Boxed In(7)
Alice wiped the corners of her eyes. “Thanks, Mike, for your help.”
Annie stacked two of the file boxes onto the counter and went back for a couple of see-through and stackable storage containers. “This will get me started. I’m sure I’ll be back several times between now and Thanksgiving.”
“Getting ready for your family’s visit, eh?” Mike asked. The speed of information dissemination no longer startled Annie as it used to. She simply smiled as Mike added, “Is there anything else I can do for you?”
“Say hello to Fiona for us.” Annie picked up her tall stack of storage stuff, while Alice slung her bag over her shoulder and fished in her pocket for her keys.
“I certainly will.” Mike held the door open.
As the Mustang wound along Ocean Drive, Annie tilted her head back and closed her eyes, reveling in the play of warm sunshine and cool ocean air against her cheek. “On days like this, do you feel like you can accomplish anything?”
“I’m usually conflicted. Part of me is energized to tackle something … like weatherproofing.” Alice broke into the tune of I Am Woman with slightly different lyrics. “I am woman, see me caulk! The wind can no more … mock or … stalk!”
Annie’s humming along turned to groaning.
“OK, so I promise to never show up on America’s Got Talent. But as I was saying earlier today, the other part of me wants to spend the day outside puttering in the garden or collecting sea glass on the beach.”
“Sea glass! We haven’t done that in ages.” Annie made a mental note to add that to her list of things to do with Joanna and John. “I wonder how many pounds of sea glass you and I collected over my summer vacations.”
“Why don’t we have a conflict-free day and do both?” Alice pulled the Mustang over to the roomy shoulder of the road. They had come to a popular place for beachcombers to access the small sandy beach north of town. “It would be a shame for you to spend the rest of the day cooped up inside Grey Gables, as wonderful a place as it is.”
“Hmmm, that depends. Just how much help are you going to give me with getting the house ready for LeeAnn and the twins?”
“More than enough to earn a little sea-glass hunt.”
Annie was out of the car before Alice finished her sentence. Before disappearing through the break in the beach roses that lined the road, she tossed over her shoulder, “What’s taking you so long?”
3
Annie resembled an ostrich, her head disappearing into the back of her grandmother’s antique corner cabinet. The beachcombing she had done the day before with Alice had netted a small but beautiful collection of white, green, amber and blue glass, and Annie knew just the dish to use to display them. Annie selected the small cut-glass sweetmeat dish and carefully lifted it from the cabinet. She shut the door and dropped the tiny latch over the knob. Footsteps sounded on the porch.
Annie set the dish on the rococo table and then glanced around for Boots as she strode to welcome Alice. Alice was putting her right hand up to the doorbell when Annie opened the door. “You beat Boots to the door! It must be a light-on-your-feet kind of day.”
“I had a head start,” Annie confessed. “I was in the living room, and Boots is upstairs, I think.” Her eyes went to the basket hanging from Alice’s left arm. “You brought your magical bread basket!”
“It doubles as a magical cookie basket too.” Alice lifted the red and blue plaid cloth. “Molasses crinkles, to be exact.”
Annie bent close to the basket and inhaled. “Oooooooh, heavenly! It’s a good thing I already put on the coffee. I wouldn’t have the strength to wait for brewing.” As the two friends walked past the staircase, Boots, who had come to investigate the newcomer, stuck her face between two posts of the banister.
Alice laughed. “Boots is acting casual, but you know it’s bugging her that I got in before she knew it.”
“Good thing you did too. Too many Kitty Crunchies a fat kitty makes.” In the kitchen Annie poured the coffee while Alice set the cookies on the kitchen table.
“How long did your energy last for your organizing yesterday?” Alice asked.
“Long enough to make a to-do list that would be considered big even in Texas.” Annie selected a cookie and dipped it into her coffee. “I’m pretty sure I’m going to clean out Mike’s entire aisle of storage options.”
“You won’t turn Betsy’s attic into a complete plastic palace, though, will you?” Alice nibbled along the edge of her molasses crinkle.
“Absolutely not. Somehow I feel like I’d be dishonoring the spirit of Grey Gables if I did that.” Part of the cookie in Annie’s hand was showing signs of making an imminent plunge into her coffee. Annie bent her head and rescued it just in time. “Mercy! This is the best cookie I’ve ever tasted! I didn’t think anything without chocolate could be so amazing.”