Liddy made a list of all the places she wanted Grace to leave flyers announcing the grand opening. The bulletin board in the general store. All the shops on the Stroll. Three B&Bs. Ground Me. The art center. Her mind was racing faster than her ability to think, so she started abbreviating. CS for the cheese shop. RP for Ray’s Pizza. SFS for Simmons Fine Spirits. She only hoped she could remember what all those initials stood for when she got up in the morning.
She’d had Grace add a coupon to the flyers, promising a one-time twenty percent discount on all purchases made on her grand opening day. She was banking on the discount to provide additional incentive to the local customers to give the revamped shop a try.
She needed a new sign to replace the old one that had hung over the shop’s front window for as long as she could remember. Wyndham Beach Books was the official name of Fred’s shop, but she needed something new and different. Not that there was anything wrong with the name, but it was associated with years of Fred’s neglectful ownership in the minds of the locals, and she had to change that. She’d played with any number of names. Liddy’s Books. Jessie’s Corner, which was her sentimental favorite, but everyone in town knew about Jessie, and Liddy was afraid it would feel like a sad place to the people who’d known her daughter. Plus, as Maggie had pointed out when they’d discussed the possibilities, people who weren’t local might ask who Jessie was, which meant Liddy could find herself repeating the story over and over, because if anyone asked, Liddy’d be inclined to tell it all rather than offer the short answer, “My daughter.” Instead, Maggie suggested Wyndham Beach Reads, which Liddy loved. She’d designed the sign on paper and had given the mock-up to Tuck, who’d promised it would be in place on opening day.
Liddy had put a star next to all the things she wanted to discuss with Tuck, starting with an update on the sign. She knew she was going to end up owing him a small fortune, but there was no one else she’d trust to do things exactly as she wanted them done. Through the years, he’d been the go-to guy for projects large—like the deck and the remodeling of her master suite and the carriage house—and small, like the repairs on her back-porch steps, and they’d always seemed to be on the same wavelength. He was always booked, though, so she was grateful he’d carved out some time for her.
She thought about Grace again, and wondered if she was still thinking about moving out of Maggie’s house. Recalling Jess’s need for privacy, Liddy was of the opinion Grace should be on her own. Her guest suite should be reserved for guests, Liddy reminded herself, and the apartment in the carriage house was and would remain off limits.
But there was the little house.
She added that to the list of things to discuss with Tuck. Even if Grace decided not to move out of her mother’s house—which would be a mistake in Liddy’s opinion—Liddy should consider the possibility of using the little house as a rental property. Jim had used it as offices for years, so she could rent it out commercially. Or she could remodel it for living quarters, if not for Grace, then perhaps for someone else looking for a small house. The floor plan would require some reconfiguring—How much would it cost for walls to be moved? she wondered—but she should consider it. She double-starred little house on her list.
Just thinking about all she still had to do and the narrow window of time in which to do it exhausted her. She leaned back on the pillows and, without bothering to turn off the lamp, closed her eyes, and having moved all those musts from her brain onto paper, she fell into the best sleep she’d had in weeks.
“I need to have the exterior as attractive as I can make it in a week’s time.” Liddy stood on the sidewalk outside the shop, her hands on her hips, and shared her vision with Tuck. “The building already has that Tudor look—though you have to wonder why in a town of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century clapboard houses, so many of the shops were built in that style.”
“A lot of these old shops were built by the same guy who designed the academy. All that Tudor brown and half-timber there on the harbor? Wouldn’t do it that way myself, but then again, I wasn’t around back when the school was built.” Tuck stepped to the front of the shop and flaked off a bit of white paint from around the window. “Yeah, you do need new paint out here. The mullions all need to be repainted. Washing the glass on both sides would probably help, too.”
“It’s on the list.”
“And the door . . .” He inspected it closely. “The wood’s not in bad shape, but God knows how many coats of paint are on it. I’d recommend taking it off, sanding it down, and repainting it.”
Liddy frowned. “How long would that take? I can’t leave the shop without a door.”
“I can have it done in one day if I start early enough in the morning.”
“Okay, so you have my list. Want to take it home and price it all out and give me a call?”
“That’s what I intend on doing.” He folded up the paper she handed him and stuck it in the back pocket of his work jeans.
“I know you must have a ton of work this time of year, especially after that storm a few weeks back. I heard a few houses caught some damage, falling tree limbs and water seeping in, like I did. So I appreciate you coming right over and taking a look at things here.”
“Not as busy as I used to be since I passed on most of the jobs to my son. Construction is a young man’s game, Liddy.”
“You’re not that old, Tuck.”
“Old enough I can’t kneel and bend and lift the way I used to without something giving me pain. Knees, shoulders, back, neck . . . everything’s taken a beating over the years. Linc is young and strong, and he loves the work and is good at what he does.”
“He learned from the best.”
Tuck grinned. “I like to think so. I spent my entire life building up Shelby and Son. I’m grateful Linc wants to take over.”
“You’re telling me you’re retiring?”
“Semiretiring.”
“So you do still work.”
“Only the light stuff, and projects I find interesting or challenging.” He took a few steps closer to Liddy and lowered his voice. “Or for people I like.”
“Well, I guess I’m lucky you like me, because I have an endless list of projects.” Liddy met his eyes, and for a moment she wondered if he might be openly flirting with her.
Tuck Shelby? Nah.
“Of course I like you. We’ve been friends for years, Lid. I haven’t forgotten when I was first starting out, you and Jim hired me for one of my first big jobs.”
“The carriage house.” We’ve been friends for years. Yeah. Not flirting. Was she just a teeny bit disappointed? Um, yeah, she was.
He nodded. “Converting that second floor into an apartment for Jim’s mom. Shame she didn’t get to live there very long.”
“After her stroke, we had to move her to an assisted care facility, and the apartment sat vacant for years until you came back and fixed it up for Jessie.”
“That job was a godsend for me. After you guys told other people I’d done a good job—”
“A great job,” she corrected him. “You did a great job, and we were happy to serve as a reference for you.”