Wind Chime Point

13



Jimmy paced anxiously as Wade read his essay for the scholarship application. Every couple of minutes he’d pause in front of Wade, watch him intently, then take up pacing again.

“I’d be able to read faster if you’d sit down,” Wade told him, amused. “Or at least stop jiggling the change in your pocket. You’re messing with my concentration.”

“If what I wrote was any good, wouldn’t you be able to focus better?” Jimmy asked worriedly. “It’s because it’s awful that you’re so easily distracted.”

Wade studied the teenager and realized he really was panicked over this. “Sit,” he ordered.

Jimmy dragged over a chair and straddled it.

“Now, I want you to listen to me very closely,” Wade said. “I’m not finished yet, but this is not awful. Far from it.”

Jimmy’s eyes brightened. “Seriously?”

“Seriously,” Wade assured him. “Now give me ten quiet minutes and I’ll tell you exactly what I think. If you don’t think you can sit still that long, get Tommy to put you to work. I’ll find you as soon as I’m done.”

Jimmy shook his head. “I’ll wait.”

“Quietly,” Wade reiterated.

“As a mouse,” Jimmy said, grinning. “That’s what my mom used to say before church, that we had to be quiet as a mouse.”

Wade laughed, remembering similar admonishments. “Okay, then. Let’s give it a try.”

He finished reading, though he was fully aware that Jimmy was still watching him intently, still looking half-afraid that Wade was about to rip his heart out with his criticism.

Before he could speak, Jimmy piped up. “English was never my best subject, so it probably needs some work on the grammar and stuff. Just tell me where I screwed up, okay?”

Wade held up a hand to silence him. “Jimmy, it’s a wonderful essay. I promise you it’s going to knock their socks off. You told them exactly why you want this, how hard you’re willing to work, what you think will motivate you to be the best student ever.”

“It’s not dorky?” he asked worriedly.

“No,” Wade assured him. “It’s honest and sensitive, especially the part about how hard your dad has always worked and the lessons that’s taught you about being responsible and being a good man.”

“My dad’s a great guy,” he said simply.

“And that comes across loud and clear,” Wade said. “And you know what else is loud and clear? What a fine young man you are.”

Color rose in Jimmy’s cheeks. “I just don’t want it to sound dumb.”

“There is nothing dumb about it. Want to go over to Castle’s for lunch and let Gabi read it? She has a lot of experience with writing things to make a point. I’m pretty sure that’s what press releases are all about, and the way I hear it, she writes exceptional press releases.”

“Do you think she’d mind taking a look at it?” Jimmy asked hesitantly. “It’s enough that she got me this chance. I don’t want to be a pest.”

“I think she would love to see the essay,” Wade told him. “Let me make sure she’s over there.”

But when he called Castle’s, Cora Jane told him that Gabi was meeting with the owner of the store where she’d found the wind chime and then going by to see the artist who’d created the wind chime she’d purchased.

“Tell you what,” she said. “Why don’t you bring Jimmy by the house for dinner this evening? I know Gabriella will want to see this essay of his, and she’s bound to have news about this latest project of hers. I imagine you’re anxious to hear all about that.”

“Sounds great,” Wade said eagerly. “What time?”

“Six-thirty? Jerry’s coming by to put some fish on the grill. He stopped by the docks earlier. He told me today’s catch was especially good, so he bought extra for tonight.”

“Hold on a sec. Let me check with Jimmy.” Wade told the teenager the plan, and Jimmy immediately agreed. “We’ll be there, Cora Jane. Anything I can bring?”

“Just yourselves.”

When he’d disconnected the call, he caught Jimmy grinning. “What?” Wade said.

“This worked out real good for you, didn’t it? Thanks to me, you got yourself a date.”

Wade frowned at him. “I don’t think that’s exactly true. Gabi doesn’t even know about this, so if I have a date with anybody, it’s with you and Cora Jane.”

Jimmy immediately looked worried. “You think Gabi might not show up?”

Wade thought about Cora Jane’s determination to play matchmaker. “Oh, I imagine she’ll be there. Cora Jane will see to that,” he conceded.

“Then in a way you owe me,” Jimmy said.

