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Contents ( 66)
  1. Cover
  2. Books by Valerie Fraser Luesse
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright Page
  5. Dedication
  6. Contents
  7. Map of Florida
  8. one
  9. two
  10. three
  11. four
  12. five
  13. six
  14. seven
  15. eight
  16. nine
  17. ten
  18. eleven
  19. twelve
  20. thirteen
  21. fourteen
  22. fifteen
  23. sixteen
  24. seventeen
  25. eighteen
  26. nineteen
  27. twenty
  28. twenty-one
  29. twenty-two
  30. twenty-three
  31. twenty-four
  32. twenty-five
  33. twenty-six
  34. twenty-seven
  35. twenty-eight
  36. twenty-nine
  37. thirty
  38. thirty-one
  39. thirty-two
  40. thirty-three
  41. thirty-four
  42. thirty-five
  43. thirty-six
  44. thirty-seven
  45. thirty-eight
  46. thirty-nine
  47. forty
  48. forty-one
  49. forty-two
  50. forty-three
  51. forty-four
  52. forty-five
  53. forty-six
  54. forty-seven
  55. forty-eight
  56. forty-nine
  57. fifty
  58. fifty-one
  59. Epilogue
  60. Keep Reading for a Preview of Valerie Luesse’s Next Book!
  61. Prologue
  62. one
  63. Acknowledgments
  64. About the Author
  65. Back Ads
  66. Back Cover

“I’ve met Aunt Marilyn,” Peyton said with a grin.

“Oh, I forgot! Was she mean to you?”

“That’s one scary lady—no offense. Did Judy explain that whole newspaper business?”

“Yes. And I’m sorry I got mad. I should’ve had a little faith in you.”

“That’s okay. Back to Bobbie Ann.”

“Well, Aunt Marilyn seemed glad to get rid of us. Just between us, I don’t believe she’s the person Mama thinks she is. I had no idea my cousin was bringing me down here, just the two of us. She’s wild as a buck—goes in bars and everything—and tries to drag me into her nonsense. Last night, I walked to a little café for supper, and when I got back to Aunt Maude’s, the house was overflowing with people I didn’t know—including a few sailors—and music was blaring on the radio. I turned right around and went to a boardinghouse I had seen on Caroline Street. The lady that runs it showed me how to rent a room for the night, and that’s where I stayed.”

Peyton stroked her hair. “All by yourself?”

“Yes.”

“Were you scared?”

“Yes.”

He wanted like everything to make her smile. “You don’t have to be scared anymore because you’ve got the mighty Bike Boy looking after you.”

It worked. He could still make Lisa laugh—and he had never realized until now that it was one of his favorite things to do, because her laugh was the best sound in the whole world.

“I want to go home, Peyton,” she said, the anxiety back in her voice. “I have no idea how to get back to Savannah because I don’t have much money left. If I call home, Mama will just wire me money to get back to Miami, but that would create a big mess because of Bobbie Ann. I don’t want to stay with them anymore. And I don’t know what to do.”

“Well,” Peyton said, “you’re in luck because there’s a highway back to Savannah, and I happen to know it fairly well.”

“So I hear. Did you know you’ve been in a whole bunch of papers all along the coast?” Lisa asked, looking up at him.

“I did—but only because I have connections with the press.” Peyton told Lisa all about Gina and her family. Then he traced his trip backward, from Will and Aunt Jack to Aunt Gert and Finn to the two children from the hospital, Bonnie and Jasper, who had lingered with him—more like something he wasn’t supposed to forget than something he wanted to remember.

“There’s a reason why you met those children,” Lisa said. “I really believe that. Maybe it was just to feed them that one time. Maybe not. You’ll just have to wait to find out, I guess. Sure wish I could meet them—all of them. Especially Gina.”

“She gave me this,” he said, pulling Gina’s medal out of his shirt so Lisa could see it. “Her mother gave me one too—see?”

Lisa sat up and held the medals in her hand.