“Toby? That would be like dating an angel.”
“I get it. And you’re too much of a devil.”
“At last someone truly understands me. I get any thanks from you?” He tapped his finger on his cheek.
“That’s not the side Toby kissed,” Lexie said as she planted one on him.
“I’m never going to wash the cheek she touched ever again.”
Lexie groaned. “Come on and help us fill the pots full of dirt.”
Jared held up his hands. “These were made for holding tall glasses of beer. You girls are on your own from now on.”
That had been over a year ago, and since then the two roommates had been able to supplement their income with the flowers they grew.
Jared tapped on their front door lightly. All the lights were out so he doubted if they would hear him. He’d have to wait until morning to get the flowers—which meant that he wouldn’t get told off by Lexie. He didn’t know why he let his grandfather goad him into doing things he didn’t want to. Ever since he was a kid—
The door opened and there stood Toby, her long blond hair in a fat braid down her back, wearing a white robe with little pink flowers on it. He was relieved it wasn’t his opinionated cousin. “I screwed up with Ken’s daughter and I need flowers.”
Toby just nodded and stepped outside. “Let’s go around the house so we don’t wake Lexie.”
“Plymouth on island?” Jared asked. Roger Plymouth was Lexie’s boss and when he was on the island she was worked nearly to death. According to her he couldn’t tie his shoelaces by himself. He lived in a mansion out on Polpis Road, arrived and left on his own plane, and none of Lexie’s friends or family had ever seen him. They teased her that he didn’t actually exist.
“Yes, he’s here,” Toby said, “and she’s exhausted. He calls her night and day. He wants her to move into his guesthouse but she won’t do it. So what did you do to mess things up with Ken’s daughter?”
“Lied to her,” Jared said. “I told her I was a building contractor, but it turns out she knew what I do for a living. She’s an architecture student and she’s good.”
“Since she’s Ken’s daughter, that’s no surprise. But wouldn’t she have found out about you anyway?”
“Yes, but I meant to be gone by the time she arrived. She came early and walked into the kitchen and caught me off guard. I thought we had a nice time. We ate dinner together. If I’d admitted my profession, it would have turned into work. Or at least that’s my excuse.”
“It’s not a bad one. I’ve heard worse.” They were at the back greenhouse door and Jared held it open while she entered first. She turned on some soft lights that were hidden at the top of the glass wall. Before them was a long expanse of flowers and greenery, and flats full of seedlings, all of it in perfect condition.
“Looks good,” Jared said.
“Yes, it does, but then we had a superlative architect design it for us.”
“I don’t think that’s the word Alix would use about me right now. Her dad said I’d made her want to leave the island.”
“Was he very angry at you?” Toby picked up a trug and removed cutters from a jar of alcohol and started down the aisle.
“Furious. If I’d been there he would have shot me. After he ran a truck over me. I think I made her cry.”
“Oh, Jared, I’m so sorry. For both of you. You must take her some roses and of course we’ll cut some daffodils.” She opened a big wooden door against the back wall and revealed a refrigerator full of cut flowers.
“When did you get the fridge?”
“For my birthday. My father asked what I wanted and this was it.”
“Is your mother still angry at you for staying on the island?”
Toby gave a little smile. “Oh, yes. She barely speaks to me.”
At that, she and Jared exchanged looks. Toby’s mother was a harridan and her not talking was no punishment.
“Any advice on getting Alix to forgive me?”
“Spend some time together and let her get to know you,” Toby said.
“I’m going to see Dilys tomorrow.”
“Perfect. Take Alix with you.”
“And I want her to meet you and Lexie.”
“I’d be honored,” Toby said and looked up at him, her hands full of little pink roses. “You like her, don’t you?”
He followed her outside and watched as she used the light from the greenhouse to cut daffodil blooms. “She’s just a kid. I was drinking and driving when she was just four years old.”
“We girls have a habit of growing up.”
“And you do it very well,” Jared said, smiling at her.
She handed him the basket of flowers. “Put some outside her door. Do you know how to make pancakes?”
“I know how to drive to Downyflake.”
“Good enough.” Toby walked back to the greenhouse, checked the thermometer, and turned out the lights.
“How’s your love life?” Jared asked. “Weren’t you dating … Who was that?”
“The eldest Jenkins boy, and ‘boy’ is the key word.”
“I used to date a cousin of his. She was—” He didn’t finish that thought.
“Not someone you’d take home to meet the family?”
“Toby, you’re a born diplomat. Can’t Lexie fix you up with someone?”
“I’m fine,” Toby said. “Really, I am.”
“Waiting for Prince Charming?”
“Aren’t all women? And you’re waiting for Cinderella.”
“Actually,” Jared said slowly, “I’m rather hoping to find the Evil Queen. I think she’d be much more fun.”
They laughed together.
Chapter Six
When Alix awoke, her first thought was to wonder if Montgomery-Kingsley had left the island yet. Has he gone back to his pickup and his project that’s being constructed from a plan in a magazine? she thought. She couldn’t help feeling a resurgence of anger at his lies.
