“Good morning to you, too, and why are you whispering?”

  “Thais is here, preparing lunch and dinner, and she has a key to the apartment.”

  “You gave her the key, Dinah. She’s cooked for you for years. Dinah, come on. Don’t tell me you’re worried that Thais will give the key to your stalker.”

  “No, I trust her. But what if the guy jumps her and pulls her into an alley and hits her and goes through her purse?”

  “Dinah, are you writing a thriller now?”

  “What? No. I’m worrying about a perfectly possible realistic attack. I’m not thinking of myself, I’m thinking of Thais.”

  Eddie had gone through many crises with Dinah before. Ups and downs in her love life, of course, and freak-outs about a cover for her newest book or fears that no one would like it. She knew when Dinah was just being dramatic, and this wasn’t it.

  “Have you alerted the police?” she asked.

  “Eddie, you know they can’t do anything about it. They can’t stand in front of my building twenty-four hours a day.”

  “Why don’t you hire someone? A private detective slash bouncer? Someone who could frighten away your stalker?”

  “I could do that, but I still wouldn’t get any sleep.”

  Duke nudged Eddie’s knee, staring at her with his sweetest expression. When Eddie didn’t give him her last bite of bacon, Duke barked, once.

  “What was that?” Dinah asked.

  “That was a dog,” Eddie said. She gave the bacon to Duke. “Maybe that’s the answer. Maybe you should get a dog to protect you.”

  “I’m going out to the barn,” Barrett called.

  “Who was that?” Dinah asked.

  “My sister, Barrett,” Eddie said, and as she said the words, she knew exactly what Dinah was going to say next.

  “You have a dog and a sister. I wish I had a sister. I don’t think I’m ready to train a dog. If I came to stay with you for a few weeks, I would be safe, and my stalker would give up and go away.”

  “Dinah—”

  “I wouldn’t bother you. You’re working for me remotely now. You wouldn’t even have to talk to me. And…I could…I could walk your dog for you! I’d stay in my room, reading. You’ve told me about your house. You have lots of bedrooms.”

  Eddie spoke firmly. “Dinah, it is going to be chaos here. We’re having bookshelves made in the barn and we’re going to move a lot of books from the house to make a used bookstore.”

  “Oh,” Dinah cooed. “That’s so romantic!”

  “Romantic?” Eddie echoed. “We’ve got a house crammed full of books.” As soon as she spoke, she knew nothing else she could say would entice Dinah more. She quickly changed tack. “Dinah, what will happen when you marry someone or I get married? I can’t live with you forever.” She glanced out the window and saw a pickup truck pull in. “I have to go. Call Juliet. Hire a private detective. Speak with your doormen.”

  “Eddie…”

  “I’ll call you later.”

  Eddie pocketed the phone and hurried outside. Barrett was by the fence, talking to Duchess. As she walked to the barn, the sweet smell of hay centered her.

  “What are you doing?” Eddie asked Barrett.

  “Waiting for everyone. Dad’s out front. I can’t believe Jeff agreed to build the bookshelves. He’s gotta be slammed with work.”

  “Hey.”

  Eddie turned. Jeff was walking toward them. He wore a clean T-shirt, canvas work pants, and a baseball cap.

  “Hey,” Eddie said in reply. She almost reached up and kissed him. She wanted to.

  “So, bookshelves, right?”

  “Are we mad?” Eddie asked.

  Jeff stepped closer to her. “Yes, you’re mad. But I’ve always thought you look sexy in a bookshop.”

  “You, too.” It was the most Eddie could think to say. She could feel the heat of his body. He smelled of Irish Spring soap.

  Barrett said, “Here’s Dad.”

  Their father strolled up to the barn, talking with another man.

  “Good morning, everyone,” William said. “Girls, this is Grady, who works in construction, and plans to help us with this, um, enterprise.”

  “Grady Manchester,” the man said, and nodded curtly. He was probably in his fifties, but he looked older than their father, with his sun-wrinkled face and slight limp.

