Page 3 of Starfish Cottage
“Pearl said something about a mystery. I don’t know if you’d call this a treasure, though. It’s just a recipe.” She held the brittle paper up. “Etta Harper’s whisky fudge.”
“Whisky fudge? Sounds good.” Dex laughed. “I think Etta Harper was Deena’s ancestor who started Saltwater Sweet Shop.”
“No kidding. I bet Deena would like to have this then.” Deena Walters’ family had owned Saltwater Sweets, the candy store in town, for generations. People came for miles to buy their handmade chocolates and fudge. Maddie had indulged a few times herself, but she didn’t remember seeing any whisky fudge. Maybe she could take a break while Dex set up for work and run the recipe over to Deena. His idea of setting up for work and hers were not the same thing, and watching the chaos would probably get on her nerves.
“So, Uncle Frank mentioned what you wanted to have done, but why don’t you show me yourself?” Dex pulled a pencil from behind his ear and a thin piece of scrap wood out of his back pocket, presumably to use as a notepad.
Maddie shook her head and started toward the house. “Good idea. I’ll get you situated, and then I have to run an errand.”
* * *
Dex loweredthe tailgate of his pickup truck and waved to Maddie as she drove off. She was as uptight as she’d been when he’d worked at the Beachcomber, but at least she hadn’t made a fuss that he was here instead of Frank like his grandmother had warned she might.
Rose had told him to insist that Maddie take Dex as a replacement, which he’d thought was kind of strange. But Rose had simply said that Maddie was supposed to be working on bringing tourists to town, and she didn’t want her to get distracted with Frank not being up to doing the job. The cottage was barely livable, and it needed work right away.
Dex could get on board with that. He knew Shell Cove needed tourist money to survive, and he loved the town. If Maddie needed to focus on that, he would do his best to make sure she didn’t get distracted. The weird thing was he didn’t think Uncle Frank was that sick. He’d seen him over at Ocean Brew sipping an iced coffee just that morning. Oh well. One never knew what Rose was up to. She was full of surprises, and that was one of the things he loved about her.
Dex had lived his whole life in Shell Cove, but he’d never been inside Starfish Cottage. It needed a lot of work but had potential. The bungalow had a small living room, dining area off to the side, and a kitchen with a window overlooking the ocean. Out back was a newer deck, which Maddie had already decorated with an inviting rattan sectional and pillows. The front had a porch that was missing more spindles than it had. The stairs opposite the front door led to two bedrooms and a shared bathroom on the second floor.
The flooring was scarred, the ceiling stained, and the plaster walls had holes, but it was perfect for one person. As he walked around looking for any structural damage that would need to be addressed first, he couldn’t help but think about what he would do to improve the property if it were his. Extend the porch to wrap around, get rid of the dining area, and make the kitchen bigger. Install French doors to show off more of the exquisite ocean view. Maybe make the window over the sink bigger. They hadn’t made the windows big enough in these old cottages.
He could picture Maddie standing at the sink, her straight blond hair brushing her shoulders as a breeze drifted in from the open window. Eyes as blue as the ocean gazing out at the sea. She’d probably have a little table in one corner, and he could picture himself sitting at it after finishing a home-cooked meal, maybe haddock or pasta or… whoa, wait a minute there. He and Maddie were cordial, but he doubted they would get friendly enough for her to cook him supper. What in the world was he thinking?
Lorelei would take a dim view of that. And he did not want to make Lorelei mad. She could make things very difficult when she was angry. But it wasn’t always that way, was it? They’d known each other since high school but had only started dating a few years after college. Had it been almost ten years already?
There hadn’t been any conflict at all in the early years. But relationships changed, right? And even though he wasn’t head over heels about her like he had been in his youth, he still loved her and wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.
Maybe someday they could get a cottage on the beach like Starfish Cottage. Except Lorelei worked in Portsmouth, and she didn’t seem to want to budge. In fact, she’d been getting downright aggressive about pushing Dex to move there with her. But Dex really didn’t want to; he loved it here in Shell Cove. He knew the time was coming soon where he might have to make a hard decision.
Chapter Three
The Saltwater Sweet Shop smelled like heaven.
They’d been making chocolate there for so long, the delicious smell permeated every nook and cranny of the old store. Maddie was afraid that even just stepping inside would cause her to gain weight.
Of course, that might have been mostly due to the sea-salted caramels she was sampling.
“Gemma, my chocolatier, makes the best chocolates.” Deena pushed the plate closer to Maddie. The creamy brown squares with their salt crystals called to her, and she took another one.
“These are so good,” Maddie mumbled.
“They’re Chuck’s favorite.” Deena looked over at the man arranging a shelf of nonpareils in the corner, her soft-brown eyes sparkling. He was tall, thin, and balding, but when he turned and winked at Deena, her cheeks flushed pink and she couldn’t keep the smile off her face. It was adorable.
Deena had been widowed years ago and, according to Rose, had been in a depression until recently when she met Chuck. The two made a cute couple, and Maddie hoped things would work out.
Deena’s gaze drifted from Chuck to the old recipe that lay on the counter. “I can’t believe you found this in the old cottage. Did you know that we still use Etta’s old recipes in many of our products?”
“I’d heard that.” Maddie reached for the sample plate, this time picking a piece of penuche fudge. In for a penny, in for a pound. A pound that would go right to her hips.
“This one is interesting. Whisky fudge. It will make a very unusual addition to our offerings.” Deena raised her brows.
“I was wondering if you know anything about Starfish Cottage? Did Etta own it?”
Deena frowned. “I’m not exactly sure. She ran the shop back in the twenties, I think. I don’t remember anything about the cottage. Of course, that was before my time, and I think the family sold it. But I do think there was some sort of controversy tied into it. You know, the sort of thing that families like to keep secret.”
“That’s what I’ve heard.” A secret controversy? Maddie hoped the place wasn’t haunted or something. Maybe there was a treasure to be found, as Dex had alluded to.
Deena turned to a table behind the counter. “We have these old photos from that time. I like to show them to customers because they show the early days of the candy store. It’s been right in their building since day one, but was a much more scaled-down operation back then.”
