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Except there were other things she couldn’t explain Feelings, glimpses in her peripheral vision The stairs in particular And Isabel Frost’s strange facial expression when she spoke of Edith falling down the stairs

She spent the next hour going over plans with To to his ideas for the kitchen and downstairs bath with half an ear, along with his pro the names of local companies he could subcontract for the other necessary jobs

But when he was gone she put on a pair of gloves, went outside and started pulling weeds froarden She needed the sun and the feel of the warm breeze on her face to chase away the coldness of the basement

There was otten that feeling by what Isabel hadn’t said at the café, and she was doubly sure of it now It wasn’t even aif it was or wasn’t true She’d seen it And everything within her said that Edith had some unfinished business when she’d died and left a husband and two daughters behind

Two sisters ere then separated for the rest of their lives

CHAPTER 8

Toe, Abby kneo things: it was fair considering the amount of work involved, and she trusted him to do the job he said he would It was in the way he looked at things, touched theave hi Within twenty-four hours he’d begun orderingup the verandah—replacing the floor, railings, and spools

Abby kept wondering if she’d see theout of the ordinary and she was starting to wonder if she’d ih several of the boxes and chests upstairs but hadn’t found any fa, table linens, and an old set of Royal Albert china, which Abby carefully carried downstairs, washed, and put in the china cabinet in the great hall It was an enored a box at a ti that at so that told her more about the Foster family story

Several of the renovation jobs would require subcontractors, and one of the first things to happen was a visit fronore the truth—she heard the scratching in the walls and saw the evidence While the exterminator did his work, Abby s to be professionally cleaned Once they were dropped off, she stopped at a department store and stocked up on linens—new sheets for the beds and towels for the bathrooms in colors that would coordinate with the new paint choices she’d ry, she had a fast-food salad before she headed back to Jewell Cove

She spent the afternoon indulging in the luxury of shopping, wandering through town and finally taking the time to pop into several of the colorful shops on the streets above the harbor There was the soap-and-scent store, Bubbles, where she splurged on several handmade bars: cranberry and lilac and, of course, the local blueberry She went into the Leaf and Grind, a quirky little shop full of dark wood shelves, arolass jars of tea leaves lined up behind an old-fashioned counter She treated herself to several kinds of loose tea and a new teapot and cups in crea rooeous set of serving bowls for the kitchen, picturing theested she add

At first it see she wasn’t going to remain in the house, but she rationalized the purchases because she’d want the house to show to best advantage when the time came to sell

Ar in her trunk before heading to the roceries On the way there, however, she spotted one more store on the corner It was hard to resist the mauve-colored build

ing with the darker purple trim—especially when she looked up at the street name and saw that the store was appropriately situated on the corner of Lilac Lane and Main The oval sign out front said TREASURES She cli and followed the flower-lined boardwalk path to the door

The shrill buzz of a saw reached her ears, followed by a quick moment of silence and then the whine of a power drill She paused at the steps to the wide deck that was under construction Her lips fell open at the sight of Tom in a T-shirt, on his knees on the floor of the deck He set a screw and then pulled the trigger on the drill, anchoring the decking board to the two-by-six beneath As he reached into his pouch for another screw, the muscles beneath his shirt shifted Abby licked her suddenly dry lips and debated whether she should turn and go back the way she caoing into a store, for Pete’s sake?

“Hi,” she said, gripping the strap of her purse