Page 2 (1/2)

Octavia had returned to Portland on only one other occasion after that, and her stay had been extremely brief He had asked her out for the third time, but she had told him that she was there to oversee a reception for one of the artists who showed in her gallery and had no ti she had flitted back to Eclipse Bay

It had beco to return to Portland any time soon That had left hio he had made the decision to spend the su Octaviadown dates

The thing that should really concern hi even harder to come up with reasons to call her one more time

As far as he could tell, she did not have a co dinner with Jererandson of Edith Seaton, owner of an antiques shop located next door to Bright Visions Gallery The Seatons had roots in the community that went back as far as those of the Hartes and the Madisons Although Edith's husband, Phil, had died several years ago, she continued to take an active role in local affairs Her son and daughter had moved away, but Jeremy had recently returned to take a position as an analyst at the Eclipse Bay Policy Studies Institute The social and political think tank was one of Eclipse Bay's few claims to sophistication

He knew Jeree and they had been good friends at one tio Women sometimes had that effect on a friendship

He looked at Carson "Miss Brightwell obviously doesn't think highly of me, but it's pretty clear that she likes you"

"I know she likes erated patience "That's because I bring her coffee and a et the e her mind if you make her mad"

The sad fact was that Carson had made a lot more headith Octavia than he had, Nick realized His son adored the Fairy Queen of Eclipse Bay For her part, she seemed to be very fond of Carson The two of them had developed a relationship that soht It was frustrating

"Don't worry," he said "She's not the type to hold a grudge against you just because she doesn't want to go out with reat mystery to him in many ways, but when it came to this aspect of her personality, he felt very sure of himself She would never hold the sins of the father, whatever they ainst the son

Carson reain until after she chooses one of ain until she ured it would be at least another three or four days before he could fortify himself to make a seventh phone call

"Let's see your pictures," he said

"They're in the bedroom" Carson whipped around and dashed off down the hall

Nick followed him around the corner and into the downstairs room that his sister Lillian had turned into a tee squares of heavy drawing paper were arranged in a row on the hardwood floor The pictures were all done in crayon, per the rules of the exhibition

Nick went to stand looking down at the first picture The scene showed a house with two stick figures standing very close together inside The taller of the two figures had one arure A yellow sun shone brightly above the peaked roof

There was a green floith several petals in the right-hand corner

"That's you and ures "You're the big one"