Page 1 of Meet Me at the Grand

ChapterOne

For the love of all that was holy—where had she placed those boots?

Dani Sullivan switched her cell to speakerphone mode and placed it on the edge of her bed before dropping to her knees to inspect underneath the full-sized mattress. The hardwood floors bit into her knees. “So, Florida’s good then?”

“More than good.” Her dad’s baritone filtered through her phone, the sound only slightly muffled by the fact her head was now underneath her bed, her eyes scanning around the wrapping paper and boxes of old junk she’d shoved there when she’d moved into the apartment above the now defunct Island Pizzeria five years ago. “Seventy degrees and sunny. Unlike somewhere else I know.”

She popped her head up. “Aw, come on. Our winter has been positively toasty this year, and the spring’s starting off the same. It’s only March seventh, and next week it’s supposed to reach forty-five. Can you believe that? I mean, the ferry’s already running regularly and everything.”

“Not that anyone is ever on it. Unless they’re leaving.”

Dani held back a sigh. This again? “Dad, you know I love talking to you, but why do we have to have this conversation every time you call?”

“We don’t. I?—”

“Hang on a sec, okay? I’ve gotta find my shoes so I’m not late to Myrtle’s retirement party.” Ducking back under her bed, she did another quick scan in case she’d missed the boots the first time. Wait, was that them? Lying flat on her shoulder, she stretched her arm toward the lump in the shadows.

It meowed indignantly. A flash of orange bolted past her, squeezing through the crack in Dani’s bedroom door and out into the tiny living room, most likely to wreak havoc on her cat palace with her claws.

“Sorry, Roma,” Dani called after her.

“Who are you talking to?”

Standing, Dani dusted off her hands before grabbing the phone. “The cat.”

Dad chuckled, whistled. “We need to get you off that island, girl. Get you around some people.”

She forced a laugh—it wasn’t like it was the first time Dad had said it. And it wasn’t any funnier now than it had been then. More like a slice to her heart. “Dad, there are plenty of people here.”

“Not many from what I’ve heard. Didn’t the Hayworths finally jump ship?”

“They retired. Wanted to move closer to their daughter in Dallas.”

“Mmm hmm.”

“Theydid.” Dani stalked into her living room. Good thing this wasn’t a video call or Dad would surely berate her for how she’d left her Eiffel Tower throw blanket tossed askew over her tiny green couch, or the way her plump London Bridge- and Colosseum-printed pillows dotted the floor beside the couch.

How she’d left on her forty-inch television all day despite the terrible waste of electricity that was.

Her beloved Travel Channel flickered back at Dani from its mount on a turquoise rummage-sale TV stand. She reached for the remote to turn the TV off. But no, the pictures of the gorgeous Italian countryside brightened her space, and she didn’t want them to disappear.

“And Ialsoheard the Johnsons abandoned the bookstore and their home. They’ve owned that place for fifty years, Dani. Fifty. Years. And now they’re gone.”

Pivoting from the television, Dani stuck her phone on the kitchen counter next to the tiny box she’d wrapped for Myrtle in purple paper—her former boss’s favorite color.

“The Johnsons just…decided they wanted a new adventure.” Well, that and the bank had been about to foreclose on their home. Uncle Seb had offered an extension on the bookstore lease payment, but Bob and Lucinda had seen the writing on the wall.

And they weren’t the only ones.

“New adventure, my right eye.” Dad snorted. “And what about Henrietta? Gave up the bakery, I heard. Oh, and the Quinns left for a year-long RV trip, didn’t they? They’ll probably find somewhere else they love and let the horse property go to rot.”

“Henrietta is well past retirement age, and managing the place without Hank was too hard.” Hands on her hips, Dani walked the room. If she were a shoe, where would she hide? She’d already searched the closet, underneath the couch, over in the corner behind the couch. And with a four-hundred-square-foot apartment, there weren’t that many placestohide. “And the Quinns didn’t let anything go to rot—they left a nephew behind to tend the place.”

“That may be, but it seems to me that Jonathon Island is past its glory days. I just don’t want you wasting away along with it.”

“I got a promotion, remember?” Myrtle’s leaving meant Dani was moving up in the world. A chance to make a difference…somehow. “And yeah, people have left the island over the years, but that’s normal. People move. People leave. But they can come back, if the enticement is big enough.”

Oh, how she hoped that was true. Otherwise…

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