“I get offers all the time. People dropping notes in the mail slot, sending me emails, or just knocking on the office door. It’s developers who want to knock the place down and build another big resort hotel, or some of these damn hipster types who want to make it into one of those pricey boutique hotels.”

Even though they were alone, Ava lowered her voice. “It’s crazy the money these people are offering.”

“It makes good business sense,” Letty said. “You’ve got about three hundred feet of unobstructed Gulf-front property here. But would you really consider selling the Murmuring Surf after all these years?”

“Well…” Ava’s voice trailed off. “The trouble is, I really love this old dump. I love all the families who started coming here when their kids were young, and now those kids are bringing their kids. They send me Christmas cards and birth and wedding announcements. And of course, our snowbirds, the regulars who’ve been wintering here for decades, they’re like family. I hate to think about how they’d feel if I were to sell the Murmuring Surf. Where would they go? We’re sort of the last of a dying breed here. And you know, every year or so, I’ll get a call from someone’s kids back home, telling me their nana or granddad has passed away, and they won’t be joining us this winter. Or worse, we’ll have one of our guests pass away while they’re down here.”

“That’s happened?” Letty asked, horrified. “People have died, right here in the motel?”

Ava gave her hand a reassuring pat. “Maybe half a dozen times over the years. That’s why I always ask our older guests for a phone number for their next of kin, up home. Just in case.”

“It’s none of my business,” Letty said, “but if you still love running the Surf, why should you sell out?”

“I just think it’s selfish on my part,” Ava said with a shrug. “I’m sort of sitting on a gold mine here. If I were to sell, Joe could start up a business of his own if he wanted to, and Isabelle, she wouldn’t have to worry about paying for college, or anything else for that matter.”

“And what about you?” Letty asked.

“I guess I’d do whatever people do at my age. Retire. Take up crossword puzzles or knitting. Maybe travel.”

Letty laughed. “I don’t see you as a knitter or a puzzler.”

“True. But this is Isabelle’s last year at home. She’ll head off to college in August. I haven’t let myself think about what happens after that.”