  The five of them walked around the barn. Grady grunted now and then and scribbled something in a notebook.

  They walked out of the shadows to stand in the warm sunlight.

  Grady said, “You’ve got a space here about sixty by ninety. I can’t see how you’d need sixty feet of shelving. A good thing: They’ve brought electricity into the barn so you don’t have to go through the nightmare of having a trench dug. How are you going to do the lighting? And you need to figure out how you want to insulate the space. Do you want to heat it or cool it? Do you want a toilet and sink? I think these walls will easily hold bookshelves. They’re old wide-board pine. You couldn’t get boards like this these days. This end of the barn has a decent floor, wide boards again. But they’re old and splintered so you might want something better. The bookshelves will be the last structure to worry about. Oh, and you should have a normal door built into one of the barn doors because you won’t want the big doors open all the time to the elements.”

  When Grady paused, the Grant family stared at him as if they had to decide how to get a missile to Mars.

  Jeff said, “Hang on. Wait a minute, Grady. We don’t know if this shop will draw any customers. Used books? Maybe a few bored people on a rainy day. Could we think about this on a much smaller scale? Have you seen the book bins in the children’s library in town? You know, like record stores used to have so people can sort of paw through them. Maybe we could build some of those and get some books out here before summer’s over and then see where we are. It may not be worth doing all the work that you’ve been so good to tell us about.”

  “Well.” Grady rubbed his nose and looked around and said nothing.

  Barrett perked up. “Jeff, I like your thinking. The floor here is good enough to walk on. We could have bins of books and advertise on Instagram and Facebook, and if we could get it done in time, we could open the shop in June and have two or three months to see how it goes.”

  Their father spoke up. “I agree, Barrett. Grady, we’re grateful to you for spelling this all out for us. It seems like a difficult and demanding task. I vote we have bins made and get books out here as soon as possible to see if we’ve got anyone on the island who wants used books. If we do, Grady, we’ll call you for some remodeling.”

  Grady nodded sagely. “I told Jeff I thought you were all crazy for even considering a used bookstore. We can get all the used books we want from the Take-It-or-Leave-It shed.” He turned to go.

  “Grady, come in and have a cup of coffee and a muffin,” Eddie suggested.

  Grady snorted. “On a day like today? I’ve got a hundred construction jobs waiting for me.” He tipped his Red Sox cap and trudged away.

  William turned to Jeff. “You’ll come in for coffee, won’t you?”

  Barrett and Eddie watched the two men walk back to the house.

  “Let’s give them a minute,” Eddie suggested.

  Together the sisters walked to the fence and looked out over the field of new grass threaded with daisies. Duchess came close to the railing. Barrett stroked her velvet nose. She reached into her pocket and held out a carrot. Duchess gently picked it up with her huge teeth, snorted, and walked away.

  “I wish we could ride her,” Eddie said. “She lets us near her, but gets freaky if we try to put a saddle on her.”

  “I know. We did have a vet come out about a year ago to trim her hooves and check her over. She didn’t put up a fuss. She let the vet walk right up to her, take her by her halter, and tie a rope to the fence. I stayed next to her, patting her, talking sweet talk, but later, when I tried to put the saddle blanket on her, she pawed the ground and walked away.”

  “We need a horse psychiatrist,” Eddie said.

  “Sure. We’ll pay him with the proceeds of the sale of the books.” Barrett turned around and leaned on the fence.

  Eddie glanced toward the house. “Barrett, seeing Jeff makes me wonder if I made a mistake, going to New York instead of staying here.”

  Barrett wrapped her arm around Eddie’s waist. “You know, Eddie, I watched Jeff while we were talking about the bookshelves in the barn. I saw how he looked at you. Are you two getting back together?”

