Page 128 of Tourist Trap

Grant doesn’t respond, but his jaw goes tight, and I let out a laugh before going back to cheering my niece on.

The cheering does the trick, though, because a splash comes from the water, and my attention goes back to my niece, who starts shrieking with excitement.

“I did it! I did it!” She jumps happily, clearly not worried about the fish the way I was last year.

“You havegotto be kidding me,” Miles says with an exasperated sigh.

I’m confused by his statement, and even more so when Benny starts laughing, loud and wheezing, as he looks at the flopping fish. He comes to my side, putting a hand on my shoulder.

“I think she may have beat you, Claire,” he says, and then I let out a laugh with understanding.

“Did I win? Did I do it?” Sophie asks, my brother taking the line from her and holding it up while Grant grabs Benny’s measuring tape, holding it out to measure the fish.

“No way,” he says, then looks up. “It’s bigger than Claire’s last year.”

“Girls rule,” June shouts with a laugh. This year, the group of girls shrieking excitedly is bigger and, thus, louder, something that, again, makes my heart swell.

“Sophie! You won!” I say to my niece.

She smiles wide, hands on her hips. “Of course I did. I’m the coolest, smartest girl ever.”

I let out a loud laugh and hope to God she never loses her confidence.

“Duh,” I say. “Okay, picture! Soph, hold your fish up!” Nate hands her the line, and she holds the poor, flopping fish up, a smile on her lips as all of us girls huddle in together.

Benny takes a photo, Miles taking one on my phone like the good boyfriend he is. “Must be something about those Donovan girls, you know?” Benny says with a wide smile after Nate releases the fish into the water.

“You know it,” Sophie says.

“Who gets the prize?” Deck asks because before Sophie caught her fish, he had the biggest so far. “She doesn’t even live here.”

“Shut up,” Sutton says, rolling her eyes. “You sound like such a whiner.”

“Excuse me?” he asks, turning to her with a look of awe on his face.

“I said,” my sister says slower. “You sound like a whiner who’s mad that a little girl beat you at the fishing contest.”

My jaw drops a bit, and I look to June, who is beaming, then to Miles, who is shaking his head.

“There’s a prize?” Sophie asks with hope in her words, breaking up the tension.

“It’s a parking spot at the Seabreeze,” I explain. “Not very exciting.”

“Don’t think Soph has much use for a bar parking spot,” Nate says with a laugh.

“Honestly, if anyone could somehow find a use for it, it would be Princess Sophie,” Jules, my soon-to-be sister-in-law, says, the rock Nate slipped on her finger last Christmas glinting in the sun.

“I don’t want a parking spot,” Sophie pouts.

Miles looks from me to Nate to Sophie like he already has a plan. From the corner of my eye, my dad lets out a loud laugh from the picnic table where he sits with Mom, Helen, and Sarah.

“Wanna make a deal?” Miles asks, getting on her level.

Sophie looks at him skeptically, hands going to her hips. “What kind of deal?”

“I’ll buy you a new Ashlyn doll if you give me the spot,” he says. He’s spent plenty of time with my family over the last year, including getting to know my favorite niece well.

Her little nose scrunches up, concentrating before she responds. “And the Ashlyn horse,” she says, crossing her arms on her chest.

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