“Do you really want to go there?” Wade asked, not even trying to hide his amusement. “Because without me, you wouldn’t have met Gabi. Without her, you wouldn’t have met her dad. And this whole scholarship thing...” He gave him a long look. “Well, I think you can see where I’m going with this.”

Jimmy’s impudent expression faltered only slightly at the reality check. “Still, I’m pretty sure I’m your ticket to getting tight with Gabi. She likes me. I don’t scare her the way you do.”

Wade frowned. “Scare her? You think I scare her?”

“That’s the way it looks to me,” Jimmy said with surprising confidence. “You get all intense and lovesick when she’s around. That’s got to be scary for a woman who’s pregnant with some other guy’s kid. I’m thinking you need to chill.”

As much as he wanted to dismiss what Jimmy was saying, it struck Wade that the teen was displaying an astonishing degree of wisdom and insight. And unlike Louise’s interference, he found Jimmy’s meddling worth considering.

“Maybe you’re going into the wrong field,” he told him, his tone wry. “Maybe you should be writing an advice column.”

“Nah. I think I’ll stick to the whole biomedical thing,” Jimmy replied, clearly taking Wade seriously. “Women and relationships are way too complicated.”

“But you certainly seem to have Gabi pegged.”

A grin split Jimmy’s face. “Lucky guess. I was pretty much just trying to yank your chain.”

Wade shook his head. “I’ll pick you up at six-fifteen,” he said. “Try to leave the smart-aleck attitude at home.”

“What can I say? It’s just who I am,” Jimmy responded unrepentantly.

And that, Wade thought, might be annoying at times, but it was part of the charm that was going to make this exceptional young man a huge success someday.

* * *



Gabi left the Seaside Café convinced that her instincts about having met a new friend were correct. The ninety minutes she and Meg had spent getting acquainted had revealed that they had similar outlooks on life. They’d both come late to the concept of a more laid-back lifestyle.

While she didn’t have a bad marriage in common with Meg, she did have the whole experience with Paul to color her view of relationships.

After listening to Meg talk about her ex-husband for several minutes, she regarded her with surprise. “You don’t sound bitter.”

Meg laughed. “That’s because I have three years of recovery under my belt. If you’d met me right after I moved here, believe me, you would have heard a much different version. The vitriol poured out of me if anyone even mentioned my husband.”

“What changed? Just time smoothing away the rough edges from the divorce?”

“That and the realization that my daughter needs her dad in her life. She doesn’t need me bad-mouthing him at every turn. Not that the transition has been entirely about her. I’ve actually reached the point now where I’m glad about what happened. It made me reevaluate my life.” She gave Gabi a penetrating look. “I think that’s what you’re doing, too. Maybe you’ll thank your guy some day for turning your life around.”

“Not quite there yet,” Gabi said. “I’m still thinking he turned my world upside down. If I do find a new direction, maybe then that will change.”

Meg nodded. “Then let’s go and see Sally. She could be the key to unlocking this bright new future for you.”

They drove to a small property hidden away in a thick grove of pine trees. The first thing Gabi noticed about the very ordinary house were the dozens of wind chimes hanging from the porch ceiling.

“Oh, my,” she whispered as a breeze stirred and set off a musical symphony of sound.

Meg grinned. “It’s something, isn’t it? I feel good every time I step out of my car when I come out here. I’ve nicknamed it Wind Chime Point. We’ll find Sally in her workshop, I imagine. Even though she knew we were coming, she probably lost track of time.”

Reluctant to walk away from the sunlit rainbows of color and rippling sound on the porch, Gabi followed Meg around the side of the house. As at Wade’s, the garage had been transformed into a studio. This one, though, was filled with light from huge, newly installed windows. Tables held panes of glass in every color imaginable. A very petite woman was standing at one of those tables with a cutting tool, creating rectangular strips from rose-colored glass. The music of a string quartet filled the room. Gabi immediately felt as if she’d walked into an atmosphere of buoyant optimism.

Meg walked around the table until she was in Sally’s line of vision. Even then, the artist gave a start. A grin spread across her face as she took off her goggles and gloves, then punched a button that quieted the music.

“Is it that late already?” she asked guiltily. “I promised myself I’d go inside and make sweet tea before you got here.”

Meg laughed. “No need. We’ve just had a late lunch. Sally, this is Gabi Castle, the woman I told you about. Gabi, this is Sally Foster.”

