Driftwood Point (15 page)

“Well, you were right. It is pretty small,” Alec said when they'd gone back outside. “And the amount of work it would need . . .”

“Yeah, it's a tear-down, far as I can see. You find out what this guy is offering and I'll talk to my sisters. I have power of attorney for our folks—the girls don't live local anymore. Kate is in Chicago and Amanda is in Charleston. Between you and me, we don't expect a lot for it.”

“Do yourself a favor and don't tell that to anyone else. And it might be a good idea to keep this under your hat for now, at least until we see if this guy decides to make an offer.”

“Gotcha.” Tom nodded. “I won't say a word to anyone until this guy comes back with a number.
If
he comes back with a number.”

“Right. You don't want to be telling people you're selling it and then have this guy decide that the other side of River Road looks better to him.”

“Yeah. I'd look like a damned fool.” Tom put his hand out to shake Alec's hand. “You have my number. I'll be waiting to hear, either way.”

Tom opened the driver's door of his truck, but
before he got in, he turned to Alec. “This place has been pretty wild all my life. Hard to imagine it with new houses on it. Shame, in a way, to see it change, see something different here. But I guess that's progress, right? Wouldn't surprise me at all if someone decided to do a lot of building out here. That's what's happening over near where I live. Someone bought up all that strip along the river and started building these huge places there. Heard they're going for a million and up. Nice-looking places, but when you look across the river, you can't tell where you are anymore.”

Without waiting for Alec to comment, Tom got into his truck and drove off.

Alec walked around the property again, this time trying to gauge the size of the lot. Judging by the placement of trees around the perimeter, he had a pretty good idea. He'd call Tom later to confirm.

His instincts told him that the existing houses would be too small to sell the developer on for rehabs, even if they could be saved, which was doubtful, but the properties were well located, and he'd noticed several things in his quick walk-through with Tom. Inside, there was a lot of good wood—beautiful wood—that could be reclaimed and used again. The interior doors were in good condition, and the brick in the fireplace was prime, even after all these years. All he needed was to convince Deiter that this was the way to go, the architect to see things as he did, and a Realtor to pull it all together.

If the architect were to design new houses that reflected the old, filled with wood and brick reclaimed
from the original houses that stood on these lots, and with the right marketing plan . . .

It wasn't a new concept, but he'd bet it would be new to Deiter.

Energized by the possibilities, he hopped into his Jeep and headed for home. He had some phone calls to make.

Chapter Eight

A
fat blue glass vase spilling over with flowers sat in the center of the round table near the window in Ruby's store.

“So pretty,” Lis said as she sat with her coffee after the morning rush of watermen had ended. “What are these orange things?”

“Zinnias.” Ruby joined her, a cup of Earl Grey in hand. “They exploded out there near the front corner. Picked as many as I could, but there's still a mess of them out there. I thought you might like some for upstairs.”

“I'd love some, thank you. They're so colorful.” Lis touched the blooms with a fingertip. “I like the big ones. They're so bold.”

“Some flowers be bold, some be quiet. Just like people.”

“That's you and me, right there,” Lis said. “You're the bold one.”

“Live as long as I have, no point in hiding behind yourself. You have something to say, you say it.
Something you want to do, you do it. Life catches up with you, whichever way you decide to live.” Ruby took a sip of tea, then put the cup down. “Like now. You got something to say.”

“I'm still working it out, Gigi.” Lis's fingers tapped on the side of her mug. “How I want to live. Where I want to be. I used to be so sure of myself, what I wanted, and now . . .”

Ruby nodded as if she understood. “Now you're not.”

“I like my life, I do. I like where I live, and I like being close to the city. I like the bustle, that sense of urgency, the energy there. I like the work I did there.”

“But . . .” Ruby raised an expectant eyebrow.

“But when I'm here, the slower pace feels, I don't know, more natural to me, maybe. I like talking to the oystermen when they come in every morning. I like the connection I feel here. I tried to work on a sketch last night, something I'd started a few weeks ago, but as much as I tried, I found I had no feel for it.”

“Maybe you be wanting to paint something different. Change might be due.”

“I do have something else in my head right now, something different from what I've been doing, and I'm excited about it and I can't wait to work on it.” Lis sighed. “I just hate to put something aside once I started it. It goes against everything I've been taught.”

