Driftwood Point (12 page)

Lis shrugged. “I don't know what it is. It's dirty, I can tell you that much.”

“You'd be dirty, too, if you lay out on the point for all those years.”

“Har.” She smiled in spite of her efforts not to. “It sags, too, like it's going to break up under your feet and you're going to crash right on through.”

“That's not good. Could be termites or water damage. Either way—not good.”

“I figured.”

“The brick exterior didn't look too bad, though, last I noticed.”

“Not bad,” she agreed. “But there were bricks in the fireplace. It looked like they might have fallen from inside. So I'm thinking I should call a mason in. At the very least, the brick will need to be repointed.”

“Ca-ching, ca-ching.”

“I figured that out, too.”

“So you think you're really going for it?”

“I don't know. Honestly, Alec, there's so much that's wrong with it right now.” She leaned upon the opposite side of the island from where he stood.

“But apparently so much that's right as well.”

“There is a lot that is right, yes.” She rested her elbow on the island, her chin in her hand, pleased that he
got
it. “The amount of work is overwhelming. But still, there is something about that place . . .” she said wistfully.

“Some places get to you like that. Some places speak to you and some places never say a word.”

“This is a place that speaks. Loud and clear,” she told him. “Gigi and Great-Grampa Harold lived there, had their kids there. It's part of her.” She nodded her head in the direction of the store out front. “My grandmother was born in that house, grew up there. My mom played there when she was little. It's a part of my family. And it's so peaceful there, quiet and serene and wild and untouched. I'd forgotten how much I loved the point. I'm so happy that it's still so natural and unspoiled there, that Gigi's held on to it all these years. I never want it to change. I never want anything on the island to change.”

“Nothing stays the same forever, Lis.”

“That sounds like something Gigi would say.”

“I knew I heard it somewhere.” He took a long drink from the water bottle he'd set on the counter and drained it. “Sounds like you're hooked.”

“What?”

“The cottage out on the point. Sounds like you're hooked on it.”

“Totally hooked,” she agreed.

“Well, I guess you should see exactly what needs to be done, see if it's salvageable.”

“The first thing that has to be done is to get all the cobwebs out. Oh, and the wild animal in the closet. That has to go, and someone else is going to have to remove it.” She looked at Alec meaningfully.

“What's this about wild animals in a closet?” Ruby came into the room, shuffling in her favorite white sneakers.

“There's some kind of dead animal in the front
bedroom closet,” Lis told her. “A skeleton of something. It scared the bejesus out of me.”

“Probably a possum.” Ruby didn't even blink at the news. “Could be a raccoon, though. Got plenty of both in these parts.”

“It looked ferocious. It had a long pointy head and beady little eye sockets,” Lis told her. “Whatever it was, I bet it was mean when it was still alive.”

“Probably got itself trapped between the ceiling and the upstairs floor, fell through the ceiling, poor thing.” Ruby went to the stove and stirred the soup, then tasted it. “Alec, there be plenty of soup here. Corn and crab chowder. One of your favorites.”

“It is. Nice of you to remember.”

“Lisbeth, you bring down three bowls and get some spoons and set the table right there by the window.” Ruby instructed. “Alec, you get some glasses and pour the iced tea.”

“Thanks, Miz Ruby. You having hot or cold tea today?” he asked.

Ruby paused to think it over. “Hot, I guess. Only had me one cup so far today.”

Without asking where things were located, Alec reached behind and over Lis for the glasses from one cabinet and a cup and saucer from another.

“You get pink roses today, Miz Ruby,” he said, holding up the delicate china cup.

“My favorite one.” Ruby smiled at him.

He winked at her while he filled the teakettle with water, then placed it on the stove and turned on the burner. It was apparent to Lis that this was a
scene that had played out before. Alec was obviously comfortable in Ruby's kitchen and seemed to know more about where things were stored than Lis did. They made a strange pair, Lis thought, the elderly woman and the handsome young man.