“I fell in love with your work the minute I saw it,” Gabi told her. “I’ve always loved wind chimes, but yours are extraordinary. They’re truly works of art.”

A smile spread across Sally’s face. “Did you tell her that flattery is a surefire way to win me over?” she asked Meg.

“I didn’t need to say a word,” Meg assured her. “She’s sincere. She said the same thing to Lily when she came into the store, and then to me earlier this morning. The surprise is that she wants to give this a try herself.”

Sally looked Gabi over as if trying to assess why anyone would suddenly make such a seemingly out-of-the-blue decision. “Any particular reason?”

“Lots of them,” Gabi said.

Sally lifted a brow. “You do know nothing stays secret in this area for long. I imagine I could fill you in on your story. Pregnant. Dumped. Fired.” She grinned. “How am I doing?”

Gabi laughed. “Right on every count.”

“Don’t feel bad. Everyone knew my story within days of my moving here, too. Took me a while to get used to that, but now I think it’s part of the charm.”

“To be honest, so do I,” Gabi said, sensing another friend in the making.

“Why wind chimes?” Sally asked.

“Here’s the very short version,” Gabi said. “When I came over to stay with my grandmother a couple of weeks ago, the sound of the wind chimes on her porch took me back to childhood, when life was a whole lot simpler. They filled me with that sense of innocence and possibilities. When I saw yours, something just came together for me. I thought maybe if I could learn to create wind chimes, I could also create those same feelings.”

Sally glanced at Meg, and a look of understanding and commiseration passed between them.

“That’s a lot to expect from a wind chime,” Sally said.

“Probably, but it is a dramatic change from my high-stress career, and I definitely need that,” Gabi said.

“Been there,” Sally said. “So has Meg, as I’m sure she told you since she can’t resist talking about the transformation of her life since she moved to Sand Castle Bay.”

“I don’t spill my guts to total strangers,” Meg replied with feigned indignation. “Just to kindred spirits.”

“Well, it’s evident to me that Gabi is a kindred spirit,” Sally said.

“I think so, too,” Meg agreed.

Sally turned back to Gabi. “So, you’re here because you want me to give you lessons?”

“If you offer classes, that’s fine, or I’ll pay you for individual instruction. Whatever works for you. I’m happy to just help out and observe for a while, serve sort of an apprenticeship, if that’s better.”

Sally studied her thoughtfully. “I don’t give classes,” she began. “Don’t have the patience for it.”

Gabi’s spirits sank.

“Oh, don’t look so glum,” Sally said. “If you’re serious about helping out and observing, I imagine I can teach you a few things along the way. The goal, of course, will be to help you find your own style. It won’t benefit either of us if you just try to mimic mine.”

“Understood,” Gabi said eagerly. “Believe me, I understand all about intellectual property. Where I worked before, people were very protective of their work. Obviously it was a very different world, but the principles are the same.”

“And you don’t mind doing some of the drudgery around here? You won’t freak out if you’re not producing great wind chimes by the end of the week? You strike me as the impatient type.”

Gabi wasn’t surprised that this virtual stranger had pegged her so well. “Yeah, well, that was the old me. I’m trying to become more mellow. I’ll deal with your timetable. I just want to learn this the right way, not necessarily the fastest way.”

Sally nodded. “Tomorrow,” she said then. “Be here at ten.”

“I could make it earlier,” Gabi offered at once.

“I’m a night owl. Ten is good enough,” Sally said. “Bring coffee. Mine is terrible, and you’ll be saving me a trip into town.”

“Done,” Gabi agreed at once. “Thank you so much.” She turned to Meg, who looked as pleased as Cora Jane when she saw a scheme coming together. “You, too. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this.”

“We’ll see how happy you are after Sally has worked you to death for a few days,” Meg replied, but she was smiling when she said it. “Seriously, though, you couldn’t be in better hands.” She gave the artist a hug. “Thanks. I’ll speak to you soon. From the looks of the wind chimes on the porch, you’ll have that next order ready for me any day now.”

“Tomorrow or the next day,” Sally promised. “I’ll have my new helper here drop them off.”

As she and Meg returned to the car, Gabi was filled with exhilaration. The happy tinkling of the wind chimes on the porch seemed to echo her mood.

