“How about if I meet you in the parking lot behind the tea shop?” Alastair said.
Kate held her cell phone to her ear as she looked around at the chaos of Sara’s house. There seemed to be an endless stream of delivery people: food, drink, flowers, chairs, tables, cutlery. Sara had long ago escaped to the tiny courtyard outside her bedroom. Jack was hiding out in the garden with the fountain. Kate wished she could join either of them, but Ivy and Heather needed help with all the preparations.
“I don’t think I can,” she told Alastair. “Looking at houses is going to have to wait until all this is cleared up. Wednesday afternoon at the earliest.”
“What did you have for lunch?”
“Tastings,” she said. “Every person who has donated a dish has asked me to taste whatever he or she brought, then waited for me to give lavish praise. I’ve used the words fabulous and extraordinary a dozen times.”
“They like to hear amazing.”
“Not in this house! Jack warned me that one utterance of that word and Sara might kick me into the street.”
“Are you in love with him yet? Is my chance completely lost?”
It was the first genuine laugh she’d had all day.
“I have something I want to show you,” Alastair said. “Something that I think you’ll like. And it won’t take long. Promise.”
Kate looked around the big room. A man in a white chef’s jacket looked like he was filling yet another spoon for someone to taste. “Ten minutes?”
“You can make it in eight.”
“I’ll take Aunt Sara’s MINI and be there in six.”
It took Kate a whole eleven minutes to get there because she had to maneuver the MINI around three vans parked in the driveway. But Alastair was waiting for her. Feeling like she was skipping school, she got out and gave a sigh of relief. She leaned on the side of the MINI beside him.
“That bad?”
“Worse. Noise and confusion and strangers.”
“But aren’t your housemates strangers? You haven’t known them but a few days.”
“I guess, but it doesn’t feel that way. Jack says that Aunt Sara and I are so much alike that we’re almost twins.”
“Bit of an age difference, isn’t there?”
“She’s young and I’m old, so it evens out.”
He smiled at her joke. “And you and Wyatt?”
Kate thought of what Jack had told her at the nursing home. It meant a lot that he’d entrusted her with that secret, and she wasn’t going to reveal anything to anyone.
“Uh-oh,” Alastair said in a way that made her laugh. They got into their cars and she followed him to a part of town she’d not seen before. When she saw the street, she drew in her breath. It was the same address as the house Jack had given her to sell. She pulled into the driveway beside his Bimmer, turned off the engine, then got out and waited for him to explain.
“You called Tayla and she called me. I saw the house this morning and I love it.”
When Kate said, “Oh,” the disappointment in her voice was clear.
“I screwed up, didn’t I?”
“No, of course not. Good houses go fast and Jack said this one is a beauty.”
“The ever-present Jack,” Alastair mumbled, looking contrite. “Like to see inside?”
“Sure.” It was very pretty on the outside and Kate’s Realtor eyes checked the gutters, the windows, the concrete. It was all in good repair, well taken care of. Add a few flowers to the beds and it would be pristine.
She wasn’t surprised when Alastair had a key to the front door. The inside was as well kept as the outside—and the floor plan was what everyone wanted: open, light, simple. The kitchen had cream-colored granite countertops and she recognized the documents on them. Alastair had already made an offer and it had been accepted.