“Unfinished business weighs on the soul and preys on the mind. My Harold used to say that.” Ruby blotted up a spilled spot of tea with a napkin. “What picture's in your head?”

Lis hesitated, wondering if she should tell Ruby
about the portrait she was itching to start: Ruby at the table, just as she was now, her face thoughtful and her eyes shining and wise and loving. No, she should hold on to that for now. What if she's unable to bring that face to life, to show the beauty of the woman as it should be shown? Best to let that be for now.

Instead, Lis said, “There was a view from the point—you know, where it looks over toward the cove where Sunset Beach is hidden? I keep seeing that in my mind, the curve of the land, the pines that shelter the beach from view, making it such a mysterious place.” She paused. “Carly mentioned the beach the other day. She has a painting in the gallery that was done by Carolina Ellis a long time ago. Carly thinks it's Sunset Beach.”

Ruby nodded knowingly. “A good woman, Carolina was. A mite confused at times, but she came into her own, by and by.”

“You knew her?”

“Of course. She be a friend of my aunt Helena. Now, I only know what I heard, and I only knew her when she was an older lady.”

“Why do you say she was confused?”

“Carolina was always a headstrong young thing, the way I heard tell. Always drawing, painting. Like someone else I know.” Ruby smiled. “She knew her mind. Some say she be a bit wild, that she had a secret beau. Didn't know her then, but that's what they say. Then she up and married that James Ellis, and it seemed he had a lot to say 'bout what she did and that sort of thing. Didn't like her painting.”

“Why didn't he like her to paint?”

“People say he thought painting was unseemly for a woman to do. People who knew better say it was because it took her mind off him.”

“Wow. Talk about selfish, self-centered . . .”

“Like all the Ellis boys, truth be told.”

“Who was her secret beau?”

“Well, now, it wouldn't be much of a secret if you knew, would it?” Ruby teased, and got that look on her face, the one that said,
Maybe I know and maybe I don't, but either way, I'll not be speaking of it now.
“That's a story for another time.”

“Gigi, I want to hear your stories. All of them. We're going to start tonight, unless you have something better to do.”

“What stories you want to hear?”

“I think I want to start at the beginning. I know what my father's side of the family thought about the old times, but I don't remember hearing about it from you.”

“Time long past, doesn't mean a whole lot now. I don't recall that my family ever held bad feelings the way Jack did. They called it ‘the move,' but they didn't dwell on it.”

“No one ever talked about what they had to leave behind in St. Dennis?”

“Not that I heard. Didn't really matter, you think about it. Can't change what was.”

“So you've said.” Lis mulled it over. “When I went to meet Carly the other day, I drove up Hudson Street. I stopped in front of the Cassidy House, the one my father said belonged to his family. I didn't feel anything at all, looking at that place, except that it's
a pretty house and that the people who live there are taking very good care of it.” She sipped her coffee and found it cold. “Did your family have a place like that? A house you left behind that was given to someone else to live in?”

“Don't know. Maybe.” Ruby shrugged. “Guess no one cared, once they be here.”

“That's a much saner way to look at it.” A question came to her suddenly. “Gigi, who built the house on the point?”

“There be two houses there.”

“Well, both of them, I guess. Do you know?”

“The one that's falling down, well, my granddaddy lived there as a boy, that be right around the Civil War. Could have been his daddy built it. No way to know now. And the other place, where me and Harold lived? That be my grandfather, for sure. Built it when he and my grandmother married. Lived there until they took over the store from his mother.”

“The store's been in our family since it was built, right?”

“That be true. Once they got over here, they looked around to see what needed to be done. Thought a store would be useful, since no one would be going back to St. Dennis to buy what they needed. That little bit in the back there, where my sitting room is, that be the first to be built. Built more on as they could.”

“How did they get supplies in? Where did they get the items they sold?”

“Come by boat,” Ruby said. “Old Sam—he was the
one who built it up—had a brother over to Cambridge. Loaded up his boat and brought over what was needed. Became a merchant himself, by and by.”

“So they really weren't destitute.”

Ruby laughed. “Only those who wanted to be. Fair to say that some like to be the victim.”

“Like my father.”

“He not be the only one, but yes, he enjoyed all that talk somehow. Others saw what was here to see and did the best with it.”

“How did your family come to own the point?”

“Never heard tell of that. It just was our place, much as this place is. Does it matter?”

