An Unexpected Suitor by Anna Schmidt Read Free Book Online Page B

renting my upstairs rooms for his group but yes, I believe that Jonah mentioned there were six.”
    Rachel grinned. “Then it’s perfect. His performers stay here and work in the tearoom for the interim.”
    “That’s not possible, Rachel. People of the theater? I’m already losing local business. If I actually employ actors? And that doesn’t even begin to address the eyebrows that would be raised if I were to house them as well.”
    “Yes, you have a point. On the other hand, it is my understanding that people of the theater are quite used to supplementing their spotty incomes by waiting tables or performing kitchen duty, and it isn’t as if it’s for the entire season.”
    “Even so…”
    “And it would give you the upper hand with Harry. He needs your rooms, Nola. Everything else is booked solid. You can set terms to suit your needs, such as offering the rooms on one condition.”
    “That his performers staff the tearoom for as long as they reside in my upstairs rooms,” Nola murmured.
    “Precisely. It buys you the time you need to secure a more suitable staff.”
    “But what of their rehearsals and.
    “There are twenty-four hours in every day, Nola, and this place is open—what—seven of those hours? Harry is a resourceful man. He can surely figure out a rehearsal schedule around that.”
    “It might just work,” Nola said, warming to the idea as she devoured a slice of melon.
    “Of course it will work and you mustn’t delay. First thing tomorrow you should march yourself over to that office my cousin keeps above McAllister’s store and present the offer. If he has any sense at all, Harry will leap at this opportunity and your problems will be solved as well as his.” Rachel dusted crumbs off her lap and reached for a cluster of grapes. “Now, how else can I improve your day, my dear?”
     
    The following morning Nola made a detour from her normal routine. She walked to the post office and then she climbed the stairs outside the general store to Starbuck’s office. She saw his bicycle parked in its usual place underthe stairway and forced herself to take several deep breaths to calm her nerves at confronting Starbuck on his own territory. After all, up to now, he had always come to the tearoom. Somehow the shift in venue gave Nola pause.
    At the top of the stairs, she knocked lightly on the door. It surprised her that there was no sign or lettering on the frosted glass panel in the door. She would have thought a man like Harry Starbuck would be inclined to exclaim his accomplishments to the stars. She rapped again.
    “He left early this morning for town,” Ian McAllister shouted up at her as he stood on the landing outside the back of his shop below her. For people on the island, town meant the larger community of Nantucket Town. “Said he’d be back by noon.”
    “Thank you,” Nola said and prepared to leave.
    “If you like, you could leave him a note. He never locks up,” Ian said.
    Nola considered the appropriateness of entering the office when Harry was gone. If she left the note, he would come to the tearoom and she could state her case and she would lose no more time. She waved at Ian and stepped inside.
    Harry’s presence was everywhere in the small room. The swivel desk chair was pushed back and turned to one side as if he’d just stepped downstairs for a moment. Next to the window stood a wooden hall tree with four metal hooks. Two held the familiar sack jackets—one a light fawn linen and the other a charcoal serge. On the third hook hung the black woolen scarf he often wore on cooler days, one fringed end thrown casually over his shoulder. And on the very top hook was a straw hat, battered and shaped to the imprint of Harrison Starbuck’s head. But it was his desk that drew her closer, or rather the contents of that desk.
    The first thing she noticed was that everything was in perfect alignment. The blotter was precisely even with the edge of the desk. The lamp centered