“She sure can,” Grace said. “She left the place better than I leave it!”

Grace jumped in Ray Anne’s car and they drove along the beach by the high road that wound behind the houses right down to Cooper’s bar. Stairs led from the bar and houses down to the beach, the structures being safely perched on the hill. Ray Anne parked in the drive of the house nearest Cooper’s, next door to Spencer and Devon Lawson’s home. There were a lot of trucks and construction equipment everywhere and Grace was immediately disappointed. “These houses look far from ready,” she said. “And, Ray Anne, they’re three levels! Stairs!”

“Oh, they’re not completely ready, but Cooper’s hoping to get contracts on them before the interior is finished so new owners can choose their flooring, paint, appliances, decorator items like wallpaper. Come inside, you’ll see.” She led the way and held the door open.

They stepped into a wide foyer that opened right to a large living room and dining room. Very large. “Twenty by twenty,” Ray Anne confirmed. Behind the great room was a nice-sized kitchen with plenty of cupboard space, once the cupboards were installed, that is. A breakfast bar divided it from the dining room and there was an island with a small sink. Straight ahead, a triple sliding door led to a wide deck. There was a fireplace on one wall, mantel unfinished. There were no countertops or appliances; the floors were plywood and still littered with construction trash. To the right of the kitchen were matching up and down staircases with crude railings in want of the finished decorator banisters. There was a door into the kitchen from the garage.

“This way,” Ray Anne said. She walked to the left down a wide hall. The master bedroom was in front, beach side, with a large en suite bath. French doors led onto the deck. A second bedroom was across the hall. There was a generous bathroom down the hall for the use of anyone on that floor. “Now listen,” Ray Anne said. “What do you hear?”

“Hammers and saws,” Grace said, again disappointed.

“But not as loud. And I have a solution for that. But consider this. We can get the flooring, appliances and bathroom fixtures in very quickly. Countertops would have to be rushed. You have your choice of cupboards—once you make up your mind about the wood type. They’re constructed off-site and installed in a day. Paint on this level would take two days.”

“Ray Anne, it’s not finished! It’s noisy! My mother isn’t well!”

“Your mother is quickly becoming wheelchair-bound but she’s not feeling ill or in pain—isn’t that what you told me? And there won’t be any more noise in this property once we get this level finished. And as far as the neighboring houses are concerned—once the exteriors are finished, all the construction noise will be indoors. A good pair of soft noise-canceling headphones can solve that problem easily. Come back this way.” Ray Anne clacked down the hall to the great room in her heels. She stood in the center of the room. “The slab is poured and doors and windows installed on the lower level. The walls for two bedrooms, game room and large bathroom aren’t finished, but it’s closed up, airtight. There are two rooms and a small bath in the loft. The bedrooms have ocean views. The garage has unfinished walls but it’s completely functional. Now use your imagination...” And with that, Ray Anne closed her eyes as if dreaming.

“I’m trying,” Grace said. “I’ve got to get my mother out of that San Francisco house soon, before she goes stir-crazy in that big old bedroom of hers. Before she breaks a hip falling down the three stairs into the bathroom or slips trying to get into the pedestal tub...”

“Grace, if we concentrate on this floor and leave the lower floor and loft until last, we can get you in here in a month at the very longest, but I bet I can do better, lots better, if it doesn’t take you long to make your decorating selections. I recommend hardwood floors, shutters for the ocean-side doors and windows—that setting sun can be brutal. I can place all the orders and call in favors—people all over Coos County owe me. And once they start, I know how to motivate. That gives you a finished main level with access to the bath, kitchen, two bedrooms, great room and deck. The other two levels can be left until...” She swallowed and cleared her throat. “Until it’s more practical. Devon and Spence moved in when all they had finished was this level. Spencer worked over the summer and finished the lower floor and loft himself to save money.”

Grace was beginning to see it in her mind. She’d been in Cooper’s house once when she delivered Mother’s Day flowers for Sarah and it was spacious and beautiful. The deck with the fireplace was to die for. She pointed to the deck. “Awning and fireplace?”

“Anything you want. The awning and some comfortable outdoor deck furniture is easy, the fireplace much more complicated, but you’re not going to crave an outdoor fireplace for six months. At least.”

Anytime she heard six months, it caused her eyes to water, but she’d been very emotional lately. Her mother could be gone in six months. Then again, she could live another year. She could live long enough to meet her grandchild.

“You’re close to town. You’re close to Dr. Grant and Peyton if you need medical attention for your mother.”

“Yes,” she said. There was that second bedroom for health care workers who stayed full-time. “Washer and dryer?” she asked.

“In the hall,” Ray Anne said, pointing to the two spaces. “Washer and dryer on one side, linen closet on the other. No laundry room, I’m afraid. There is room for one downstairs if a laundry room with a sink is important, but there are a lot of stairs involved in that idea.”

Grace walked back down the hall. The master had two walk-in closets and it was, in itself, a spacious room. The bathroom, very roomy. “Could we put a glass block wall in here for the shower? No sliding glass door?”

“I think so!” Ray Anne said. “Not only handicap accessible but very up-to-date decor!”

Grace looked at her. “All right, how much?”

“Brace yourself,” Ray Anne said. “It’s oceanfront, even though it’s a good twenty feet above the beach. One-point-two.”

That wasn’t thousands, Grace knew that.

“Cooper said because it’s you, he’d rent it to you for up to a year, but the rent would be pricey, too.”