On Sunset Beach by Mariah Stewart

night.”
    Just that quickly, he was gone.
    Trying to pretend that she hadn’t been taken aback by his abrupt disappearance, Carly continued to the front door on her own. She stepped outside and went directly to the grassy circle formed by the curved driveway. She crossed her arms over her chest and stared at the old inn that had been depicted in the painting she’d seen in the lobby, and wondered if Carolina had ever painted it as it appeared on a night like this. Tonight clouds drifted like soft mist across the face of the moon and the breeze whistled through the cattails in the marshy area on the other side of the driveway. Music floated from inside the inn and she could hear laughter from a gazebo off to the left of the building. There were lights in all the front windows and the inn looked alive. She could—probably should—go back inside and rejoin the party, but she wasn’t in a party mood. Besides, she still felt awkward, never having met the guest of honor. She walked up to the front porch and took a seat on one of the wicker rocking chairs. She’d wait until she heard the party start to break up before going back in to find Ellie and Cam.
    Carly sat and rocked and watched the moon emergefrom the clouds only to be hidden again minutes later. Eventually her fingers went to the spot on her elbow where the man with eyes the color of a stormy sky had touched her, and she wondered if she’d see him again.

Chapter 6
    “H ERE are the numbers I’ve come up with.” Cameron passed a spreadsheet across the table at an angle so that Ellie and Carly could see it at the same time. “What do you think?”
    Both women leaned forward to look it over.
    “I think it’s a little low.” Ellie studied the bottom line.
    “I don’t see costs for too much other than the heating and air-conditioning.”
    “I thought I’d eat a little of the cost here and there. Like the drywall.” He shrugged. “I can’t cut the number for my HVAC guy unless he agrees to do that on his own. Which he might be willing to do if we ask him nicely. He’s relatively new in town and a bit shaved off the top here would go a long way to endear him to the community.”
    “In that case, I think the town council will love it,” Ellie replied. “Of course it’s hard to say, not knowing what their budget might be.”
    “There’s no number for security,” Carly noted. “Security is going to be big, Cam.”
    “I didn’t have any specs for that, and besides, that’snot a cost that I can estimate,” he told her. “You’re going to need a security expert to help you out there, since you said it would have to be a really sophisticated system.”
    “I think the council needs to decide first if they want to use this building as a gallery,” Ellie said. “If yes, then they’ll have to decide if they want to go with the additional costs to secure Carolina’s work.”
    “I think you’re right,” Carly agreed. “If the town doesn’t have the funds for the right kind of security—”
    “We’ll deal with that if and when we have to. Right now I’m going to drop this off to Ed and see what he thinks.” Cam put the spreadsheet into a folder and stood.
    “You might mention to him that a lot of people were talking about the proposed gallery last night and were really excited about it. Since he’ll be running for reelection in a few months, he might be interested,” Ellie said.
    “I don’t know that the opinions of a few people at a party would sway him one way or another,” Cam replied, “but it can’t hurt to let him know that people are talking favorably about it. Though he probably heard some of that talk himself last night.” Cam leaned down to kiss the top of Ellie’s head. “What do the two of you have planned for the afternoon?”
    “Just some sightseeing.” Ellie grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him closer to kiss him, then let him go. “We’ll meet up with you back here for dinner.”
    “See you then.”