Buy a Whisker by Sofie Ryan Read Free Book Online

you think there’s any way the town can force Lily to sell the bakery?” I asked.
    â€œNo,” Liz said with a shake of her head. “I don’t see how they can make eminent domain—or anything else for that matter—work. A good lawyer could argue against the public-use clause.”
    I exhaled loudly. “Is there a chance that Lily can be persuaded to change her mind?”
    Liz laughed, but there wasn’t any real humor in the sound. “Name someone who hasn’t tried. A couple of people spoke to Caroline, for all the good it did—which was none.”
    Caroline was Lily’s mother. I sometimes saw her running at the track when I was there. I had no idea how she felt about the development project. I didknow that Caroline was the kind of person who’d support her daughter no matter what her own opinion was. My own mother was the same way.
    The waiter arrived then with our sandwiches. They came with a side of cranberry chutney and another of apple carrot salad.
    Liz picked up her knife and fork, cut a bite of her sandwich and ate it. “Oh, that’s good,” she said. She set down her fork and reached for her coffee. “You know, if the development were to go ahead, I could live in one of the new apartments, eat here whenever I felt like it and never have to lay eyes on one of Avery’s kale frittatas again.”
    â€œKale is good for you,” I said, putting a forkful of cranberry chutney on top of my sandwich.
    â€œYes, I’m sure you eat it all the time,” Liz said, raising her eyebrows over the top of her glasses.
    â€œAvery is good for you, too,” I said.
    â€œPoint to you,” she said with a smile.
    â€œWould you really sell your house and move into an apartment?” I asked.
    â€œMaybe.” She shrugged. “Avery won’t be with me forever, and if you tell Rose this, I’ll smack you with my purse, but I don’t think I’d like Legacy Place any more than she has.”
    I made an
X
on my chest. “Your secret is safe with me.”
    We ate without talking for a couple of minutes. Then I thought of something I’d meant to ask Jess. “Liz, isn’t there some way the development could just be built around Lily’s Bakery?”
    Liz put down her fork and knife, looked around for our waiter and, when she caught his eye, pointed to her empty coffee cup. “You’re not the first person to think of that, and no, it can’t. You see, the basements of the buildings on either side are connected to the basement of the bakery. At least they were when the buildings on that whole end of the street were constructed. There are fire doors between each one, but they’re connected.”
    I frowned at her. “Connected? How?”
    â€œFrom the bakery and the bookstore right on down to that old building that belongs to Eamon Kennedy, at one time the basement was all just a big common dirt cellar for storage. Rumor has it that space was part of the underground railway at one point.”
    â€œI had no idea,” I said.
    Liz shrugged. “Most people don’t, but my first husband was a bit of a history buff. I’ve crawled around just about every old building in town. Frankly, I think it’s a part of North Harbor history we should talk more about.”
    I tried to imagine Liz in her high heels and perfect manicure crawling around the dirt-floor basement of some old building. The mental image made me smile, and I bent my head over my plate.
    â€œNever mind grinning, missy,” Liz said tartly as though she’d just read my mind. “Just because I clean up well doesn’t mean I can’t get down and dirty.”
    I lifted my head and smiled at her. “I’ll rememberthat,” I said. I took another sip of my wine. “If the basements are all closed off now, why couldn’t the developer just tear down the other buildings and leave the bakery?”
    The