“Is something wrong with your mom?”
“Oh. No, nothing like that. Nothing’s wrong. Actually, I wanted to ask for your help.”
“My help?” Maxi’s spirits lifted. “With what?”
Maxi had helped decorate Addie’s room, and she’d loved the challenge. Perhaps Jane wanted her input at the inn. Right about now any project would be exciting.
“I put in an application at that wedding website that you mentioned. And I was thinking if we’re going to have weddings, I’m going to need some advice on how to decorate the place for them.”
“That’s wonderful!” Maxi couldn’t be happier for her friend. She knew Jane sometimes liked to follow the safe path, but she had a feeling that hosting weddings and other events at Tides was going to help pull them through. And she really wanted Jane to pull Tides through, not only so that Addie could stay at Tall Pines but for Jane to feel like she’d accomplished something. “I’m happy to help with anything. Do you want to get together and talk about it in person?”
“I’d love to. I have to visit Mom this afternoon, and my sister is coming tonight. So I won’t have time today, but would you mind coming over tomorrow around ten?”
“Mind? I’d love it.”
Maxi made a cup of coffee and sat at her kitchen counter, her outlook brightening. Helping Jane with the weddings would give her a purpose, a goal. She’d had too much time on her hands lately, and maybe she’d been seeing problems where there were none. Hopefully having something to focus on other than her empty nest would prove that things at home weren’t as bad as she’d thought.
Chapter 10
Jane’s office at Tides was on the third floor. It was small, but all she really needed was a desk. Despite the small size, Jane liked it because it had an oval window beside the desk that looked out at the ocean. Jane didn’t have time to look at the ocean, though. She was busy uploading the photos she’d taken of the guest rooms, the dining room, and the other parts of the inn that were in good repair, as well as the sandcastle cake, to the wedding venue website.
She hoped that the angle of a quaint oceanside inn offering lobster-bake weddings on the beach along with sandcastle wedding cakes would be enough to pique someone’s interest.
Jane looked over the form, making sure everything was correct. Was this the right thing to do? It was scary venturing into new territory, but what was the worst that could happen?
As she scoured the rest of the form, she noticed that the coastal wedding–listing website had a section for a link to her own website where the interested parties could reach her to ask for more info to book a wedding.
Darn it! She still had the old Tides website, and now she wanted to create a special section for weddings. Glancing at her email folder, she saw the third website developer had replied. Bad news. They were booked for a month.
She sighed, the old chair creaking as she leaned back. She looked out the window at the ocean. Now what was she going to do? She’d googled web designers in the area and come up empty. She supposed she didn’t have to use someone local, though. Maybe she should expand her search.
A golden blur running on the beach caught her eye. Was that Cooper? She leaned forward, recognizing the tall figure of Mike as he threw a stick to the dog. The anxiety that had been roiling inside her eased. Just seeing the dog calmed her, as it probably did for many people. Maybe Claire was right and having a dog at the inn could be a benefit that would attract animal lovers.
But there wouldn’t be any inn if she didn’t get a website designer. Wait a minute… hadn’t Mike said that he was a freelance programmer? Programmers made websites, didn’t they? Jane pushed up from the desk and hurried outside.
Cooper spotted Jane coming down the beach from two hundred yards away and made a beeline toward her, water flying off his fur as he ran. Jane crouched as the big dog practically bowled her over. She petted his wet and salty fur.
Beyond Cooper, Mike waved, jogging to catch up.
“Cooper sure has taken a liking to you,” Mike said. “Fancy meeting you out here again.”
Jane stood and looked down at Cooper, whose adoring brown eyes gazed back. “The feeling is mutual.” Cooper nuzzled her hand, and she stroked his ears. “Actually, it’s not a coincidence that I ran into you out here.”
Mike’s lips quirked in a grin. “Oh?”
His smile held a hint of flirtation that made butterflies swarm in Jane’s stomach. This was crazy. She wasn’t interested in Mike that way. She hadn’t been interested in anyone that way since her husband and wasn’t about to start now. “I was looking for you because I remembered you mentioned that you were a computer programmer.”
“Yeah, that’s what I do back in Seattle.” Now Mike looked intrigued and maybe a bit confused.
“Well, it so happens that I need a website for Tides.” Jane turned and pointed back toward the inn. “I was wondering if that’s the sort of work you did, and if so, would you be looking for extra work while you’re out here?”
“Yeah, I could do that. I’m pretty experienced with websites.”
“Great.” Jane kicked at a small white shell that had rolled up in the surf. Now for the hard part: the payment. Did freelance web designers charge a lot? Could Jane afford it? She didn’t have much of a choice. If she didn’t get the website in place, there would be no weddings booked, and not having an online booking system was a deterrent for guests who wanted to reserve a room online. “Great. What would you charge?”
Mike’s gaze flicked to the inn, his expression uncertain, as if he could see how it needed repairs from here. “Charge? Well, to be honest, I’m not used to charging individual people. I usually work for companies, but I heard that Tides serves a hell of a good breakfast.”
What did breakfast have to do with websites? “Yeah, we do.”
