Chapter 1
Jane Miller stood in the doorway of the private room at the Tall Pines Memory Care Facility and watched her mother, Addie. She was sitting in her old rocking chair beside the window, a pencil in her hand and her gaze intent on a word-search book that was laid out in her lap. The look of contentment on her mother’s face brought Jane a mixture of relief and anxiety. Relief because her mother was happy. Anxiety because she didn’t know how she was going to continue paying the bill.
The monthly cost was much more than their failing family inn, Tides, was bringing in. Jane didn’t have any savings or much for retirement, so hopefully she could get some aid for her mother. That was actually one of the reasons for her visit. She had an appointment with the financial director in a few minutes but wanted to pop in and see her mother first.
She pushed the door open, and Addie looked over and smiled. It was no wonder her mother felt at home here. Jane had had one of her best friends, Maxi Stevens, help decorate the room, and it held all of her mother’s familiar things from her room at Tides. The blue-and-white wedding-ring quilt that Jane’s grandmother had stitched by hand, the bird figurines that Dad would give to Mom every wedding anniversary, the family photos, including Jane’s favorite of her and her sister, Andie, arm in arm at the beach.
Maxi had brought in a few new things that she’d artfully placed here and there, too, and the overall effect was stunning. Jane wasn’t surprised—as an artist, Maxi was bursting with creativity.
Jane perched on the edge of the bed. “How are you feeling today, Mom?”
“Wonderful.” Addie’s smile turned to a frown. “Shouldn’t you be downstairs feeding the guests?”
Apparently, Maxi had done such a good job of emulating Addie’s room, down to the small television in the corner, that Addie thought she was still at Tides. But since she seemed so content, Jane didn’t want to enlighten her. Let her think what she wanted as long as it made her happy. “Brenda can handle the guests this morning.”
Brenda had worked for Tides as their chief cook and general helper for decades. At first, she’d worked under Addie’s instruction and later had helped fill in where Addie’s memory lapses left off. When it became too much, Jane had retired from her job as an accountant in order to help Brenda and take over running the inn. She’d always hoped to keep her mom at the inn, but that wasn’t meant to be. Luckily Brenda knew as much as Jane did about running the place, and she could comfortably leave her in charge.
“Brenda is a good cook, but she isn’t the face of Tides. You should be down there making sure that their stay is a pleasant one. The guests won’t come back if it isn’t.”
Apparently, Addie hadn’t noticed that Tides had only had one guest for most of the summer. That was probably for the best too.
A change of subject was in order. “I brought you a chocolate chip muffin.” Jane held up a white bakery bag.
Addie put down the pen and reached for the bag, peering in with a delighted smile. “These are my favorite!”
“Claire made them.” Jane wondered if her mother would remember Claire Turner, her lifelong friend and owner of Sandcastles Bakery in Lobster Bay.
“She makes the best muffins,” Addie said around a bite. She seemed to remember who Claire was today.
“She does,” Jane agreed.
Addie glanced over Jane’s shoulder into what was sure to be an unfamiliar hallway. Jane expected her to become confused or upset. Instead, her mother set aside the far-from-finished word search and pen and asked, “Where is Andrea?”
Good question.Jane’s older sister had once been her idol, back when Jane was a freshman in high school and Andie a senior. But when Andie left town for college and never looked back, Jane realized that she hadn’t meant that much to her sister. None of them had, if the infrequency of her visits was any indication. Sure, she’d come back when Jane’s baby—and then her husband—had died. She’d been there when their dad had gotten sick. But she never stayed long. Why would it be any different now?
Of course, her absence might be because Jane hadn’t told Andie the full truth. Not that she’d wanted to leave Andie out of the decision-making process, but everything had happened so fast. Tall Pines was the best facility around, and they didn’t often have openings. Jane had jumped at the chance, and there hadn’t been time to wait for her sister to fly out to mull over the decision. Besides, Andie hadn’t been here this past year watching their mother decline. Jane had done all the heavy lifting and felt she was best positioned to make the decision.
Still, she did have a tiny seed of guilt that she could have tried harder to let Andie know what was really going on. Hadn’t she glossed over the real state of affairs in her texts and phone calls? And maybe she had felt responsible that their mother had wandered off and didn’t want her big sister to think she’d fallen down on the job of making sure their mother was safe.
Andrea knew about the change in their mother’s living situation. Jane hadn’t gone into details, certainly not over a voicemail message, but she’d left enough information for Andie to get in touch. So far, they hadn’t been able to connect. It probably didn’t make much difference, though. She doubted Andie would want to come out and help. She’d probably be relieved that Jane was taking care of everything and happy to stay back in New York City, where she worked for Christie’s as an antiques appraiser.
“Andie is at work right now.” Jane didn’t want to disappoint her mother and tell her that her oldest daughter most likely wouldn’t be coming.
Addie latched onto Jane’s arm. Her expression had lost its dreamy cast and was fully serious. The lines around her mouth and nose were deeper than ever. “You’ll convince her to visit, won’t you, Jane? She listens to you.”
No, she doesn’t.
Jane bit her lip. She didn’t want to make a promise she couldn’t keep. “I’ll try. Speaking of which, I’d better get going.”
“That’s right. You make sure breakfast is coming along. I don’t want Brenda to scare them all away with her crankiness. You know how she gets while she’s cooking.”
Brenda was perhaps the sweetest soul in Lobster Bay. A bit surly if someone got in her way while she was cooking, but she would never be cranky to a guest.
Nevertheless, Jane promised. “I will.”
“Good. But before you go, you better find my sweater.”
“Sweater?” Jane glanced into the closet. She’d moved all of her mother’s clothes over but hadn’t finished writing her name on the tags yet as recommended by the staff here. “Which one?”
