Taste of Honey by Eileen Goudge

Author:Eileen Goudge
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781453223024
Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media LLC
Published: 2011-12-07T13:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

IF THIS WAS a TV movie, Andie thought, they’d all be crying and hugging each other, with Claire making some corny speech, saying how thrilled she was that she finally had the brother and sister she’d always dreamed of. Instead she was quietly explaining over a glass of wine that she was doing this for herself, for the opportunity to go into business.

“It’s a lot to take on, I know.” Claire sat on the sofa, sipping her wine. She looked nervous but excited, too. “The place needs work and we’re on a pretty tight budget.”

“It doesn’t look too bad, from the outside,” Gerry said.

“It’s more than you think. But the good news is that Matt—my contractor—says it isn’t going to cost an arm and a leg.”

“That is good news.” Gerry was looking at Claire as if she’d hung the moon.

Andie thought, I’m going to puke.

“As for the financing, it turned out Kitty had some money coming in, enough to get us started.”

“If you need any help …” Gerry started to say, but didn’t finish, as if thinking better of it.

“We’ll be okay.” Claire looked a little embarrassed.

“Well, you can count on us to help with the heavy lifting.”

Andie felt her heart sink.

“Yeah, I could mow your lawn. You wouldn’t have to pay me or anything,” Justin put in.

Claire turned to him. When she smiled at Justin, it was with her whole face, not just her mouth. “For now would you settle for all the cookies you can eat?”

Justin’s eyes lit up. “Maybe Grandma could help out, too. She’s always talking about how much she misses her job.”

“Grandma’s too old,” Andie said.

But her mother said thoughtfully, “You know, that’s not such a bad idea. I’ll talk to her about it, see what she thinks.”

If this were Little House on the Prairie, Andie thought, they’d all be pitching in to raise a barn. She became uncomfortably aware that her mother was eyeing her, as if waiting for her to say something.

“Um … I could probably get Simon to do a write-up for the paper,” she said.

It didn’t pay to make waves. She’d been in the doghouse since the wedding, never mind that it had been an innocent mistake. How was she supposed to have known it was Aubrey’s wife?

“That’d be great—though I won’t need it for a while,” Claire told her. “Even if everything goes smoothly, we’re looking at at least two months.”

“A tearoom …” Gerry gazed dreamily off into the distance. “You know, it’s just what this town needs. A real getaway, like something out of my mother’s era.”

“With profits to match,” Claire answered with a laugh. “I just hope it’s not too far off the main drag.” She bent down to pet Buster. His tail was thumping against the table leg and there was an ecstatic look on his face. Even their dog had defected to the other side, thought Andie.

“It might work to your advantage,” Gerry said. “You could even put tables out back. I’ll have Sam take a look at the garden—she knows more than most landscape architects.

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