Meri Hollis is
happy to come home as her restoration career takes her back to her roots in
Newport, RI. She can spend time with her Gran, contemplate her future with her
not-so-committed boyfriend, and help restore a classic Newport mansion to its
former glory. But her idyllic summer takes a turn on her 30th birthday. She did
not expect to have her family’s deepest, darkest secret exposed and she
certainly didn’t expect that secret to have anything to do with her...
30 years ago, Alden Corrigan was just a boy who snuck out of the house to take
his father’s dinghy out on the water. But when a storm come up, he suddenly
finds himself playing rescuer to a girl. A very pregnant girl. After he saves
her life, the girl runs off. But not before she leaves behind a very special
gift.
Now that the truth it out, there is much more at stake for the summer in
BREAKWATER BAY. And Meri and Alden are thrust into situation that could prove
to be the making of their futures... or the end of their friendship.
Meri Hollis
dropped the paint chip into a manila envelope and rolled from her back to sit
upright on the scaffolding.
She stretched her legs along the
rough wood and cracked her neck. It had
been a long day, first standing, then sitting, then lying on her back. Every muscle protested as she leaned forward
to touch her toes, but she knew better than to start the descent before her
circulation was going again.
While she waited, she labeled the
newest sample, added it to the file box and placed it in a bucket which she
lowered thirty feet to the floor. She flipped off her head lamp, pulled it from
her head, and took a last look at her little corner of the world, which in the
dim light, looked just as sooty and faded as it had twenty hours, two hundred
paint samples and several gallons of vinegar and water ago.
It had been slow going. The meticulous cleaning of paint layers was
never fast even on a flat ceiling, but when you added plaster ornamentation,
extreme care was needed. But she had
finally reached enough of the original ceiling that she was sure it had been
painted in the mid eighteen hundreds.
It was exciting. Especially if what
she suspected turned out to be true.
She’d discovered the first fleck of
gold that afternoon. Surely there would be more. But further study would have to wait until
Monday. She was calling it a day.
She stored her tools and slowly
lowered one foot to the first rung of the pipe ladder that would take her to
the ground floor. Work had stopped in the grand foyer a half hour ago, but
she’d been determined to finish that one test section today.
She reached the bottom on creaky
ankles and knees. Grabbed hold of the ladder and stretched her calves and
thighs. Then she picked up her file box
and tools and carried them to the work room.
Carlyn Anderson looked up from where
she was logging in data from the day’s work. “You’re the last one.”
Meri deposited her file on the table
and arched her back. “Now I know
how Michelangelo felt. Only he ended up with the Sistine chapel and
I got a sooty ceiling in a minor mansion with two hundred plus chips from
twenty layers of ancient paint in various hues of ick.”
“Yeah, but just imagine what it will
look like when it’s back in its original state.”
“Actually I got a glimpse of it
today. If I’m not mistaken, there’s gold
in them thar hills.”
“Gilt?”
“Maybe. It might be a
composite. In the state the ceiling’s
in, it’s impossible to tell without the microscope.” Meri pulled a stool over
to the table and sat down. “Why the hell would anyone paint over a decorative
ceiling from the nineteenth century?”
“The same reason they painted over
the Owen Jones wallpaper with psychedelic orange.”
“Oh well, someone’s bad taste is our
job security,” Meri said. “Is there
someone left who can take this over to the lab tonight?” She handed Carlyn the
manila envelope of samples.
“I will, but you owe me, since
you’ve blown off karaoke tomorrow night. And it’s Sixties Night.” Carlyn went through several doo-wop moves
they’d been practicing on their lunch hour.
“Sorry, but I promised Gran I’d come out for
my birthday dinner tonight. I’m not looking forward to a forty minute ride but
I couldn’t say no. And tomorrow I’m having my birthday dinner with Peter.” She
yawned.
-Enter to win (10) digiital copies of Newport Dreams and (5) print copies of Breakwater
Shelley Noble is a
former professional dancer and choreographer. She most recently worked on the
films, Mona Lisa Smile and The Game Plan. She is a member of
Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and Romance Writers of America.
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