Read Online Beach Winds by Grace Greene - Free Book Online Page B

Frannie changed the subject.
    “ That was a precious little boy. His name is Danny?”
    Maia ’s eyes lit up. “He is. Such a sweetie. I babysit for him whenever they let me.”
    “ Do you have children?”
    “ Me?” She shook her head. “No. You?”
    “ No.”
    Maia looked a little wistful. “I’m good on my own.” She sighed. “I’m tired of hoping to meet the right guy and being disappointed. And of enjoying only other people’s children.” She gave a mock shiver. “Ouch. That sounds awful, doesn’t it?”
    Frannie ’s heart did a little crunch. She understood. “I know what you mean. I guess I’ve stopped looking.”
    Maia nodded. “I’m too picky. I bet you are, too.”
    It wasn ’t a bad thing to be picky, right? It could be a lonely thing. She said, “Better to be alone than chained to the wrong guy.”
    Suddenly, Maia ’s mood picked up again. She giggled. “I’ve heard that said before, but not with the word, chained. Gives it a little more resonance.” She shook her head. “I know what you mean. I’ve been friends with some truly excellent men, but love? Their hearts went to other women. Is that good or bad? I don’t know. If they’d fallen for me, maybe our friendship wouldn’t have survived a closer relationship.” She shrugged. “Who knows?”
    Maia stared through the door, into the empty gallery, then said, “Do you think he’ll be able to come back home?”
    “ Uncle Will?”
    “ Yes. You said you’re fixing the house up, right? Brian said he fixed some loose lattice the other day.” She trailed off, again looking sad.
    “ Brian? You’ve been talking to Brian?” She hadn’t thought about being the subject of a human information pipeline.
    “ Oh, goodness yes. Didn’t he tell you? He’s my brother.”
    “ No.”
    “ Well, not much to mention these days, I’m sorry to say.”
    Frannie refused to ask what that meant. She had enough of her own trouble. And, unreasonable though it might be, she felt deceived. Brother and sister? No wonder Maia thought she knew Frannie so well, but she was only getting the slice of Frannie that Brian saw and that was probably a good thing.
    Maia stood and placed her cup in the sink. “Why don’t we go take a look at that painting?”
    Frannie set her mug next to Maia’s. She took her coat from the hook and her purse, too, and followed Maia out to the sales floor. She went directly to the painting.
    “ This is the one. It’s structured, yet unstructured at the same time. I like the texture, too, and the color should go well with the paint Brian chose.”
    Maia was staring at her.
    “What’s wrong?”
    “ Brian chose a color?”
    “ Yes. For the living room.”
    Maia continued to stare.
    Floundering a bit, Frannie added, “I chose the color for the bedroom, although Brian hasn’t seen it yet, so I don’t know if he’ll like it.” She meant that as a joke, but Maia’s expression stayed grave.
    Maia reached out and touched her arm. “I’m sorry. Truly. Brian doesn’t tell me much these days. He’s painting your living room?”
    “ No, he finished the living room. He’s painting one of the bedrooms now. You didn’t know?”
    “ No.”
    Frannie saw something changing in Maia ’s expression as it morphed from sad to speculative. She said abruptly, “I’ll take the painting.”
    Maia smiled. “I’ll wrap it up.” She lifted it from the hooks and carried it over to the counter.
    “ Juli’s going to be over the moon that her painting sold. You wouldn’t believe how hard I worked to convince her to offer it for sale in the first place. She’s got a couple of others I’m trying to get my hands on.” Maia drew the brown paper around it and secured it with a piece of sealing tape. “It made all the difference in the world to her when Will commissioned those little beach paintings. And now you’ll have this one to go with it. I’ll admit, this is a particular favorite of mine. We don’t have anything else like