He nodded. “No problem. I saw the rental car parked outside and thought maybe a guest was trying to check in or something, but I hear you’re the one who inherited the place.”

There was a hint of disbelief in his voice that mirrored her own. She’d been just as stunned when her grandmother’s will was read the day before, naming her as beneficiary. “I guess news travels fast in a small town,” she said, forcing several deep breaths to calm her anxiety.

“Did your grandmother hate you, by any chance?”

“I’m starting to think so.”

“You’re not staying here, are you?” Wes asked.

He meant at the B&B, but Sarah had just been wondering the same about Blue Moon Bay. She’d been back in her hometown for two days, seven hours, and—she checked her watch—twenty-nine minutes, and already her stress was escalating. She needed to get back to the city, back to her office. She’d only put in for three days of holiday time, but it looked like she’d need to stay a bit longer.

Her grandmother’s funeral two days before had been a beautiful celebration of Dove Lewis’s life. The intimate gathering of Dove’s two children, their spouses, and her grandchildren to spread the woman’s ashes over the bay in front of the B&B was exactly what her grandmother had wanted.

They had followed her wishes precisely.

Everyone had arrived, said a private farewell, and then, after a nice dinner and rare family photo taken on the beach, they had all returned to their lives. Even Sarah’s parents had only stayed long enough for the funeral and the reading of the will before flying back to Phoenix that morning.

A will that had Sarah prolonging her stay in Blue Moon Bay.

Sticking a For Sale sign on the lawn and heading back to L.A. was the smartest thing to do. Collect whatever she could from the run-down establishment and be free of it.

No one would fault her for it. The rest of her family had looked relieved when she’d been the one named as the new owner. The cost of the renovations or the headache of disposing of the property weren’t anything anyone wanted to take on.

“I’ve been sleeping in the living quarters part of the house the last two nights,” she said. “It’s better maintained than this side.” At least she hoped the queen-size bed in the master bedroom wouldn’t collapse through the floor during the night.

Grandma, what the hell were you thinking keeping this place so long?