Free The Inn at Dead Man's Point by SUE FINEMAN Page B

sitting area could be a separate room they could use as a nursery or private study if we put French doors on it. I’m thinking this might be hard to sell down the road without a door in there somewhere.”
    An hour later, the clients had accepted the second plan, with a few small changes. As soon as Al got it revised, they’d take it before the neighborhood committee for approval. This one might actually have a chance of being accepted.
    The clients left happy, and Nick asked, “How’s Katie?”
    “She’s having nightmares and taking care of Callie, the kitty who fell. The cat’s leg is in a cast, so she stays in the kennel most of the time, where she can’t jump around.”
    Nick leaned back in his chair and stretched out his legs. “And Katie’s mother?”
    Al stared at his cousin. “You know I never discuss women.”
    Nick laughed a little. “Yeah, I know. You could do a whole lot worse. Aunt Sophia thinks she’s great, and so does the rest of the family.”
    Ma probably had her rosary beads clicking away, praying for another wedding in the family. Sex was one thing. Trusting a woman enough to make plans for happily ever after was something else. And trust was definitely an issue between them. When they were fifteen, she’d come on to him and then jerked his emotional legs out from under him.
    “She said any woman who can put up with Mattie Worthington is worth hanging onto, and I agree. The old woman is a real piece of work. While everyone else worried about you and Katie hanging out over the rocks, she groused about Jenna not being there to make her a cup of tea.”
    Jenna deserved better, but it wasn’t his place to tell her to put Mattie in a nursing home, even though that was where she belonged. The more Jenna did for her, the more she demanded, and then she complained because Jenna wasn’t doing more. It made him wonder what it was like for Jenna when she was growing up. Did the old lady treat her like this back then?
    “Mattie is more demanding than Katie. Jenna can’t please her.”
    “So what’s going to happen when the cast comes off her arm?”
    “I don’t know, Nick. The bones aren’t healing. They could put a pin in it, but Mattie refuses to have surgery, so they’ll probably have her wear a splint of some kind. It should be more comfortable than the cast, and she might be able to feed herself, but it puts Jenna in a bind. She was planning to move back to Seattle and look for another job when the cast came off. Mattie doesn’t pay her anything, and that jerk Brian Baxter has stopped paying child support. She’s worried about money.”
    Nick walked Al out to the car. “If she needs work, send her in to see me. We’ll find her something to do.”
    Nick hired everyone in the family who needed work, and now he was extending that offer to Jenna. It shouldn’t be necessary. If anyone else was taking care of Mattie, she’d have to pay them. He’d given her a lot of money for the inn, so she could afford to pay, but aside from necessities like groceries, Mattie didn’t give Jenna a nickel.
    Maybe Jenna was right about Charlie being her natural father. It would explain Mattie’s impatience with Jenna.
    “Did Aunt Sophia tell you she’s walking around the harbor with Phillip Collier three mornings a week?”
    “No. This is Mattie’s attorney we’re talking about?”
    “Probably. He’s an attorney. His son, Chip, used to date Gina.”
    Al nodded. “I remember Chip.” So Ma had a new friend.
    Good for her.
    <>
     
    Jenna was helping Aunt Mattie out of the tub when she slipped a little on the wet floor. She caught herself before she dropped her aunt, but Aunt Mattie blasted her, calling her stupid and worthless. As soon as she sat on the toilet lid, Mattie pinched the tender under side of Jenna’s upper arm.
    “Ow! Stop that.”
    Jenna dried her off and helped her dress. As soon as she got her settled in her chair with her cup of tea, Jenna said, “I can’t do this any longer.