An honest question. Summer struggled with an honest answer. “For as long as it takes to get this fire thing over with.”

“That could take weeks.”

“That’s okay. I want to do this.” Please want me to do this.

Camille was quiet for a long moment. “All right, then. Let’s go in and see what we have for you to do.”

Creative Interiors had once been a premiere boat shop. The building had been built in 1926, and remodeled in the fifties when the original owners had sold it off. Directly across the street was another furnishing shop owned by their most fierce competition, Ally’s Treasures. Ally herself was well named, Camille had always claimed, because she was like an alley cat, always sneaking in to see Creative Interiors’s stock, checking out their prices, often returning to her shop to price slash.

But in reality, a little competition hadn’t hurt either store. Uncle Bill had recently repainted the outside of their building a shiny cream with a navy trim. He’d made a colorful hanging sign that read CREATIVE INTERIORS: FOR FUN BEACH LIVING!

The inside opened to one large showroom with two small alcoves off to each side. In the back were the offices, employee break room, and extra storage. The walls were the color of melted butter, with soft wood trim and a rough texture. Decorated like an expensive yacht, it was filled with furniture, photos, and all sorts of other knickknacks, such as Bill’s handmade ceramic lighthouses and a set of Tim’s old, savored travel books. There were also pretty, soft sofas covered in pillows with throws over the backs of them, with lamps providing lighting, and rugs on the wood floors that were easy to maintain by their employees.

As for the employees, Tina and Camille had kept it mostly in the family. Tina had three children from her first marriage. Chloe, her oldest, worked here, usually with major attitude. Chloe’s younger twin sisters, Diana and Madeline, were high school divas forced to work at the store whenever they were grounded, which was constantly.

Once upon a time, Summer had been close to them but they’d been young children when she’d left. Too much time had passed now, and, for whatever reasons, there was little love lost between the cousins. Actually, Summer knew the exact reason they kept their distance.

They’d felt like she’d abandoned them. And she had.

There were also a few employees who didn’t share the Abrams blood. Stella and Gregg were an easygoing, likeable couple in their thirties. They helped clerk the store and inventory stock. The newest hire was Braden Cahill. The tall, dark, and silent type, he was a twenty-something out-of-towner whom no one knew much about except that he was extremely easy on the eyes and could work a computer.