She got out of bed and glanced at the tall portrait of Captain Caleb, but she didn’t really see it. No feathery kisses this morning.
She went into the bathroom to shower and wash her hair. Now what do I do? she wondered as she lathered. Being lied to by HRH Montgomery shouldn’t make any difference to being on Nantucket. Before she came, she hadn’t even known he was on the island. And never in her life had she thought that she’d meet the man in person. Of course she’d planned to apply for a job in his firm, but so had most of the other students.
She got out of the shower, blow-dried her hair, pulled it back, put on a touch of makeup, then went back to the bedroom to get dressed. The clothes Izzy had bought for her were still in their bags in a corner of the room. She emptied one from Zero Main onto the end of the bed, opened the tissue paper, and couldn’t help smiling. The clothes were simple, and of the most exquisite fabrics she’d ever seen. How very Nantucket, she thought. Just like the houses. There were two shirts, a knit top, a scarf, black linen trousers, and a box containing some turquoise earrings.
“Might as well go out and see this island,” she said aloud and glanced at the big portrait. “What do you think, Captain? The blue shirt or the peach one?”
Alix wasn’t surprised when the collar on the blue shirt moved. It had been folded so it made sense that it would go back into place. But Alix preferred to think that the Captain had done it. “Thanks,” she said. Just thinking that she wasn’t alone in the big house made her feel better. That her housemate had died over two hundred years ago wasn’t something she was going to think about.
When she was fully dressed, she took a breath and opened the door. The first thing she saw was a daffodil on the floor. Under it was a large white envelope.
Her first thought was that her dad had sent it to her. Second thought was that maybe Eric had found her.
Opening it, she saw the distinctive lettering that came from years and years of drafting.
Please accept my apology for the misunderstanding.
br />
Jared Montgomery Kingsley VII
Alix stared at the note. The seventh! Who had a name that was the seventh one?
But of course, his name wasn’t the issue. Last night he had flat-out lied to her about what he did for a living. He’d known she was coming and that she was a student of architecture, so he’d done everything to keep from talking to her about what they both loved.
There were more flowers on the stairs and she picked them up one by one, and by the time she got to the bottom, she was smiling. She took them into the kitchen, knew where the vases were kept, and filled one with water. The cheerful daffodils looked lovely on the kitchen table.
She glanced out the back window at the guesthouse but all the lights were off. He’s still sleeping, she thought, and went into the family room.
He was sitting in one of the big chairs, his long legs stretched out, holding a newspaper open in front of him. For a moment she stared at his profile and couldn’t help the little flutter that happened to her heart. Forget that he was brilliant at his career; as a man he was a gorgeous specimen.
When he turned and saw her, there was a flash of light in his eyes, as though he saw her as a woman. But then he changed and he looked at her as … well, as her father did.
Should have worn the peach shirt, she thought.
“Good morning,” he said. “Sleep well?”
“All right,” she answered.
He folded the newspaper, put it on a table, and picked up a bouquet of little pink roses. “These are for you.”
She stepped forward to take them, but when her hand came near to touching his, he jerked back. She turned away to hide her frown. “I’ll get a vase and put these in it.” Okay, she thought. Last night he’d made it clear that there was to be no talking about architecture, and now it seemed there was to be no touching.
“I’m sorry about lying to you about my job,” he said from behind her. He’d followed her into the kitchen. “I just thought …”
“That I’d try to make you into my teacher?” She almost smiled at the way he’d called what he did a “job.”
“Actually, yes.” He gave a little half smile.
Alix did her best to not look at his lower lip and the way it curved across his teeth. She turned her back on him so he wouldn’t see what she was sure was in her eyes.
“How about if I take you to Downyflake for breakfast?”
There was something in the way he said it that put her off. It was as if he thought he had to apologize, had to take her out. Did he think that because she was living in his house that they had to spend time together—even if he didn’t want to?
She looked back at him and gave a big smile. That the smile didn’t reach her eyes wasn’t her fault. “Actually, I have some schoolwork to do, so I think I’ll stay here. There are some bagels in the fridge.”
“I ate them,” he said, and there was annoyance in his tone.
I bet he’s not used to women refusing anything from him, Alix thought. “I’ll go out and get some more.”
“You can’t live on bagels.” There was the beginning of a frown on his face.
Alix couldn’t help it as her smile started to become genuine. “I bet Nantucket sells food besides bagels. I could probably even find a restaurant in the downtown area.”
“Downyflake has doughnuts. Made fresh every morning.”
“Oh,” Alix said, as that did sound good.
“How much of the island have you seen?” he asked. “From the ferry to here? That’s just a small part of it.”
Alix just stood there looking at him. Something about what he was saying wasn’t ringing true. What had made him change? Last night he’d refused to tell anything about himself, and he’d said he was leaving the island. Today he was handing her flowers and apologies. Why? “I’ll rent a car and—”
Jared rolled his eyes skyward. “I’m sorry I lied. All right? Nantucket is my home. The place where I get away from people asking me how I come up with my ideas, or what I plan for the future. And students are the worst! I had one of them ask me if I had any words of wisdom for him. Wisdom? What am I? Some Old Testament prophet? And female students—” He broke off and took a breath. “I apologize. Last night you caught me off guard. I had a horrible vision of having to answer questions and … and other things.”
