“Let me handle my cousins,” Lexie said, then gave her attention to the phone. “Wes? This is Lexie. Toby and I want you to come over.” She paused. “Of course now. Next you’ll be asking for a printed invitation. And, yes, it has to do with your date with Alix.” Lexie clicked off the phone. “He’ll be here in ten minutes.”
Toby thought she might never get used to the informality of Nantucket. People popped in and out of each other’s houses all day. One day she was nearly knocked down when a door opened inside the house. It was the plumber coming up from the basement. He’d entered through the exterior door—which as far as anyone knew had never been locked—fixed the dripping pipe, then had gone up the stairs into the house to make sure the toilet was no longer leaking. That no one knew he was in the house seemed to bother no one but Toby.
“Look, Wes,” Lexie said. It was twenty minutes later and she and Toby were on the couch across from him. Toby had made sure the young man had been furnished with beer and pretzels, and he was waiting to be told why he’d been summoned.
“The whole island knows you’re still in love with Daris Brubaker,” Lexie said. Daris was the woman Wes had wanted to marry, but six months ago they’d had a big fight—which no one knew the cause of—and Daris had told Wes to get lost. Since then he’d dated nearly every unmarried woman on the island.
Lexie waited for Wes to say something, preferably to tell what had happened between him and Daris, but he just drank his beer and said nothing. “But she dumped you, probably because you’ve got a roving eye. You only asked Alix out to get her back and, of course, to try to show up Jared.”
Wes was unperturbed by her criticism, nor was he volunteering any information. “So what’s your point?”
“I don’t want to beat around the bush,” Lexie said. “What’s it going to take to get you to call Alix and get out of this date?”
“It’s not going to happen. My dad’s driving his old Chevy in the parade, and—”
Toby spoke up. “Jared will design a house for that land you own, and he’ll do it for free.”
Lexie looked at her with wide eyes. They all knew that Jared charged
a hefty six figures for his designs.
Wes couldn’t conceal his shock at that. It was one thing for his cousin to sketch out a garage, but an entire house? “With an outdoor shower and a place for my boats?”
“Whatever you want,” Toby said.
“I couldn’t afford to build anything that Montgomery would come up with.”
Lexie knew that for Wes to call his cousin Montgomery and not Kingsley was an intentional insult. She leaned back on the couch and glared at Wes. It was a game to him, but they were serious.
Toby, who hadn’t grown up on the island, wasn’t hindered by past relationships or subtle meanings of name usage. “Jared will act as a bank and lend you the money.”
“I don’t think—” Lexie began, but Wes and Toby were looking at each other. Lexie may as well not have been there.
“Interest free?” he asked.
“Half a percent lower than the current rate at the time of closing,” Toby said quickly.
“One and a half,” Wes said.
“Three quarters,” Toby said.
“Done,” Wes answered.
“Holy crap, Toby,” Lexie said. “I didn’t know you could negotiate a deal that way.”
“I learned it from my dad.”
After Wes left, Lexie dreaded telling Jared what had been done in his name. On the other hand, since he didn’t seem to be taking over on his own, someone had to. She called him and told him she had to see him immediately.
Lexie had him sit in the same chair where Wes had sat an hour before, but Jared refused all refreshment.
“What’s going on?” he asked. “Alix has dinner about ready and we have things to do.”
“Such as?” Toby asked.
Jared smiled at her. “Not what you two are obviously hoping. Now, what’s so important that it couldn’t wait until I see you tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow is the whole point,” Lexie said. “You seem oblivious to the fact that Alix has a date with Wes tomorrow. An all-day date.”