daughter-in-law run the place, but I think she visits here often.”
“Maybe she was a friend of Mr. Bell’s and misses him.”
“Could be, but she didn’t say so. Tell me exactly what your stepsister did.”
“No,” Hallie said. “I’d rather not go into that. I really would like to have a look at your knee. And from the way you’re holding your shoulders, I think you’re carrying a lot of tension. I’d like for you to get on the table and let me see what’s going on with your body.”
“As tempting as that sounds, I’m hungry and you must be starving. Did Montgomery feed you?”
“We ate on the plane.” Hallie watched as he awkwardly stood up. It looked like she wasn’t going to get him on the table today. His leg was encased in the heavy brace and she knew that the slightest movement of his knee without it would cause him intense pain.
“Let me help you,” she said.
“Gladly,” he answered. He stood on one foot while she got the crutches and helped him put them under his arms, and they began to walk back to the house.
“So tell me about your injury.”
“Skiing. Being stupid. Nothing unique.” He paused. “It’s going to take me a while to remember all the things I told Shelly and that you don’t know. My aunt Jilly is getting married here on Nantucket soon and Edith was telling me that my family has booked all the rooms of the B&B for that week.” He stopped on the walkway. “I have a lot of relatives and they’ll be all over this place. Hordes of them. Like fire ants covering their territory.” He looked at her. “If that idea horrifies you, let me know now and I’ll keep them out.”
“I don’t think it will bother me, but I’ve never had a large family so I don’t know for sure.”
“Okay, but when they get here, if at any time they’re too much for you, tell me and I’ll send them away.” Jamie looked around at the garden. In front of them was an enormous oak tree with an old bench under it. “What are you going to do with this place?”
“I haven’t had time to think about it. When I woke up thismorning my only concern was getting some papers to my boss before he left for the weekend. It was my last assignment for him. Next week I was supposed to start a new job. Anyway, when the papers weren’t in my bag, I had to go back home to get them. Minutes later I was being told I owned a house on Nantucket and soon after that I was on a private jet.” She looked up at him. “Which I believe is owned by your family.”
“True,” he said, “but not by me. My dad believes kids should pay their own way.”
Hallie knew he meant to sound like an average guy, but not many people had their own private physical therapist. And from the healthy look of him, almost anyone could have helped him. His injury wasn’t unusual, and certainly not life threatening. She could see no reason for him to be isolated with a therapist. He could have stayed at home with his family and been driven to an hour-long session five times a week and he would have done well. “Why do you want to be here?” she asked. “Rehabilitation of your knee could be done anywhere. You don’t have to—”
“Oh, look, Jared has already come to check on me. If you don’t give me a good report, he’s threatened to beat me up.”
“I’d settle for lifting you onto the massage table,” Hallie said and went forward to greet Jared and reassure him that Jamie Taggert had been a perfect gentleman.
Jared listened, glared in warning at Jamie—who smiled back at him—then left, and they went into the kitchen.
Hallie opened the refrigerator door and looked inside. It was packed full of containers of food, all carefully labeled. Fruit and salad greens were in the crisper, and the freezer was also full. “Who did this?”
“My mother sent someone to fill it.”
“I thought your mother was…gone.”
“Stepmom, then,” he said. “But she’s always been my mother, so…” Trailing off, he saw the