Wind Chime Point

14



After dinner, Jimmy volunteered to help clean up the kitchen, while Gabi took his essay into the living room to read. Wade hung out in the kitchen to lend a hand, as well.

Just as earlier, there was no mistaking Jimmy’s nervousness as he awaited Gabi’s verdict.

When she came back into the kitchen in just minutes with a smile on her face, not only Jimmy but Wade breathed a sigh of relief.

“It’s okay?” Jimmy asked.

“It is so much better than okay,” she said, giving him a hug. “You nailed it!”

“That’s what Wade said, but he says you’re some kind of expert when it comes to writing.” He studied her face intently. “And you really didn’t find any mistakes or anything?”

“Not a one,” she assured him. “Do you have the application ready to go?”

Jimmy nodded. “This was the last thing. I can send it over to your dad tomorrow, if you think the essay’s okay.”

“Send it,” Gabi told him, picking up a dish towel to help out with drying the last of the dishes.

Cora Jane might have professional-grade dishwashers installed at the restaurant, but here at home she insisted on doing the task the old-fashioned way. Over the years Gabi and her sisters had grumbled about it, but amazingly in retrospect she realized how wonderful the postdinner camaraderie had been. It felt that way tonight, too.

As soon as they’d finished, the teen looked at Wade. “I figure you’re gonna be here awhile. Is it okay if I take off? I was gonna walk over to a friend’s house.”

“And you’ll have a way to get home from there?” Wade asked him.

“He’ll take me.”

“Any curfew at home?”

“Come on, man. I’m almost nineteen,” Jimmy retorted, looking at Wade as if he’d just arrived from some faraway planet.

“Hey, you’re still living at home,” Wade reminded him. “I imagine there are rules.”

“Okay, sure, there are some,” the teen admitted. “Clean up my room, help around the house, stuff like that, but I don’t have a curfew.” He turned to Gabi. “How about you? Does Cora Jane have you on a strict curfew? I wouldn’t want old Wade here to get you in any trouble.”

Wade chuckled. “Okay, point taken. Get out of here.”

As Jimmy took off, whistling happily, Wade shook his head. “He’s something.”

“He is, indeed,” Gabi agreed. “And you’re good with him. He obviously looks up to you.”

“Not just me,” Wade said. “His parents have taught him to respect his elders, period. You saw him tonight. He doesn’t hesitate to speak his mind, but he’s quick to worry that he might have overstepped. He’ll figure out how to make his way in the world.”

“I think so, too,” Gabi said. “Now, do you need to get home or do you have time for me to tell you about my day?”

“I always have time to listen to you,” he told her. “Seems to me as if everyone else has taken off for bed, so we have the living room to ourselves. Or it might be nice enough to sit outside.”

“Let me grab a sweater and let’s walk down to the pier. Sitting on the porch would be nice, but I guarantee Samantha’s window will be open and she’ll listen to every word we say.”

“Because that’s what you would do?” he asked, his expression amused.

“That’s what she and I did to Emily and Boone,” she corrected. “I doubt Samantha has suddenly mended her ways.”

Wade waited for her to get a sweater from upstairs, then walked with her across the lawn to the wooden pier. The grass was damp from an earlier shower, but now the full moon was out, casting a silvery steam of light across the water. Gabi could hear the chug of a boat’s motor in the distance. Otherwise, it was incredibly peaceful with no nearby traffic to break the silence.

Though the air was pleasant, an occasional breeze stirred. Wade must have noticed her shivering, because he shifted to sit closer, then put his arm around her. She leaned into his side.

“If you’re too chilly, we can go back in,” he offered.

“I’m good,” she said. “Your body’s like a furnace.”

“High metabolism,” he claimed. “Tell me about your day.”

Gabi described her meeting with Meg Waverly.

“Do you know her?” she asked.

“We’ve met. She carried a few of my carvings in her store. She’s good people, as folks around here would say, no question about it.”

“I think we’re going to be friends,” Gabi said, not even trying to keep a sense of wonder from her voice.

“Why do you sound so surprised about that?”

