BooksBarbecue
Back The Key to Everything Save as PDF
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

For all who see him as he travels mile after mile beside the vast, majestic Atlantic Ocean, wave to him. Cheer him on. Do anything you can to help the Bike Boy triumph—over the inexorable trials of the highway, over the heart-wrenching pain of his grief.

“Mama! Mama, where are you?” Rosa ran to her mother’s kitchen, waving the local newspaper in the air.

“Rosa! What is all this fuss?” Mama Eva was at her stove, turning plantains in a cast-iron skillet pooled with butter.

“Look, Mama, it’s out! My story about Peyton.”

“Oh! Let me see.” Mama Eva took the paper from her daughter, absently tending her plantains as she read. She pulled the hem of her apron up to her face and dabbed at her eyes. “Such a dear boy—and such a beautiful story, Rosa.” She hugged her daughter and kissed her on the forehead. “I am so proud of you. Be sure you buy many copies of that paper for me to keep.”

“I will. Oh—I forgot the best part! Some of the reporters at the paper—they think it might get picked up by a wire service like the Associated Press. They would edit it, of course.”

“Edit this? What on earth for? You call that Associated Press on the telephone and tell them this story is perfect!”

Rosa laughed and hugged her mother. “I’ll tell them, Mama. Can you just imagine? If the AP picks up my story, it will go everywhere!”

Mama Eva raised an eyebrow. “Whose story?”

Rosa nodded. “You’re right. I’m getting full of myself. It’s really Peyton’s story. His story will go everywhere.”

thirty-one

By the time he finally made it to Palm Beach, Peyton had changed more flat tires and slept in more firehouses than he could count. Rosa’s story made little towns like Jensen Beach and Hobe Sound all the more welcoming as his “Bike Boy” fame spread down the coast. The Palm Beach firehouse was especially hospitable, giving him a comfortable cot and inviting him to the table with all the firemen. The chief helped Peyton get a job filling in for one of the pool boys for a couple of days at a swanky resort called The Breakers. Peyton hoped to earn enough money to take Lisa out for a special dinner in Miami—and he was making the most of the free-meal-a-day that came with his job.

It was the end of his Saturday afternoon shift, and he had just found an empty poolside table, taking a seat with a cheeseburger and fries, when he saw another member of the staff pointing him out to a woman wearing a dress and heels and carrying one of those little reporter notebooks. She looked out of place by a swimming pool.

“Would you be the Bike Boy?” the woman asked with a smile as she approached his table.

“Yes, ma’am, I reckon that’s me,” Peyton said, standing to offer her a chair.

“I’m Peggy Martell,” the woman said as she took a seat. “I write feature stories for the Miami Herald. Please—finish your lunch.”