Pet?”
“Maybe.” Pet delivered a mischievous look to Billy. “What do you think? You know her as well as anyone.”
“Me? I just met her…”
Pet continued as if he hadn’t spoken. “Surely you’ve formed an opinion about our Miss Gaynor.”
Normally, Billy could ramble for ten or fifteen minutes on most any subject. But in this case, he simply said, “She seems real nice.”
Pet smiled. “She does, doesn’t she?”
Billy stood straight, suddenly uncomfortable under Pet’s scrutiny.
Claire sprinkled seasoning on the steaks. “So what do you say, Billy? Will you stay?”
“Thanks anyway, but I promised Gemma I’d be home. She’s got my evening all planned out with video game challenges. But I’d like to have a word with Jack, if that’s okay?”
“He’s in the gazebo, avoiding the grill,” Claire said. “I’m pretty sure he and Finn have had enough girl chatter for one afternoon.” She pointed her spoon at the back door. “They’ll welcome another male.”
“Thanks.” Billy left and headed down the pathway to the gazebo, which stood near the shore. He hadn’t been pleased to hear that Jack wasn’t alone and, worse, that his company was Finn Sweeney. “That’s just great,” he grumbled to himself as he meandered through the herb garden Pet had maintained while she’d lived in the smaller cottage behind Claire’s bungalow. He never looked forward to seeing the gruff old fisherman.
Billy and Finn had never gotten along, especially since Billy had once pursued his daughter Helen. Finn had always criticized any guy Helen went out with, and yet she’d ended up with the son of the one man the old grouch had sworn never to forgive. Yet Finn had gotten over his grudge with his decades-old enemy, proving again that life could take some odd turns.
“Look at you,” Billy said to himself. “Who’d have ever thought you’d actually ask your mother to move in with you?” But when Gemma had shown up on his doorstep four years ago, and Billy hadn’t known the first thing about kids, he’d seen Brenda as the answer to his prayers.
Widowed and with no family members who needed her anymore, Brenda Muldoone had willingly come to help her eldest son. Now she strived to keep all of them on the straight and narrow. Though no longer one of her weapons, that now-legendary willow switch reminded Billy every day that she was the woman who could do it.
Jack looked up when Billy stepped on a dry twig. “Hey, look who’s here.”
Finn frowned. “You write your quota of speeding tickets for one day, Muldoone?”
Billy stepped into the gazebo and shook his head. “I’m not getting into an argument with you, Sweeney.”
“It’d be the first time.”
Apparently, Finn was never going to get past all those reckless driving tickets Billy had given Helen, even though the old man knew darned well she’d deserved every one of them. At least motherhood had turned Helen into a conservative driver—something half a dozen fines hadn’t been able to do.
“I’ve come to talk to Jack,” Billy said, sending a pleading glance to the man who was both his boss and his friend.
“I’d like to give you some privacy and take a hike, Billy,” Finn said, tapping the arms of his wheelchair. “Unfortunately my hiking days have been somewhat limited the last forty-odd years.”
Jack motioned for Billy to sit on the bench built into the wall of the gazebo. “What’s on your mind? Is this something you can’t discuss in front of Finn?”
Billy studied the old man’s face for a moment. “I suppose he can hear.”
“Then go ahead and spill it,” Finn said. “Since there’s no way I’m going to end up with you as a son-in-law, I don’t dislike you half as much as I used to.”
“That’s a relief,” Billy mumbled. He clasped his hands between his knees and looked at Jack. “I’m just wondering what you know about the new principal, Evie Gaynor. Have you met her?”
“Not much, but Claire likes her. She was going to suggest Evie move into Pet’s old cottage. It’s been sitting vacant since Pet and Finn got married.”
“That’s a great idea,” Billy said.
“So what’s your interest in her?”
Billy shrugged. “I was just thinking of being friendly.”
Finn snickered. “So that’s what they call it these days.”
Jack scowled at Finn. “Never mind,” he said and gave Billy his full attention. “That’s a good plan. If you like this lady, take things a bit more slowly. She’s new in town. She’ll need friends, and, speaking from experience, I don’t know of a better one than you.”
“So you don’t think I might be reaching too high?”
Jack draped his arm around Billy’s shoulder. “Buddy, I don’t think the Queen of England is beyond your reach. I feel about you like I would a brother, but that doesn’t mean I’d marry you.”
“Well, thank God for that,” Billy muttered.
Jack laughed. “Evie’s not going anywhere. I have it on good authority from the mayor that she signed a two-year contract to stick it out down here. That gives you plenty of time to sweep her off her feet.”
“Right. If I don’t step on her toes in the process.”
Claire hollered at them from the house.
“Oh, Lord,” Finn said. “She’s waving that spatula like it was a battle ax. I’d suggest you take the hint.”
Jack went behind the wheelchair and pushed it toward the ramp he’d installed when Finn and Pet married. “Stay for dinner, Billy?”
“Can’t. Ma’s got stew cooking.” He went down the steps, walked briskly toward the house but called back to the other two, “Thanks for the advice. I know what I’m going to do.” And he did. He’d wait until tomorrow to call Evie and let her know how good a friend he could be.
CHAPTER FOUR
SO FAR Evie’s first official day had gone extraordinarily well. She’d arrived at Heron Point Elementary a few minutes before eight o’clock, just ahead of her administrative assistant, Mary Alice Jones, a middle-aged whirlwind of energy.
The eight teachers and auxiliary staff assembled in the cafeteria, a portable metal structure next to the main building, at eight thirty, where Evie introduced herself. Since most of the staff had been at the school for three years or more, they knew the procedures and made Evie feel welcome.
The third-grade teacher, a man in his mid-fifties, had lived in Heron Point since the school opened ten years earlier. He treated everyone by bringing in doughnuts from the town’s bakery, which happened to be owned by his wife. When he offered to bring coffee cake the next morning, Evie knew the figure she’d
