Love in Darkness (Castles on the Sand 2)

Twenty-One

“Alex, we need to schedule that meeting with your cousins.” Aunt Ellie finishes going through the phone messages for the Wilkstone Foundation.

We’re in the Foundation’s office on Main Street, and I sit behind the reception desk while she packs up her things. She’ll drive on to her other home in Crescent City, where she plans to meet with some clients over the next few days. I’ll stay here. We’ve already dropped my things at my house.

The reception area of the Foundation office is small but well decorated with a tile floor, a splashing fountain, and comfy chairs for people waiting to meet with my aunt.

“We need a new director and we need one stat,” she goes on.

“Sure.” I’m distracted, though, by being back in Pelican Bluffs. There’s no denying I love it here. Even just the way the air smells is perfect.

“Big changes are happening in town, specifically, the Madison Lukas factor.”

I look up. “What’s that?” I ask.

“She’s a local girl, you probably know her. Started a business with artists that has taken off. I mean, growing like you wouldn’t believe. We’ve had seven people who moved into the low income houses to work minimum wages in town quit and stay in those houses, doing art, which isn’t something we originally foresaw. They’re earning decent money too. She’s also started this monthly photoshoot thing where all her clients come together to get their wares photographed for online sales. The first one turned into a de facto crafts fair when people showed up to try to buy the wares before they went up on the internet. I mean, that’ll be a zoning nightmare from now on. In short, she’s creating a middle class and a local industry, and those are two things this town’s never had. Usually people’s eligibility to live in those houses ends when they stop working in town, but they’re creating new jobs in town now. We’ll run out of housing.”

“Oh.”

“So… it’s more than I can deal with. Three art galleries wanting to move in, when we don’t have the commercial space. It’s insane, and your cousins, either of them, would handle it much better than I.”

“Okay.”

“So when are we gonna have that meeting?”

“Set it up for the next time you’re in town.”

“Which of your cousins do you want to take over?”

“I still need to think about that.”

Aunt Ellie rolls her eyes. “Fine. Just decide by the time we have that meeting.”

“I promise.”

“I’m leaving. You coming out?”

“Actually, I’ll lock up. It’s okay.”

She gives me an odd look, which I suppose is appropriate given I have no conceivable reason to stay behind, but she also seems ready to leave me. I tried to be a good houseguest, but no one wants to look after a disabled relative indefinitely, especially not a grown man. Aunt Ellie gives me a hug, then exits without another word, the glass door swinging shut behind her with a soft swish.

I sit back down behind the reception desk and look around. My homecoming has made me sentimental all of a sudden. Once I turn over the Foundation to one of my cousins, my relationship with this place will change. I won’t be Roger’s grandson, the technical heir-apparent. I’ll be just another Wilkstone cousin, and one no longer in the line of succession, or whatever you call it when it’s a business and not a country.

A tap on the glass makes me look up and I see Officer Li standing outside. “You okay?” he mouths.

I get up and open the door. “Yeah. I guess.”