the door to Anna’s office, but the secretary didn’t look up.
“Where is he?” Terri demanded.
Anna just slanted her head toward Brody’s closed office door. She’d worked for father and daughter for fifteen years and she was used to their arguments. Although, since Elaine had arrived four years ago, the storms were quieter from Brody’s side.
Terri stopped in front of the desk. “Remember that photo Della gave us of Stacy Hartman and the guy she’s going to marry?”
“No,” Anna said, and finally looked up. Terri’s face was red with anger. That wasn’t unusual, but the fact that she had on makeup and her hair was combed was very unusual. “Della probably put it on the Shame Board.”
One wall of the office had an eight-foot-long bulletin board where people pinned photos. It hadn’t been the plan, but it had become a place to exhibit every embarrassing, nearly fatal, humiliating picture taken at the lake. If a girl turned too fast and her top popped open, you can bet a photo of it was on the board.
Terri only looked at it when she was trying to figure out things, like who stole flowers or fishing gear or any petty crime.
She scanned them all, then started lifting photos to see what was under them. She was annoyed to see six pictures of herself bending over. Butt shots of Terri seemed to be a favorite. “Someone should clean this thing up.”
“Not my job,” Anna said by rote. She’d learned that if she didn’t refuse to do things she’d be like Terri and given responsibility for all of it.
“Ah ha!” Terri snatched a photo from beneath three others. She stared at it for a moment, then held it in front of Anna. “Know who this is?”
It was a picture taken at what looked to be a formal dinner. A young, very pretty blonde woman was leaning toward a large, handsome man wearing a tuxedo. He had his arm around her in a possessive way. “It’s the mayor’s daughter and some guy in a monkey suit. What a dress! I wonder where she buys her clothes.”
“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