“Not in Summer Hill, that’s for sure. That man!” Terri tapped her finger on the picture. “He’s living in my house. I woke up this morning and there he was.”
“In your bedroom? Can I stay there tomorrow night and make a wish?”
With a look of disgust, Terri took the picture, pulled the door to her father’s office open and slammed it behind her.
“I didn’t do it,” Brody said. He wasn’t as tall as his daughter and the years had thickened his waist, but he was a good-looking man with salt-and-pepper hair. He and his daughter had the same eyes. They were a deep shade of brown that could go from softness to hardwood in seconds.
Right now Brody was uninterested in whatever his daughter was angry about. “Did you put the life jackets in the dock room?”
Terri was standing by the door. “You sent me to Richmond so you could move a man into my house.”
Brody was going over a stack of invoices. “I think we need a new vendor for the ropes. This one is getting too expensive.” He looked up at his daughter. “Yeah, so? Kit said the poor guy needed some peace and you needed some time off. He’s only there for three days. So what’s the problem? The old guy drooling in his soup?”
Terri tossed the photo onto his desk. “This look familiar?”
Brody picked it up and studied it. “He looks like Billy. That’s still bothering you after all these years?”
Terri narrowed her eyes at him.
“Okay, don’t look at me like that!” He looked back at the photo, knowing that he needed to cover his earlier mistake. Billy was not to be mentioned. “Isn’t this Mayor Hartman’s daughter? She has a booth this year, doesn’t she? She’s the cause of your anger? If so, where you gonna put her? Out on the Island?” It was his attempt at a joke. A booth set up on the little Island wouldn’t get much foot traffic.
Terri didn’t smile.
Brody sighed, put the photo down and leaned back in his chair, arms across his chest. “Okay, I’m sorry. Kit asked a favor of me. He wanted me to send you away so his old friend could stay there for three days. I offered another cabin, but Kit said Aggie’s is the nicest. Anyway, you got a holiday and an old man had a place to stay. Now we’re done. Could you go see about the mess on Moon?”
Terri put her finger on Nate in the photo. “That is the man staying in my house. And he’s there for three weeks, not days. And he’s going to marry Stacy Hartman.”
Brody picked up the photo, looked at Nate and gave a smile. “That old devil, Kit,” he muttered, then looked up at his daughter’s angry face. “He was there when you woke up? So what’d you say? We have to stop meeting like this?”
“This is not funny.”
“It is, actually. If this guy’s engaged, why did Kit pair him up with you?”
“He’s your friend, so you tell me!” Terri nearly shouted.
Brody was looking at the photo. “What’s this guy’s name?”
“Nathaniel Taggert.”
“Ah. There’s your answer. Kit mentioned him. They used to work together. Obviously, h
e wanted the boy to be around family, not stuck in a cabin by himself. I hope he doesn’t expect you to cook for him.” Brody looked alarmed. “You didn’t cook anything, did you? He doesn’t deserve—”
“I am not a babysitter,” Terri said through her clenched teeth. “I know about this guy. Della told us about him.”
Brody rolled his eyes. “Della Kissel tells us about everybody. The Gossip Queen. Since when did you ever listen to her?”
“Since the last time she said she was going to have you fired.”
“She can’t. The trust says—”
Terri clenched her fists. “I’m not getting into your fights with Della. She knows about this because she helped Stacy’s mother sew the costumes for Kit’s play and—”
“Wasn’t that a great show? Of course after the first night, they had someone else playing Wickham and it wasn’t as good, but—”
“Stop it!” Terri yelled. “You’re trying to distract me from the subject. This guy is worthless! He’s engaged to Stacy Hartman.”
Brody looked confused. “I never knew you disliked her. You’ve never said anything bad about her. Did she...?”