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I let out a whistle. “That is one fine wahoo. Look at those teeth!” I stepped closer and lowered my voice while making sure everyone heard me. “Now tell me exactly how you caught it.”
The crowd laughed as I knew they would. I was competitive as shit, wanting to learn to catch it all. While I was happy for Jase, I was a little bit pissed I hadn’t caught a wahoo myself yet. He told me as much as he could, but I knew some of it just came down to luck. When I’d milked him for all the information I could get, I told him congratulations again and climbed back in my truck.
The first sprinkle hit my windshield as I pulled into the parking lot in front of the lawyer’s office. The familiar wail of the lightning siren downtown went off. I hustled across the lot and ducked inside, missing most of the downpour.
“Dec Boggs!” The pretty receptionist stood up and smoothed down her fitted skirt, giving me a million-watt smile.
“Hey, Andrea. How’s your mama?”
She rolled her eyes and came out from behind her desk to give me a hug. “Oh you know, just asking me when the grandbabies are coming.” She held on a little too long for my liking.
I stepped back and tried to keep things brief. I didn’t date women who lived in Sunshine Key. It was a rule of mine I had no intention of changing. When you had no plans of settling down ever, you didn’t want to give any of these mamas a lick of hope or you’d never have any peace. I just wanted to fish and take care of my dad until I took my last breath.
“You just need to meet Mr. Right. I’m sure you will though. Is Mel here?”
Andrea schooled her face into a professional smile again. I liked that about her. She took rejection well. “I’ll let him know you’re here. Can I get you anything to drink?”
“No, thank you. I’m good.”
The door in the back opened and Mel came out, looking heavier than the last time I’d seen him. His suit was up to date fashion-wise, but looked far fancier than Sunshine Key called for. Come to think of it, I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen the man without a three-piece suit on.
“Dec! I’m so sorry for your loss.”
I shook his hand. “And yours. I know you and Maeve went way back.”
He nodded his almost completely bald head. “Maeve was one of the good ones. I’ll miss her every day.” He stood up straighter. “But let’s get you settled in my office while we wait for next of kin.”
He closed the door to his office, and I had a seat in one of two leather chairs in front of his desk. The place looked like a man cave with heavy bookshelves and dark leather everywhere you looked. Wouldn’t have blinked an eye if he lit up a cigar right then and there.
“Maeve’s sister, right? Mona?” I couldn’t wait to meet her out of gross curiosity. Maeve had painted a picture over the years. She and her sister were estranged, a fact that had bothered Maeve to no end.
Mel had a seat and his chair let out a whine that sounded like a dying animal. “Actually, no. Her sister did not want to come, which is just as well. Maeve’s niece, Kenna, will be attending.”
A flash of light, followed almost immediately by a clap of thunder, shook the building. If I’d been a guy to believe in omens, this would not have been a good sign for the meeting ahead.
Chapter Three
Kenna
“Thank you so much,” I murmured, collecting my messenger bag and jacket from the seat beside me. The rideshare driver just dipped his head and went back to scrolling on his phone. I couldn’t complain. He’d gotten me to the lawyer’s office right on time, even if his lack of conversation skills made me grind my teeth. If I was going to be talking to myself, the least he could do was mutter something back so I didn’t seem so crazy.
I slammed the door and tried to shimmy between the car and an oversized truck parked right next to us. Damn thing was huge, taking up the entirety of the parking space as if the owner felt he was due more than his fair share of space in life. Fishing poles stuck out the back of the truck bed, along with a larger than necessary Salt Life sticker on the back of the cab window. I’d seen quite a few of those on my ride over from the airport. Didn’t know what the salt life was all about and I hoped I never did. I was only here long enough to collect whatever Aunt Maeve had left me and be on my way.
I thought I’d made it through when something snagged my blouse and yanked it, nearly choking me.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I asked the universe at large in a quiet, bubbling rage. I yanked my blouse loose from the fishing line, resulting in a hole the size of a quarter on my shoulder. The charms on my old bracelet let out a soothing tinkle, but nothing could calm the beast that I’d become this last week.
A crack of lightning had me wincing and looking up at the darkening sky. Rain began to pelt my face with alarming speed. I ran, hole and all, my ballet flats slipping and sliding across the blacktop but getting me to the overhang outside the front door before I fell. Every time I thought I’d hit rock bottom in the last few days, something else came to laugh at my delusion and push me ever closer to a new level of rock bottom. I was stuck in some sort of free fall from hell. My current rock bottom was walking into the lawyer’s office soaking wet with a hole on my shoulder.
“Hello, can I help you?”
I had to hand it to the secretary, she kept a straight face the whole time she checked out the hair plastered to my head, the mascara dripping down my cheeks, and the squeak from one ballet flat that did not appreciate being soaked.
“Yes, hello. I’m Kenna Ryan, here to see Mr. Cheatum?”
“Kenna Cugly?”
I tried to hold in the grimace. “Was Cugly, now and forever more Kenna Ryan.” The one good thing about my impending divorce would be giving up that married name.
