer.
He was more than satisfied with his choice of tenant. Mrs. Anderson and her children were exactly the kind of people the William Adams Trust wanted to invest in, which was very reassuring, since he had to answer to the board for each tenant he selected. The summer provided twice the challenge since there were always several candidates then. Everyone wanted a vacation at the shore.
No Ordinary Summer Page 2
