Kingdom by the Sea (Romantic Suspense) by Jill Winters

fact,
she steeled herself for that possibility. 
    After
several moments, Mr. Kelling's thumb stopped rapping.  He inhaled deeply and
stood.  “Thanks for your time,” he mumbled and left her office.  Lauren watched
him through the plate glass walls that constructed the bank like a voyeuristic
maze, until he disappeared into the revolving door.  She sighed and took
stock.  Sure she'd had better mornings, but things could be worse—she could be
in Abel Kelling's place.

Chapter Nine
    “Explain
why you're doing this again.”
    Wedging
her phone in her shoulder, Nicole used both hands to spread a freshly laundered
afghan over the bed.  Again she recapped what Hazel Baker had explained:
    The
Preservation League of Ladies, which was a women's group dedicated to the
history and prosperity of the town, was contributing a time line collage to
this year's Harvest Parade.  Apparently each woman helping with the collage was
responsible for a different aspect of the time line.  Before she had died, Aunt
Nina had been working on her part, which centered around the Chatham
Lighthouse.
    “What's
the big deal?” she said now to her friend, Cameron Dwyer.  “It's just a
collage; it might be fun.”
    Cameron
gave a brief, sardonic laugh.  “Only you would find that fun.” 
    Originally,
the two had dated.  They'd met a few years ago when Nicole was interning at
Schlesinger Library at Harvard University and Cameron was working toward his
master's in engineering.  During their brief relationship, Nicole had also
become good friends with Cameron's childhood friend, Trevor Cook.
    “Anyway,
I have to do it,” she added.
    “No,
you don't have to,” Cameron scoffed, “stop feeling so indebted.”
    “What
do you mean?”
    “Ever
since you found out about this inheritance, it's like you're on some big guilt
trip about your aunt.”
    The
words stung.  Indicating there might be truth in them, which was annoying. 
“That's not true,” Nicole protested.  “I just thought...why not?  You know, I
am an archivist and a librarian, research is what I do—it's my shtick.”
    “That's
fine, do your thing if you want.  But don't feel like you owe it to someone—or
some thing , some cosmic force.  I know you, Nicole.”
    Not
prepared to debate it, she let it drop.  Anyway, it wasn't like the collage was
going to be an overwhelming task.  From what she understood, Aunt Nina had
completed a lot of the work already.  Nicole would just be rounding it out and
adding text.  According to Hazel Baker, over the summer Nina had mentioned that
she was planning to ask her niece, Nicole, to come for a visit and perhaps they
would work on the collage together.  Nicole supposed that her aunt had not yet
had a chance to invite her down, then died unexpectedly several weeks ago.
    On
the phone, Nicole had intended to tell Cameron what had happened last night,
but then thought better of it.  He would only freak out, and tell her that she
should come back home.  After she hung up with Cameron, she grabbed her jacket
and headed out the back door. 
    There
was nothing translucent about the sky today.  It was a bright abiding blue,
like it had been painted, layer by layer.  Once she got down to the water, she
saw that Michael was on the deck of his boat, buffing one of the windows with a
cloth. 
    He
smiled, waved at her. 
    “Are
you busy now?” she called to him.
    “Hang
on, I'll come over,” he called back and tossed the rag to the side.  Within
three minutes, his dinghy was driving up to shore. 
    She
smiled at him.  “Hi...any luck with your boat?”
    “Yeah,
the part I need is getting shipped here.  I used your address.  I hope that's
okay.”
    “That’s
fine.  Listen, I wanted to take you to lunch to thank you for what you did.”
    “That’s
not necessary.”
    “Fine,
it’s not.  So, are you hungry?”
    Michael's
mouth curved.  “Always,” he said.

Chapter Ten
    The
Squire on Main Street was dark and cozy with a