“Now all we have to do is finish it, furnish it, outfit it, staff it, and fill it with guests.” Beckett stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Should be a piece of cake, considering what we started with.”
He glanced down the street, nodded to the sign outside the gift shop. “Gifts Inn BoonsBoro. It works.”
“Mom and Madeline swear it’ll be ready for the opening Friday night.”
“As long as all we have to do is show up and eat crab balls.” Ryder shifted his gaze to the building beside the inn. “You know she’s already making noises about us getting to work on that place so we can get a bakery back in there.”
“One thing at a time. Let’s just bask,” Beckett suggested.
“Time for basking when we get it finished.” Ryder checked his watch. “And time’s wasting.”
“I need to work with Hope and the webmaster this morning.”
“While you’re at it, call Saville,” Ryder told Owen. “We’re going to be ready for them to bring in the flooring, let it acclimate.”
“It’s on my list. Beck, why don’t you check at Gifts, see if there’s anything that needs doing. Then you can grab us some coffee. It’s frigging cold today.”
“First hard frost forecast for tonight. We’ve still got exterior work to finish. Don’t sneak in the back room with Clare,” Ryder told Beckett as they left him to head across the street. “You’re on the clock.”
“Yeah, yeah.” He took another moment for a solo bask, then started down to look into the gift store.
He had to admit, it looked just fine. Warm and welcoming with its sunny walls, the displays of pottery and handcrafted jewelry, the art hanging on the walls or waiting to be hung.
He checked with Madeline, who opened more boxes of stock, and took down a short list of small chores to be finished before the opening.
Tucking the clipboard under his arm, he walked into TTP.
“Hi, Romeo. Clare’s upstairs.”
He lifted his eyebrows at Charlene—Charlie Reeder’s wife. “Romeo?”
She pursed her lips, made an exaggerated kissing sound. “You’re such a sweetie.”
“True. I need three coffees, large. I’ll go up and say hi to Clare while you’re getting that together.”
“She’ll be glad you did.”
Beckett shook his head at Charlene’s wink, wondered just what TTP put in their coffee these days. Then he climbed the creaking stairs to Clare’s office.
With the phone to her ear, she held up a finger as she offered him a big, bright smile. While she finished the call, he stepped to her window, looked out at the inn again, enjoyed seeing the sign in place.
“Beckett.”
He turned, found his arms full of her. “Thank you so much,” she said before she caught him up in a long, dreamy kiss.
Whatever they put in the coffee, he decided, he wanted some. “Okay, you’re really welcome. For what?”
“For the flowers. They’re gorgeous, and such a wonderful surprise. I made what Liam called girl sounds over them until he was forced to combat them with gagging noises. We made a real scene.”
She hugged him hard, rubbed her cheek against his. “But you should’ve come in. I’d’ve fixed you breakfast.”
“What flowers?”
She sparkled when she eased back. “As if. The roses I found on my doorstep when I took the kids to school.”
“Clare, I didn’t send you any flowers.”
“But they were—What?”
“I didn’t bring any flowers by your place this morning.”
“But the note said—”
“What did it say?”
“Always thinking of you. Oh God.” Because her knees went shaky, she sat. “There was a box, a plain white box on the doorstep, and the roses and note inside. I worried because it was so cold, but I don’t think they were there very long. They were fine. They’re beautiful. They’re not from you.”
“Have you seen him?”
“No. Well, in the grocery store yesterday, for a second I thought I did.”
“You didn’t tell me.”
“I wasn’t sure. In fact I thought I’d just imagined it.” She grabbed Beckett’s hand. “Please don’t do anything. I’ll call Charlie, I’ll call him right now and tell him. But please don’t do anything. I really think the more attention we pay, the worse it’ll be.”
“Call Charlie. Next time, if you think you see him, you call me.”
“I will. I promise. I—He’s sent flowers before.”
“When?”
“My birthday. Always red roses, like these, but I really thought . . . And he’s always signed his name before. Beckett, he’s shown up at the grocery store a few times, which was why I thought I’d imagined seeing him there—after what happened, then your