“This is such a cheerful place,” she murmured, though she felt a little silly uttering the words.

Meg merely smiled. “It is. If I were carrying a baby again, I’d want to be in a place just like this. I’m a big believer that, even in the womb, babies respond to their surroundings.”

Gabi had never imagined herself buying into such a view, but now? She was pretty sure Meg had it exactly right. She couldn’t have found a better place than Meg’s so-called Wind Chime Point for her baby—or her—to spend the next few months.

* * *



It was after six by the time Gabi got back to Cora Jane’s. All she wanted to do was put her feet up and sip on a tall glass of ice water, but there was a flurry of activity in the kitchen, with not only Cora Jane and Samantha there, but Jerry, too.

“Are we having a party?” she asked, fixing her water and dodging the fast-moving people in the room.

“Something like that,” Cora Jane said. “Jimmy and Wade will be here shortly for dinner.”

Excitement at the prospect of filling Wade in on her afternoon warred with sheer exhaustion. At her silence, Cora Jane took a closer look at her.

“You look plum worn out,” she said. “Go take a catnap until they get here. Or at least splash a little water on your face and freshen up.”

“Putting my feet up for a few minutes would feel wonderful,” she admitted. “But don’t let me sleep through dinner, okay?”

Samantha gave her a wry look. “As if Grandmother would ever miss a chance to throw you and Wade together.” She waved her off. “Go. I’ll come for you when he gets here.”

Gabi headed toward her room but never made it past the living room. The sofa looked too inviting. She dropped down on the comfortable cushions, put her feet up and sighed. Heavenly!

The next thing she knew, she felt the light brush of lips across her forehead. Given the way her body instantly stirred at the touch, she doubted it was her grandmother or Samantha awakening her.

“Hey, Sleeping Beauty, you ready for dinner?” Wade asked softly.

She opened her eyes to see his gaze on her, a smile on his lips. “Hi,” she murmured sleepily. “How long have I been asleep?”

“Long enough, according to Cora Jane. She says if you don’t get up now, you’ll never get to sleep tonight.”

“When did you get here?”

“A half hour ago.”

“You weren’t in here watching me sleep, were you? That would be embarrassing. I think I might snore.”

Wade laughed. “Even though I came in here just a minute ago, I heard no evidence of snoring. If that’s really worrying you, maybe one of these nights you’ll let me crawl into your bed and we can find out for sure.”

Though she’d been half-asleep for most of their conversation up to now, she came fully awake at that. “Excuse me?”

“Well, that definitely got your blood pumping,” he teased. “Rather than repeating it, though, I’ll just let you ponder the idea for a while.”

He held out a hand. “Dinner’s on the table. The fish looks incredible. In fact, the whole meal does. I don’t know how Cora Jane and Jerry did it after being at the restaurant from the crack of dawn until midafternoon.”

“Grandmother loves being in the kitchen,” Gabi said, taking his hand and letting him pull her up.

She thought maybe he pulled extra hard, because she stumbled straight into him. He caught her and held her close for just a second, long enough to add emphasis to his earlier taunt about spending the night with her one of these days.

She regarded him suspiciously. “What are you up to, Wade?”

“Same thing I’ve been up to for a while now,” he said, not even trying to evade her direct look. “Trying to get your attention.” He shook his head and lamented, “Jimmy says I’m going about it all wrong, though.”

Gabi couldn’t help laughing at the thought of the teenager giving Wade advice on handling a woman. “Isn’t he a little young to be your romance coach?”

Wade gave her a rueful look. “You’d think so, wouldn’t you, but he seems to have an amazing aptitude for that kind of thing.”

“I can’t imagine it. So, is he the one who taught you that maneuver you just pulled, the one that had me landing in your arms?”

“Absolutely not,” Wade said, his expression innocent. “That was purely an accident.”

“Not buying it,” she told him. “I think you’re sneaky. And if it wasn’t Jimmy who planted that idea in your head, it was Cora Jane.”

“I am definitely not taking advice from your grandmother,” he said indignantly. “I may not be above courting her as an ally, but anything that happens between you and me will be all about us. She is not giving me dating tips. That would be just plain weird.”

Gabi laughed as his masculine pride kicked in with a vengeance. “Okay, okay, these are your moves.”

