An Invincible Summer (Wyndham Beach #1)(87)

Grace came into the kitchen dressed in sleep shorts and an old tee. She glared at her mother before acknowledging their company. “I thought you two were never going to speak to my mom again. I thought the plan was to do away with her in a very painful way and toss her remains off the side of a boat in Buzzards Bay. Feed her to the fishes. That was the plan, wasn’t it?”

“That was last night’s plan. This morning, your mother explained everything.” Emma added a little more sugar to her coffee. “We love her, and we’ve forgiven her. I suggest you give serious thought to doing the same.”

“Maybe,” Grace grumbled. “You guys drank all the coffee.”

“Yes, and I had to make it myself because your mother was otherwise occupied. I’m pretty sure you can handle making the second round.” Liddy pointed toward the coffee maker.

“So who needs a website?” Grace began to make another pot of coffee.

“I do.” The grin returned to Liddy’s face. “You are looking at the new owner of the Wyndham Beach Bookstore.”

“Get out.” Grace turned, wide eyed. “You bought the bookstore? Seriously?”

“Actually, I’m in the process of buying it, but I’m going to be running it as of Saturday.” Liddy explained the current owner’s situation.

“That’s so exciting. The bookstore is my favorite place in Wyndham Beach. I’m sorry to hear about Mr. Lattimore, though,” Grace said. “He’s such a sweet man. But now that you mention it, he was acting a little strange the last time I was there.”

“Strange in what way?” Maggie asked.

“He kept calling me Ellen, like he thought I was Gramma. And he told me that once upon a time, he’d ‘courted’ my sister.” Grace made a face.

“My aunt Helena was my mom’s sister,” Maggie told her. “She ran off with a woman who taught poetry at Yale. It was a huge scandal, back in the day.”

“Wow, I’ll bet.” Grace filled the coffee maker and turned it on. “Are they still alive?”

“The last I heard they were living in an old villa in France and making goat cheese, but that was years ago.”

Natalie and Daisy ambled into the room. Like her sister, Natalie wore shorts and a tee she’d slept in. Daisy wore a rainbow-striped bathing suit with a glittery unicorn on the front and pink cowgirl boots and carried a fairy wand.

“If I’d known we had company, I’d have gotten dressed.” Natalie paused. “Nah, probably not. You show up before nine a.m., you take what you get.”

Natalie hugged Liddy and Emma. “Daisy, can you say good morning to Miss Liddy and Miss Emma?”

“Good morning.” Daisy waved.

Emma patted her lap. “Come sit with me for a minute, sugar. I haven’t seen you since you were a baby. And I love your boots.”

“I’m not a baby now.” Daisy readily climbed into Emma’s lap, then held up both legs to show off her boots.

“Liddy is buying the bookstore,” Grace told Natalie. “How cool is that?”

“Really? That’s wonderful.” Natalie opened first one cupboard, then the next. “Mom, where’s the cereal?”

“Two doors over.”

“Got it. Yay, Daisy’s favorite O’s.” Natalie found a bowl and poured in the cereal, then placed it in front of her daughter. “So are you going to have story hours for the kiddos? And maybe a book club for the big kiddos? Is there a café there? I haven’t been there in years, but I seem to remember some cozy chairs.”

“I’d love to do all that in time, but it’s going to take me a while to learn how to do all the things there. If I think too much about it, I get queasy,” Liddy admitted. “But we are quickly moving into summer, and I guess at the very least we should be thinking of story hours for the kids.”

“What do you mean ‘we’?” Emma teased. “We are not buying the store. You are.”

“All for one, one for all?” Liddy said hopefully.

“Of course, we’ll all help where we can,” Maggie assured her.

“I can do your website,” Grace offered.

“And I can help set up a story hour. I’d be taking Daisy anyway if you had one. Then when I go back home, it will be up and running.” Natalie smiled. “I’d love to do that. I can sit in one of those chairs . . .”

“If you’re thinking of those big soft chairs Fred had near the back window, they’ll be the first thing I toss. They’re old and smell musty. Sort of like Fred, now that I think about it. And no, there’s no café there, but maybe there could be. Come in sometime next week and take a look, all of you, and we’ll see what we can do with the place.”

“There’s that ‘we’ again,” Emma pointed out.

“Oh, I have a couple of wingback chairs in the attic,” Maggie said. “I brought them with me from Bryn Mawr, but I have no place for them. You can have them for the shop.”

“Thank you. I’m not too proud to beg these days. Now, we all know none of you would pass up an opportunity to put in your two cents. This time I’m asking you to. Take a tour of the place next week, and let me know what you think about the possibilities. I have some ideas, but I’d love to have yours.” Liddy got up and went to the sink, rinsed her mug, and set it on the counter. “I have to get back home. I need to talk to the bank and call my insurance agent and my accountant and my lawyer.”