“She’s used to them, so she sort of tucks them under her arms. Are you ready to go?”
“This jam is great. What are these beach plums?”
“They grow wild here, and where they are is kept secret from one generation to another.”
“I guess that means you know.”
“No, but the man who haunts this house does.”
Alix laughed as she took her plate to the sink and rinsed it. “Where is this truck you want to steal and why do you plan to take it?”
“It’s for the Daffodil Festival, for the parade.”
“For Lexie and the angelic Toby to use? Will Wes drive it?”
“No, I will.”
“I thought you didn’t attend it.”
“Lexie changed my mind. You have any more solid shoes than those? I thought that before we get the old truck I’d show you some land I own. It’s been passed down from one Jared to the next.”
“Who’s that?” Alix asked without missing a beat.
He looked puzzled for a second, then gave a half grin. “Jared is the name that comes between the Mr. and the Kingsley.”
“Before or after the number?”
“Before,” he said, still smiling. “In fact, it’s what most people call me. Well, except for the peons in my office, the ones who are there to gain wisdom from me.”
“Ooooooh, that Jared. The wise one. He’s above my league. Makes me nervous even to think about him.”
“What about Jared Kingsley?”
“Him, I rather like,” Alix said, looking him in the eyes.
For a moment they stared at each other. He was the first to break away as he put his hand on the doorknob. “Go change your shoes and meet me outside in five minutes. Don’t make me wait.”
“Okay … Jared,” she said, then left the room to run up the stairs to her bedroom.
She closed the door and leaned against it briefly. “Well, Captain,” she said, looking around the bed at the portrait, “what do you think of your grandson and me? Don’t answer that,” she said quickly.
She slipped off her sandals, opened the big wardrobe to get her sneakers out, and tied them on. When she stood up, she looked at the portrait and suddenly realized something. If there was a ghost in the house, he’d met her mother.
“I’m Victoria’s daughter,” she said. “I don’t look like her, except maybe my mouth does, and my hair’s a little bit red. I don’t have her talent, but she is my mother. She—”
Pebbles hit the window and she went to push it up then leaned out.
Jared was downstairs and looking up. “Are you writing a book? Let’s go!”
“I’m correcting the errors you made on your cousin’s house. It takes a while.” She shut the window. “Not exactly patient, is he?” She opened the door, then looked back at Captain Caleb and blew him a kiss. “See you later.” She hurried down the stairs, grabbed her bag from the hall table, and kept running.
Alix got into the truck beside Jared and closed the door with a solid pull. A few days ago she would have wondered why a man as famous and probably as rich as he was didn’t buy himself a new truck. But the longer she stayed on Nantucket, the more the old truck seemed to fit in.
He drove down one street after another, some of them so narrow she caught her breath. But Jared didn’t seem to notice.
“Oh, hell!” he muttered.
Alix looked to see what was upsetting him but nothing seemed to be unusual. They were on a very narrow street and coming toward them was a big black SUV, but that was normal. “What is it?”