42. Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Thirty-Nine
W ithin a week of closing on the house on Pearl Street, Nadine had hired a contractor to do the renovation. He was due to start on Monday. But on Monday morning, he was a no-show. He called her at about half past nine.
“Are you running late?” she asked.
“No. I’m calling because there’s a problem,” he said.
“There is?”
“The check you gave me didn’t clear.” He sounded angry, and she couldn’t blame him.
“What? Really? I’m so sorry,” she said, her face reddening. “Let me call my bank and see what’s going on.” There was plenty of money in that account. She’d checked it only last week. “I’ll call you back.”
“Yeah, sure.” She did not miss the dismissive tone in his voice. Embarrassed, she scrolled through her phone, searching out her banking app. She logged in, and her mouth fell open when she saw that the balance was only twenty dollars. That can’t be right.
She scrolled back over the debits and deposits and saw that four days ago, the bulk of the money had been withdrawn. Her mouth went dry, and she swallowed hard. Her first call was to the bank, as she wondered if they’d been the victims of some sort of scam or identity theft.
But she was on hold so long that she hung up and called Richard at work.
“Richard Eberhardt.”
“It’s me,” she said.
“What can I do for you, Nadine?” His tone was cool, and Nadine was suspicious.
“The money is gone from the bank account.” She tried to keep the panic out of her voice, but she couldn’t help it. It was a lot of money.
“It’s not gone, Nadine, I withdrew it,” he said evenly.
“What? Why?” she asked.
“Because you’re not taking another cent from me. You want a divorce, fine, but I’m not funding your new life.”
“Richard, I’m entitled to half of everything.” She’d hoped things would be amicable or at least civil.
“We’ll see about that.”
“I told you I was taking money out for renovations,” she said. “You said you were okay with it. ”
“On the advice of my attorney, I’ve put the money into a special bank account until the divorce is final.”
Anger rose within her, and she was about to launch into a tirade, but she knew that’s what he wanted. To hurt her. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.
Coolly, she said, “Your behavior validates my decision to divorce.” Before he could respond, she hung up.
She spent the next fifteen minutes going through the rest of their accounts to find that all the money had been cleared out. Gone. She had some money in her new bank account here in Lavender Bay, but there wasn’t enough to do the extensive renovations she’d planned. She would have enough to live off of for a while, but her dream of opening an inn would have to be put on hold.
The realization that she limited money and no way to get any caused her to lean against the parlor wall and slide to the floor. She pulled her knees up to her chest and circled them with her arms. Money had never been an issue in her life. It had always been there. Now she had none, and she squeezed her eyes shut, every muscle in her body tensing.
How was she supposed to support herself if she couldn’t get her inn off the ground? Those thoughts swirled around in her head and soon mixed with thoughts of her failed marriage, and she stared, not blinking, out the back window at the lake without seeing it .
Here she was, trying to rebuild her life, but it seemed almost as if it wasn’t meant to be. There was no one she could go to for a loan for the renovations and besides that, she wouldn’t. Neither a borrower nor a lender be had always been her motto. And granted, she expected to get a sizeable payout with the divorce settlement, but there were no guarantees for that either. No, she couldn’t pin all her hopes and dreams on a maybe.
She laid her head on her knees and bawled. She never heard the front door opening.
“Nadine, what’s wrong?”
She looked up to see Maureen standing over her, staring at her, her eyebrows drawn together.
Embarrassed at being caught in the middle of a meltdown, she jumped up and swiped the tears away from her eyes. “Nothing,” she said hastily.
“Nothing?” Maureen questioned. “It doesn’t look like nothing to me.”
Nadine hung her head and started crying again. She buried her head in her hands and her shoulders shook.
Immediately, Maureen was at her side and put an arm around her. “Come on, it’s not that bad.”
Nadine lifted her head. “Oh, it’s bad.”
“Remember what Dad used to say? We’re Cooks! We can stand the heat in the kitchen! ”
Although she didn’t feel like it, Nadine laughed. She’d forgotten that particular saying of their father’s. She looked at Maureen and asked, “Why are you here?”
“Mom told me you closed on the house, and I wanted to see it and to congratulate you.”
Left unsaid was the fact that she’d closed on the house over a week ago and that she hadn’t yet called Maureen to invite her over to see it. She couldn’t add shame to her list of negative emotions that day. She could be ashamed tomorrow; she had an opening in her calendar.
“But first tell me what’s wrong,” Maureen pressed. “Obviously something’s upset you.”
Nadine poured forth her whole story while Maureen listened attentively. When she was finished, her sister asked, “What’s Plan B?”
“There isn’t one,” Nadine wailed.
“All right, let’s think this through.” Although Maureen wore an expensive blowout, there were dark circles beneath her eyes, and the fine lines on her face appeared more pronounced than usual. “Why don’t you show me around and we can put our heads together and figure this out.”
Nadine nodded, relieved to be doing something other than crying.
They started with the downstairs, looping from the large front hall through the dining room on the right and then to the kitchen .
“A back staircase, nice,” Maureen commented as they walked from the kitchen through the back hall and to the library on the other side.
They finished their tour of the main floor in the front parlor.
Maureen looked around with an appreciative glance. “Nice big rooms with high ceilings, and those incredible views of the lake. It looks like all the original woodwork. That’s amazing. You’re not going to paint over it, are you?”
