“Sure thing,” Tawny said as she adjusted the room numbers on the computer and handed him the keys from the rack inside the door. “You been here recently?”
“Lots of times. Came for years with my grandfather, who was a fishin’ guide. When he died, I took over the business. You’d be one of Annie’s granddaughters, right?”
“Yes, sir. I’m the youngest, Tawny.”
“I’m sorry to hear about her passing, but I’m real glad that you are keepin’ the place open,” he said.
“Thank you. Anything else?” What did Harper see in him, anyway? Maybe it was because he was the only boy around that summer. Light-brown hair, hazel eyes, tall and sinewy with muscular arms but nothing outstanding about him—at least not in Tawny’s eyes.
“Are you the only granddaughter that came back to this place?” Wyatt asked.
“No.” She shook her head. “My sisters, Harper and Dana, are here also.”
Wyatt lingered at the open door. “Harper was fifteen and Dana had a little girl with her. Maybe about three or four years old. My grandpa thought she was the cutest thing he’d ever seen.”
Tawny looked up into his eyes. “That’s right. That little girl is fourteen now.”
“Wow, time does fly, doesn’t it? I was only sixteen that year, and it was my last visit here for a long time. But after college I decided that sitting behind a desk wasn’t for me, so I picked up where my grandpa left off,” Wyatt said. “I should be going. Nice visitin’ with you.”
“See you at supper?” she asked.
“Wouldn’t miss one of Zed’s burgers for anything. Just sorry I missed the blue-plate special at noon.” Wyatt shut the door behind himself.
She left the cabin and headed for the store. If she approached it right and didn’t make Dana angry, she might find out what her older sister remembered from that summer. The store was hopping busy with fishermen wanting bait and young kids whining for ice cream bars while their parents bought picnic supplies, so she grabbed a bag of pork rinds and a root beer and held them up. Dana nodded and Tawny left without getting any answers.
Her mouth was full of pork rinds when the phone rang. “Lake Side Resort,” she answered. She’d always heard the resort referred to as Annie’s Place, so the official name sounded strange in her ears.
“You are talking with food in your mouth. I can hear it,” her mother said bluntly.
“Sorry about that. Not bad manners, just good pork rinds.”
“Good God almighty!” Retha gasped. “I hated for you girls to go to that place in the summer. Pork rinds?”
“Are amazing. Especially the barbecued ones. You should try them,” Tawny giggled.
“I can’t believe you are actually living in that backwoods place.” Retha’s voice turned icy cold.
“What does it matter where I go? You disowned me, remember?” The sharp edge in Tawny’s tone could have shredded steel.
“It was to teach you a lesson. I know what’s best for you,” Retha said.
“I suppose you’re going to tell me that’s why you tied up my and Harper’s inheritance from Daddy—to show us what is best for us?”
“I blame it all on that damned lake. Annie didn’t watch over you like she should have.”
“Whoa! Wait a minute, Mother. I know how to hang up a telephone, and a corded one makes such a lovely loud bang. I won’t have you talkin’ trash about Granny.”
“She broke up our family,” Retha countered.
“I’d say you broke it up when you sent Harper to boarding school. Why’d you do that? Daddy was never the same afterward. She was only fifteen. What did she do to get exiled?” Tawny asked.
“She left on her sixteenth birthday. That’s tough love. You can have your inheritance when you are forty or when I see that you are finally acting responsibly. God knows that damn resort is breeding ground for trouble,” Retha snapped.
“Trouble finds me wherever I go, Mother. There’s about ten cabins here with mighty fine-lookin’ men in every one. And I’m not any farther than a city block from a convenience store that sells all kinds of beer. Bet if I went down to the high school I could even score some weed.” Tawny knew she was baiting her mother, but she couldn’t make herself stop.
“I can’t believe my kin would turn out the way you and Harper have. I would have expected it of your father’s bastard daughter, but you two had the best that money could buy.” Retha sighed.
“Dana probably turned out to be the best one of us. She’s got her head on straight and she’s a really good mom to Brook, so don’t bad-mouth her.” Tawny couldn’t believe that she was taking up for her older sister.
“You just proved that you aren’t worthy to get your inheritance yet,” Retha said, and the line went dead.
“Love you, too, Mama.” Tawny slammed the receiver back on the base and muttered, “If you had any idea what this place is worth, you’d be beatin’ a path up here to try to get your grubby little hands on part of it.”
A bunch of guys wearing caps with fishing hooks and all kinds of pins attached to the bills arrived in the café just as Harper made the rounds to refill drinks. She set two pitchers on the drink counter and headed over to the only empty table in the café. “Looks like all y’all are wearing your lucky hats today.”
“Yep, every one of us is slightly superstitious. I’ll have sweet tea and a double-meat, double-cheese burger basket,” the one closest to her said.
“And the rest of you?” she asked without really looking at any of them.
“Same as old Donnie,” another one said.
“Me too,” two more chimed in.
“Well, that makes it easy enough. And you?” she asked the guy who’d pulled up a fifth chair from a two-top.
“You got any of the cobbler left over from dinner?” he asked.
A jolt of something akin to electricity shooting through her body glued her to the floor. She’d never forgotten that deep voice or the way that her hormones whined when he was within twenty feet of her.
“We’ve got about eight servings, last I checked,” she answered.
“Save it all for us. If we don’t eat it now, we’ll take it to go, and hello, Harper,” Wyatt said.
“Wyatt.” Her voice was at least two octaves higher than normal, and her hands trembled. “What brings you back here?”
“He’s our fishin’ guide. We’ve been comin’ here the past three years during this week. So you know this old ragtag fisherman?” the oldest guy in the group asked.
“Used to, but a lot of water has run under the bridge since we were sixteen.” She fought against the desire to leave the café, get into her truck, and not even look in the rearview mirror. She could be packed up and out of there in exactly thirty minutes. When she’d gone to Tyler for supplies, she’d had both her tires fixed, so she was ready to go. But that wouldn’t be fair to Uncle Zed or to her granny’s memory.
She took the order all the way to the kitchen instead of pinning it up over the serving window. She only needed a few seconds to still her racing pulse and calm her thumping heart. Dammit! She’d thought she’d gotten over him for good.
Zed looked up from the grill and pointed to a bar stool by his prep table. “Sit! You look like you just saw a ghost. What’s happened? Did Annie appear to you?”