“That’s true. Luke is having poker night at his house for the guys. I was going to take our little buddy with me, since he’s a guy, too.”

“I’d be happy to stay with him if you don’t want to bring him,” Frank offered.

“That’s really nice of you, Frank, but I’d think you’d want to go to Luke’s and see everyone.”

“I would like to see my nephews in light of recent events. How about I lend you a hand over there, then?”

“Sounds good to me.”

“Do we have rooms left?” Laura asked Owen. “Dad needs one.”

“Don’t worry about me, hon. I’m going to stay with Mac and Linda. I already talked to them. I didn’t want to put you out when you weren’t feeling well.”

Laura stuck out her lower lip in a playful pout. “You wouldn’t have been putting me out.”

“I’ll stay here next time, okay?”

“You’d better.”

“Twins,” Frank said again, making Laura and Owen laugh. “Have you told your mom yet?”

“Last night,” Owen said. “She was thrilled.”

“So am I,” Frank said, removing any doubt that he approved of their unplanned babies.

Laura was greatly relieved that her dad was so happy about the news. As soon as she stopped feeling sick all day, she hoped she would be, too.

Finished with all her measurements, Abby leaned against the counter Mac and Luke had built to hold the cash register and drew a rough sketch of what she envisioned the store might look like when it was finished. The sketch and the measurements carefully recorded in a notebook reminded her of the early days of Abby’s Attic, when she’d had no idea what she was doing or if her store would even catch on.

Now she knew what it took to make a retail venture on Gansett into a success. She only hoped magic would happen a second time. The Sand & Surf gift shop had true potential, located as it was on the front side of the hotel, easily seen by passersby.

She’d toyed with the idea of opening a shop in Austin, but had worried about a small gift shop being lost in the sea of offerings available there. And with everything with Cal unsettled, she’d been reluctant to commit to anything that would keep her tied to Texas if things between them didn’t work out. The professional indecision had only added to her discontent.

As she worked and planned, a new idea had come to her that she couldn’t wait to run by Laura. The job that had started as a summer diversion had grown into something larger in her mind during the afternoon in the still-empty space. Until she had a chance to talk it over with Laura, though, she wouldn’t let herself get too excited about it.