The Ivy House

chapter 16

“You’re making some good progress.”

Lynn Masters appeared in the front hallway of Ivy House, startling Phoebe, who jumped and then turned. She smiled when she saw who it was. Lynn was wearing scrubs again, and Phoebe wondered if she ever took them off.

Phoebe wiped a hand across her forehead, drawing away some of the sweat that had accumulated. It was surprisingly warm for spring and she was feeling her exertion in the way her clothes were sticking to her, damp with sweat.

“Thanks.” Phoebe looked around. She had made good progress. All of the big stuff was in the driveway, waiting for a rubbish removal company to come and haul it all away. She had scrubbed, swept, and mopped most of the first floor.

“This room isn’t so bad.” Lynn pointed at the large space that Phoebe had decided would be the living room.

“I think if I redo the floors and paint, we’re golden. The kitchen is another story, but I’m having a new fridge delivered in a couple of days. In the meantime, I have some iced tea on ice. Want some?”

Lynn nodded and Phoebe led her towards the kitchen. Here, she had already cleaned, and as much as possible, the space gleamed. Phoebe had hit the village supermarket, which was geared towards boaters, and had purchased a Styrofoam cooler, ice, drinks, a sandwich, and some snacks. Paper plates, cups, napkins, and plastic utensils were set out on the wooden table that she had decided to keep. Already, she was imagining the kitchen painted a warm cream, with new curtains, new appliances, and the cracked linoleum removed to reveal something wonderful, like the wide-board wood flooring beneath.

“I found this on my mom’s bookshelf.” Lynn thumped something on the table and Phoebe looked over from where she was pouring.

“I haven’t seen that in ages,” Phoebe said, glancing at the cover of the book Lynn had brought. It was Savannah’s autobiography.

“I would have thought you had an autographed copy.” Lynn said, taking the paper cup Phoebe handed her.

“No way. The critics panned it and it wasn’t exactly a best seller. I am not sure they ever printed that many to begin with. I think it was just another flop that Savannah decided to ignore.

“Oh, well, my mom loved it. Read it over and over again. As if you couldn’t tell.”

“Really?” Phoebe took her paper cup and pulled out the other chair, sitting across from Lynn. “What for?”

“The good parts.” Lynn dropped her voice. “Full disclosure. I went through a Savannah Ryan phase too—I mean my mom made me watch all the movies, so I actually read the book too and wow. That’s all I’ve got to say.”

“You mean she talked about that?” Phoebe dropped her voice too. Suddenly the thought of her grandmother doing that was grossing her out.

“Well, not in detail. But I could read between the lines. That’s probably why she didn’t want you to read it. It seemed like she bedded half of Hollywood before she took on the East Coast blue bloods.”

Phoebe reached across the table and pulled the book towards her. As Lynn had promised, it was dog-eared and worn, the paper cover faded. She looked at the face of her grandmother staring up at her from the cover. It had been a long time since Savannah Ryan had looked like that.

“You really do look a bit like her, you know,” Lynn said.

Phoebe looked up and almost pushed the book away. “Oh, I don’t know. I think I have more of my mom in me.” She tried to keep her voice casual. Red-blond hair, blue eyes, the same sort of cheekbones. Sure, there were similarities, but Savannah Ryan had been breathtaking, with emerald-green eyes and a voluptuous figure, a true crowd-stopping beauty. She had been every inch a movie star.

“Besides, looks aren’t everything. They didn’t exactly guarantee her happiness,” Phoebe pointed out. Her grandmother had died alone, leaving behind a string of lovers, but no one besides Phoebe to share her love with. When all you had were looks, it was hard to deal well with the passage of time.

“Well, I wouldn’t mind being compared to her every now and then.” Lynn laughed, a full, hearty laugh that echoed through the relative emptiness of the house.

“Like when she played Helen in that movie about Troy?” Phoebe asked.

“Or when she was the gangster bad girl. Now that was hot.”

Phoebe smiled and though she wasn’t sure why she said it, she did. “I have the jacket.”

“You mean the leather one with the buckles.” Lynn’s eyes went round and she reached out and gripped Phoebe’s hand.

“Please?”

Phoebe laughed. “It’s in storage, but I promise, as soon as I can, I’ll get it. You can try it on and play cops and robbers.”

“You’re amazing. That would be so cool. And to show you how grateful I am, how about you come over later and we can hang out? My parents are heading out for the weekend and we’d have the house to ourselves. You can stay in the spare bedroom, check out of the hotel? I mean, I don’t think you’re quite ready to move in here, even with my futon.”

“A slumber party?” Phoebe asked, laughing.

“Come on, you’re never too old for them. Trust me, it will be fun. My mom will even leave something for us to eat.”

“Deal.” Mrs. Masters really was a great cook.

Phoebe flipped to the center section of the book where there were photographs on thick paper. She leafed through them until she found the ones she was looking for. Savannah and Leland Harper. Phoebe scrutinized the pictures carefully. Now that she knew what to look for, she could see Chase in Leland. Leland had been a good deal older than Chase was now when he had married Savannah, but still you could see physical similarities, in the height, the dark hair, and the strong cheekbones, between the two men.

“So, I had drinks with Chase last night,” Phoebe said, trying to keep her voice casual.

Lynn looked up, her eyes narrowing. “Just drinks?”

“Why do you sound so surprised?”

