She turned and looked back at Tides. It was still a magnificent house, even if it did need a few repairs. A surge of love for the inn bubbled up. She wanted Tides to succeed, but she was worried because it needed a lot of care. Jane had said she didn’t need help, but was that just her pride talking?
Andie had made a promise to her mother about helping Jane. Even though her sister pushed her off, she wanted to dosomethinguseful while she was here. As a girl, she’d loved working in the garden with her mom. Maybe that was something she could do to help out.
She headed toward the garden, slipping her phone out of her pocket to check for messages. Still no text from Doug, but that didn’t bother her. She’d almost forgotten to even look. It was as if being at the ocean had a cleansing effect where he was concerned.
The garden needed some serious tending. The weeds had taken over most of the flowerbeds, but Andie could still see purple cone flowers, brilliant red monarda, and clumps of black-eyed Susans. It would take some weeding, some bark mulch, and a few new flowers here and there, but these beds could be beautiful again.
Her mother had always planted impatiens and pansies along the garden edge. Andie had usually helped with that task, under her mother’s instruction. Now she’d have a chance to see if she’d inherited her mother’s green thumb.
Her mother had always put out bird feeders too. Some of Andie’s fondest memories were sitting and watching the jewel-toned hummingbirds battle around the feeders. No feeders were out in the garden now, but did they even still have them?
On the other side of the driveway that circled around the front of the house sat the three- car garage attached to the old outhouse the family used for storage. Her grandfather had called the outhouse a three-seater. His stories of how he and his two brothers would use it at the same time for warmth in the frigid winters had always had Andie and Jane giggling. By the time Andie and Jane had come along, indoor plumbing had been installed, but the structure still stood. It was useful for storage, though it did need a good paint job.
She rummaged around inside, pushing spiderwebs and dust away until she found the familiar red-topped glass hummingbird feeder. It was a little dusty but in good condition, with little perches shaped like flowers on the bottom.
She’d forgotten how fun it was to watch the tiny birds. They didn’t have any of those in New York City—or if they did, she’d never seen one. Maybe she’d been too busy working to take the time?
If memory served correctly, all she had to do was mix one part sugar to four parts water to make the nectar. She headed back to the house, eager to get the bird feeder set up as soon as possible.
Chapter 15
Jane was just finishing up with the accounting when Mike appeared at the kitchen door. Much to her delight, Cooper was at his side.
“Thanks for coming.” Jane bent down to pet the dog. “Brenda made a breakfast plate for you. Why don’t you get settled at the table, and I’ll heat it up.”
Mike took his laptop out of the bag and sat at the table while Jane heated up the plate of eggs, sausage, and pancakes that Brenda had set aside.
“So, what exactly do you want in a website?” Mike asked as he shoveled in the breakfast. “This is delicious, by the way.”
“Darn tootin’. Brenda makes the best breakfast,” Sally piped in without even taking her eyes off her current job of fixing the hinges on one of the corner cabinets.
“Can’t argue with that.” Jane slid her laptop around so Mike could see the screen. “I surfed around the internet and found some examples of what I would like our website to look like. Of course, I’ll need a form that people can fill out with information on weddings. And also, it needs to be hooked up to some sort of a reservation system—even if it just sent me an email—as long as the people can fill the form out online.”
Mike studied the example sites she had on her screen. “Looks simple enough. Should be easy.” He shoved his plate aside and started typing notes on his own laptop. “I should have a mock-up ready for you tomorrow. Is that okay?”
“So soon? That would be great. You don’t need to rush on my account, though.”
“I’m not rushing. I’ll put together some examples. Then we can go through it, and you can tell me what needs to be changed.”
“I really appreciate this,” Jane said as Mike started packing up his laptop. “Are you sure you don’t want payment? I know website designers cost a lot.”
Mike smiled and shook his head. “No. Seriously, the breakfast is enough.”
“We’ll be sure to have a good one ready for you when you come tomorrow.” Jane knelt down in front of Cooper, running her fingers through his thick fur. “And I guess I’ll see you tomorrow too.”
“Actually, you might not.” Mike’s voice sounded grim. Jane glanced up at him, and his expression indicated that something was wrong.
“What do you mean?” Jane asked.
Mike sighed. “The landlady that I’m renting the cottage from said I can’t have pets. Even though on the Airbnb listing, it did say pets were allowed, now she’s saying that was a mistake, and I can’t keep Cooper there. No place else is available in town, so I’m going to have to put him in the kennel until I figure out something permanent.”
“A kennel?” Jane’s heart pinched at the trusting look in Cooper’s whiskey-brown eyes. He seemed so happy, wagging his tail, eagerly awaiting another walk on the beach. Images of the dog sad and depressed and crammed into a dirty kennel with no beach to run on came to mind. “Surely there’s got to be something else you can do?”
“I wish there was. I’m not putting him up for adoption or anything yet, but I’ll have to keep him somewhere and come and take him out to visit Gramps.”
“But he’ll be in a small kennel all day. That won’t do. What if he stayed here instead?” Jane had blurted the proposition out before she knew it was coming, but now that it was out, she didn’t regret it. Having Cooper at Tides felt right.
Mike’s eyes widened. “Oh, I couldn’t ask you to do that.”
