Ruth snapped up a piece of bacon from a plate. It was too hot to handle, forcing her to quickly toss it from hand to hand as she kissed her father on the cheek. “Morning. That was a storm last night.”

“Not so bad,” Daddy said. He was rarely thrown off by the natural rhythms of the ocean.

“Did it do any damage?”

“Washed a good bit of the beach away, but the hotel is fine. Your mama went to the hotel early, just in case any guests were rattled.”

Footsteps sounded in the hallway, and Talley appeared. Her face was drawn, and her hair hung loose and limp around her shoulders.

“First storm,” Ruth said. “I remember mine.”

Talley smoothed her hand over her hair. She stood at the edge of the galley kitchen, her hand braced on the counter as if this were a swaying ship. “I thought the roof was going to come off.”

“Nah,” Ruth said. “If it was that bad, Daddy and Mama would’ve gotten us into the bathroom.”

“What good would that do?” Talley asked.

Ruth handed her a slice of bacon, as if that would fix everything, which it nearly did, judging by the look on her face. “It’s the strongest place in the house, right, Daddy?”

“That’s right.” He reached for a dish towel, opened the stove, and pulled out a plate of sweet buns. The fact that Daddy had risen to make a yeast bread, which took hours, meant that he’d not slept so well last night either.

“What if the storm is stronger than what a bathroom can take?” Talley asked.

“Then it’s best to get to the mainland,” Daddy said.

“But we couldn’t have left during that storm.” Talley took a bite of the bacon.

“No. We could not.” Daddy drizzled honey over the hot bread.

“What would we have done?” Talley asked.

Ruth finished off her strip of bacon and went to the icebox. She grabbed the half-full milk bottle and filled two glasses. She set one in front of Talley and then replaced the bottle in the refrigerator.

“No sense in worrying about it,” Daddy said. “We all did just fine. Now you two girls have a seat at the table, and let’s get some breakfast into you. Days after a storm are the best for shelling. And this year, there’s a surprise waiting on the beach.”

“What kind of surprise?” Ruth asked.

“You’ll have to wait and see.”

Talley stared at Daddy, waiting for something more, but like last night’s hard winds, he had moved on to other thoughts. “We’ll be getting more guests today. A couple of the husbands and fathers are arriving.”