Page 48 of At First Catch

Walter smiles to himself.

“Half the town’s kids are probably on there somewhere.”

“You left it?”

He gives me a look.

“Son, the council talked about replacing it after the hurricane.”

He chuckles.

“You’d have thought they suggested bulldozing the lighthouse.”

My eyes drift back to the old piling.

It’s just a piece of weathered timber.

Except...

It isn’t.

It’s proof that this place has been collecting people’s lives a lot longer than I’ve been standing on these docks.

Walter settles near the dock office like a retired king overseeing his kingdom. “You inviting folks for the summer kickoff?”

“I’m still figuring out logistics.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

I twist my gaze toward him. Walter’s face shows no guilt. Dangerously innocent.

“Hadley mentioned a few ideas earlier.”

“There it is.”

I narrow my eyes. “There what is?”

“That look.”

“What look?”

“The one where your entire face changes when somebody says Hadley Wright.”

I blink once. Then twice.

“Absolutely not.”

Walter grins.

Oh no. No, no, no.

Not him, too.

“You locals are invasive.”

“We’re observant.”

“You’re nosy.”