The Courage To Love (Love On The North Shore) (4 page)

Before she had a chance to ring the bell, the front door opened and her grandmother appeared.

“Why didn’t you tell us you were coming?” Sandra Troy stepped outside, her arms spread wide and a smile on her well-lined face.

“I wanted to surprise you, Gram.” Mia closed the gap between them and hugged the older woman.

“I’m so happy to see you.” Sandra pulled back and looked Mia over. “But I wish you would’ve called. I would’ve made something special for lunch.” Sandra wrapped an arm around Mia’s shoulders and led her inside. “Come in. Your grandfather’s going to have a heart attack when he sees you here. He should be back soon. He went to get a new blade for his table saw. He’s building a bookcase for Karen’s birthday.”

The familiar scent of lemon wood polish wrapped around Mia, and contentment settled over her. For as long as she could remember, her grandmother had polished all the furniture every Monday using the same furniture polish. Then every Tuesday and Thursday she scrubbed the kitchen and bathroom floors, using the same lemon-scented floor cleaner. And even though it had been a few years since her last visit, she was immediately comforted by the familiar scents.

“Karen’s turning seven this year, right?” Mia had not seen her cousin’s daughter in at least two years.

“Eight.”

Sandra grabbed a framed photo off the mantle and handed it to her. A little redhead with freckles and two front teeth missing smiled up at her.

“And Rae Anne is pregnant again. She’s due in December—around Christmas.”

The last time she talked to her cousin had been in October, before she flew out to location in Australia. At the time her cousin hadn’t mentioned she and her husband were trying for another child. “I’m surprised. She swore, after all the problems she had during Karen’s pregnancy, she was done.”

Mia placed the photo back on the crowded shelf that contained pictures of Sandra Troy’s children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. The shelf wasn’t the only place with photos. Framed collections hung all round the living room. Several were new, and Mia didn’t recognize some faces. It looked like her cousins were still adding to their families.

In fact, Mia and her sisters were the only Troy grandchildren who had not yet married and started families of their own.

“Did Avery come with you?” Sandra called from the kitchen as she prepared tea for them.

“No, she’s meeting me in Boston in a few weeks when filming starts.” Two years older than Mia, her sister Avery acted as her personal assistant and travel companion. When Mia announced her plan to stay in North Salem for a few weeks, Avery had chosen to stay in California. Unlike Mia, Avery thrived on city life. The only time she left was when absolutely necessary.

“You’re filming in Boston? Then you’ll be around for a while.”

Her grandmother filled a plate with peanut butter blossom cookies, her grandfather’s favorite. Before moving to California, Mia, her sisters, and her cousins had spent one entire weekend each month at their grandparents’ house. It had been her grandparents’ way of giving their children some time alone. During those weekends all the kids would go through several batches of the homemade cookies. Mia didn’t eat cookies often anymore, but she might have to have one or two today. She couldn’t remember the last time she had her grandmother’s homemade cookies.

“I should be. A good portion of the movie is being shot here in Massachusetts.” Mia took a seat at the ancient kitchen table.

“When Avery gets here, you’ll both have to come over. We’ll have a big family get-together. I know everyone would love to see you.” Sandra spooned sugar into her tea and handed the sugar bowl to Mia.

“All set.” Mia loved sugar in her tea but stopped using it more than a year ago, around the time she put on a few extra pounds. In true Hollywood manner, the media had immediately hopped on her after a photographer snapped a picture of her in a bikini at the beach. Right away rumors started, many claiming she was pregnant by her then boyfriend, running back Eric Perry.

“But I will have one of these.” Mia snagged a cookie off the plate. Just one wouldn’t hurt, and who knew when she might have the opportunity again.

Sandra pushed the dish a little closer. “Have as many as you want. I can make more later. Now how have you been? Are you seeing anyone?”

Before she could answer, a vision of Sean popped into her head. Both yesterday and today he’d been polite and professional, which spoke volumes about his character. And the way he’d insisted his mom leave the night before indicated he cared a lot about her happiness. Most of the men she dated considered their own happiness first; she wanted someone more like Sean. Someone who put others first even if it inconvenienced him. Someone who wasn’t impressed by her career or the balance in her bank account. And she liked his face. He was handsome, in that rugged hardworking way.

“No, not right now.” Even as she said the words she remembered the spark she’d felt when Sean’s hand brushed against hers the day before. Would that happen again?

Chapter 3

“Sean.” Ray Larson walked out the door of Quinn’s Hardware as Sean approached. “How have you been?”

In his early fifties, Ray still had a full head of brown hair with just a bit of gray near his temples, and unlike his younger brother Phil, he managed to keep himself in good shape despite his sedentary job. Like so many other residents in North Salem, Ray had grown up in town and gone to school with Sean’s parents. Despite the years Ray had spent living out of state before coming back to Massachusetts, Sean had known the man most of his life, thanks to his regular visits home. “Good, you?”

“Can’t complain. I’m on vacation this week.”

Sean nodded toward the rolls of wallpaper and light fixtures Ray juggled. “Big project?”

“Something like that. I offered to help Carol wallpaper her kitchen and change the light fixtures,” Ray answered, referring to his older sister. “Stan might be a great accountant, but he doesn’t know the difference between a flathead screwdriver and a Phillips head.”

Sean knew Carol’s husband, a quiet mild-mannered man, and in all honesty he doubted if Stan knew the difference between a screw and a nail. “Do you want help getting all that to your car?”

“All set, thanks.” Ray continued walking. “See you later.”

Inside the familiar store, three more men stopped Sean before he even got past the registers just inside the door. That was the down side of living your whole life in a small town. You couldn’t go anywhere without seeing someone you knew. For that reason he sometimes headed into Lowell, a good forty minutes away, for supplies rather than use the stores in town.

