Chapter Seventeen
(Sabrina)
Sabrina woke up to the muffled sound of a power drill somewhere in the distance.
Frowning, she blinked her eyes open and attempted to orient herself.
She looked around for her phone to check the time and spotted it on her desk.
She sat up with a slight huff and got out of bed, straightening the covers as she did so.
Who was drilling? None of the neighbors had mentioned anything recently. Sabrina picked her phone up from the desk, checked the time, and cast a glance at a very large yellow paper note.
Her eyes widened. “Oh, no.” She muttered.
She ran for the door and turned the handle, only to run into it face first when it refused to open. She looked down at the door handle in confusion.
“What the…?” She blinked, and unlocked a lock she had never seen used, then proceeded towards the main room of the rescue.
Birds were screeching and a myriad of aggravated chitters and howls echoed through the building as a team of men in matching blue polo shirts screwed who knew what into the windows.
A team was mounting a new door, and in the hallway going toward the kitchen, a man stood on a ladder replacing a light that had gone out the week of her parents' funeral.
Sabrina looked wide eyed at all the activity happening and immediately went to check on Freckles, and the rest of her high-risk guests.
Freckles seemed unbothered by the sounds, going so far as to release a mimicking titter every time a particular drill made any noise.
He was essentially singing along with Black thankfully, much stronger than the night prior. She then returned to the office to call a certain man who clearly had no boundaries.
Adrenaline coursed through her veins as the phone rang. Cesare immediately answered, and before she knew what she was doing, Sabrina hung up the phone.
She stared at it like it was an alien with two heads for a moment, then looked at the note Cesare had left once more. She grabbed a pen and wrote out a response at the bottom of the note in an elegant, tiny scrawl.
She then frowned and crossed it out, trying again. After a moment, she reluctantly crossed out her second attempt and paused.
Biting her lip, she wrote a third response and stepped back before she spiraled any further.
I do what I want.
Just because we
This was very generous, but the owner of the building was never consulted, which feels like a significant violation of boundaries.
Sabrina nodded to herself, taking a photo of the note with its finished ‘revisions’, and sent it to Cesare.
She put the phone back down on the desk beside the note, staring at it pensively.
Scowling at herself for her own indecision, Sabrina left the room and the phone behind.
She walked through the refuge and past its influx of repairmen, heading straight for the Society of Coffee Fiends, Connoisseurs, and Swashbucklers.
They were five minutes from closing when Sabrina walked through the doors, relieved to see Marie behind the counter.
Marie straightened, reading the expression on Sabrina’s face, and immediately circled the counter. “What’s wrong?”
Sabrina let out a long, shuddering breath as Marie crossed the distance between them and wrapped her in a hug.
“I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.” Sabrina swallowed thickly as she returned the hug.
“Did he pressure you into something?” Marie demanded.
“No.” Sabrina’s throat further constricted, and much to her confusion, tears welled in her eyes. “He’s having all the doors and windows fixed. They were replacing the front door as I left.”
Marie’s face took on a cautious look. “What does he expect in return?”
Sabrina took a deep breath and stepped back, pushing away the traitorous tears.
“He said it was a donation. I don’t owe him anything, but he didn’t ask or give me any warning.
He just did it.” Sabrina frowned. “He sent people to do it. I woke up, walked out of the office, and the refuge was full of strangers.”
Sabrina gave a self-depreciating laugh. “As I say all of this out loud it actually sounds like a really dumb thing to be mad about. He was trying to be thoughtful and I’m crying about it, and I don’t know why.”
Marie waited a moment before responding. “Have you ever seen anyone other than your dad make repairs at the rescue?” She asked gently.
Sabrina blinked. “That’s not…” She paused as she let Marie’s response sink in.
“It’s been three years.” Marie’s tone was as kind as it was matter-of-fact. “And every time someone offers to fix something, you say the same thing you’ve said your whole life.”
“We’ll fix it.” Sabrina answered ruefully.
Marie nodded. “And then you go home, and…” she shrugged apologetically.
“And there’s no we anymore.” Sabrina whispered.
Marie gave her a sympathetic look, nodding in the silent cafe. “But he should have communicated before changing anything that wasn't his. I would be upset about that too.”
Sabrina let out a deep breath and nodded. “Thank you for listening.” She smiled ruefully.
