Chapter 16
Claire went in a bit early on Saturday so she could stop along the way and replenish her stock of gold bracelets.
The sun was shining, and as she drove in, she caught a glimpse of the harbor—the water was as still as glass.
It was a quiet, beautiful morning on Nantucket.
It was still early, so she easily found a parking spot on Main Street just a few doors down from the jewelry store.
Brad raised his eyebrows in surprise when she stepped into his shop. “Back for more already? Business must be good.”
Claire smiled. “Your bracelets are my biggest sellers so far. I’d like to double my order this time if possible?”
He looked pleased. “For you, of course.” He went out back and returned a few minutes later with two bags of bracelets, separated by style.
After she paid, he handed her the two bags. “Come back anytime.” His eyes twinkled.
“I’ll see you soon.” Claire loved that his bracelets were such steady sellers. She was curious to see how the costume jewelry would do once it finally arrived, which should be in a day or two.
She was surprised and happy to see two well-dressed women waiting by the door for her to open the shop. She wasn’t late, it was ten minutes before her usual opening time, but she didn’t want to make them wait.
“Morning, ladies. I’ll be open in just a few minutes.”
She unlocked the door, turned on the lights, put some of the new bracelets in her display by the counter and the rest in a locked box in the back. And then she flipped the Closed sign to Open and welcomed the ladies in. She guessed that they were locals.
“You’re Marsha’s daughter?” one of them asked.
Claire nodded. “I am.”
“I’m Beverly, and this is Ruth. We know your mother from the garden club. She missed the last meeting, but we understand she’s been busy with you and your daughter moving back to the island. We heard you opened a shop and just wanted to stop in and say hello.”
“We’re not really in the market for these expensive bags. They are lovely though,” Ruth said. “We were mostly curious to see what else you might have. I liked that champagne glass in the window. I didn’t see a price on it?”
“That’s from a local artist, made here on Nantucket.” Claire told her the price, and the woman seemed surprised.
“That’s quite reasonable. I thought it would be more, given the prices of your bags. I’ll take two.”
Beverly glanced at the gold bracelets. “I recognize those. My sister gave me the wave one for my birthday.”
While Claire carefully boxed and rang up the champagne glasses.
Ruth roamed around the shop, picked up a paperweight, and tried on several pairs of sunglasses.
She chose the first pair she tried. “I’ll take these.
I broke my good ones yesterday, so these are perfect.
I’m never spending a lot of money on sunglasses again. ”
Claire thanked them both and settled in at the counter. She was off to a good start and was curious what the rest of the day would bring.
It was steady with lots of traffic until about three.
Most of the people wandering in were just curious and wanted to browse.
Quite a few said they’d be back, and Claire sold a few more smaller items and one more bracelet.
On weekdays, she stayed until three, but on the weekends, she thought she’d stay until five and just play it by ear.
At ten past three, there was a crack of thunder followed by a flash of lightning.
The sound took her by surprise, and she opened the front door for a closer look.
The clear blue sky had filled with dark gray rain clouds, and the temperature had dropped by at least ten degrees.
It also felt damp; rain was clearly on the way.
And it didn’t take long. A few minutes later, more thunder came with a huge crack of lightning, and then the sky opened up, and it poured.
Claire made herself a cup of herbal cinnamon tea and settled back at her counter. No one would be coming into the shop until the rain slowed. She went online and checked the weather forecast. It looked like this would just be passing showers.
“Any interest in a cookie?” Cody stood in the doorway, holding a plastic container filled with cookies. He was in jeans, a blue flannel shirt, and Red Sox baseball cap, and he was covered in sawdust.
“Sure, what kind?”
“Oatmeal with banana, chocolate chips, and walnuts.”
“That sounds good. Did you make them?”
He laughed. “That would be a no. My mother dropped them off this morning. She said they are healthy—no sugar, just those four ingredients. They’re not as bad as I expected.”
Claire was intrigued. “I have to try one now.” He set the cookies on her counter, and she took one, bit into it, and was pleasantly surprised. “That’s actually pretty good.”
“Have another. I’ve already had four.”
Claire didn’t hesitate and reached for another.
“So how is it going?” Cody asked. “Seemed like you had a lot of people in the store today. Some of them came into my shop after or said they were going to stop in.”