“Okay, I know this is going to sound pathetic, but I’ve never taken the time to have friends, not good ones, anyway. Emily, Samantha and I are close, and that seemed like enough. Friendships take time and effort. I never wanted that connection badly enough to take time away from work.”

“But there must have been people you saw from time to time, had dinner with or lunch,” he said.

“I had work colleagues,” she said. “Sure, we went to lunch, even to dinner, but the talk was all about work. It’s not as if we really knew one another. Not a one of them has called to check in since I left the company. I imagine there were even one or two who gloated about my downfall and my abrupt departure.”

“What about neighbors? Had you lived in the same place for a long time?”

“Since college,” she said. “It was a town house in a small development with a pool, tennis courts and a few other amenities. It’s biggest attraction for me, though, was that it was close to my office.”

Wade regarded her with disbelief. “You didn’t make friends with people there?”

She merely shrugged. “They had gatherings from time to time. I never went. I barely knew my immediate neighbors by sight, much less the other people in the community.” She studied his expression. “You’re a people person, aren’t you? You can’t imagine living like that.”

“You’re right. I mean, I’m shut up in my workshop alone for hours on end, but I’ve always made time for friends.”

“What do you do?” she asked, a note of envy in her voice.

“Go to ball games, have a few beers, play the occasional game of poker. I needed that social contact, especially after I lost Kayla. And there are always Louise and Zack and the kids to fill in the empty spaces in my life.”

“That sounds wonderful,” she said.

“If you kept people at arm’s length, how did that guy fit in?” he asked.

She gave him a wry look. “He wasn’t very demanding,” she admitted. “And he was as caught up in work as I was. We understood each other.”

“So it wasn’t really a relationship,” he said, sounding relieved. “It was a convenience.”

Gabi frowned at the characterization. “That’s not true.”

He merely lifted a brow. “How so? Did you go out on double dates? Hang out with friends? Share the intimate details of your life the way you and I are doing right now?”

Tears stung Gabi’s eyes at his probing questions. He was right. Whatever she and Paul had shared, it hadn’t been a relationship. The bond had never been as intimate as the one she was forming with Wade, even after so little time.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized before she could respond. “I shouldn’t be picking away at something that obviously worked for you.”

“No, you’re right,” she said with a sniff. “What we had was sex now and then, when it suited us. It was a convenience, a way to feel as if we each had a connection to another person. God, that’s even more pathetic than I realized. Maybe I’m incapable of having any more than that.”

“I don’t believe that for a minute,” he told her. “You and I already have a lot more. We’re talking right now, getting to know each other, becoming friends.” A smile formed as he looked into her eyes. “And all without the benefit of sex, I’m sad to say.”

She laughed. “And it has to stay that way, at least for now,” she said, a chiding note in her voice.

“I was afraid you might say that.”

She fell silent. A minute later, she dared to rest her head on his shoulder. It was the first time she’d made any sort of move in his direction on her own and it felt right. Surprisingly right.

“This is nice,” she said quietly.

“This is definitely nice,” he agreed.

For now, though, she knew it would have to be enough. She wondered if Wade would be able to live with that. Or if she would.

* * *



As she lay in bed in the morning, thinking about the night before, Gabi tried to recall a single day in her life when she’d spent so much time with a man just talking about anything and everything. Wade was right. They were becoming friends. Imagine that! She’d been in Sand Castle Bay just a couple of weeks, and she already had two budding friendships she thought she might come to count on. A third, if she put Sally in the mix.

Glancing at the clock, she realized she needed to get a move on, if she expected to pick up coffee and be on time for her first day with the artist.

An hour later, she was showered, dressed and had a box of doughnuts and two large coffees beside her as she drove to Sally’s studio.

Once again, she paused in the yard to listen to the wind chimes and was charmed by them. She was actually laughing out loud at the sheer joy of that sound as she walked into the studio.

“There you are,” Sally said, giving her a bright smile. She sniffed the air. “And if that box has doughnuts in it, you’ve just gone from part-time helper and wannabe artist to my new favorite person.”