“No, I want to restore it,” Nadine replied. The varnish had darkened and dulled over the years, and there were heavy-traffic areas like the staircase banister where it had gone sticky or cracked, looking like parched earth.
“It’s a fine place, Nadine. It’ll be a show home when you’re finished with the reno—” Maureen stopped mid-sentence, remembering that the renovations were now on hold due to lack of finances.
Nadine had been so excited she’d told everyone. But now, she’d have to tell them—with her tail between her legs—that there would be no renovations in the immediate future. For the hundredth time, she wished for the divorce to go through.
“Come on, show me the upstairs,” Maureen said.
As she followed Nadine up the staircase, she took in her surroundings. “Look at that beautiful stained-glass window on the landing.” They paused on the landing so she could study it. “I bet it’s original. But I see some idiot painted the frame brown and there’s paint on the stained glass. There must be a half an inch of paint around the perimeter. That’s an easy fix, Nadine. You’ll need to scrape it off.”
Nadine made a mental note of her suggestion.
They stopped at the top of the staircase. Maureen stared at the bare bulb hanging from the ceiling. “I’ve got just the thing for this.”
“You do?”
“I’m an interior designer, remember?” Maureen cast her a sympathetic glance. “Look, I’ve got a garage full of paint, fabric, and wallpaper, and you’re welcome to it.”
Her sister’s generosity overwhelmed her. “I don’t know what to say.”
Maureen waved her off. “You don’t have to say anything. I’m your sister and I’m happy to help.”
Nadine could only muster a thank-you, she was so overcome with emotion. But she was grateful. And admittedly, she felt a lot better. The feeling of despair was beginning to lift.
She showed Maureen the five bedrooms and opened a door on the second floor that revealed a staircase going up. “That’s the attic up there. But we’ll skip that. There appears to have been mice at one point.” Nadine had gone up only one time, right after she closed on the house. It was a large room, also with a high ceiling and a couple of small windows. But there were little rodent skeletons scattered throughout, and she’d managed to walk through a cobweb, getting it in her mouth. She was in no hurry to return.
Maureen grimaced. “You’ll have to clean that up before you open for business.”
Nadine bristled. “Of course.” She wouldn’t leave little skeletons lying around; she wasn’t stupid. But she decided not to get her feathers in a ruffle.
“What do you think?” she asked. As much as she hated to admit it, Maureen’s opinion mattered to her.
They stood in the middle of the hall and Maureen glanced around, taking everything in.
“I think it’s a wonderful, old house. It’s great that all of the bedrooms have their own bathrooms. That saves you a lot of money in the long run. And they’re in pretty good shape aside from a cracked tile here and there. They just need a good scrubbing.”
It looked as if all the bathrooms were added at once. Each one was the same: white pedestal sink, white tub and toilet, and small, hexagonal black-and-white floor tiles.
“I need some advice on DIY,” Nadine said. “Although renovations are on hold, I need to get the house up to livable conditions. I can’t live with Mom forever.”
Maureen smiled. “I’m sure Mom wouldn’t mind.”
Nadine supposed not. She and her mother had been getting along fine. It helped that Nadine was almost never there and when she was, she made herself useful by doing laundry, cooking, and cleaning.
“It’s a shame about the inn,” Maureen said with a sigh. “I thought it was a wonderful idea.”
“You did?”
“Yes. Other than short-term rentals like Airbnb, Lavender Bay has no tourist accommodation that has character. There’s the motel out on the highway, but people need to discover Lavender Bay. It has a lot to offer.”
“Jeez, Maureen, maybe you should get a job with the chamber of commerce.”
Maureen hesitated as if she wanted to say something but held back.
“What?” Nadine asked.
“Have you thought about Herman?”
Nadine frowned. “Herman? I think about him all the time.”
With a laugh, Maureen said, “No, not that. About operating an inn with a dog on the premises.”
That had been one of the first things she’d looked into, having a dog onsite. There had been no sense in filling out any forms or applying for licenses until she was sure that Herman could be at her side. Because she wasn’t doing it without him.
She rattled off facts like bullet points. “If there are no more than eleven guests, then the department of health doesn’t regulate it. As long as I serve breakfast only. Temporary occupancy. And as long as no one stays longer than one hundred and eighty days.”
“You’ve done your homework.” Maureen appeared impressed. “You know, you could even run a dog-friendly inn.”
“Hmm.” Did she want the beautiful house on Pearl Street overrun by dogs? She loved dogs, and Herman got on with everyone: humans and canines and cats. Although the latter were sometimes wary of him because of his exuberance.
“You might want to start thinking about it before you hang out your sign saying you’re open for business,” Maureen said.
Nadine pushed that thought aside for the moment and returned her attention to the renovation of the house. With a wave of her hand around the room, she asked, “Any suggestions?”
“Yes. Focus on one room at a time," Maureen said. “Pick the easiest room to redo yourself, and that will boost your confidence.” She looked out the window, her eyes not seeing, as if lost in thought. Then she turned to Nadine. “Have you started all the paperwork, licenses and such for opening an inn?”
Nadine shook her head, hands in the back pockets of her jeans. “I have it all. I know what I have to do, but I can’t move forward until the house is in better shape. ”
“True.” Maureen headed toward the staircase. “Come on, let’s see where we can start.”
Nadine wondered at the use of “we” but said nothing. It may just have been an expression. But she followed her sister, eager to hear her ideas.