Alix stood there blinking at him. He’d just said everything she’d planned to do, up to and including the “other things.” While she’d been making the model of the chapel she’d imagined how he’d tell her it was great, then they’d … Well, she’d finally get to taste that lower lip of his.
Of course she couldn’t tell him any of that. “I need time away from work too,” she said, and knew that now she was doing the lying. She’d planned to double her workload while she was on Nantucket.
“So how about if we go to breakfast and make plans for your stay here? I’ll show you where the grocery is and Marine Home and some other essential places.”
“Okay,” she said. “And I promise to ask you no questions about architecture.”
“Ask me anything you want,” he said.
His words didn’t fit his tone. He sounded like he was saying she could hit him with a baseball bat whenever she wanted to. “All right,” she said seriously, “if you could pass on one bit of wisdom to a student, what would it be?”
“I …” he said, struggling with an answer.
“I was kidding,” Alix said. “It was a joke.”
He was looking at her as though he couldn’t make her out. He opened the back door. “Mind if we go in my pickup?”
“I’ve spent half my life in one,” Alix said, but he didn’t answer.
His truck was old and red, and there was a cooler and a big tool box in the back. The inside of the cab had sand and dirt in it, but no trash. The seats were worn but in good condition.
He backed out onto Kingsley Lane and headed down the way she and Izzy had walked in. The narrow street was quiet.
At the end, just before he turned onto Main, he nodded toward a house on the right. “My cousin Lexie lives there with her roommate, Toby, and they raise flowers to sell.”
“Is that where you got the daffodils and roses?”
“Yes,” he said, smiling. “Toby cut them for me.”
“Did he ask why you wanted them?”
“She. Toby’s real name is … I don’t remember what it is, but she’s always been called Toby. She’s only twenty-two and she’s always spent summers here with her parents, but a couple of summers ago, when they left, she stayed.”
She was looking at him as he drove, his scraggly beard and hair making him look older than the thirty-six she knew he was. “You sound like you’re in love with her.”
Jared smiled. “Everyone is in love with Toby. She’s very sweet.”
Alix looked out the window at the beautiful procession of houses on Main. The cobblestones were jolting the car so much that she had to hold on to the door handle. In spite of the beauty around her, she couldn’t help feeling deflated. Since the moment she first saw Jared Montgomery standing in his boat and smiling at some girl in shorts that were much too short, she’d been on a high. She’d assumed she was going to learn from him, work with him. And that night as she’d reread her poem, she’d even thought of having an affair with him. It would be something to tell her grandchildren. Those thoughts had driven her so that she forgot about her boyfriend dumping her and about her fear of spending a year alone where she knew no one.
But, gradually, everything she’d imagined had dropped down through the cracks. No talking of architecture to this illustrious man. And certainly no hanky-panky with him. He seemed to be attracted to her, but jumped away when her hand almost touched his. He probably had an unbreakable rule against students, but now he was melting into the seat at the mention of some very young girl named Toby—whom everyone loved.
“Are you always this quiet?” he asked. Before them was the glorious town of Nantucket, one divine building bes
ide another. He halted at a stop sign and turned right. They went past a pretty little bookstore, then a magnificent church. It was a street full of houses, each one fascinating.
“It’s like going into the past,” she said. “I can see why you come here to escape. I think maybe my mother visited here, and maybe rather often.”
Jared looked at her quickly. Victoria had been coming to Nantucket every August since he was a kid. She was beautiful and fun and he’d loved every minute he spent with her. But he was well aware that her daughter didn’t know that she came to the island. “This is my place of privacy,” Victoria had often said. Caleb said, “This is where she steals her plots.” On the first day of every August, Aunt Addy handed Victoria one of the journals that had been written by the Kingsley women over the centuries. For the rest of the month, Victoria would spend the mornings reading the antiquated handwriting and making an outline for her next novel. She skipped the boring bits about how many quarts of pickles the women put up, and went right to the drama and excitement.
Victoria had never wanted anyone to know that she—as Caleb said—“stole” her plots, so she kept her visits to Nantucket a secret from her friends, her publishing house, and especially her daughter. But the secret was relative, as everyone on the island knew about it. For eleven months of the year, Kingsley House hosted Addy’s committee meetings and good works, but in August—while Alix stayed with her father—the house rang with music and dancing and laughter.
Jared came back to the present. “Here’s a bakery,” he said to Alix at the next stop sign, “and they do wedding cakes.”
“And Toby does flowers,” Alix said. “I’m going to talk to my friend Izzy, but I don’t think I’m going to stay. It’s just that …”
He waited for her to finish, but she didn’t. Great! he thought. If she doesn’t stay, everyone will be angry at me. His grandfather was convinced that Alix held some key to finding out what had happened to his precious, long lost Valentina. Ken wanted his daughter to assemble a portfolio of work. And Victoria was the worst. She called frequently and though she never came out and said so, he knew she wanted to see Aunt Addy’s own personal journals, which were hidden somewhere in the house.