her hand. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Ivy couldn’t help wondering if events worked out as they were meant. If so, maybe her expired driver’s license was the universe’s way of telling her she needed to slow down.
Or that she needed to pay more attention to life’s details.
10
The next day, Ivy ordered her birth certificate and tried to sort through the process to change other identification cards and documents.
“Evidence of a legal name change…” Ivy stared at the computer in the library, her mind glazing over at the tangle of instructions, forms, and fees. She peered through her leopard glasses and shook her head.
Shelly strolled in. “Are you making any headway there?”
“Not yet. I submitted forms for a legal name change a couple of months ago, but I haven’t received anything back. I need that before I can renew my driver’s license or passport, or I’ll have to do it all over again. Maybe it will be processed this week—or next month—who knows? But I already applied to change my name on the social security card, and it looks like I’ll need that for the driver’s license, but first I need the legal name change documents.” She sank her chin onto her palm. “This is so confusing. I think I might have messed up and reversed the order of this process.”
“Sounds complicated,” Shelly said. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out, though.”
“I only wanted Bay back. I thought it would be easy.”
“Probably would have been if you weren’t planning on getting married again. Then what will you do?”
“I have no idea.” Ivy laughed. “But Bennett Bay has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?”
Shelly twisted her lips to one side. “Sounds like a men’s clothing line.”
“See?” Ivy smiled. “Another potential opportunity I’m bringing him.”
“You’re a wonder,” Shelly said, grinning.
Since arriving in Summer Beach, Ivy had been using her original family name of Bay to distance herself from the lawsuit Jeremy had filed against the city of Summer Beach to build his intended mega-resort. Given Jeremy’s infidelity and plan to exclude her from his life, she no longer wanted to carry his surname of Marin, even though that was fine for their children. She had struggled to forgive him, and she didn’t need to be reminded of him every day.
She enjoyed being Ivy Bay again. At this stage of her life and after all she’d been through, reclaiming her individuality appealed to her. While she cherished the good times she and Jeremy had, the hard truth was that he had fallen out of love with her. She no longer owed him the courtesy in death of retaining his surname.
Frowning at the computer screen, Ivy tried to sort out the process again. Finally, she removed her glasses and drew her hands over her face. “This is such a pain.” And she hadn’t even started on the exhaustive list of medical records, credit cards, bank accounts, utilities, and every other detail of life.
Shelly perched on the arm of a chair and swung her leg. “You need a break.”
“I sure do.” In addition to this mind-numbing task, she’d also spent the morning answering Eleanor’s emails and handling wedding details for her and Rachel.
On the one hand, maybe Shelly had been right about not wanting to book this wedding. Instead of just providing the venue, Ivy was turning into a wedding coordinator. Many of Eleanor’s vendors didn’t want to drive the distance to Summer Beach, so Ivy was arranging myriad details.
However, this gave Ivy another idea. They could advertise the inn as a venue with add-on wedding services. This wedding was essentially a test run to determine what people might need. Besides, Ivy wanted to be there for Rachel.
Ivy stood and shook tension from her hands. “If you’ve got some time, there’s something else I’d like to do.”
“Like what?” Shelly asked.
“I want to check that little room we found again.”
Although they’d brought all the clothes out of the dark nook, she still had an odd feeling whenever she thought about it. Most people were creatures of habit. Including, she imagined, Amelia Erickson.
Since the older woman had hidden some items in the house, then she might have concealed other things. Maybe not Shelly’s imagined gold bars and coins, but other items of value to Amelia.
Ivy had been thinking about where she might stash things if she were Amelia. While part of Amelia’s unusual behavior could be attributed to her progressive Alzheimer’s disease, if the woman had been in the habit of hiding things, perhaps that’s why she continued.
Furthermore,