Wait, Lis caught herself in near panic. Did she just call Alec handsome? And if she had, had she said it out loud?

Apparently not, since Ruby hadn't commented on it and Alec wasn't gloating, as she suspected he might.

Lis ladled soup into the bowls and placed them on the table overlooking the side yard. From there, they could see the bay. She'd enjoyed having dinner there the night before, and breakfast again this morning, though Ruby hadn't joined her for that. Ruby had her early routine in the store with her customers, and nothing interfered with that. The store was Ruby's entire social life, Lis realized—except for the time she spent at the inn with Grace Sinclair. That relationship puzzled Lis—Ruby had a good twenty-five years on Grace, but she'd intimated they had a lot in common. Lis couldn't see what that might be, other than the fact that they were both widows and both longtime residents of the area, but it didn't matter. Ruby enjoyed the woman's company and it did get her out of the store and off the island on a fairly regular basis—something Lis couldn't recall her doing in the past—and that was all that really mattered.

Alec held a chair out for Ruby and waited till she was seated before serving her a cup of hot water on a saucer that also held a tea bag. Lis had watched his
movements carefully and it became apparent that he was assisting her without giving the appearance of doing so.

“You been raised right,” Ruby told him. She dunked the tea bag into the cup. “You always bring your manners.”

“You're my number-one gal, Miz Ruby.” He seated himself next to the window. “If you were a few years younger . . .”

“That be more than a few, boy.” Ruby chuckled. “Be more like sixty-some, to be sure. But I thank you all the same.”

Lis ate in silence, observing the interaction between the two, and it became more and more clear to her that the friendship Ruby and Alec had developed was genuine. She felt almost embarrassed at having suspected him of trying to scam the woman to get his hands on the boat. If she were to be fair, she'd have to admit that the skipjack had been in terrible condition. How much could it have been worth, really, with its rotten hull, and who knows what else might have needed repair?

“Lisbeth Jane, where you be?” Ruby waved a hand in front of her face.

“What? Oh, sorry. I was thinking about the cottage, and how great it will be when it's all fixed up.”

“I was saying maybe Alec should go on out there, see what that is in the closet, give it a toss.”

“I'm not going to be tossing it, so yes, that would be appreciated, Alec.” Lis's eyes met his from across the table, and she felt the color rise to her cheeks again. She got up from the table before he noticed.

“I think I need a little more ice for my tea.” She turned her back in an attempt to hide the flush.

“Alec, you be needing more ice?” Ruby asked.

“No, thank you. I'm good.” Was there a touch of amusement in his voice?

“I'll need about twenty more minutes to finish the painting,” he was saying, “but if you're free after that, we can run up to the point and dispose of the body.”

“That would be great, thanks.”

By the time the kitchen was cleaned up from lunch, the dishes washed and put away, Alec had finished his painting.

“You ready?” He walked casually into the kitchen.

Lis nodded. “Let me get the key.”

She grabbed her bag from the chair in the TV room and told Ruby they were on their way. Once outside, they found that the wind had shifted, as Mrs. Banks had predicted it would, and the flies were nowhere to be seen.

“Funny how that works,” Lis said as they walked along the road toward the point. “A while ago, the flies were as thick as I've ever seen them. Now they're gone.”

“Just making way for the mosquitoes,” Alec said.

“That's a mean thought. I remember when I was a kid and we'd be playing outside and all of a sudden, it was like a cloud of flies would descend on us and we'd be running for cover. Owen used to tell April Smith that if the flies bit you more than ten times in one day, you'd turn into a fly overnight while you slept.”

“April never was very bright.”

“Owen had a big crush on her. At fifteen he wasn't all that concerned with how smart a girl was.”

“None of us were.”

They cut through the dunes and along the paths that led to the smattering of small houses that was as close to being a village as there was on the island.

