“No, you two go ahead and enjoy the rest of the fish fry.” Lucy smiled. “I think we’ve got things handled here.”

“Let me get some more water from inside,” I said. The sun was beating down relentlessly and the top of Ralph’s bald head was already sunburned. “And maybe a couple umbrella stands, too. They still in the storeroom?”

“Yup,” said Tom.

“I’ll go with you,” said Levi. He paused when he passed Ralph, touching his shoulder. “I’ll catch up with you later.”

Curious, I caught Levi’s eye, but he smiled brightly and didn’t give anything else away.

We headed into the dark chill of the storeroom. I flicked on the switch, and unflattering fluorescent lighting flooded the room with an unforgiving luminosity. I reached up and pulled my hair from its messy bun, letting the damp strands fall around my ears. Sweeping my hair over one shoulder to let my neck cool, I scanned the room for the white umbrellas.

Levi moved behind me. A moment later, his hands settled on my waist.

“Trying to get me alone?” I teased.

“Look,” he said, resting his chin on my shoulder.

I couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary, just boxes, boxes, and more boxes. “I’m not following, Levi.”

“Next to the shelves. Wrapped in brown paper.” Levi dipped his head in a go on gesture.

I looked. A two-foot-tall, narrow object was wedged between the wall and the shelf. After a questioning look over my shoulder at Levi, I moved forward and pulled the object free. At once, I could feel it was a frame. “A painting?” My eyes widened. At his nod, I asked, “When did you put it here?”

He grinned. “I snuck it in when I was helping out earlier.”

“I didn’t even notice,” I said. I split the brown paper with the sharp edge of my nail, revealing my secret superpower of being an excellent paper ripper.

It wasn’t the same painting he’d been working on at the lighthouse. This one was smaller and the colors were a little brighter, and instead of the entire town of Oar’s Rest, Busy’s took front and center. The frame was simple wood, the corners edged in shiny metal. I held it at arm’s length to take it all in. While most of the other businesses and homes were too small to be recognizable, I made out Dan’s Bike Shop, the book I’d buried in the sand, the B&Bs and crab shacks and even the hint of a little red dot in the top corner that looked like my lighthouse.

Levi hadn’t just painted a picture. He’d painted home. My home. Tears grew in my eyes and I laughed, mostly because if I didn’t, then I was bound to cry. “This is perfect,” I said.

“I was hoping you’d love it. It’s a gift for you.”