Page 40 of Kiss Me, Darling

“What the hell?” Chris gasped as he came to a stop beside me. “What does it say?”

We waded into the water to get a closer look. The word “leave” was smeared down one side and “money sucks” on the other side.

“I get the impression they don’t like you,” I said to my brother.

He frowned. “I don’t get it. They send pictures of all of us, weird notes and articles, but they only do weird shit here. Is it me or is it you? Or is it all of us?”

“Maybe you guys set up better security at Olivia and London’s?”

He shook his head. “We all have the same cameras, lighting, and security teams. Whoever is doing this, they feel comfortable coming here to do their damage.”

I really, really didn’t like that.

Joe and Esther were more upset than we were. Probably because all of this happened on their watch. Again. They took pictures and called in the police to make a formal report. It was the same story as last time. In the dark of night a boat was seen on the security camera coming up to the dock. They spent eleven minutes leaving their message and then left.

“We’re adding two more to our team. Twenty-four seven surveillance,” Joe said.

At this point Ben, London, and Lucy had joined us.

“I think Lucy and I should sleep somewhere else.” My skin itched with anxiety now more than ever.

“You can stay with us,” Ben volunteered. “We have plenty of room. And even better, a lack of paint graffiti.”

“Oh we’d love that!” Lucy exclaimed at the same time I said, “We’ll stay at the resort.”

The thought of a night alone with Lucy sounded great to me, but she had such a hopeful look in her eyes. I couldn’t deny her. “Yeah, fine. Sleepover it is.”

We packed up and were driven over to London’s newly renovated home. Even though it looked different, there were certain things that were the same. Especially the footprint of the original house. Itfeltfamiliar. Plus it was hard to stand in that kitchen and not think of cookies and snacks.

That was probably my favorite part of Calusa Key. All my memories here—aside from the lightning strike—were good memories.

“You’re smiling,” Lucy said with a squeeze on my hand.

“Yeah. This house does that to all of us.”

London gave us a quick tour, their dog Sheba doing donuts around our legs the entire time. I already knew my way around, but Lucy didn’t, plus I got to see all the little updates along the way. We settled into a spare bedroom and, at London’s urging, changed into pajamas before joining them downstairs for grilled cheese and tomato soup.

Ben assembled the sandwiches with a variety of cheeses while London tasted and adjusted the tomato soup. He flipped a sandwich. Sheba looked up at him hopefully. “Find everything you need?”

“Yep. We’re good to go.” My second new bed this week. It was like I was traveling again.

“We still on for lunch tomorrow?” London asked Lucy.

“Absolutely. I’m looking forward to seeing Zoe.”

“I’m a little nervous,” London confessed. “I’m used to people reading what I write when it’s about travel. No one has really read and critiqued anything else I’ve written.”

“Going straight to the top, eh?” I teased her. Sheba dropped her nose into my lap so I had no choice but to scratch behind her ears.

She threw her hands in the air. “Go big or go home, right?”

She made an excellent point. “You’ll get along great. Zoe is awesome and she’s kind. So even if your book is crap she’ll give you gentle tips on how to improve.” Working with her had been easy from day one.

A balled up paper towel came my way. “Jerk face.”

I shrugged. “This is what it’s like to have brothers around.”

She shook her head at me and started doling out bowls of soup.

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