“Bunny is a character. She was a big help when I was stuck with painter’s block.” Maxi cut a pumpkin-spice muffin in half and glanced down at Cooper, who was sitting at Jane’s feet.
“He doesn’t need a muffin, Max,” Jane said.
Everyone loved to give Cooper treats, and Jane was diligent about keeping him healthy.
“I think Mr. Smith is just a regular guy. Saw him going into the hardware store this morning, just like a normal person.” Andie sipped her coffee.
“Oh, is that where you went off to?” Jane asked. “Did you need something for Tides there?”
“Oh no. I wasn’t in the store. I was… Well, I had some errands. For the antiques store.” Andie focused on rooting through the sweetener packets in a small basket in the middle of the table.
Claire thought she might be avoiding eye contact with Jane, but she could have been wrong. Maybe it was a sister thing she wasn’t privy to.
“What would he be doing in the hardware store?” Claire asked.
“Maybe he’s making some repairs to his room,” Liz joked.
“How nice would it be if all the guests did that?” Jane mused.
“How is business at the shop?” Claire asked Andie, who had recently moved back to town and opened an antiques store.
“Great. Now that Liz is helping out at Tides, I have more time for house calls, which means I get to root around in creepy attics and spider-filled basements.” The thought didn’t appeal to Claire, but the look on Andie’s face indicated it was one of her favorite activities.
“And the painting, Maxi? Any new masterpieces?”
Maxi laughed, a blush tinging her cheeks. She’d just completed a series of pet portraits, including one of Claire’s cat, Urchin, and one of Cooper. “I’m working on a series of paintings looking at the ocean from different vantage points on the Marginal Way, and I have a pet portrait for Wendy Martinelli at Tall Pines.”
Tall Pines was the assisted-living complex where Jane and Andie’s mother, Addie, lived. That reminded Claire… “Don’t let me forget to give you some chocolate chip muffins for Addie.” She’d already put some in a bag, which was sitting in the kitchen.
“That’s so nice of you,” Jane said. “I’m heading over to visit her after this, so it’s perfect timing.”
“Did anyone get the new book for the book club yet?” Jane asked. They’d chosen another mystery to read for next month’s meeting.
“I have it on my Kindle,” Liz said. “Bunny had hers in her mailbox already last night.”
Maxi scrunched up her face. “I need a real book, so I ordered the paperback.”
“I’m looking forward to reading it and to the next meeting,” Andie said.
Claire nodded. “We all are.”
“Especially Bunny,” Liz said. “Let’s just hope she doesn’t take this mystery stuff too much to heart. She’s already starting to get overly suspicious of your guest.”
Jane laughed. “She is, but I’m sure it’s all just talk. Bunny would never do anything crazy, and I’m glad she has something to keep her mind occupied.”
CHAPTERFOUR
Bunny dipped her smallest brush into the puddle of white-with-a-touch-of-cerulean-blue paint and leaned forward. She dabbed a spot on the canvas and then blended it in with quick strokes. She stood back to admire the work. It was a close-up of a pile of shells on the beach and looked almost like a photo. She was grateful that her eyesight was still good enough to make those fine details. It should be—she took enough bilberry extract and ate tons of carrots.
But the shells in the painting weren’t quite right. She needed to add something in, something different. She liked to paint from real objects, and she made a mental note to check the low-tide schedule. There was a little beach off the Marginal Way near the small lighthouse that was a great place to find shells at low tide. The receding tide exposed rocks in the sand where starfish, crabs, and snails could be found. Once in a while, she’d run across a sea urchin. Looking for sea life around the rocks was one of her favorite pastimes, and if she found some interesting things to paint, all the better.
A car pulling in next door caught her attention. Liz was home! She put the brush in her mason jar of turpentine and hurried into the kitchen, where a loaf of fresh zucchini bread sat waiting on the counter. She’d baked it with the last of the zucchini from Liz’s garden.
After placing the zucchini bread into a towel-lined basket, she grabbed cream cheese out of the fridge and headed on the well-worn path from her slider to Liz’s kitchen door.
Liz answered with a welcoming smile. “That looks delicious. I just came from Sandcastles, though. I might have gone overboard sampling Claire’s fall pastry line. But I can take this for later.”
Bunny handed over the basket, and Liz invited her in. With the two of them, it was more about the company than the food.
