Starfish Cottage

by Meredith Summers

Genres: Women's Fiction

Synopsis

Is the secret hidden inside Starfish Cottage enough to save an entire town?

Maddie Montgomery has finally found her slice of heaven - a charming cottage on the sugar-sand beach of Shell Cove, Maine.

There’s only one problem, the flow of tourists to Shell Cove dried up years ago and now it’s up to her to bring them back.

When a stash of bootlegged whiskey from the 1940s is found in the walls of Maddie’s cottage, the discovery sparks an idea for an event that could bring the town back to life.

Too bad, the town grump, Constance Harbinger, doesn’t like Maddie’s plan. Constance is in charge of seeing that events adhere to the town bylaws, and she’s found a way to throw up obstacles at every turn.

Constance isn’t the only problem. In order to set up the event, Madde has to work with the annoying Dex Wheeler. Luckily, they both want the town to succeed so they’ll have to figure out a way to work together.

Too bad, Dex’s girlfriend, Lorelie, isn’t so keen on Dex working with Maddie.

Dex, on the other hand, is happy to be doing something to save the town. He’s spent his whole life in Shell Cove and never wants to leave. Not that he can admit that to Lorelei, she is under the impression that he’s moving to Portland with her. And he was considering it until he started working with Maddie. Now that he’s getting feelings for her, he’s starting to wonder if moving in with Lorelei is such a great idea.

The entire town is depending on Maddie, their livelihoods and way of life are at stake. From Deena and Chuck who run Saltwater Sweets and have just discovered they can love again after leaving their spouses, to Maddie’s cousin Jules and her new budding romance with Nick, to Gina who has her own hopes and dreams tied up in the town. Even the three quirky senior citizen “Welcome Wagon” ladies who Maddie has come to think of as honorary grandmothers have future dreams for Shell Cove.

But none of those dreams will matter, if Maddie can’t bring the tourists back to Shell Cove.

Release date: August 26, 2021

Publisher: Leighann Dobbs

Print pages: 275

Sample

“You only have two more days to come up with a plan to present at the town meeting.” 

Jules’s words sent Maddie’s anxiety levels skyrocketing, and she almost regretted answering the call. She loved talking to her cousin, but the clock was ticking, and she didn’t need to be reminded. 

Maddie set the phone on speaker and put it down on the kitchen counter so she could talk and continue working on refinishing the cabinets in the small beach cottage fixer-upper she’d just purchased. 

“Don’t worry. I have some good ideas brewing. “ Not really, but they would come. Wouldn’t they? 

“I hope so. We’ve only got one room request for next week.” 

Panic flared in Maddie’s chest at her cousin’s disappointed tone. Earlier in the summer, she and her two cousins, Jules and Gina, had inherited a motel on the coast of Maine from their grandmother. The Beachcomber Motel was in a gorgeous spot overlooking the ocean, and the town was quaint, but both were a bit run-down ever since the tourist traffic had dried up. 

The motel and the town had potential. A popular televised baking contest that had chosen the town for one of their episodes had proven it was well worth reviving. Maddie was sure they could bring the town back to the way it had thrived in the past… if they could get the word out to ensure a steady stream of visitors. 

All she had to do was think up another event that would have tourists flocking to their seaside town. It had seemed easy when she’d accepted the part-time job as head of the Shell Cove Chamber of Commerce. Now, not so much. 

Maddie and her cousins had been lucky enough to get a loan for repairs on the Beachcomber and pay themselves a little salary for a while, but that would only last so long. She would have to come up with something really special—and quick—if she wanted to keep paying the mortgage for her little dream cottage. 

“How many are still there?” 

“Three, but two are leaving this week. Aggie seems like she’s going to stay for a while, though,” Jules said, laughing.

Feisty senior citizen, Aggie Fletcher, had been one of the contestants in the baking contest. She’d arrived too late for the contest, forcing Maddie’s other cousin, Gina, to fill in. Aggie had eventually checked into the Beachcomber and had decided to stay for an extended vacation. Maddie wasn’t sure if that extended stay had more to do with a certain elderly gentleman or the town itself. “I think maybe she’s taken a liking to Henry.”

“You noticed?”

