Sand Witches in the Hamptons (9781101597385) by Celia Jerome

short words, was missing all the fun.
    â€œFun? Everyone has a rash, and the beach erosion is at crisis point.”
    He didn’t care. “If you married me, we could be together on these adventures.”
    Like riding a small freaking horse at night through a bogeyman-inhabited Irish bog? Man, did I not regret breaking our almost engagement. How could I have ever thought our personalities or lifestyles matched?
    I wished him a quick recuperation and promised to call with updates.
    So much for my linguist.
    * * *
    I tried the professor next. Cousin Lily, the housekeeper at Rosehill, answered the phone instead. Jimmie was out, she told me. He’d been out all day, walking the grounds, calling for Oey. Now he’d gone over to Grandma Eve’s farm, the first place people had spotted the rare pink-toed oiaca bird, not knowing how rare it was.
    â€œI’m worried,” Cousin Lily said. “Your uncle promised to drive him back before dark, but Jimmie refused to have dinner at the farm. He hardly eats when he is here, no matter what I cook. He comes back drained and damp, all scratched up, with poison ivy. Then he sits on the balcony outside his bedroom in the cold night air, with a bottle or two, which cannot be good for his lungs, either. He stays out there all night. I can hear him calling and coughing. It’s enough to break my heart.”
    Mine, too. “But he has other friends now.”
    â€œYes, Chief Haverhill and the mayor are always calling, the other poker players too, and every widow in the vicinity. Matt brings Moses whenever he can. The dog drools and sheds, but I put up with it, hoping Jimmie will not feel so melancholy and lonely.”
    â€œYou say he has poison ivy?”
    â€œI haven’t seen it, but he asked what we use here for a blistering itch. They have nettles in England.”
    Which was another reason for being glad I didn’t marry Grant. “Um, do you have a rash, too?”
    â€œNot poison ivy. I did get a bad reaction at the site of my flu shot, though. So did a bunch of others from the Harbor. The weird thing is, we all had different batches of the vaccine. Some from the senior center, some from the drugstores in East Hampton and Bridgehampton. A lot of people went to their own doctors for the shots. I understand the County Health Department is looking into it. Why did you ask?”
    â€œJust a thought, that’s all.”
    â€œWell, think about getting out here soon. Jimmie needs you. And Eve is running herself ragged about the erosion.”
    â€œI’m working on—”
    She didn’t let me finish. “Now that you mention it, I think she had a rash, too, from the rosebushes, she told me. And Joanne at the deli had her arm bandaged when I went in for potato salad the other day. She said she scratched a mosquito bite and it turned lumpy. She had it checked out, so she could keep serving food. The physician’s assistant said it didn’t seem contagious, but to keep her arm covered. And Alan from the liquor store closed early yesterday. He’s diabetic, you know. Said he got something wrong when he tested his blood sugar last week, now his finger’s all puffy and sore. His doctor sent his testing kit back to the manufacturer to test for bacteria. Then there’s— Wait. Willy, you know something more about the rashes, don’t you?”
    I rubbed my itchy lip with my itchy forefinger. “Nothing certain yet. I hoped the professor could help.”
    â€œYou do know! You’ve brought something else dreadful here, haven’t you?”
    â€œNo! I’m not there, I’m in New York. And I didn’t draw them”—until an hour ago—“and I’m not sure they caused the problem in the first place.”
    â€œYou do know!” she yelled. “You’ve gone and done something awful again, and we’ll all have to suffer, then wade into ugly, impossible situations to