Lynn shrugged. “I don’t know. When I last saw the two of you, I found it hard to believe that you could sit down and have anything as civilized as a drink with him. Though there’s not many around here who wouldn’t have a drink with him. He’s kind of a local celebrity.”

“Celebrity?” Phoebe asked.

“Yeah, I mean for Queensbay. He’s some sort of champion sailor in Europe. Grew up here, sailing with Noah Randall.”

“Noah Randall, the tech entrepreneur?” Phoebe swallowed. Noah had made a boatload of money selling his company and had showed up on the Hollywood scene for a while. Phoebe figured everyone was trying to get him to invest in movies, but apparently, he’d had the good sense not to.

“Yeah. Noah’s from Queensbay too. He lives here with his wife, Caitlyn. Noah and Chase go way back. Anyway, Chase sailed for a while, and then he came back to help his dad run the family business. Basically, it was ship’s chandlery down by the marina. Anyway, Chase jazzed it up and before you knew it, they were sending out catalogs and had a website. You know, North Coast Outfitters. They sell fancy boat stuff to rich people.”

“I see,” Phoebe said, though she had figured most of that out last night.

“Yeah, he’s super-yummy. Oh, and supposedly, he loaned Noah the money to start his company.”

“What?” Phoebe said.

“Oh, yeah.” Lynn nodded.

That explained a few more things. Probably owns the restaurant too, now that Phoebe thought about the way the bartender had called him boss.

“Do you know what else he is?” Phoebe asked.

“Batman?” Lynn joked. “Or Bruce Wayne?”

Phoebe laughed. “No, a total horndog. He tried to come on to me.”

Lynn’s mouth dropped open. “Shut the front door. No way.”

“Way.” Phoebe flopped down on one of the folding chairs. She really needed to get some furniture in here. There were a few things in storage in California that she had managed to salvage from the estate, but perhaps an actual shopping trip was in order.

“Whoa. So you’re crushing on Leland Harper’s grandson. It’s like the romance of the century all over again.” Lynn’s eyes were alight and her hands were clutched to her chest.

“Don’t go all romantic. I am not crushing on him. It was just a drink. One,” Phoebe said, though she recalled it had been two. And they had spent most of the time head to head, baring their souls. Or, rather, she had provided him with a great deal of information.

“So a drink with Queensbay’s resident hottie. I am sooo jealous. I mean, not really, since he’s kind of a player.”

“A player?” Phoebe asked.

“Oh, yeah. He’s a really generous guy, shows up at all the benefits around town, which my dad goes to since he’s chief at the hospital and my mom makes me go to since she figures I’ll meet an eligible guy there, but he always, and I mean always, has a different girl on his arm. And they are all lookers. I think he actually brings the models from his catalog.”

“The foul-weather gear ones?” Phoebe asked, hopefully.

“Nope, definitely the swimsuit ones.”

“Oh. Well, anyway, it wasn’t a date. It was…” She paused. What had it been? A date? A question about business? A “Hey, how about we get to know each other since our grandparents shagged each other” meeting?

“It is so totally romance of the century, part two.”

Phoebe shook her head. “Please, I think it was more like the scandal of the century, and I’m not quite sure it’s something that should be repeated.”

“But all that passion. I mean Chase is so hot, way hotter than Leland. I mean Leland was kind of an old fogey when he and Savannah hooked up. Never quite sure what she saw in him.”

Phoebe rolled her eyes. “It was probably the money. Savannah was excellent at self-preservation. Remember, she had a young child to support.” Phoebe couldn’t remember her dad talking much about his childhood, at least not anything serious. Fun, light stories about living with a movie-star mom, but he’d never known who his real father was and barely remembered Leland, his “stepfather.”

“Well, Chase has got it all: looks and money. So are you going to sleep with him?” Lynn pulled up another chair, the metal feet scraping across the word floor. Phoebe winced, but realized it didn’t matter. The floors needed to be redone.

“Sleep with him? Why would I want to sleep with him? He, along with the rest of the village, was trying to buy my house because they think I am some sort of West Coast harpy who wants to tear this place down and build some sort of modernist white box.”

Lynn waved her hand. “Don’t worry, I put my mom on it. She’ll let everyone know that you’re planning to restore the house to its former glory. Watch out: the ladies from the Historical Commission will be over here with old pictures and banana bread in about two days.”

“Thanks, I think.” Phoebe didn’t really care for banana bread.

“So you don’t want to sleep with him?” Lynn’s voice was coy.

Phoebe sighed. “What I am saying is that he clearly wants something from me. I don’t think it would be a good thing if I got involved, again, with someone who doesn’t want me—only something from me. Besides, I barely know him. I’m not actually a ‘buy me a drink and I’ll go to bed with you’ kind of girl.”

“You know, there’s no harm in trying it out. And just think of what the papers would say.” Lynn’s eyes went dreamy. “The fans would love it. It might be good for your business, you know.”

Phoebe reached out and grabbed Lynn’s hand. “No way. Don’t even go there. If a reporter ever found out that Chase and I had even talked. Ugh. It may seem cool to be in the paper, but really, it’s not. I left Los Angeles to get away from all that.”

“OK,” Lynn said, and Phoebe saw that her friend’s eyes mirrored her own seriousness. “Mum’s the word. But if you do sleep with him, I need all of the details, please.”

“Lynn!”

“What,” Lynn said laughing, “I’m a sleep-deprived resident who works at a children’s clinic. All I see are moms and married dads. I need some vicarious thrills. Please.”

Phoebe just laughed.