Secrets Whispered from the Sea - Emma St. Clair Page 0,7

her up in my arms as heartily as I could while being careful to remember she was in her eighties, blue hair or no.

“I won’t break, you know,” she said, chuckling in her signature raspy voice.

After a few glasses of wine with Nana, Vivi once confessed that she smoked a pack a day until the moment she found out she would never be a mama. “Whether the two were related or not, only God knows,” Vivi had said, pointing to the same ceiling above our heads right now. The thought broke my heart for her. Out of Nana’s three friends, who made up a group I liked to call the Fab Four, Vivi was like my honorary second grandma.

I hugged her tighter. “I forget sometimes that you’re bionic.”

She still managed to look as spry as a sixty-year-old, as she loved to say, but she’d had both a hip and knee replacement. Plus, a metal plate in her elbow after she threw it out playing doubles with the Fab Four.

Now, the Fab Three. The thought made my heart thump heavily in my chest. I needed to grace them with a completely new name, one that didn’t make me think of Nana every time.

“That I am, dear.” She pulled back, lifting her hands to my cheeks so she could study me. “Oh my,” she said after a moment of scrutiny.

“That bad?” I asked, lifting a hand to what I knew was certainly a nest of bright red hair. “I did sleep on the couch.”

“No. You’re as beautiful as always, Clementine. But you look like your heart has been broken by more than just your nana leaving the party early.”

The night before, I thought I’d been drying up. Clearly, I was wrong. Because for the next unknown number of minutes, Vivi shushed me and patted my back while I soaked her pink blouse with my tears.

“I hope this isn’t silk,” I said as my sniffling finally slowed.

Vivi clucked her tongue and handed me a tissue. “Lord knows I don’t buy such fabrics. Ever seen the pit stains on a silk blouse?”

We both laughed, and it felt like all my emotions had been completely exhumed by the time we were done. Vivi took my hand as we settled back on the couch. Her cloudy blue eyes were warm and understanding.

“I’m so glad you're here, Clementine. Now, before we get into any deeper waters, how about I treat you to some coffee?”

Twenty minutes later, Vivi and I were seated at an adorable coffee shop that I’d never seen before called A Bitter Cup. “Is this place new?”

So much of the island was. My favorite local grocery store, Bohn’s, was gone, put out of business a few years back by the Harris Teeter.

“Oh no. This little place? It’s not Old Island, but it’s been in business for the last ten years or so. Long enough,” she said with a sniff.

“Old Island? I know you On Island folks like your sayings, but that’s one I haven’t heard before,” I teased.

“Didn’t have much occasion to use it before,” Vivi said. “But I’m sure you can tell the difference between old and new on Sandover has never been more clear.”

“I saw that the toll booth is closed.”

She pursed her lips, which had a fresh layer of peach lipstick. “And that’s just the start.”

Sandover was much more of small town than a resort island, though that seemed to be changing every time I came back. Not wanting to get Vivi started on a rant, I glanced around the coffee shop. It had a beachy theme with some industrial vibes going through it. Fair trade coffee, stained concrete floors, and metal support beams were nods to the new, while the paintings and photographs from local artists adorned the walls.

A particularly bright oil painting caught my eye. It showed the sunset over the sound, the marsh grass lit up in golds and reds and purples. I didn’t know my art periods or styles very well, but it was somewhere between realistic and impressionistic. It was stunning, and I had an urge to buy it right then and there. It would look amazing on the big wall in Nana’s living room.

Except you’re about to be selling Nana’s place, I reminded myself. Until I knew where I was going, buying more things didn’t seem like the best plan.

“Are you caffeinated enough to tell me what’s on your mind?” Vivi asked.

Sighing, I set my latte down between us. “We both might need something a little