Page 58 of Hooked on a Feeling

Happiness radiated from her chest. “His name is John. I’m staying down here, Summer.”

“What? What about your studio?”

“I’m going to open up something here. But I don’t have all the details right now. I’ll tell you more about him later.”

“Oh…” Then, “How?” her sister asked.

“Just promise me you’ll keep our parents away. I don’t want them down here while I’m here. That would be awful.”

“I hear ya. But don’t worry. They can hardly get up to open the front door. You really think they have enough ambition to drive that far? I promise. You’re good.”

“Of course. You’re right. I got a little freaked out,” Starr said. “There’s something else I should tell you since I know you don’t care.”

“Wow, sis, you’re just calling with all the goodies. Do tell.”

“Grandpa stipulated that any person who could turn a profit on the marina would inherit it, even if that is simply Mom and Dad. But that had to happen before the property comes out of the trust. You following me?”

“Not really. Why not when it comes out of the trust?”

Starr put her hands up in exasperation. “I don’t know. It’s Grandpa. But when the property comes out of the trust, the entire operation goes to Mom and Dad, and then it doesn’t matter because they only want the money. It was his last-ditch effort to see if the marina could stay alive and succeed. He knew our parents weren’t going to do shit with it.”

“Right.”

“But if anyone had come in and really truly run the marina the right way—put it back on the map, so to speak—they would inherit the property.”

“You’re shitting me.”

“No.”

“So Lyle could have done that and had it for himself?” Summer asked.

“Yes. Anyone, really. I tried. But I found out about the stipulation too late, and one week isn’t enough time for me to turn a profit.”

An evil, wicked-witch laugh came through the other side of the line. “Oh man. I would have loved for that to happen. Why didn’t we know this sooner?”

“We had no reason to—and because our parents suck. They got read the entire will by the lawyer. They knew. It probably never occurred to them to tell us. Or hell, I don’t know. All they see are dollar signs.”

“That is awful news. I would love to see the marina reopen and at capacity, the way Grandpa and Grandma always had it going. Remember when we used to run around the Beach House and hide inside the cleaning closets, and Grandma would get so mad cause she could never find us until we popped out of thin air?”

“I remember.” A small chunk of her heart broke off at the memory. It would be amazing to see the marina open again. “I tried.” Her doorbell rang, and Starr glanced down the hallway. “I gotta go. Someone is here. I’ll call you back.”

“You better. I want to hear all about this mysterious John man that you’re moving halfway across the country for.”

“You will.”

“I want all the details too. Like if he has a big di—”

Starr ended the call. The person on the other side of the door was clearly impatient. They thumped on the door, hard and loud. She wasn’t familiar with their outline through the side windows. It definitely wasn’t John.

“I’m coming,” she yelled. She let out a breath and opened the door. Deanne stood on the steps with a man Starr had never seen before.

“Sorry I didn’t call with a heads-up. But this is urgent.” Deanne nodded toward the man. He was pushing mid to late fifties, if she had to guess. Even in this Florida heat, he was wearing denim overalls and a long-sleeved shirt. “This is Starr Young. Starr, this is Dallas Perdue. He’s been interested in the property for years.”

“Really?”

“You interested in selling the storage lot? I can pay cash.”

“That storage lot?” She pointed at the chain-link fence across from her parking lot. “That lot? I don’t own it.” But her mind worked backward to the copy of the survey map Alfred had given her.

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