Jane shrugged. “I think we might have to sell one of these paintings after all. If you’ll agree.”
Andie’s eyes flicked to the painting, a seascape with turbulent waves crashing on jagged rocks.
“What? Why?” She had a sinking feeling that the finances were a lot worse than her sister had let on. She’d felt something was off all along and should’ve insisted that Jane give her specifics, but she’d felt like it was none of her business. Jane had been taking care of this all along, and Andie was ashamed that she’d never once offered to help or asked how things were going. Who was she to butt in now?
Jane sighed. “I’m afraid the wedding might not happen. We have to put in a new bathroom to accommodate all the guests.”
“Oh. Well, that seems problematic, but why do we need to sell a painting because the wedding is off? Are finances that bad?”
Jane looked as if she might cry, and Andie resisted the urge to hug her, not sure if the gesture would be welcome.
“I’m sorry. I guess I should’ve fessed up sooner. I just didn’t want you to think that I’d ruined the family business, but the truth is finances are not okay. This wedding was going to bail us out,” Jane said.
“Ruin the family business? I never would’ve thought that.” Andie felt like a selfish jerk. How could things have gotten so messed up between them that Jane felt like Andie would blame her for ruining the business instead of knowing she would jump in to help her?
Plagued with guilt over leaving everything on Jane’s shoulders, Andie was moved to solve the problem. “Okay, so the client doesn’t want porta potties. Who could blame them? But could we add another bathroom?” Andie mentally added up the money in her 401(k). She could take some out—the heck with the penalty. Her sister needed her help, and that was more important.
“Where would we put it? The space is tight down here. Even if we could add another one, would we get it done in time for the wedding? And how would we pay for it? Not to mention that we need to wait for some special approval that we can only get during a meeting that doesn’t happen until next month.” Jane flapped her arms. “It’s hopeless.”
“Can you request an emergency meeting? What about the upstairs bathrooms? We have plenty of those.” Andie couldn’t believe how backward things were in these small towns.
“Those bathrooms go with the guest rooms, so they don’t count. According to the man from the town hall, if we put in more bathrooms than the house originally had or were added when plumbing came along, then we need some special variance.”
Standing there with her sister, surrounded by their family belongings and the ocean in the background, she could feel the memories bubbling up. How many times had she stood here with her sister? Her mother? Her grandmother?
This house was full of those memories. She should have read between the lines and realized things were this bad, but she had been too involved in her own problems. Suddenly, Andie realized that more than anything, she wanted Tides to prosper. More than her job back at Christie’s, more than being part of a significant antiques find. She felt a sudden closeness with Jane that she hadn’t felt since they were kids. Jane needed her. And not only that, but something about what Jane had just said sparked an idea in her brain.
“Wait a minute! Did you say something about the original bathrooms?” Andie asked.
“Yeah, I guess there’s something grandfathered in. But this place didn’t have bathrooms originally, remember? Gramps added them with his father when indoor plumbing took off.”
“I remember. They had to reconfigure some bedrooms to turn it into an inn with private baths for every room,” Andie said. “I’m not sure, though. All might not be lost yet.”
“I doubt that. The guy was pretty sure that we couldn’t get a special meeting.” Jane cocked her head and squinted at Andie. “Was there something you wanted to talk to me about?”
“It was nothing.” Andie spun on her heel and started walking away. “Don’t cancel the wedding or do anything drastic until you talk to me.”
“Why? What are you going to do?”
“I’ll tell you later tonight! Until then, keep the faith.”
As Andie hurried out to her car, she opened the air-travel app on her phone and canceled the plane ticket. She didn’t want to say anything to Jane because she didn’t want to get her hopes up, but if Andie’s plan worked, Jane was going to need her help for this wedding—and maybe even beyond.
The drama with the bathrooms had made Jane and Cooper late for the weekly meeting with Maxi and Claire at Sandcastles. She’d walked from Tides because she needed the time to think, not only about the bathroom situation but also about Andie’s parting words. What in the world was she up to?
Maxi and Claire were already seated at a table on the sidewalk with a tray of pastries and mugs of coffee in front of them when she got there. They were midconversation, talking animatedly and gesturing. Jane slipped into a chair, and Cooper flopped down at her feet.
“And we can make the sandcastle cake with the colored frosting to match the wedding colors.” Claire slid the tray of pastries over toward Jane. “Don’t you think that would be great, Jane? Add a personal touch?”
“And I was thinking I could make a few special pillows to match the wedding party. It would bring all the decor together and make the weddings at Tides really special,” Maxi added. “We could place them on the rockers on the back porch.”
Her friends were so excited about the wedding that Jane almost didn’t have the heart tell them about the bathroom problem. “Those sound like great ideas, but I’m afraid there might not be a wedding. At least not this summer.”
Their faces fell. “What? Why?”
Jane told them about her visit with Bob and the issue with the bathrooms. “The client specified no porta potties, so I’m not sure what to do. I can email them and see if they’ll make an exception given the tight schedule, but she seemed pretty adamant.”
“There must be something we can do,” Claire said.
