“I own the bakery in town, so I brought you one of my famous pound cakes as a welcome to the island.” SuAnn handed her the domed cake plate.

“Thank you. It’ll take me awhile to finish it.” The cake was huge, and Emma was never going to be able to finish it, but she appreciated the effort anyway.

“Well, we’re already here. What do you say we come in and have a piece together? We’d love to get to know you!”

Oh dear God. She wanted to come inside? The cottage was a wreck, and she wasn’t really up for company right now.

“Mom, let’s not intrude,” Janine said, elbowing her mother.

“No, it’s fine. Really. But I have to warn you that I’m still unpacking, so the house is a bit of a mess,” Emma said, wishing she was brave enough to tell this woman no.

“Oh, we totally understand!” SuAnn said, smiling expectantly.

Emma turned and walked toward the front door, the three women trailing behind her. Gosh, she hoped her underwear wasn’t on the top of her laundry pile in the living room.

As they walked inside, she hurried over to the living room and cleared the sofas. “Please, have a seat. I’ll get us some plates.”

SuAnn nodded as they all sat down on the sofa. Emma dug through the cabinets in the kitchen, trying to remember where the plates were. She still hadn’t gotten the hang of the place yet. Finally, she found some small salad plates. She quickly cut four pieces of the moist poundcake and put them on the plates, grabbing some plastic forks she’d bought before returning to the living room.

“Sorry about the plastic ware. The kitchen wasn’t exactly stocked when I got here. I just haven’t had time to go shopping yet.”

“I’ll bet. It must be a huge undertaking to get this place ready for visitors,” Julie said, smiling. She seemed nice. Her mother, on the other hand, seemed a bit… much. But she made a great poundcake.

“We start doing tours next week, so I’m in a bit of a time crunch.”

“Hen was certainly behind the eight ball with this one,” SuAnn said, shaking her head.

“Hen?”

“Henrietta. You’ve met her, right?”

“Oh, yes. I didn’t know anyone called her Hen.”

“Nobody but me,” SuAnn said, smiling proudly. “But I can get away with it since we’re best friends.”

Noted. Don’t say anything bad about Hen around SuAnn.

“Is there anything we can do to help you, Emma?” Janine asked.

Emma smiled. “Thank you, but I’ve got it under control even if it doesn’t look that way. Where do you ladies live?”

“I have an apartment in town,” SuAnn interjected before taking a bite of her cake.

“We live here on the island,” Julie said. “My husband and I run The Inn At Seagrove, and I’m also part owner at the bookstore. Janine lives in my old cottage.”

“I run the yoga studio in town,” Janine said.