Jane’s spirits lifted. On impulse, she hugged Andie. It was a little awkward and stiff, but it was a start. “That’s great news. We can still have the wedding. Shoot! Except… how can we build an entire bathroom structure in four weeks?”
“I bet we could do it in two weeks with the right people,” Sally piped up. “We built one for the Andersons in eight days.”
Jane was still doubtful. “Seriously? Where would we find people to work on it on such short notice?”
Sally winked. “I know a lot of people in this town that don’t want to see Tides go under. Your grandparents helped their grandparents, and they’ll be happy to repay the favor. Lord knows what they would build here if you had to sell, and no one wants some new monstrosity coming in. With a little bit of persuasion and a few favors, people will be able to shuffle their schedules around.”
Jane couldn’t believe it. “Do you really think so?”
“Ah-yuh. And I know we can persuade Ralph Marchand to do the plumbing. Good thing Claire already greased the skids with him by plying him with all those free pastries when he was fixing the pipes at Sandcastles.”
Chapter 25
The next week flew by in a blur of permit getting, supply ordering, and contractor hiring. Before Jane knew it, the old outhouse building had been cleaned out and demolished. A backhoe had dug a hole for the foundation of the small bath building that would replace it, and concrete had been poured.
The design of the bath building was simple, but the white siding and nautical-blue trim would match with Tides. Things couldn’t have worked out more perfectly because this separate bathroom would come in handy if Jane had events out in the garden. People wouldn’t have to traipse back into the inn this way, and Andie had suggested adding a planting bench with a sink and a foot-wash station for people coming from the beach on one side.
Maxi and Andie had bonded over coming up with the design for the bathroom. Jane was happy to leave it to them. They’d taken several trips to the local home-fixer-upper store, picking out toilets and sinks and fixtures. Andie had even managed to get a coupon so everything could be bought at a discount.
Thankfully, a second wedding deposit came in, and wedding guests were booking rooms at the inn for the days surrounding the wedding.
The project was expensive, though, so Jane had taken out a small equity line of credit on Tides, thanks to Maxi and James, who had pushed it through quickly for her. The interest rate on a line of credit was much lower than a regular loan, and it was faster to get and better than charging things on credit cards.
Jane was heartened by the way people had juggled their schedules to accommodate her. Many of the local business owners had taken over the businesses from their parents, who had been friends of Jane’s parents. And they all wanted to help their neighbor.
The permits had been sped through the system. Shane and Sally had worked double time on the bathroom, arbor, and dance floor. Jane suspected they weren’t even charging her for some of their hours. Claire had made some extra pastries to bribe Ralph Marchand to drop what he was doing and plumb the building as soon as they were ready.
Jane stood with her feet planted in the sand and Cooper at her side, watching workers nail down the roofing on the small building. She could hardly believe it was really happening.
Woof!
Cooper bounded off to meet Mike, who was walking up the beach toward Tides. He’d texted earlier to see if he could take Cooper to visit his grandfather at Tall Pines and had invited her to go with them, but she had so much to do here that she couldn’t go.
“Things are really coming along. Looks like you’ll be able to have the wedding after all.” Mike was clearly happy for her, but Jane’s excitement dimmed a little. There was still one fly in the ointment.
“Maybe. There is one problem. We still need to hook up to the sewer lines at the street, and for that we need the town sewer people to come out. We’ve almost got everything ready for them, but they have a full schedule, and it might take several weeks before they can fit us in. They said they’d call if there was a cancellation, but there’s a chance we might not be able to get the bathroom up and running in time.”
Mike frowned. “You’ve come this far. Something like that can’t stop you now. Are all the other plans moving forward?”
Jane nodded. “Wedding guests are already starting to book rooms for that weekend. Maxi is making special pillows. Claire is matching the cake to the bridesmaids’ dresses. It would be a tragedy if I had to call it off now. I mean, not only will it be bad for Tides, but these poor people will never be able to book another venue in time.” Jane sighed, feeling the weight of ruining someone’s wedding on her shoulders. They had a few weeks before the wedding, but Jane would feel a lot better if the bathrooms were up and running now. What if something happened to delay the completion and she had to cancel at the last minute? That would surely result in some bad reviews.
Mike put a hand on her arm. “Don’t worry. You still have a few weeks. And besides, I think I might be able to help.”
“How?”
“Leave that to me.”
As Jane watched him leave, she realized that Mike and Cooper might not be around much longer. She’d gotten attached to the dog, and the thought of the inn without him almost brought tears to her eyes. Was it time for her to do something to try to make it permanent? And could she really hope that whatever Mike was going to do would save the day?
Andie hauled the flat of petunias out of the trunk of her rental car. She’d been lucky and had snagged some of the pink-and-white-striped variety. Her mother had always used them to edge the garden, but they were rare, and she’d been lucky to find them at the garden store.
The garden was coming along nicely. It should be in pretty good shape by the wedding. It would take longer to fully build out the way her mother had always kept it, though. Maybe if she stayed the rest of the summer… butwasshe going to stay that long? The thought wasn’t unappealing. These last few days had made her realize she really didn’t have much waiting for her in New York. And Jane needed her here now.
She was treasuring the time with her mother, even with her failed memories. Andie felt like she was getting to know her better on a different level. She’d even brought some of the flowers in on her visit this afternoon and asked for her mother’s advice. Addie had lit up. Surprisingly, she hadn’t forgotten a thing about planting flowers and proceeded to tell Andie just where to put each color, how to pinch off the leaves for bushier growth, and when to water them.
If she returned to New York, she wouldn’t be able to see her mother at all. Even though Addie was in good physical shape, she wasn’t going to live forever.
Glancing out at the ocean, she took a deep breath. It was so different from the city here. In New York, when you took a deep breath, you inhaled diesel fumes. In Lobster Bay, it was saltwater and sunshine.