He glanced at her curiously. “Any of them working?”

“I didn’t slug you just now, did I? And I haven’t gone out of my way lately to avoid your company. In fact, when Grandmother told me you and Jimmy were stopping by for dinner, I was actually looking forward to filling you in on my day. I don’t know what your standards are, but that could all be considered progress, I think.”

“Absolutely,” he agreed, clearly pleased.

Gabi noticed that several interested looks were directed their way as they joined the others at the kitchen table. Jimmy had a smirk on his face. Cora Jane’s expression was smug. And even Samantha looked a little like the cat that swallowed the canary. Clearly the man had more than one ally in the room.

Jerry, however, regarded the two of them with sympathy, as if he understood the pressure they were under from too much unsolicited interference. He gave Gabi a reassuring wink.

Then, for a time after Grandmother said grace, the conversation quieted down as they passed bowls of corn pudding, salad and grilled vegetables to go with the perfectly blackened fish that Jerry had made with his personal blend of Cajun spices.

“Better than Boone’s Harbor,” Gabi declared when she’d tasted her first spicy bite. “Jerry, this is fantastic!”

“The man has a gift,” Cora Jane declared.

“Unfortunately, she refuses to let me put this on the menu at Castle’s,” Jerry said with feigned dismay. “I’ve tried for years to talk her into it.”

“And I’ve told him that grilled or fried fish is what our customers expect. Besides, now that Boone has a more Cajun menu at his restaurant, I see no reason to compete with that,” Cora Jane said. “Seems to me restaurants should try to support one another, keep things different so we can grow our own loyal customer bases, rather than trying to drive one another out of business.”

“I can’t argue with that,” Jerry admitted, regarding Cora Jane fondly. “And look how long that strategy has worked for Castle’s. Who am I to try to force change on a set-in-her-ways woman with a mile-wide stubborn streak?”

“Stubborn? Set in my ways?” Cora Jane said indignantly. “This from the man who throws a fit if he can’t find his favorite soup kettle?”

“I brought that cast-iron soup kettle from Louisiana,” Jerry retorted. “It’s been properly seasoned, the same as that skillet I brought with me. I’ll bet you can’t find me any chef worth his salt who doesn’t have his favorite tools. Haven’t you noticed on those TV chef competitions, they all show up with their own sets of fancy knives?”

“So you’re calling yourself a chef now?” Cora Jane taunted as everyone at the table sat back to watch the sparks fly. “Weren’t you just a plain old cook when you walked in the door to apply for a job all those years ago?”

“I was a chef then,” Jerry said, “but you’d advertised for a cook. I didn’t want to sound too fancy. Besides, I took one look at you and knew I’d do just about anything to get that job. I’d have called myself a busboy if that would have kept me around you.”

The color rose in Cora Jane’s cheeks at that. “I was a married woman!” she protested.

“And I didn’t step one inch across a single line until after Caleb was gone and you’d had time to mourn,” he reminded her. “I had too much respect for him and for you.”

Gabi watched her grandmother’s expression soften as she let Jerry take her hand.

“I’m grateful for that,” Cora Jane said quietly.

Gabi noticed that Jimmy was studying the older couple with a thoroughly bemused expression.

“Are you two, like, dating or something?” he asked.

“It’s the or something I want to know about,” Samantha chimed in.

Jerry guffawed at the impudent questions, but Cora Jane frowned at both of them. To Samantha, she said, “Did I not have any influence at all over your manners?”

“Some,” Samantha said, not looking the faintest bit guilty. “But you also taught me that if I wanted to know something, the best way to find out was to ask.”

“I kinda figured the same thing,” Jimmy said. He glanced warily at Wade. “Was I being rude?”

Before Wade could reply, Jerry jumped in. “I personally admire a man who’s direct,” he told Jimmy. “You never have to worry about what he’s hiding. And, to answer your question, I am courting Cora Jane. One of these days I figure she’ll give up and marry me.”

Jimmy’s eyes widened, but all he said was, “Cool!”

Gabi thought it was pretty cool, too. Cora Jane, however, looked fairly flustered by the very public declaration of a strategy that had been plain to her granddaughters for months now. It was about time Cora Jane had the tables turned on her. She wasn’t the only one in the family, after all, capable of a little scheming.