Gabi laughed. “These doughnuts do seem to have magical powers,” she said, thinking of how Wade had bought just a sliver of her affections with them.

“Of course, if you make a habit of this, I’ll have to run an extra five miles every day. Since I consider running to be torture, you might want to stick to coffee from now on.”

“I’ve been telling myself that treats like this are for the baby, but since I know that’s a lie, I promise this won’t become a habit.” Gabi looked around the workshop, eager to get started. “Now, tell me what I can do.”

“You can sit down for a minute and enjoy a doughnut and talk to me. I know you said you were looking for some dramatic change in your life, but what exactly was this high-stress job you left?”

Gabi described the public relations work she’d been doing for more than a dozen years. “I was on a fast track for a vice presidency, or at least that’s what everyone believed.”

“Yet they forced you out? Why?” Before Gabi could answer, Sally’s eyes widened. “Not because you got pregnant?”

“That was it,” Gabi confirmed.

“Couldn’t you have sued the pants off them?”

“Probably not. I mean, technically they planned to hide me away, rather than firing me outright. I’m the one who negotiated the buyout. Even so, my dad, who’s fairly influential in those circles, went to bat for me, and they offered me my old job back, but I just wanted out. I mean, why would I want to go on working for people who think like that?”

“Still, I hope they compensated you well.”

“It was a decent severance package,” Gabi acknowledged. “Which is why I can take my time before going back to work. I can experiment with things like this, find out if I actually have any raw, previously unidentified talent. If it turns out that I don’t...” She shrugged. “No real loss. I think I’ll still have learned something that will bring me personal satisfaction.”

She gave Sally a worried look. “Does that make you want to reconsider? I suppose I don’t sound terribly confident or dedicated.”

“No, you sound like a woman who’s had a tough time and is trying to get her feet back under her. I can relate. This wasn’t always what I did. Oh, I’d loved art and I’d taken a few classes working with glass, but it was just a hobby.”

“Really? What was your career?”

“I worked for a major brokerage company until the bottom fell out. A lot of my clients lost their savings. It wasn’t necessarily my fault. Most of them didn’t even blame me for it. But I blamed myself. I decided I needed to get away, do something in which the only person impacted by my decisions is me.”

She grinned and confided, “I’ve never been happier, but if you talk to my family, they’re all convinced I’ve had some kind of breakdown. For the first couple of years I was down here, they showed up on a regular basis to see if I’d snapped completely.”

“I think that may be what my father’s worried about,” Gabi told her, totally identifying with her situation. “He’s left me half a dozen messages about other jobs he’s heard about since I turned down the one at my old company.”

“Not even tempted?” Sally asked.

Gabi shook her head. “Not even a tiny bit.”

Sally took her last sip of coffee, tossed the cup into a trash can, then washed her hands. “Pull up that stool. You can watch what I’m doing. I usually try to cut a lot of these pieces of glass in various shapes and colors at one time, just to get that out of the way. I don’t want to turn this into some sort of assembly-line manufacturing situation, but I can speed up this part of the process. That gives me more time to create the central art for each piece.”

“I think that’s what struck me when I saw them,” Gabi told her. “The design of each piece is so amazing. I can recognize your style, but they’re not duplicates.”

Sally nodded as she put on goggles and gloves, then handed a set to Gabi. She talked as she began to cut. “I want them to be unique as much as possible, though I’ve had more than one request from a customer to do the same design that they bought as a gift last year. I do insist, though, that the stores that carry the wind chimes never display more than one of a design at a time. I think it’s important the people feel as if they’re buying a piece of art, rather than something mass-produced.”

“Do you make your own glass? The colors are incredible, especially when they catch the sun.”

“I do make some. I have a supplier for some. There’s an artist here who is known for hand-blown glass pieces. You’ll have to meet him. His work is incredible.”

“I’d love to,” Gabi said.