“Those are Ruby's hollyhocks,” Lis told him, pointing to the tall stalks covered with pale pink flowers that grew in the front yard of the house they were passing. “And there, too.” She walked across the road. “Ruby wasn't kidding. Oh, and her black-eyed Susans.”

“What are you talking about?”

Lis pointed to the clumps of orangey-yellow flowers that grew up and over a fence. “Ruby said she and her friends used to trade flower seeds, that her hollyhocks and her Susans were growing all over the island. And there they are.”

“Those yellow things? They've been growing around my house for as long as I remember.”

“Maybe Ruby or the woman who gave them to her passed some on to . . . to whoever lived there before.”

“That was my uncle Cliff. I'm sure he knew Ruby and her husband. We know for a fact that he knew Eb Carter.”

They reached the cottage and Lis fitted the key into the lock on the front door and found it already opened.

“I must have forgotten to lock up when I left earlier,” she said. “Guess I was more concerned with dodging flies than I was with securing the cottage.
Not that anyone out here would try to get in. Everyone knows it's Ruby's place.”

She tucked the key back into her pocket and pushed the door open.

“Watch the floor. It's squishy in places.”

She watched Alec test the floor. When he found a section that was soft, he took chalk from his pocket and marked the area.

“Looks like you came prepared,” she noted.

“I had it in my pocket from another job I checked out this morning.”

“So this is sort of what we call a great room these days.” Lis pointed and said, “Living room out here, dining area in the back.”

Alec knelt down and with his hand cleaned the surface dirt from the floor. “Looks like heart pine. All random width,” he told her. “This would be beautiful cleaned up. Once we cut out and replaced the rotten sections, that is. Not sure how extensive it is. It could be a real problem, Lis.”

“What would you have to do to fix it?”

“Depends on whether the beams and the foundation are rotted. We'll have to see what's going on underneath the floor.” He stood and looked around. “This is a really nice space.”

“It's very cool, with the fireplace over there,” she noted as she went into the kitchen. “In here, I thought the cabinets could be cleaned and painted. The wood is in surprisingly good condition and it's solid.” She opened one, then another cabinet door. “But the counters are shot.”

“Yeah, they're going to have to be replaced.”

“If you were going to do the work, would you do wood, like you did in Ruby's? Is there some of her old flooring left?”

Alec nodded. “There's probably enough left.”

“And of course I'd need appliances.”

“First you need electricity.” He turned an old faucet. “And plumbing.”

“That should be a relatively easy fix once everything else falls into place, right?”

“Depends on the condition of the pipes. My guess is that they're probably all rusted, and it won't be easy to repair the water damage.” He pointed to the kitchen ceiling. “There's been a leak there. And here, under the window. I bet most of the windows had leaks.”

“They're all bad—at least they looked bad to me. But they're all fixable, right?”

“Hard to say. More likely than not, they'll have to be replaced.”

“Looks like the only thing I'll be able to keep will be the cabinets.”

Alec nodded. “I think you'll be able to salvage those.”

“It would be nice to keep something original.”

“What's on the second floor?”

“One big room.” Lis led the way up the stairs. When they reached the top, she pointed to the windows. “They're all stuck shut, I think.”

“That's from the wood swelling up from the water that got in.” He glanced overhead at the wide ceiling beams. “Those need to be checked out, but I'd need a tall ladder. I can come back and do that, and I'll look
at the roof at the same time, if you want.” He nodded in the direction of the vines that crept through the back window. “And you'll need to do something about those.”

“I thought maybe a landscaper . . .”

“If you have money to hire one, that's fine, but you can pull these out or cut them off at the base outside.”

“That sounds like the easiest part of the project.”

“Oh, it will be a project, all right, but it will be worth it in the long run.” He looked out one of the side windows. “You planning on living here at some point?”

“Right now, I just want to paint here. I like staying with Ruby for the time being.”

“Sounds like you're thinking about sticking around for a while.”