“Oh, Hon. I’ve missed you, too,” she said. “But I’m so proud of you. I really am. You’ve worked so hard to get where you’re at. I just need to know you’re making smart decisions. And even though I don’t want you spending your entire summer with your new boyfriend, I certainly want to meet him. Maybe you can spend a week in Colorado, and then he can come visit the Cove.”

Tansy covered her face with her hands. “Ugh, Mom, don’t worry about any of that. I broke up with Beckett.”

“What happened?” Weirdly, Renee thought of Tansy’s nerdy-but-lovable high school boyfriend and how she’d broken up with him. “You didn’t use the mouth-breather excuse again, did you?” Poor Alfie Davidson. He was exactly the sort of boy you hoped your daughter dated—sweet, smart, and slightly timid—but Tansy hadn’t kept him around for long, telling Renee she couldn’t stand another minute being around his mouth-breathing.

“No, no,” Tansy said. “We just had different priorities. Besides, he’s dropping out. Can’t hack it. School interferes too much with his social life. He actually said that.”

“Yowza.”

“Plus, why would I want to date a guy who doesn’t even know who Nora Ephron is? I don’t care if he has a six-pack, I have to have standards, right?”

Renee laughed. “That’s my girl.”

They chatted a while longer. Tansy talked about her end-of-the-term assignments, including a handful of extra-credit essays she’d taken on to make up for her previous poor performance. She’d taken up a shift at the college radio station and was looking forward to being home this summer. “You’d better have my favorite strawberry pie waiting!” Tansy teased.

“Funny you should mention that…”

Renee filled Tansy in on Hester’s, telling her how it had all started with Essie Park telling her about the Old Red Mill and how pleasantly surprised she’d been when Sadie Landry hopped on board. Her daughter was speechless.

“Wait, so you and Sadie are going to run a business together?” she repeated. Sadie had been Tansy’s most adored babysitter and she still idolized her. “Is she going to design it? God, I am just obsessed with her style. I love following her on Instagram. You guys are going to be superstars.”

“Well, we’ll see about that.” Renee was a firm believer in cautious optimism. “But I’m really excited. It’s fun to wake up each day not quite sure what’s going to happen next.”

“I’m loving this new free-spirit side. Any other major news you’re holding out on?”

Almost on cue, Dan walked in the front door, kicking his boots off and hanging his jacket on a hook.

“Um, Mom. Who is that?” Tansy whispered. “Do you have a boyfriend?”