“He works with me sometimes, gives me pieces that didn’t quite work out for him but that I can cut and use. Sometimes, if I have an idea for something a little more old-fashioned, I’ll go to him with my design and he comes up with the most amazing glass for me. Of course, those pieces tend to cost an arm and a leg, so I try not to go too crazy with them. Not enough customers are willing to spend the money, especially if they’re worried that it’ll shatter in a windstorm.”

“That is a risk, isn’t it?” Gabi said. “I imagine it’s why a lot of people prefer the metal wind chimes.”

“Definitely safer,” Sally agreed. “Though for me the sound isn’t as sweet. We do temper the glass so it will hold up in a good stiff breeze, but a hurricane? Not so much.”

She glanced up at Gabi. “You know where I get my favorite glass? Salvage yards. Every now and again I go scouting around and find old stained-glass windows that have been discarded because panes are broken and can’t be replaced or whatever. There’s not a salvage yard for a hundred miles in any direction where they don’t know me. The second a window comes in, they call me.” She gestured toward a window frame on another table. “Last week’s find. Take a look at that glass. I’m guessing it has to be at least a hundred years old.”

Gabi studied the window, much of the glass shattered but enough left to make several amazing, unique wind chimes. “This is beautiful. I love the tiny bubbles in the glass and the slightly rippled surface. I’d give anything to own something made from this.”

Sally beamed at her. “Then you will. I might not get to it right away, but I’ll remember to let you have first chance at anything that comes from that. I love knowing my pieces are with someone who can really appreciate the beauty of the glass.”

Amazingly, even as Sally talked, she made quick work of cutting the more ordinary glass, mostly into rectangles, but a few bits were cut into triangles, circles and even an occasional S-shaped squiggle. After she’d worked awhile, she glanced at Gabi.

“Ready to give it a try?”

“I’m not sure my hand is steady enough,” Gabi said doubtfully after watching the confidence and speed with which Sally worked.

“Hey, there’s a bin right there at the end of the counter with my mistakes in it,” Sally said.

Gabi glanced over and, sure enough, there were pieces of broken glass that hadn’t passed inspection. “Okay, but I don’t want to waste your good glass. Let me work on something you’ve already discarded.”

“Fair enough,” Sally said, extracting a couple of larger pieces from the trash.

Following the artist’s patient directions, Gabi scored the glass, then tried to break it cleanly. She eyed the results with frustration. “It’s just smaller pieces that aren’t very good.”

Sally laughed. “Did you expect to master it on your first try?”

“I’d hoped,” Gabi admitted, then gave her a rueful look. “Unrealistic, huh?”

“I’d say so.” She regarded Gabi with a meaningful look. “This is the real test, though. If you have what it takes, you won’t give up. You’ll keep trying till you get it right. After all, I imagine your very first press release didn’t go out as written.”

“Actually it did,” Gabi told her, then winced as she recalled the versions she’d never shown anyone. “Of course, that was after the twenty or so tries that no one ever saw.”

Sally tapped the broken bits of glass. “Consider these version one.”

Gabi chuckled. “Meaning I have a long way to go.”

“Oh, hon, don’t we all?”

After years of thinking of her life as a succession of triumphs, it was a little humbling to realize she was back at step one and that this path could be littered with failed attempts. At the same time, she liked the whisper of anticipation and determination that came with the hope that tomorrow would be better and the day after that better yet.

* * *



Even though Wade was fairly certain that Gabi would be tied up with her new artist friend most of the day, he found himself stopping at Castle’s after the lunch crowd had gone. He was hoping for a piece of Cora Jane’s pie and a few of her insights. Instead, he found Gabi sitting in a back booth by the kitchen with her feet propped up on the opposite seat and her eyes closed.

“Well, this is an unexpected bonus,” he said, lifting her feet so he could slide past them. “How’d your day go?”

“Sally’s great. She even gave me a lesson on cutting glass today.” She made a face at that. “I was terrible.”

“Don’t you think you’re being a little hard on yourself for a first attempt?”

“That’s what she said. She also said I looked as if I might faint from hunger, so she kicked me out.”

“Good for her,” Wade said. “Have you eaten yet?”

She shook her head. “Jerry’s making me a grilled fish sandwich now.” A grin spread across her face. “With french fries and cole slaw.”