“Not really. I'm just curious about who decided to build out there. That's the best part of the island to me. I would think everyone who came here would have wanted it. So it makes me wonder how your family got their hands on it.”

Ruby patted Lis's hands. “Your heart be set on that old place, Lisbeth?”

“I'm afraid so. There's just something about it . . . it's mysterious and romantic, but there's a practical aspect to consider, too, because it would make a great place for me to work.”

“Until then—assuming the old place can be put back together—where will you work? Seems to me that it won't be fixed up anytime soon.”

“I have to think about an alternative. Alec said he has to look at the roof and some of the beams, the supports, before he can give me any estimates of time or how much it might cost. He thinks the house has
termites. Frankly, he wasn't very encouraging. And you're right: Even if it can be repaired, it's not going to be a quick fix.”

“Lord knows what other critters been in there all these years. You give thought to what to do if the old place can't be fixed?”

Lis shook her head.

“Maybe you should. Disappointment's always easier to take when you have something else in mind. Sometimes it doesn't pay to hang your hat on just one thing.”

“Well, I certainly learned that where Ted was concerned.” Lis tried to laugh, but the sound that came out was anything but funny.

“You missing him, Lisbeth?”

Lis shook her head. “You'd think I would, wouldn't you? Since we were together for almost two years? But I don't miss him. I think the fact that it doesn't bother me bothers me, if you know what I mean. It seems like I should care more than I do that he's out of my life. Like I invested a big part of my life and it's just gone, and I don't feel much of anything. Except maybe relief, if you want to know the truth.”

“Time will come when you see it for what it was,” Ruby said. “Maybe not meant to be part of your life after all.”

When Lis didn't reply, Ruby said, “You learn anything from him? From that time?”

“I found out what I don't want.” Lis leaned back in her chair. “I don't want someone who hangs over my shoulder all the time. I don't want someone who is dependent on me for everything, from doing his
laundry to telling him how smart he is. I don't want someone who looks at my paintings and tells me there should be a little more
green
there and a little less black
there
. I don't want someone who doesn't respect what I do. And I don't want someone who slowly closes me off from everything except himself.” She thought about what she'd just said. “Sounds like Carolina wasn't the only one who got involved with the wrong man.” She shook her head. “I don't understand why I let that happen. It sure as hell won't happen again.”

“Well, then. Learned a lot, I'd say.”

Lis sighed. “I guess I did. I hadn't really been able to put my finger on it like that before. It took me awhile to admit that he wasn't right for me.” She corrected herself. “We weren't right for each other.”

“Long as you know better now, should be easier to see who's right and who's wrong. Could be something right be on its way.”

“Maybe. But I'm not really looking for anyone right now.”

“Always find what you're not looking for when you're not looking for it.”

The door opened and a woman came in holding the hand of a young child.

“Well, now. Look who came to see her old friend Ruby.” Ruby pushed herself from the chair with both hands. She turned back to Lis and said, “Go on and take that vase up to your room while I have a visit with my little friend Charlotte. Then you go on over to the beach and take a dip in the bay before it gets too hot to sit out there on the sand. Get a little color,
do you good. Don't want to look pasty at that big party Carly be throwing for you.”

Lis had been meaning to hit the beach. She knew she needed some color, but seriously,
pasty
?

She carried the vase of flowers up the stairs. As she climbed, she could hear Ruby's voice.

“Now, Hedy, what you and this little peach be after this morning?”

The voices faded as Lis walked down the hall. She placed the flowers on her bedside table, then changed into the one bathing suit she'd brought with her. As she put it on, she realized it had been over a year since she'd worn it. She'd had invitations to friends' pools and beach houses, but Ted hated sand and found most of her friends boring and always said he was allergic to the sun.

“That should have been my first clue,” she muttered. “What was I thinking . . . ?”

Hindsight was always twenty-twenty.

She grabbed her sunglasses from her bag and a towel from the linen closet in the hall and slipped her arms into a button-down shirt to wear over her suit until she reached the beach. She went downstairs and took a bottle of water from the cooler.

She was halfway out the door when Ruby stopped her. “Sunscreen,” Ruby called to her.

“You have sunscreen?”

“Never go out into the sun without it. Some think I don't look a day over ninety-five. That be the reason.” Ruby pointed to her living quarters. “In the cabinet in my bathroom.”

“Thanks, Gigi.”

Lis retrieved the lotion and passed back through the store.