Millicent accepted the gift with obvious pleasure. “How lovely! But this is quite unnecessary. I was merely doing my job.”
“I know. Still, men don’t always know how to express themselves, and Harris would approve of me doing so on his behalf.” Olivia noticed a folder on Millicent’s desk bearing Harris’s name. “Was his offer accepted?”
Hesitating, Millicent walked around her desk and examined her computer screen. “The sellers have agreed to the price via e-mail, but they haven’t signed any papers yet. The husband plans to swing by after work. I’m certain everything will work out just fine.”
Olivia didn’t share the agent’s optimism. She had to act fast to ensure that the sellers signed the necessary documents before Nick could present an offer that would make their heads spin.
“Mrs. Banks, I know I’m behaving like an overprotective sibling, but I just want to see that everything’s in order before I head in to the restaurant. Can I persuade you to drive the paperwork to the sellers now instead of waiting until later this afternoon?” Without giving Millicent a chance to protest, Olivia continued. “In short, I’d like to offer you an incentive. You see, I’ve noticed your fondness for Chanel bags and I have a contact in New York City who can send me the grand shopper tote from the upcoming line. I’d be more than glad to acquire one for you if you’d only do me the favor of getting those papers signed directly. I can guarantee that you’ll be the first woman in the county to possess Chanel’s newest gem.”
Millicent had a dreamy look in her eyes. “I’ve seen photos of that bag in Vogue. It’s magnificent.” She shook the image away. “But I can’t accept, Ms. Limoges. It’s too expensive and there’s really no need to offer me gifts. The seller is a man of honor. If he’s given me a verbal agreement, then he’ll stand by it. By five thirty, the offer will be accepted.”
Not if Nick Plumley offers twice the amount, Olivia thought anxiously. She needed to get Millicent out of the office with that paperwork.
“You can accept a gift knowing that I can afford a crate of Chanel bags,” Olivia remarked flatly, reaching down to stroke Haviland’s black curls. “But money can’t buy friends. Not a true friend like Harris in any case. Because this house is important to him, it’s important to me. Please. Make this deal official.”
Collecting her black-and-white Chanel hobo from her chair, Millicent shrugged. “Well, this old thing is a bit past its prime. I’ve got an appointment at three, but I can see the sellers before then.”
“Thank you!” Olivia exhaled in relief. However, she remained where she was until the real estate agent had her paperwork and car keys in hand before following her out of the office.
Olivia waited on the sidewalk as the older woman eased her Cadillac away from the curb. Millicent gave the tall, headstrong woman and her poodle a little wave before pulling onto Main Street.
“Ma’am, is that your vehicle?” a man’s voice asked from behind Olivia. “The Range Rover? If so, you are currently obstructing the fire hydrant and I’m going to have to write you a citation.”
Olivia fought back a guilty smile. “I’m sorry, Officer, but that’s not my car. I would never drive such a gas-hungry, environmentally unfriendly road hog.”
“So you’re all about going green, huh? Word has it you don’t even recycle—that you toss empty whiskey bottles off the lighthouse landing right into the ocean.”
Olivia feigned offense. “I most certainly do not! What a vicious rumor. Isn’t the chief of police above listening to idle gossip?”
“Not when it concerns you.” Chief Rawlings had been grinning, but now his mouth drew into a tight line. “I have to rely on hearsay, seeing as how you seem to be avoiding me at every turn.”
It was true. Ever since Olivia had gone to Okracoke Island to bear witness to the death of her father, she’d become even more aloof than usual.
She hated that a man who’d disappeared thirty years earlier, letting his only child believe he’d been lost at sea, still had so much power over her. He’d begun a new life on Okracoke while Olivia had struggled to live hers as an orphan. Her father found a literal port in a storm, gained employment, and had even remarried and sired a son. She’d drifted around the globe, unable to form a genuine relationship with a single human being.
For the past thirty years, Olivia’s father had been a ghost, haunting her sleep with unwanted memories until the day a woman from Okracoke mailed her an anonymous letter. The letter declared that the man she’d known as Willie Wade was alive. Alive and unwell and only fifty nautical miles away from his abandoned daughter.
Olivia was still coming to grips with having rediscovered her father only to reach him hours before he passed away. To say she had mixed feelings about her half brother, Hudson, was a gross understatement. The siblings had grown up in different worlds. Olivia had been exposed to the finer things in life while Hudson had worked hard since boyhood to please his father and, later, to support his family. He was taciturn and guarded, but Olivia also believed he was loyal, determined, and a hell of a cook.
Now Hudson, his pregnant wife, and their six-year-old daughter were all Olivia had by way of family. In hopes of becoming closer to these strangers, Olivia had invited Hudson to move his family to Oyster Bay and take over the management of her newest restaurant, The Bayside Crab House.
The siblings had barely spoken since Olivia had left Okracoke. Hudson preferred to let his wife, Kim, handle all communication, and Olivia wondered if she’d ever develop even a tenuous bond with her gruff half brother.
After her father’s death, Olivia had spent the winter moody and withdrawn. She’d attended all the Bayside Book Writers meetings and worked hard to provide thoughtful critiques, but had avoided any other social engagements.
“I didn’t expect to return to my hermitlike ways,” she now confessed to Rawlings. “But after Okracoke, my defenses were raised and now I can’t seem to take off the armor. It’s too familiar. Too comforting.”
Rawlings studied her, his hazel eyes dark beneath the shadow of the building’s awning. “You moved back to Oyster Bay to reconnect with the people of this town, to claim the sense of belonging you felt as a kid. You’re one of us, Olivia, and that means you can’t hole up in your oceanfront home and shut us out. It’s too late for that.”
Olivia smiled. The chief’s words were a balm to her injured heart. “I’m back to patronizing Grumpy’s. That’s a step in the right direction.”
“And what of Through the Wardrobe?” Rawlings asked nonchalantly, but a twinge at the corner of his mouth betrayed his mistrust. “Bought any books lately?”
“Flynn McNulty and I are just friends. Actually, that term isn’t quite accurate. I’m merely another customer.” Olivia disliked having to defend herself. “Flynn is dating Haviland’s veterinarian, and I’m indebted to her. Without Diane entering the picture, I couldn’t have disentangled myself with such ease.”
Rawlings didn’t look convinced. “When you and Flynn parted ways, I thought it was because of me. I know I wanted you, but you slammed the door on us.” He took a step closer, his face coming out from beneath the shelter of the awning. The sun lit his eyes a feline gold. “I’d kick that damned door right off its hinges if you’d give me the slightest sign—”
“Chief!” A police cruiser paused in the middle of the road and a young officer waved out the open passenger window. “We’re all done with that funeral detail. Want a ride back to the station?”
Without answering, Rawlings turned his gaze back to Olivia.
“Go on,” she whispered. Part of her wanted to escape the heat of the chief’s stare while the rest wanted to be engulfed in the intensity of his desire. Over the winter, she’d denied her hunger for this man, burying it beneath to-do lists and memories of her father’s betrayal.