As she headed toward the door, she noticed several clumps of scallop shells glued onto a mirror frame. The effect was amateurish, almost as if it had been made in an elementary school art class, but the sight of it triggered a thought: scallop shells. Lucy had said the rocks that marked the graves at the burial ground had single items on top—a scallop shell on one, a piece of wampum on another. She’d also said that it was “cool.”

“Perfect!” Annie said out loud. As the front door closed behind her, more thoughts started to gel. She could collect the things herself! On the beach. Right on Chappaquiddick. How much more local could she get? Maybe she’d find sea glass. Driftwood. White oyster shells that were intriguing for their gentle shapes and the rows of salt—layered by time—often sculpted on them.

She was so excited she wanted to run back to the ferry. If Donna didn’t want to get her feet dirty in the sand, maybe Annie could coax Lucy into helping collect the artifacts. Annie could even pay her enough to cover the application fee for the Mayflower Society if one of Lucy’s ancestors had come over on that boat, four hundred years ago.

With ideas still churning, Annie reached the wharf just as the On Time pulled in. And Kevin’s pickup was driving off.

“Hey!” Annie called.

He put his window down, pulled over onto Dock Street, and stopped.

“Where you headed?”

“Hardware store!” His cheeks were bright, his freckles dancing on them. He gave her two thumbs-up. “Two!” he cried. “We got two!”

“How wonderful! Two what?”

“I have no idea how much help they’ll be, but we hired two more workers this morning, thanks to your generous offer to ditch the decorating budget.”

Annie laughed. “Two workers?”

“Yup. They’re both good painters, and they can do cleanup stuff. What they don’t know, we’ll teach ’em. And they came cheap.”

“Where’d you find them?”

Kevin laughed. “Right on Chappy. Taylor. And her son, Jonas. Remember him?”

As far as Annie knew Kevin was still dating Taylor, though he’d been quiet about the extent of the relationship now that Jonas had moved into the garage apartment at Taylor’s house. And though Annie had come close to actually liking the quirky woman (for Kevin’s sake), having her around every day for the next several weeks might be a challenge. Still . . .

She quieted her concern. “That’s great news, Kevin. Keep it in the Chappy family, right?”

He nodded. “Yup. Nepotism all the way. Dinner tonight?”

“Sorry. I’ll be at John’s.”

“Later then.” Kevin gave her a quick salute, then pulled away, heading up the hill toward town, leaving the image of his smile resting on her heart.

Chapter 4

Chapter 4