A Nantucket Affair (Nantucket Beach Plum Cove #4)(2)

Angela smiled. “Right. I just can’t imagine it myself. Not to that level, anyway.”

“You have quite a business going now, too. You might need to hire people soon to help you handle all your new clients.” Lisa was proud of Angela, and how well she’d done. She recommended her to everyone she knew as Angela was the best cleaner she’d ever used, and it was clear that she enjoyed the work. She’d worked as a cleaner while putting herself through college and was finishing up her last few classes online. Her original plan had been to get a job in marketing at a tech company in Silicon Valley. But now, she was using what she’d learned to market her own cleaning business.

Angela grinned. “I already have hired two people.”

“That’s fantastic. Is one of them Harriet?” Lisa had told Harriet, the woman who had cleaned for her before she went to Jamaica for the winter, to call Angela. Her original plan had been to hire her back if she could, but now she had Angela who could work year-round, and she liked her company each morning.

“No, but she did call, and I told her to just get in touch when she’s back for the season and I can probably keep her busy.”

“That’s wonderful.”

When they finished breakfast, Angela headed upstairs to start cleaning, and Lisa and Sue set off for the ferry.





Lisa loved taking the Hyline Fast Ferry. The Grey Lady grew bigger every few years as demand grew. The Steamship Authority was the other option, and they only used that if they were going to take a vehicle off island—which they were not doing, because the nickname for the Steamship Authority was the ‘slow boat’. It took just over two hours to make the trip, and they much preferred the Hyline, which was half the time. It would be easy enough once they got to Hyannis to get an Uber or Lyft to do their shopping.

They had a lovely day, hitting the mall and the Barnes and Noble bookstore. Nantucket had several lovely independent bookstores, but Lisa loved to go to Barnes and Noble when she was off-island as the selection was huge. As much as she loved living on Nantucket, there were limitations, and many more of the bigger stores and businesses were on the mainland. The movie theater was ten times the size of the one on Nantucket and after a delicious lunch at Tiki Port, a Chinese restaurant right across from the mall, Lisa and Sue saw a new romantic comedy they’d heard good things about.

They stopped at Trader Joe’s on the way back to the ferry and stocked up on all their favorite snacks. Lisa particularly liked a cheddar cheese that had a hint of parmesan flavor, and she picked up a few bottles of Josh Cabernet when she saw that it was a good three dollars cheaper per bottle than on Nantucket. Everything was more expensive on Nantucket.

When they were settled on the ferry and waiting for it to depart, Lisa took a sip of the chardonnay that Sue had bought for her. The boat had a full bar, and it was nice to sip a glass of wine as they made their way back to the island. Sue frowned as her phone dinged to announce a text message.

“Is everything okay?” Lisa asked.

“Oh, it’s fine. Curt just let me know that a few of them are heading out to dinner. He didn’t think I’d mind since I won’t be back until after six.”

“Do you mind? You could probably join them? What will you do for dinner?”

“No, I don’t mind. We went out for lunch so I don’t need to go out to dinner, too. I have plenty of food at home. I’m just annoyed with Curt in general. That’s part of the reason I wanted to take today off. I just needed a break. I’m sort of hating him today.”

Lisa laughed. She knew her friend didn’t really hate her husband. She and Curt had been together forever. They’d met in college and married a year after graduating. Curt’s family was from Nantucket, and Sue had fallen in love with it the first time she visited the island. They were both finance majors and at first, Curt worked as an accountant in the family practice and Sue got an entry-level job at an insurance agency. She’d loved the work and ten years later, when their two children, Travis and Stephanie, were in elementary school, the owners of the insurance agency asked if she might be interested in taking over the business as they were eager to retire.

She and Curt discussed it and decided to invest in the new business and work there together, and it had worked out well. Curt was outgoing and energetic, and it turned out that sales and account management suited him well. Sue was the opposite, quieter and more organized. So, it worked, but like any marriage, occasionally they got on each other’s nerves.

“What did he do?” Lisa asked.

“Well, you know how stubborn he can be sometimes? He insisted that he was going to pay the club membership. That he wouldn’t forget. I said I’d be happy to do it, but he insisted. And then, of course, he forgot, so we have to pay a late penalty. And also, he hates to go out to dinner. I always have to beg him if I want to go and then he usually orders a burger and complains that everything is too expensive.”

Lisa laughed. He did do that.

“I don’t think he appreciates food the way we do. He likes everything.”

“He does. And now he’s going out to dinner. It’s just frustrating because whenever I suggest it, he rarely wants to go. And to make matters worse, he announced a few weeks ago that he needs to get rid of some extra weight, and just like that, he’s already down twenty pounds.”

“Ouch. That really isn’t fair. How did he do it?” Lisa could sympathize. It seemed like it was always easier for men to lose weight.