  “No. Definitely not. Oh, I’m still in love with him, Barrett. I didn’t expect to feel this way, but when I saw him at the ferry, it was like my heart woke up from a long nap. I felt all flushed and hopeful and energetic. But Jeff and I want different things in life. That’s why we broke up. Plus, how can I leave Dinah? She’s got swarms of people around her, and yet she’s the loneliest person I know. She doesn’t seem that way because she does so many signings and talks and goes to parties and events. I think we’ve become close. I think she relies on me. I feel sort of guilty being away from her. I worry about her.” Eddie paused. “I want…I want to be careful with people.”

  The sisters stood in silence for a moment. Then Eddie put her arm around her sister’s shoulders.

  “We’ll figure it out. Right now, let’s go join Dad and Jeff.”

  They entered the house through the kitchen and found the men sitting at the round oak claw-foot table, drinking coffee and talking.

  Their father said, “Have some coffee. Join us. Jeff said he’ll bring out some cardboard boxes we can put the barn books in and he’ll help carry them out to the barn. You girls can sort them. Books are heavy to carry, you know.”

  “That’s wonderful, Jeff,” Barrett said. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.” Jeff started to rise. “William, it’s been great chatting with you, but I’ve got to get to the construction site. I’ll probably see you tomorrow.”

  “See you.” Eddie smiled at him, and their gazes clicked, making her heart tumble around in her chest.

  Barrett said, “Dad, isn’t this cool? We’re going to have a bookstore!”

  William laughed. “It will take months getting your ‘bookstore’ started.”

  “Not if we start sorting right now.” Barrett stepped into the pantry and brought out an armful of brown paper bags from Stop & Shop. “We don’t have to wait until the racks are built. We can get quite a few books into these bags.”

  William asked, “Barrett, what about your shop?”

  Barrett gave her father a great big smile. “All done, except for the last-minute things. I’m so organized I’m rearranging.”

  Eddie cooed, “Come on, Daddy, this will be fun. You’ll probably find books you didn’t know you have.”

  “I wouldn’t be surprised.” William followed them into the dining room.

  “Look!” Eddie held a book high. “James Beard’s Hors D’Oeuvre and Canapes. It was published in 1999. Dad, have you ever once used this book?”

  “It was your mother’s,” William said.

  “When did our mother ever make hors d’oeuvres to serve at a party?”

  “Point made.” His grin was wicked. “Maybe you girls would like to have it. We could give a party here…”

  Eddie snorted. “Right, that could happen. First of all, there’s not enough room for a party. This is out.”

  Barrett laughed. “Eddie, look—a Thomas Kinkade engagement calendar!”

  William grinned again. “Those are really not mine. Your mother liked his pictures.”

  Barrett lifted out an armful of Kinkade’s books. “Someone will enjoy these.” She tucked them into a brown paper bag.

  Slowly they added other books. Learn to Sail in a Weekend. Quilting for Fun. Scuba Diving for Beginners.

  Stacked neatly together beneath the long table were at least two dozen hardback novels by Barbara Vine and Ruth Rendell.

  “Look, Dad,” Barrett said. “We can put these in your bookstore and some mystery reader will be thrilled.”

  “Fine.”

  “Well, these are definitely Mom’s.” Eddie lifted up a stack of books about diamonds. How to value diamonds. Elizabeth Taylor and diamonds. A history of diamonds.

  “Maybe I’ll keep them.” Barrett took them in her arms.

  “Really?” Eddie raised her eyebrow at her sister.

  “You’re right,” Barrett said. “They should go.”

  Eddie turned to her father. “Do you want to send them to her, Dad?”

  William rolled his eyes. “She’s in Amsterdam. I don’t think she needs them.”

  The girls continued working, carefully checking each book title and suggesting some to their father. They struck gold when they found an entire set of the 1995 Encyclopaedia Britannica.

  “Remember how you used to explain stuff to us by reading from these?” Eddie asked their father.

  “I do. Those were good old days.” Before they could react, he said, “And we’ve all got many more good days to come.”

  By noon, they had moved several bags of books and had dust in their hair. There were spaces in the bookshelves like gaps between a seven-year-old’s teeth. They stretched, groaning at their complaining muscles.

  “Dibs on first shower,” Eddie said, and raced up the stairs.

