Contents ( 66)
- Cover
- Books by Valerie Fraser Luesse
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Map of Florida
- one
- two
- three
- four
- five
- six
- seven
- eight
- nine
- ten
- eleven
- twelve
- thirteen
- fourteen
- fifteen
- sixteen
- seventeen
- eighteen
- nineteen
- twenty
- twenty-one
- twenty-two
- twenty-three
- twenty-four
- twenty-five
- twenty-six
- twenty-seven
- twenty-eight
- twenty-nine
- thirty
- thirty-one
- thirty-two
- thirty-three
- thirty-four
- thirty-five
- thirty-six
- thirty-seven
- thirty-eight
- thirty-nine
- forty
- forty-one
- forty-two
- forty-three
- forty-four
- forty-five
- forty-six
- forty-seven
- forty-eight
- forty-nine
- fifty
- fifty-one
- Epilogue
- Keep Reading for a Preview of Valerie Luesse’s Next Book!
- Prologue
- one
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Back Ads
- Back Cover
What first brought hope soon turned to misery as Peyton hung around the bungalow, studying his father’s old Florida map and listening for the telephone. It was driving him crazy. It was driving Aunt Gert and his mother crazy. He was pacing back and forth on the sleeping porch when he heard Pirate come through the cat door. The cat did something he had never done before. He rubbed his head against Peyton’s leg. Then he pawed at the screen door that led outside. Peyton opened it and watched as Pirate walked calmly down the steps and rubbed his head against the front wheel of the bike. Then he leisurely made his way toward the river and his favorite napping tree. Peyton had never been superstitious, but, man—that was spooky.
“I know what you’re thinking.”
He turned to see his mother standing behind him on the porch. She smiled at him, but it wasn’t her old, happy smile. It was her trying-my-level-best smile.
“Oh yeah?” He grinned at her. “You think you know everything.”
She put her arms around him and gave him a hug. “I can’t believe I have to look up at you now. Where was I when you grew up?”
“Oh, you were there—tellin’ me I needed a haircut.”
“Let’s go get some air, son.”
They walked down to the dock and climbed into the Madame Queen. Peyton’s mother navigated as he drove them to a shady inlet off the San Sebastian River and shut off the engine. For a time, they sat listening to the water lap against the boat. Now and then a fish would jump, disturbing the river and the quiet.
Finally, she said, “Things will be very different for us now, Peyton.”
Unsure of what to say, he just listened.
“With your father and your grandfather gone, I doubt Jimmy will be able to hold on to the purse strings anymore. He secured as much as he could for you and me, but we’ll have to be careful how we spend it. Julian will likely sue for executorship, and he’ll probably win. Then he’ll do everything he can to deprive us of whatever he can. It won’t take him long to lose everything your granddaddy built, after all those years of your daddy being such a good steward. We’d be in for nothing but misery if we stayed tied to them, son. I think we have to make it on our own.”
Peyton reached over the side of the boat and ran his hand over the water, watching the ripples fan out from the Madame. “Where would we go?”
“I think you deserve a say in that. No matter what happens, I want you to finish high school with your friends. I was thinking I might get a job at the hospital in Savannah and rent a little place on Tybee. How do you feel about that?”
Peyton thought it over. Now that he saw the Cabots as his mother always had—how they had both depended on and resented his father—he didn’t think he could go back to them, ever. All that money hadn’t made any of them happy, and Peyton couldn’t see the point in fighting over it.