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who’d been eyeing a brightly colored butterfly.
    â€œI think the Sunshine Hotel could be a great project for the new
Do Over
,” Avery said. “Would you ask Renée and her sister to at least let us present a plan and a budget for their consideration?”
    John leaned even more heavily on his cane for a moment, his face stark. Then he slowly straightened. “I’ll ask,” he said. “But I wouldn’t get your hopes up. I really can’t promise anything.”

Chapter Eight

    Avery spent the next two days alternately pacing Bella Flora, walking the beach, and trying not to jump each time a phone rang. She’d stayed on because she was incapable of going even as far as Tampa with things in such a state of flux. And because although being in the house that Deirdre had so vividly left her mark on was painful, being there with Maddie, Nikki, Kyra, and Dustin, who had been a part of her reconnection with her mother, somehow helped ease that pain.
    Chase and Jeff had agreed to look in the Tampa area for possible renovations and Avery had driven the west coast beach communities as far north as Tarpon Springs and as far south as Fort Myers, but so far nothing had even come close architecturally or historically to the Sunshine Hotel.
    She was sitting outside staring morosely over the pass when Maddie appeared. “Come on, I need a lift to the grocery store. Plus I could use some company and an extra set of hands.”
    At the store, Maddie flitted from aisle to aisle checking things off her shopping list while Avery glumly pushed the grocery cart, rousing only when something caught her eye.
    â€œSeriously?” Maddie asked when she returned from the meat counter.
    â€œWhat?” Avery looked up from her failed attempt to hide the pile of Twinkies and Ding Dongs behind the milk and cereal. “They were buy one, get one.”
    â€œThat’s what you said about the mac and cheese and Hamburger Helper,” Maddie replied. “As a mother I can’t stand by and let you choose nothing but junk food.”
    â€œIt’s not junk. There are meat and cheese in these products,” Avery countered. “And there’s a reason kale isn’t considered a ‘comfort’ food.” Defiantly she reached for a box of chocolate chunk double fudge brownie mix. “I just can’t stand being at such loose ends. Sitting around waiting for someone else to make something happen is driving me crazy.”
    â€œI understand,” Maddie said. “But I don’t think overloading on sugar and carbs is the answer.” Like a lion tamer who knows better than to turn her back on the big cats, she maintained eye contact as she gently pried the brownie mix out of Avery’s hands. “Kyra’s following up with the networks and Nikki’s trying to come up with a list of potential funding sources. You could go ahead and work on a plan and a budget for the renovation. Maybe it’ll turn into a
Field of Dreams
scenario. You know, ‘if you plan it, the go-ahead will come’?”
    â€œOr it could be more like washing your car and causing rain,” Avery said, pushing the cart around the end of the aisle. “I’m so afraid of jinxing things.”
    In the chip aisle Avery swept a bag of Cheez Doodles from the shelf without slowing the cart. When Maddie only raised an eyebrow, Avery grabbed a second bag. She could do without the Twinkies and Ding Dongs if necessary, but a life without Cheez Doodles simply wasn’t worth living. “What do you think the chances are we’ll get a chance to present a plan to Renée and her sister?”
    â€œI don’t know,” Maddie said. “Given what John told us, Ican’t blame Renée for wanting the hotel to disappear. Plus there’s the whole paparazzi problem. This renovation would get lots of attention whether we meant it to or not.”
    In the produce section Maddie picked