“Hey, Sean, are you here for the tiles you ordered?” Jessica Quinn called from in front of a display of duct tape.

Jessica was a permanent fixture in the hardware store owned by her grandparents, and he’d never paid attention to her appearance. Despite his mother’s insistence that he ask Jessica out, he didn’t view her as a potential girlfriend. Rather he saw her as almost a kid sister. A good friend of his sister Charlie, Jessica had spent a lot of time at their house over the years, and even now she stopped by and visited with his mother.

That afternoon though, thanks to his conversation with his mom, he noticed the changes his mom had pointed out. The long ponytail she’d worn all her life was gone, and her hair hung loose just shy of  her shoulders. The wire-rimmed glasses she’d worn for as long as he could remember were gone, too.

“Yeah, finished Ma’s bathroom this morning. Time to start on the one in the attic.”

“The tiles are in the back. I’ll show you.” Jessica pushed the case of duct tape off to the side. “Are you going to the block party tonight?”

“Maybe.” Despite Mia’s request that morning, he wouldn’t be surprised if the actress changed her mind. A small town block party couldn’t compare to the Hollywood parties she was accustomed to. Once she had a chance to consider the type of event she’d agreed to, she’d probably drive into Boston and hit a few clubs instead.

“Have you talked to Charlie recently? She called me about a week ago and invited me down for the Fourth of July. She mentioned she wanted to get up here this month but wasn’t sure that would work out.”

“No, I haven’t talked to her this week. I don’t know what her plans are.” Actually, the last time they’d spoken she’d invited him to Virginia for the Fourth of July weekend as well. He turned her down because The Victorian Rose was booked solid for that weekend. He’d thought she’d just invited him because they had not seen each other in a while. Jessie’s admission that Charlie had invited her as well made him wonder. Was his sister trying to fix him up with her friend, too?

“Oh well, hopefully she gets up here soon.” Jessica stopped in front of several cases stacked in the back room. “Do you want help with these?”

“I’ve got it.”

“Okay. Maybe I’ll see you tonight at the party. Gage’s band is playing, so I’m going for a little while with Maryann. She asked me to keep her company while he performs,” Jessica explained. Maryann was Gage’s long-time girlfriend.

He watched Jessica walk away and shook his head. How had he missed the changes in her? She must have lost at least twenty pounds. Something like that didn’t happen overnight. Had his life become so mundane and repetitive that he no longer paid attention to those around him? He hoped not. Lifting the boxes from the floor, he headed back through the store.

Sean added the last box of tiles to the stack in the bathroom closet and entered the other room in the attic. At one time the room had belonged to his sister. After his parents’ divorce both he and his sister had moved into the attic bedrooms so his mom could rent their rooms to local college students to bring in money. When they turned the house into a bed and breakfast, he finished the loft over the garage for his mom and then moved into her bedroom on the second floor. After his sister’s marriage into the Sherbrooke family, business exploded. To accommodate more guests he’d moved back into his old bedroom in the attic and turned his sister’s old room into his own personal living room.

He went to the office area he’d set up in this room and sat at the computer. Before his mom logged into the bed and breakfast email, he wanted to go through the messages and delete any from his father. He’d deleted the first one after sending a short message stating that this email address was only for business purposes. That didn’t mean his father wouldn’t send another one, and Sean couldn’t let his mom see it. Who knew how she might react to a message from the man who’d walked out on her and her children?

He cut and pasted his way through replies to the first ten messages. Then his progress came to a screeching halt. Once again his father’s email address showed up. Damn it. Sean pushed his chair away from the desk, stood and walked to the window. He thought he’d made his feelings clear in his last email. Leaning his hands on the window sill, he took in a deep breath and exhaled. It would be a cold day in hell before he met with his father. Turning around he marched back to the desk and sat down again. Then, rather than read the message, he hit reply, typed a curt answer similar to his last one, and hit send.

Although his father’s first message claimed he wanted to reconnect with him and Charlie, Sean doubted that was the real reason behind the messages. After all, the guy had not made any attempt to contact them for more than eighteen years. After walking out on the family, he never looked back. Sean understood not wanting frequent contact with an ex-wife, but not wanting anything to do with your children was unacceptable. A few of his friends were divorced, some even hated their ex-wives, but they saw their children every week. The way he saw it, his dad could only have one reason for contacting him now and that reason had dollar signs attached to it.

Should he warn Charlie? If his father had started sending emails to him, he may try to contact Charlie, too. Then again, he didn’t see how his father could get her address, unless he contacted her through the hospital. It was no secret where she worked. Since her marriage, very little about her life wasn’t common knowledge.

Yeah, Charlie needed a heads-up, just in case. Pulling out his phone, he dialed his sister and waited. When her voice mail picked up, he left a message asking her to call him back and then turned back to the computer. Before he changed out of his work clothes, he’d finish answering the emails.

***

Darn it. The only thing she hated more than other people being late, was being late herself. Without heading up to her room first to change, Mia dashed to the back office where she’d found Sean the night before. The clock read quarter of six and she’d told him to be ready by five.

Mia found the office door open and the room empty. The rooms off the front foyer had been empty as well when she came in. The truck he’d been unloading that morning remained outside, as did the motorcycle she’d spotted near the garage. So unless he had another vehicle, he was here somewhere.

Following the unique combination of rosemary and cinnamon, she headed for the kitchen. Both Sean and Maureen sat at the table with a platter of chicken and roasted potatoes in the middle. On the counter she spotted an apple pie with the steam still coming off the top.

“Hi, sorry I’m so late.” Mia stopped next to the table. “I can be ready to go in ten minutes, Sean.”