“Who hasn’t?” Maddie glanced out the kitchen window at the white sand beach and turquoise ocean, mesmerized by the view as her cousin filled her in on the goings-on at the motel. It had only been a few days since she’d last been there, but she still had her part in operating it and liked to stay informed. Since she’d been engrossed in the renovations at Starfish Cottage for the past few days, she hadn’t had a recent update.

Glancing once at the electric sander, which she’d struggled with earlier, she picked up the piece of sandpaper that was supposed to fit on its belt. She wasn’t good at gadgets and had failed at getting it to work. Oh well, nothing wrong with good old-fashioned elbow grease. She picked up a piece of sandpaper and got to work on the facing of the drawers beside the kitchen door. 

The top one was smaller than the others and would be the perfect place to keep her day planner so that she could grab it quickly as she went out the door. Maddie was never without her day planner and didn’t want it to get dusty or lost, especially since she’d be having someone come help her work on the cottage. 

“Oh! And if you stop by, Gina made a rhubarb pie. You might want to avoid a sample though. I didn’t tell her, but it’s gross,” Jules said.

Maddie smiled as she sanded the edges of the drawer. Gina was a novice pie baker and had taken to using the motel guests, and her cousins, as guinea pigs for her new concoctions. 

“Thanks for the warning.” Maddie put down the sandpaper and tugged at the drawer. The cabinets in the cottage must have been original. They were old wood with at least five coats of paint. All those coats of paint and the moisture of being near the ocean made the wood swell and some of the drawers were stuck. Of course, the very one she wanted to use was the very one that wouldn’t budge. 

Maybe she would have to try harder. She grabbed the knob with both hands and tugged hard while exhaling loudly. 

“What are you doing over there?” Jules asked.

“Trying to get a drawer open. I’m doing the refinishing myself. Can’t afford to hire everything out.” It had taken all her savings and the goodwill of the town banker, Henry, to help her buy the cottage. 

“You hired Dex?” Jules sounded amused.

“No.” Anyone but Dex. The carpenter they’d hired to work on the Beachcomber was nice enough, but he was so disorganized that his methods just didn’t jive with Maddie’s style. She needed things to be neat and organized and planned out. “Rose’s nephew, Frank, was available, so I hired him.”

“Her nephew?” Jules sounded confused. “Rose is about eighty. Wouldn’t her nephew be kind of old for carpentry work.”

“No. He’s experienced. Not old.” 

“How come he wasn’t around when we needed the work on the motel?” 

“Frank is semiretired and only works a few months a year. Luckily, I got to snag him for the next two months.”

“Didn’t you like the job Dex did? I think he did a great job, and he did us some favors too.” 

He had done a good job and had very kindly offered to delay billing when he knew they didn’t have the cash to pay. It wasn’t that Maddie was unhappy with his work or with him, it was just that… hey, wait a minute. Why was Jules asking so many questions, and why did her voice have that weird tone to it. “Are you trying to fix me up with him?”

“No.”

Jules’s quick denial meant she definitely was. 

“He has a girlfriend. Besides, I think Frank will be a better fit. Dex still has work to do at the Beachcomber.” Hopefully just on the days when she wasn’t there. 

Just because Jules was happily dating Nick from the Shell Cove Bank didn’t mean that Maddie was looking for anyone to date. She was too busy trying to renovate the cottage and think up an event to bring people to town. 

Maddie gave another tug on the drawer. Still stuck. She planted her feet firmly in front, grabbed the small knob with both hands and…

Ooompf!

The drawer suddenly decided to unstick. She fell backward, landing on the floor with a thud, the drawer still in her hand. A piece of paper floated out and landed beside her. 

“Are you okay? What was that?” Jules’s concern on the other end of the phone warmed her heart.

“I’m fine. I finally got that drawer opened.”

Jules laughed. “Did you fall on your butt?”

“Yes.” Maddie picked up the paper. It was a recipe. Etta Harper’s Whisky Fudge. Etta Harper must have been the owner of the cottage. How interesting. Maddie remembered Pearl saying something about a mystery involved with the original owner. Did the recipe have something to do with it? And who ate whisky fudge?

A car pulled into the crushed stone driveway. That must be Frank. Right on time. Maddie hung up, promising to stop by the Beachcomber later, dusted herself off and went out front to meet Frank.