“For a while, anyway.” Sam nodded.
“And we have stuff here, right?”
“Hold on. This furniture is older than I am.” Aunt Cate cast a look around the living room. “We all need to decide, but this might be time to pitch a lot of this.”
“Good point.” But Izzy wondered where Sam was thinking of living. Josh McCall had re-entered Sam’s life. Was he figuring in all this? Izzy hated to ask.
“Are you thinking that the furniture has memories?” Aunt Cate turned toward her.
Izzy shook her head. “Sure, but I think it's served its purpose.”
“We should all give that some thought,” Marlowe said slowly. “We're talking about renovating. Updating. In my mind that means a new look. Are we all on the same page with that idea?”
Aunt Cate and Izzy nodded. “I think with time I’ll know what will come with me to Charlevoix,” Sam said. “What about you, Marlowe? After you got home to Naples, did you have any second thoughts?”
“Oh my word, my return turned into a freak show.” As Marlowe brought them up to speed, horror sent a chill down Izzy’s back.
“Wow,” Izzy said. “And you’d been mentoring this Jenna woman? Is that what life is like in the big city?” She had no clue since she'd lived in Charlevoix since high school.
Marlowe gave a dry chuckle. “I wouldn't say that Naples is a big city.”
“Chicago is,” Sam said with disgust. “And I could see that type of cut-throat behavior happening here. I'm so sorry,Marlowe. You were excited about that listing and had done a lot of work on it, right?”
“All water under the bridge. Let's move on.” Marlowe was sitting at her desk and she sat back in her chair, looking in control, as usual.
Izzy had always admired Marlowe for her can-do attitude. When it came to projects, Sam was a planner who made sure all the bases were covered before taking action. Marlowe was the one who jumped in with both feet and just kept going. If she met an obstacle, she dealt with it and moved on. There was nothing that her big sister couldn't do. When they were growing up, Izzy had adored both of them. And now there was a good chance that her daughter would soon have them as role models. Pretty darn exciting.
“Izzy,” Marlowe said and Izzy snapped her attention back to the conversation. “The woman I met on the plane sent me the names of two architects. How should we work this?”
The news made Izzy’s tummy flutter. She glanced over at Aunt Cate. Coffee and Cupcakes was so busy. Even though she had Holly in daycare now, she was feeling a little overwhelmed. Patricia, who had helped during the holidays, had gone back to school, so it was only Debbie and Izzy handling the bakery and café business. Well, along with Skipper, who often came out front when the baking was finished.
Thank goodness Aunt Cate spoke up. “That's terrific, Marlowe. I wonder if you could call them and explain the project. If you get a good feeling, set up an appointment at the house. One of us will be here to show them around so they have a good idea of what the project involves. I'll check our calendar and then send you some open times. How does that sound?”
“Sounds great. I'll get right on it,” Marlowe said.
Izzy exhaled and her stomach settled. Having her sisters and aunt tackle this project with her was the only way it would get done. No way could she handle renovating Sunnycrest alone.
“Thanks for taking care of this, Marlowe and Aunt Cate,” Sam said. “Let me know if you need more help in any way.”
Their aunt chuckled. “Samantha, it sounds as if you have your hands full right now in Chicago. Let us know how things go with Kurt and the house.”
Listening to her older sisters divvy up responsibilities, Izzy was surprised when she began to feel left out. Should she have stepped forward with more confidence? But wasn't that why Aunt Cate was staying here at Sunnycrest with her? Someday she wanted to be like Marlowe or Sam. She wanted to be the starter. The instigator. When she was growing up, she quickly realized that the older people made the decisions. But sometimes she was very sensitive about being the “baby of the family.” And yes, sometimes they still called her that.
Izzy, you can't have your cake and eat it too.“I can probably be here for that consultation.” There. That sounded more adult. Aunt Cate threw her a smile.
“That will be great, Izzy,” Sam said. “You're one of the linchpins in this whole operation and don't forget it. But I think we should be sensitive about everybody’s commitments. We all have a lot of balls in the air. Transferring from our current living and work situations to Charlevoix won't be easy. No one in the group can just drop what they're doing to make this project work.”
“But we can move the project along.” Marlowe muttered. “I have to make this change or I'll lose my mind.”
Poor Marlowe. Izzy wasn’t used to seeing her competent sister looking so stressed out. But they hadn’t been with each other that often in the years past.
“That's right. The people at my New York office are handling our law practice now that I'm up here.” Aunt Cate gave a playful twitch of her shoulders. “And they're doing amazingly well without me.”
Izzy could attest to that. A couple of times in the morning she'd overheard her aunt on speakerphone, going through different court cases with her staff. They all sounded very competent and probably had been trained by Aunt Cate.
Maybe her aunt would be able to live here with her for a while. She hadn’t talked about getting her own place. That would make Izzy so happy. And her sisters? They both had big changes coming their way. Sometimes it brought tears to her eyes. Weren’t they brave to make this huge shift in their lives for her? Izzy didn’t know if she could ever be that strong.
“We’re moving ahead, “Sam said as the call ended. Aunt Cate and Izzy gave each other a high-five. And of course Holly held up one little hand to be included.
