Island Girls Read Online Free PDF Page A

defiantly, back at Arden.
    “Fine.” Arden capitulated. “I’ll take the mermaid bedroom.”
    “Oh, Arden,” Jenny protested. “That’s so much smaller than the front bedroom.”
    Arden relented, softening her tone. “Enough. I can’t sleep in their bed. It’s just too grisly to think about. I’ll take the mermaid bedroom, but I’ve got work to do, too, so I’ll use the front bedroom to work in. I’m sure there’s some table I can use for a desk.”
    “Good. That’s settled, then.” Jenny relaxed, but only for a moment. “Now. About food. I thought we might make a plan about meals. I bought a ton of food to get us started, all the staples and some wine, too, but I don’t know what you all like to eat—”
    “I’ll eat out mostly,” Arden said. “I hate to cook. I never cook at home. I’m too busy, and I go out a lot to meet people for work.”
    “I told her I’d take care of myself, too,” Meg agreed, nodding. “I’m going to diet.”
    “Oh, come on.” Jenny shook her head. “Don’t tell me you want to live like grad students with food divided into different shelves of the refrigerator. That’s ridiculous. Plus, we need to talk about keeping the kitchen clean. I’m not going to do it all.”
    “I thought Justine had a housekeeper,” Arden countered.
    “She does. Clementine Gordon. She’ll come once a week for the heavy stuff, but we have to do our own dishes. For heaven’s sake,” Jenny continued, “let’s be adults about this. Do we have to buy three coffeemakers and each make our own coffee in the morning? That’s just silly.”
    Arden studied Jenny for a long moment. Jenny the Enemy. Jenny who stole their father’s love and ripped away all the Nantucket summers just when Arden would have enjoyed them most.Although, to be fair, it had been Jenny’s mother, Justine, who had banned Arden and Meg from the house.
    “I can understand,” Arden said in her soft, calm-the-client-down voice, “why you feel as if this house is yours and that you have the right to tell me and Meg what to do, and how to live our lives here. But this house was left to the three of us equally. Isn’t that right?” When Jenny didn’t answer immediately, she persisted: “Don’t you agree?”
    Jenny flushed, which made her look like Snow White, with her dramatic dark hair and eyes and her pale skin. “I certainly wasn’t trying to tell anyone what to do.” She blinked several times—was she blinking back tears? “I apologize if that’s what you think. I was only offering to devise some organization for the three of us.”
    Arden wasn’t surprised when softhearted Meg chimed in.
    “Jenny, I’m not sure I know what kind of work you do. Do you work on the island? I mean, will you have to keep to a schedule, like nine to five or something?”
    Jenny smiled gratefully at Meg. “I own a computer tech company. My clients are both on- and off-island, but I usually work from home, troubleshooting on my computer. My workstation is in my bedroom. I’ve got three screens up and going all the time. May Alcott would probably faint.”
    Meg and Jenny laughed.
    Arden thought:
Huh?
What were they laughing about? Who was May Alcott? Some neighbor who’d stopped by before Arden arrived? It unnerved her that Meg and Jenny were allies.
    “So, food,” Arden said, bringing them back to the topic. “I suppose Jenny’s idea has merit. It sounds like we’re all going to be working here, and it’s not like I’ll be able to send my assistant for some takeout—”
    “You have an assistant?” Meg was impressed. “How glamorous, Arden.”
    “Yes, well, a lot of it is glamorous,” Arden agreed casually. “And a lot of it is boring, repetitive slog. Anyway, here we’re a good two or three blocks from the nearest café or restaurant, and in the summer everything’s jammed. So, yeah, I think it would be more efficient to organize some kind of food buying and meal cooking.”
    “What if we took turns?”