“I think it’s going okay. I sold my first bag yesterday, to one of the women who heard about it from the country club event.”
Cody grinned. “That’s great!”
“People definitely seem interested in buying the smaller stuff though, so I need to see about getting more things in. They come in to see the bags out of curiosity, but quite a few leave with something.”
“It takes a while to figure out what will be popular. You may want to try out different things and see.” He watched her closely. “How are you feeling?”
She appreciated the question. “Good. I don’t seem to get as tired as I used to.”
He nodded. “My sister used to crave sweets, especially cookies. Do you have any cravings yet?”
“Similar. I am definitely eating more cake and cookies than I used to. Ice cream too.” She lifted up the second cookie. “So this really hit the spot.”
Claire glanced out the window and noticed that the rain had stopped as quickly as it began. Cody’s door chimed that someone had walked in.
“Duty calls, I suppose,” he said. He lingered a moment longer, and before he could head back to his shop, a woman stepped through the doorway and looked around.
She was around Claire’s age, maybe a few years younger, and very pretty with long shiny brown hair. “There you are!”
Cody looked surprised to see her. “Sally, I’ll be right over.”
Sally glanced quickly around the shop before her gaze landed on Claire. “Cute shop.” She turned and walked away before Claire could reply.
“I’ll see you later.” Cody set another cookie on Claire’s counter before heading back to his shop.
Cody felt annoyed at having his conversation with Claire cut short. It was rare that they were both slow at the same time, and it was nice to have a break and just chat for a few minutes. And he dreaded what was coming with Sally.
They’d gone out a few times, and she was fun and a beautiful girl, but he didn’t feel the kind of connection he’d wanted. Sally was fun to spend time with, but he knew it would never be serious, and he hadn’t wanted to lead her on.
Fortunately she had started dating someone else, so things had naturally fizzled out several months ago. So it was surprising to see her. She had mentioned that she might want to buy new furniture at some point though.
“What’s new with you? Are you still thinking about renovating?”
Sally glanced around the room at the polished bookcases and coffee tables. “No. Someday maybe. I was actually at the Lilly Pulitzer store doing a little window-shopping and thought I’d stop in and say hi. It has been a while.”
He nodded. “It has.”
“So I remembered how you like red wine. There’s a group of us going to a wine-tasting dinner the week before the wine festival. This one is put on by Duckhorn, so I thought of you. I have an extra ticket and thought you might want to go?”
He hesitated. Duckhorn was one of his favorite cabernets, but it sounded like a date, and he was pretty sure that wasn’t a good idea. Sally seemed to sense his hesitation.
She smiled big, and when she did, he remembered why he’d initially been attracted to her. Her big brown eyes lit up when she smiled. “Come on, Cody. It’s not like it’s a date. Just a bunch of friends tasting wine. A fun night out.”
He nodded. “Okay, that does sound fun.”
“I’ll be in touch before then. Make sure you wear a tie and jacket. It’s a little dressy.”
“Got it. I might have a tie somewhere,” he joked. Deep in a drawer.
“Great, well, I’ll talk to you soon then.” She left and he watched her go, wondering if he’d just made a big mistake.
“So do you maybe want to do something this weekend? We could see a movie if that works?” Luke caught up with Lily as she was closing her locker.
She was on her way to her last class of the day, music, and didn’t want to be late.
His question took her by surprise as he hadn’t said a thing to her since the dance.
She’d figured he’d changed his mind by this point.
She thought for a moment. “I’d love to, but this weekend is out. My dad is coming to visit—with his pregnant girlfriend.” She made an involuntary face at the thought of it, and Luke looked sympathetic.
“Sorry about that. What about Thursday night?”
“Tomorrow night?”
He grinned. “Yeah. What do you think? Movie starts at seven. I can pick you up at six thirty.”
The Dreamland was just off Main Street. It wouldn’t take more than fifteen minutes to get there.
“That sounds perfect.”
“Great. See you tomorrow then.” Luke headed the opposite way while Lily continued on to her music class, feeling a bit confused but also looking forward to getting to know Luke better.
The next day in English class, Kenzie flopped into her seat and spun around to face Lily.
“I hear tonight is the big night.” She seemed excited about it.
Lily nodded. “Did Luke tell you?”