  Barrett shook her shirt and watched the dust drift in a ray of sunlight. With Eddie here, everything seemed easier.

  “Come into the kitchen, Dad,” she said. “I’ll make you some lunch.”

  “I’m not really hungry,” William said. They’d discovered an ancient tome—ancient for their family—titled Great Poems of the English Language. It had been given to their father’s grandmother by her aunt. The cover was falling off, but many pages had been dog-eared, and William sat on a chair with the book on the dining room table, reading the selected poems and nodding to himself.

  “Yes, yes,” he said every so often. Or, “I had forgotten this.”

  Barrett went into the kitchen and made three tuna fish and tomato sandwiches, covering two plates with paper towels. She ate her sandwich standing over the sink. She was worried about her date with Drew. Although worried wasn’t quite the right word. She was unsettled. She was twenty-six years old and living with her father. On Nantucket, that was normal. Real estate was crazy expensive on the island, and she knew she’d never have enough money to buy her own place. But was she weird for being so glad that Eddie was home? Had their brother’s death and their mother’s desertion made Barrett unable to start her own life? Plus, Eddie was almost thirty and not attached to anyone, and their father was handsome, but he didn’t have a woman in his life.

  Barrett was attracted to Drew, but he might be smug or boring. She resented the time she spent thinking about him when she should be focusing on her shop.

  Still, this summer would be interesting.

  seven

  What kind of restaurant would Drew take her to? Barrett wondered. What should she dress for? The old money people never wore designer clothing or flashy jewelry, unlike the new money people who wore their wealth like blinking neon signs. But Barrett wasn’t rich or poor. And she wasn’t an islander or a summer person. She’d lived here long enough to be considered a washed-ashore, and for heaven’s sake, she was a grown woman, she should wear whatever she wanted. The late May nights could still be cool. She decided on a flowery dress, a long cashmere cardigan, and a long cashmere scarf. Layers were always good for the spring. She coiled her hair up into a messy chignon, added small diamond ear studs and only a touch of lipstick and eyeliner. Rich or poor, it didn’t pay to wear heavy makeup if you might go swimming or boating. No blush or mascara could hold up to the ocean and its breezes. Best to be honest about yourself from the start.

  Barrett snorted. She was only having dinner with the guy. During the years she’d lived here, she’d learned one sure thing about herself: She wanted to live on this island for the rest of her life. The ocean captivated her. It was eternally mysterious and compelling. A good long walk by the ocean often solved her problems and lit up a path she hadn’t known was there. She’d made friends here, and she didn’t want to leave them. They got her, the adult Barrett, the real woman. She didn’t want to live with her father all her life, but she did have a vague plan in the back of her mind about building a small house at the other end of the property, or turning the barn into a house where she could live and have her own life but still be helpful to her father. Although, she had to admit, her father was still young enough to meet a new woman and start his life over. She hoped that happened for him.

  How did Eddie do it? How did she manage to extract herself from the family crash site? Barrett had heard a hundred thousand times how much fun it was to live with Dinah.

  Oh, look, now we’re in Paris! Oh, wow, we saw Florence Pugh on the street, but I didn’t snap a pic because we don’t do that in the city. OMG, Dinah just bought me a pair of pink Manolo Blahnik pumps ($1,200)!

  The crackle of gravel in the driveway alerted her. Drew was here! Barrett blew herself a kiss in the mirror and hurried down to the front door. Eddie had promised to keep their father in his study, discussing Wordsworth or Coleridge, whatever, so that William wouldn’t come wandering up to Drew and babble about daffodils.

  Barrett came out on the porch just as Drew stepped out of the car. It was a Jeep convertible, not a Lamborghini or even a Mercedes. He wore a blue button-down, no blazer, so Barrett had dressed just fine.

  “Hi,” she said, skipping down the steps and over the slate path to meet him.

  “Hi,” Drew said back.

  His eyes were almost robin’s-egg blue. Could that even be possible? He was shorter than she’d remembered, but very handsome.

  “You look great,” Drew said.