Polly jumped at the loud rap on the front door, having grown accustomed to Chase just strolling in whenever the mood takes him. She hurried to the foyer, and when she opened the door, Mae was standing on the threshold.
“Hi Mae,” Polly said with a wide smile. “Come on in – how’s it going?”
Mae smiled in greeting and stepped into the house. “It’s going good! The shingles for the second cabin finally came in from back order, so I’m working on getting a crew together to knock that out. And I’m going to get a concrete mason here pretty soon to work on that front sidewalk, and I wanted to know if you wanted to concrete any part of the drive, or just keep it gravel. It doesn’t matter to me, but I need to either let the concrete guy know, or I need to call a gravel guy I know, you know?”
Polly nearly laughed at this whirlwind of information. “You’ve worked on it the longest – what do you think would look the best? I’m leaning towards keeping it gravel…”
“I totally would,” Mae agreed. “I’ll get on it!”
“How’s everything else going?” Polly asked, gesturing to the sofa. “Stay for a bit. Would you like a cup of coffee?”
Mae nodded happily, and Polly went to prepare two steaming mugs of coffee, glad that Mae had stopped by. Nearly every day since she had arrived, she had stopped by the construction site to say hi to Mae and check on the progress, and while the girl was always friendly and chatty, they hadn’t had much chance to really get to know each other, and Polly already was so fond of Mae – she wanted to know her a bit better. It would be nice to have a female ally in the woods…
“Everything is going good. This weather couldn’t work out any better,” Mae said easily, taking a sip of coffee. “How’s everything with you? Are you used to Michigan instead of California yet?”
Polly shrugged. “I’m getting there. I still miss the warm sunshine, but there’s something about being up here that’s hard to resist…”
Mae quirked a smile in her direction. “Yeah, Chase Colton is pretty hard to resist.”
Polly immediately felt her cheeks flush and tried to brush the comment aside. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I’m talking about the fact that he’s a hottie, you’re a hottie, and he obviously digs you. And as someone who knows most of guys on the peninsula, that’s the one to get with. No one fills out those Levis like Chase. And you are so darn cute – you guys would look great together.”
“Why haven’t you dated him?” Polly shot back and Mae rolled her eyes.
“A, I’ve known him forever and it would be weird, and B, he’s like a decade and a half older than me.”
Polly smirked, remembering when Matthew’s older age had been a turn on… she guessed Mae didn’t feel the same way.
“I get it. So we need to find a cutie that’s closer to your own age,” Polly amended, and Mae rolled her eyes again.
“Up here? Not going to happen,” Mae said. “Believe me, I’ve been looking. Oh, that reminds me! The brother of one of the guys I know, Rob Fitzhugh, is going through a messy divorce, and needs some legal advice on how to proceed without losing his shirt. He has an attorney – technically – but this guy is a hundred years old, and doesn’t seem to have Rob’s best interests in the forefront. I don’t suppose you’d talk to him, would you? Maybe give him a little advice? I’m sure you get asked all the time, but… I just thought…”
Polly bit her lip. “I’d love to help, but I don’t practice divorce law. Most of my legal expertise is corporate, and I don’t work in a courtroom very often. Isn’t there anyone else he can ask?”
Mae shrugged. “Choices up here are pretty limited, unless you go into Hancock or Houghton, and then the attorney fees just skyrocket. Rob is trying to save a bit of money, not lose the rest of it. I know it’s probably unethical to advise him, but…” Mae stopped and tilted her head, considering. “You know, if you ever decided to, like, move here and have lots of babies with Chase and stay local, you would probably do a booming legal business. People up here are always complaining that there isn’t a reasonably priced, fair, easy to understand attorney in the Keweenaw, not that we have a TON of legal troubles, and if you didn’t have enough business, then you could always expand into Houghton… you should totally do that! Open up North Law Practice here in the north!”
Polly smiled wanly at Mae’s suggestion – both the ‘lots of babies’ comment, as well as the thought of uprooting her legal practice from California, land of a million lawyers, to being the only ‘country lawyer’ to the Keweenaw.
The funnier thing was, though, was that it wasn’t the first time the thought had crossed Polly’s mind.
“Well, let’s not get carried away,” Polly said evenly. “But yes, I’ll try and give Rob a bit of help, if I can, without overstepping any legal bounds. Tell him to stop by or give him my cell phone number.”
“That’s so great! Thanks, Polly!” Mae said happily, settling back on the couch. “Now, tell me everything about your life in California, and growing up here with Parker, and where you and Chase went yesterday. Just tell me everything!”
Polly laughed at her enthusiasm, and taking a sip of her own coffee, began to fill Mae in on her life.
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