“Of course!” Marie answered. “Why don’t we go for a walk? We have everything for turkey sandwiches and a walk to Kittery Point. What do you say?”
Sabrina nodded with a wan smile. “That sounds really nice. I’m sorry I couldn’t make it this morning. I was up all night with a new seal pup.”
Marie waved a hand dismissively. “You know Shirley’s boy is always looking to pick up a shift. It was fine. Let me finish up behind the counter, and then you can tell me all about the baby seal on our walk.”
Sabrina nodded gratefully and got to work making sandwiches.
A few minutes later Marie and Sabrina left Society with said sandwiches in hand, on their way to Kittery Point.
Sabrina breathed in deeply as the salty air opened her lungs and the sun’s warmth happily seeped into her skin.
“Okay. Spill.” Marie grinned mischievously after they’d eaten most of their sandwiches. “Last we talked, you’d just gotten back to the rescue with your runaway seal and Travis. And the date went, and I quote, ‘sooo well’ and you said you’d tell me everything as soon as you were able.”
“We kissed.” Sabrina couldn’t keep the twinkle out of her eye as she bit her lip. “It was really good.”
“Last night?” Marie’s face brightened. “About time!”
“Uh, no this morning.”
Marie stopped in place, raising a pointed brow at Sabrina.
“It wasn’t like that. He came back later.” Sabrina shook her head, her cheeks going rosy.
Sabrina proceeded to fill Marie in on the events of the last twenty-four hours and watched as her eyes grew wider and wider.
“Sweet. Mercy.” Marie eventually muttered. “Does this man have a brother?”
“I’m afraid it’s love bombing.” Sabrina wrinkled her nose.
“It’s love bombing if it’s manipulative and makes your world smaller to revolve around him.
” Marie answered, her brows furrowing. “If your world gets bigger and better, and you like the sides of you that he brings out, well, that sounds healthy to me. But there hasn’t been enough time to tell the difference. So we’ll see.”
“What about replacing the door and the windows?” Sabrina arched a copper red brow.
“It’s like a cup of coffee.” Marie answered, sounding far away in her thoughts suddenly.
Sabrina tilted her head curiously.
“I have a certain income level.” Marie continued.
“If I want to do something nice, I buy you a cup of coffee and drop it off. It’s easy, it’s thoughtful, and it’s something I can easily afford.
Cesare is in a different tax bracket.” She shrugged.
“His cup of coffee may be calling a repairman to fix shit. Be honest, if it was the morning after and he was a blue-collar guy doing it himself without a shirt on, you’d have jumped his bones. ”
Sabrina snorted. “Yeah.” She admitted.
“If his version of ‘handling it’ looks like paying someone to fix it, it’s no less thoughtful, just different.
” Marie concluded. “If I need to push him into the harbor, I push him into the harbor.” She shrugged her shoulders indifferently.
“So either way it’ll be just fine.” Her southern accent drawled out.
Sabrina shook her head in rueful amusement.
They ate the last of the sandwiches as sunlight filtered through the bright green foliage of the trees above. The familiar repetitive sound of ocean waves crashing against cliff side rocks was calming.
“How are you?” Sabrina asked Marie. “What are you looking forward to this weekend?”
Marie shrugged with a slight smile. “Nothing exciting, which I like. I’ve been selling more ocean and moon water through my online store, which is good. This weekend is a full moon, so I’ll be making lots of moon water.”
Sabrina nodded thoughtfully. “What do people use that for?”
Marie huffed. “If we ever need to wash this man out of your life I’ll show you.” She answered, her mischievous smile returning once again.
They walked in companionable silence for some time. “He has four.” Sabrina spoke out of the blue.
“What’s that?” Marie asked.
“Cesare has four brothers.” Sabrina grinned, giving Marie an amused side glance.
“Hmmm.” She shook her head. “I don’t suppose any of them have plans to visit Maine, do they?” She asked with a coquettish smile.
Sabrina shrugged her shoulders in amusement. “Who knows?”
The sun continued to shine, and a soft breeze blew intermittently, rustling the leaves in the surrounding trees. From where they walked, they could hear the continued crash of ocean waves against the beach, and a smattering of bird songs. All was well once more.
An occasional car passed them on the road, and Sabrina enjoyed waving at familiar faces. Marie’s face took on a wistful expression.
“What’s on your mind?” Sabrina asked in the peaceful afternoon quiet.