“No—it’s not that. I’m just surprised that you need my signature. I have nothing to do with Pavlin & Co.” She stood up and walked toward the water. Elodie followed her, thinking, No more surprised than I am, believe me!

“Again, just a formality.”

Celeste stopped walking when they reached a dock. She turned to her and said, “I need to think about it.”

“Think about it? What on earth for? You just said yourself that you have nothing to do with the company.”

“Mercury’s in retrograde.”

“I’m sorry, what?” So clearly Celeste had never outgrown all that astrology nonsense. When they were young, it was all, “I’m an Aries and you’re a Gemini, so even though we don’t have a lot in common, we won’t be in conflict or competition.” Wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

“It’s bad luck to sign contracts when Mercury is in retrograde.”

Elodie exhaled loudly. “When is it out of retrograde?”

“In twenty-three days.”

Elodie crossed her arms. A strong breeze off the water lifted her hair and she patted it back into place.

“I just told you I’m not staying overnight.”

“And that’s entirely your choice. Now I have to get back to work.”

With that, Celeste walked away.

Unbelievable! Did she really think that would be the end of it? That Elodie would just retreat back to the city, tail between her legs?

“You don’t even have your tail between your legs, Pearl,” she said.

That’s two bad quarters in a row . . . You need to do more.

She wasn’t waiting twenty-three days to lock in the auction, that was for damn sure.

As usual in their family, things were going to get ugly. She texted her driver that her plans had changed: She was staying. Of course her sister had to choose to live in a beach town that could not be more out of the way.

With a sigh, Elodie stood up from the bench and walked away from the marina back toward the street. On her left, a house caught her eye: A sign hanging off the deck announced, Room for rent, water view. See Lidia for details.

The house was a bit ramshackle, all weathered clapboard with a cluttered garage or workshop of some sort on the ground level. Stairs led to a deck and a second-floor entrance, and a Portuguese flag waved from the roof.

It wasn’t exactly the Carlyle, but surely it would be tolerable for just one night. All she needed to do was to make her point by not driving off the second Celeste gave her a little resistance.

Elodie looked around and turned back to a small booth offering boat rentals and tours of the bay. A man stood inside selling tickets. He was broad-shouldered, with deep-set dark eyes and white hair. His baseball cap read Long Point.

“Excuse me. Do you know where I can find . . . Lidia?”