Andrew frowned. That couldn’t possibly be the pizza. He had only ordered it ten minutes earlier. The place was fast but notthatfast.
“I’ll get it.” Finn raced to the door and flung it open before Andrew could caution him.
He seriously needed to have another talk with both of his kids about exercising a little common sense. He didn’t want to scare them but he had already experienced a few security concerns because of overenthusiastic fans. One of the improvements he was planning to Stormhaven was a state-of-the-art security system and eventually a high fence to encircle the property.
He didn’t consider himself a celebrity whatsoever, but he had two children to think about. It would only take one rabid fan to upset their entire world.
To his relief, this time they had nothing to worry about. His mother walked through the door with a bright smile.
“Oh good. You’re home. I thought I saw you walking back here from the beach.”
Nancy only lived three houses away, in the opposite direction from Rosie Lucas’s house. He suspected that proximity was the main reason she had worked so hard to persuade him to purchase Stormhaven.
In her cozy Craftsman cottage, his mother had a lovely view of Crescent Beach and the ocean beyond. He couldn’t begrudge her that. She deserved any peace she could find after years of pandering to his father’s controlling demands.
“We’re here. I just ordered pizza. Have you eaten?”
“No. Pizza sounds delicious, if that was an invitation.”
“Consider yourself invited.”
She gave a sunny smile. “Thank you. How was your walk on the beach? Did I see you talking with someone?”
He again questioned the wisdom of moving into the same town as his mother, especially if she was going to be so watchful over his every move.
“We bumped into Rosie Lucas. Our contractor. You know. The one who was supposed to have this house done before we got here.”
His mother looked guilty.
“I’ve told you over and over how sorry I am about that. I really thought things would be further along, or I would never have told you the house would be ready at the end of the school year. I underestimated how much work would be involved.”
An understatement of epic proportion. And he had been too busy trying to dig himself out of the hole he had created for himself to pay any attention.
“Rosie is a lovely woman, though. Don’t you agree?”
He gave his mother a suspicious look, hoping she wasn’t looking to do any matchmaking in that direction. “She seems very nice. But I’ve only met the woman twice. Once at the bookstore in town and today on the beach.”
“I expect you’ll see more of her. Rosie is very involved in the community. She’s on the board of directors of the library and volunteers every year to help with our holiday festival.”
“She invited us to a party. Some neighborhood thing.”
“Oh good! I was going to mention that to you. I’m so glad she did. I know how you are about big gatherings of people. You would much rather be home with a book, wouldn’t you?”
He could not argue, so he only shrugged.
“That might be your own preference but you should think about Zara and Finn. They need to get to know the other children in the neighborhood. What better chance than a party like this?”
“That’s what Rosie suggested,” he answered.
“Grandma, guess what we saw down at the beach?” Zara said. “A sea slug that looked like it had on a frilly dress. Rosie said it’s a frosted nudibranch.”
“Is that right?”
“And I found this shell. Isn’t it cool?” Finn held out the sand dollar.
His mother dutifully admired the shell as well as the agate that Zara had picked up on the beach.
The doorbell rang soon with the pizza and he grabbed it, paying the driver and adding a generous tip.
