“Delicious. I hope you are making pie for the town picnic.”
Gina laughed. “Of course. Half the town would be disappointed if I didn’t.”
Ellie took another bite of pie and glanced around as she chewed. “The motel looks really great now. You guys have done a fantastic job.”
Gina’s heart swelled with pride. “Thank you. We have a tight budget, but we’re doing what we can.”
“It’s a big improvement. In fact, the whole town has really come alive, and I hear that’s thanks to you and your cousins.”
“Well, to be fair, your mother, Rose, and Pearl had a lot to do with it,” Gina said.
“Those three busybodies do come in handy sometimes,” Ellie said affectionately.
“They have done a lot to help revive the town. They really care about it.”
“They do. They’re good eggs. Your grandmother was too. I remember her from when she lived in town and used to get up to shenanigans with my mother. She’d be proud of what you guys have done here.”
Gina felt a twinge of nostalgia for her grandmother. It was bittersweet, knowing her grandmother would be proud but wasn’t here to see their success.
Gina was about to ask more about her grandmother’s younger days in Shell Cove when a voice carried over from the side of the motel.
“Ellie Chandler? Is that you?”
* * *
Sam shaded her eyes from the setting sun and squinted toward the porch on the ocean side of the Beachcomber Motel. She hadn’t seen Ellie Chandler in quite a few years, but Ellie still looked pretty much the same.
“Samantha Walters?” Ellie’s questioning look told Sam thatshedidn’t look the same.
It was no surprise. Sam had been in her early twenties when she’d last seen Ellie, and she’d changed quite a bit, growing out of her crazy twenties into a mature thirtysomething.
“Yes! How have you been?” Sam rushed up onto the porch, and the two women hugged each other.
Sam had fond memories of Ellie. As one of the town cops when Sam was a teenager, Ellie had been strict but kind, willing to look the other way on a few occasions because she knew Sam and her friends were good kids. When Leena had broken her leg and Ellie had been busy with policing, Sam had helped out with housework and errands and even driving Leena to the doctor’s a few times. The two women had grown close despite the age gap.
“You look great. What are you doing here?” Ellie asked.
“I came to visit my mom. I’m staying at the motel.” Sam gestured toward the Beachcomber. “You’re looking good too.”
Ellie waved off the compliment.
“Why don’t you join us for some pie?” Gina pointed at the low table, where a plate full of pie slices sat beside a pitcher of lemonade.
“Oh, I don’t want to interrupt anything. I just saw Ellie and wanted to say hi,” Sam said.
“You’re not interrupting anything. We were just chatting.” Gina quickly transferred a piece of pie onto one of the smaller plates and gestured for her to sit in one of the wicker chairs.
It was a stroke of luck. Sam really had just wanted to say hi to Ellie, but now that she’d been invited to chat, there was no harm in trying to subtly tap her brain for some of the latest PI techniques on digging into someone’s background.
“So how is the private investigator business going?” Sam wasn’t sure why Ellie had quit being a cop, but she heard she was very successful as a PI.
“It’s going good,” Ellie said. “How is lawyering?”
Sam shrugged. “It’s okay. It can be a little trying since I work mostly on divorces. You know, the darker side of human nature and all that.”
Ellie and Gina both nodded as if they knew exactly what she was talking about.
“I see a lot of that in my job too,” Ellie said.
