Heat Wave by Nancy Thayer Read Free Book Online Page A

“I’ve got a few minutes before class. Tell me everything.”
    “Chocolate chips!” Spenser yelled.
    “Chocolate chips!” echoed his brother Percy.
    “Cookies
later
,” Vanessa told them sternly.
    Margaret ran into the kitchen. “Percy! Spenser!”
    “Hide and seek!” Spenser yelled.
    The three children exploded out of the room.
    Maud rolled her eyes. “Wild things.”
    “Want some coffee?” Carley asked. “It’s fresh.”
    “Sure. No, it will make me pee. Any gossip? What are you doing?”
    Vanessa told her, “Making cookies for the bake sale.”
    “Oh! You should have asked me. I would have helped.”
    Vanessa gave Maud a steady committee woman stare. “And that would be before or after yoga?”
    Maud dodged the issue. “Vanessa, it should be against the law to look that gorgeous in such baggy clothes!”
    Vanessa smirked. “Flattery will get you nowhere.”
    “What can I say?” Maud leaned her flower-face in her hand. “I’m selfish, unaltruistic, and useless. I’ve never baked for a good cause in my entire life. You two are admirable, and I admire you, I really do.”
    “Oh, stop,” Carley ordered. “You write fabulous books that make children happy.”
    Margaret raced into the kitchen, hair flying. A pink barrette had slipped down and dangled from one clump of black hair.
    Maud caught Margaret in her arms and kissed her. “Slow down.”
    “Can’t!” Margaret giggled, and raced off, down the long front hall. Seconds later, Spenser stampeded into the room, followed by Percy, who tripped over his shoelaces and did a perfect comedic pratfall onto the floor. The five-year-old didn’t allow himself to cry.
    “Ooopsie,” Maud said.
    “Shoelaces.” Capable Vanessa captured the child. She held him on her lap and managed to tie the flopping laces even as Percy wriggled to get down.
    “Which way did she go?” Spenser demanded.
    “We’ll never tell,” Carley said.
    The boys burst from the room, yelling with glee.
    “All that energy,” Maud sighed. “If I could only plug into it for half an hour.”
    “Tell me about it,” Carley agreed. Pulling herself up straight, she announced, “Listen, you two. I need some advice. I need to make some money.”
    Vanessa’s brow wrinkled with sympathetic distress. “Oh, honey. Of course, with Gus gone …”
    Maud tilted her chair back and stared at the ceiling for inspiration. “Sell baked goods?”
    “I’ve thought of that,” Carley told her. “Too many great bakeries already on the island.”
    “Sell your body?” Maud teased.
    “Right,” Carley snorted. “That’s an attractive thought.”
    “Sell your SUV and get an older, cheaper one,” Vanessa suggested.
    “That’s not a bad idea!” Carley clapped her hands. “At the least, I can sell Gus’s BMW. I know it’s paid off, and we don’t need two cars anymore. Why didn’t I think of that?”
    “I’ve got it!” Maud held her arms out wide, enclosing the entire cluttered kitchen. “Hold a tag sale.”
    Carley brightened. “Maud! What a good idea!” She sagged. “But it’s almost January. Will anyone come?”
    “Are you kidding? What else is there to do on the island in winter? Anyway, people always love tag sales. Hold it on a Saturday, in your garage.”
    Vanessa chimed in. “You’ll make a fortune. I’ll bet you haven’t seen half the stuff lurking in the corners of this big old pile.”
    “True.” Carley grabbed up a pad and pen and scribbled notes as she talked. “Things Gus and I brought home from vacation then wondered what in the world we were thinking. I’ll have to be careful not to sell anything that has sentimental value to the Winsteds. Oh, I can sell the baby things, the crib, the high chair.”
    “Oh, no!” Vanessa cried. “Carley, don’t get rid of the baby things!”
    “Vanny, I’m a widow. I’m hardly going to have another baby anytime soon, if ever.”
    “Well, that’s just sad.”
    Carley put her arm around Vanessa. “When you get