Sadness drifted across Lynn’s face. “It’s okay. It’s not great for us when he’s home, either. But the kids are happy. I’ll probably go to my sister’s place for the weekend.”
Olivia was dumbfounded. “I had no idea. You guys always seem…” Happy wasn’t the right word, in hindsight. “Content.”
“I think I was too busy having babies to notice that we’d drifted apart.” Lynn picked at imaginary fluff on her jeans. “Anyway, my marriage troubles weren’t the reason you came over, I’m sure.”
“I’ve got time, if you want to talk.”
“No…” Lynn blew a big raspberry, making Olivia jump and Maya giggle. “Come here, baby girl, Mama wants a cuddle since you refused to nap.”
Maya toddled over. Lynn kissed her forehead and pulled her into her lap. Olivia’s heart ached at the sight of her friend clinging to a fading happiness. Would that have been her if they’d had kids? Resenting Rafe’s time away? Losing all sense of self?
Hell, she’d already been down that road and she hadn’t been caring for children, either.
On the other hand…people work. Spouses spend time away—sometimes a lot of time. That wasn’t necessarily a death knell to a marriage. And maybe they were failing each other by wallowing in that loneliness instead of leaning on each other.
“Maybe we should do something fun…go dancing in Owen Sound or have a girls’ night in.”
Lynn gave her a strangely knowing smirk. “I think our ideas of fun are too different these days, honey.”
Olivia thought of the disappearing act at the bonfire. Maybe that was true. “I’m sure we can find something to agree on.”
Lynn shook her head. “That’s the problem…I don’t want to have fun anymore. I’m justdone.”
“I don’t understand.” Nervous, Olivia leaned forward and tried to catch Lynn’s eye. “Are you okay?”
“Yes. Yes. Of course.” She laughed, a hollow sound that did nothing to quell the storm churning in Olivia’s gut. “So, why did you pop by?”
Reluctantly, Olivia allowed the conversation to steer toward the cottages. “The thing is,” she explained after outlining her idea. “By my initial count, we’ll need three private residences, each with at least three bedrooms, and then an additional twelve rooms in any configuration. The rental contract would be more than fair, and my boss will lay that out for your parents, but I just want to know if they might be interested. If not, I need to come up with an alternate plan before the team comes up next week.”
Lynn counted bedrooms on her fingers, arriving at the same thought Olivia had already. “So you’ll want to rent my parents’ place as well.”
“Renting the entire lane would really be perfect. Except your place, of course.”
Her friend shrugged. “Let’s go ask them.”
Behind Lynn’s house, a path wound through the woods, running parallel to the edge of the road—a safe route for the kids to visit their grandparents. On the opposite side of the lane sat the five Blue Heron Lane cottages, but as they followed Maya through the thick brush, Olivia couldn’t see any of the modern glass and wood structures.
The path opened into the clearing behind the Fenich home. Gloria Fenich was hanging laundry on a line strung between her back door and a free-standing pergola at the side of the house. Maya started running as soon as she saw her grandmother.
“This is a lovely surprise, I thought you had preschool today, little one.” Gloria kissed her granddaughter and looked at Lynn with a furrowed brow.
“We had a long nap and missed the start of it.” Lynn tossed out the explanation in a quiet, hurried burst of words, then busied herself with hanging up the rest of the wet laundry in the plastic basket on the deck. Olivia tried hard to pretend she didn’t know it was a lie.What was going on with Lynn?
“Olivia, it’s lovely to see you again.”
“And you as well, Gloria.” She took a deep breath. It felt weird, being something other than the waitress at the diner. A good kind of weird. “This isn’t just a social call, however. I have an interesting proposition for you…”
Olivia outlined what she knew about the project—which wasn’t a lot, but she made it sound good—and promised Gloria that they would have all the information laid out really clearly by somebody else before they had to make any commitment. But in broad strokes, if they were interested, she could arrange for a meeting with her boss.
“Oh my,” Gloria said, a pleased smile dancing on her lips. “I’ll need to talk it over with Mike, of course, and he’s on a hunting trip, but he’ll call tonight. Can I give you an answer tomorrow? And in the meantime, how about I make us some tea?”
Olivia couldn’t believe her good luck as Gloria bustled off to the kitchen. Maya followed along behind her asking for some milk.
“You’ve got a knack for that,” Lynn said quietly.
“For what?”
“Selling an idea.”