“I thought the kitchen closed an hour ago,” Wade said, amused.

“Hey, it pays to have known the chef forever and to have an in with the owner,” she said. “And since you’re aware that the kitchen has closed, what are you doing here?”

“Cora Jane usually has pie left,” he said simply.

“You mean she usually saves you a piece,” Gabi retorted. “She must really like you.”

“What can I say? I’m a charming guy.”

Jerry came out of the kitchen just then with her lunch. He lifted a brow when he saw Wade. “Do I need to fix you a sandwich, too, or are you just here for the pie?”

“Pie’s good,” Wade told him. “What’s left?”

“Apple and cherry.”

“Cherry, with ice cream.”

“Of course,” Jerry said. “Something to drink?”

“Water will do. How come you’re waiting tables?” Wade asked. “Where’s Cora Jane?”

“When you turned up, she got it in her head she should stay out of the way,” Jerry said, his expression filled with tolerant amusement. “However, I’m to let her know what’s happening out here. I’m almost surprised she didn’t ask me to snap a couple of pictures with my cell phone—discreetly, of course.”

Gabi gave him a dismayed look. “Have you no shame, Jeremiah? Has Cora Jane reduced you to spying for her?”

Jerry grinned. “Hey, I thought I was doing the two of you a favor by keeping her out of your hair. If you’d prefer, I can send her right on out here to ask a few probing, uncomfortable questions.”

Gabi immediately held up a hand. “Please, don’t. I apologize.”

“And well you should, young lady. Haven’t I always had your back?”

“You have,” she agreed at once. “Bless you.”

“Okay, then,” he said. “I’ll be back with that pie.”

After he’d gone, Gabi turned to Wade. “How’s your work going?”

“I should be finished with this latest job for Tommy by the end of the week. He has another one starting next week.”

She frowned at the response. “That’s not the work I was asking about. Shouldn’t you be working on your carvings?”

“I put in some time on them when I can,” he said, suddenly on the defensive.

“But, Wade, they’re so amazing. You need to focus on those.”

“I seem to be spending a lot of my spare time on other interests these days,” he said, regarding her pointedly. “I consider it a fair trade-off.”

“Me, you mean? Wade, I don’t want to keep you from the work you’re meant to be doing.”

“And I don’t want to miss out on the chance to spend time with you,” he countered with a touch of defiance. “Not when I have no idea how long you intend to stick around.” He gave her a questioning look. “Any thoughts on that?”

“I’ll be here at least until the baby’s born,” she responded. “After that, I guess I’ll see how things are going with the whole wind-chime thing.”

“Any chance I’d be able to influence your decision?” he asked, holding her gaze.

She looked taken aback by the direct question. At first he thought she might not even reply, but then she shook her head.

“I honestly don’t know, Wade. This—” she gestured to him and then to herself “—I don’t know how I feel about it. I like where we are right now, no question about it. But with so much else going on in my life, how can I even think about an actual relationship? You know perfectly well that my history of maintaining anything serious with men is all but nonexistent. We talked about that just last night.”

“But you’re not ruling it out?” he said, not entirely sure why he’d picked this particular moment to pressure her. Maybe it had something to do with an earlier call from Louise, who hadn’t been able to resist making a few nagging comments about the disaster she saw looming on the horizon if he got too invested in something destined to fall apart.

Gabi looked into his eyes, and a faint smile touched her lips. “No, I’m not ruling it out.” Her expression turned earnest. “But, Wade—”

“No buts,” he said. “As long as the possibility of more is on the table, I’m in.”

“Why?” she asked, clearly bewildered.

“Because you’re worth it,” he told her, “and it amazes me that a woman as incredible as you needs to be reminded of that.”

“You are so good for my bruised ego,” she said, a smile blooming across her face.

“My pleasure,” he said, wishing his skeptical sister could understand this draw Gabi held for him. He hadn’t expected it, hadn’t gone looking for it, but if he had his way, he’d spend a lifetime trying to put a sparkle back into those too-sad eyes of hers.