Kelsey grinned. “Yes, of course I remember you. You groaned anytime I was over at your house with either of my folks.”
“Okay, well, I’m afraid I have a few years on you. You were a pest back then.”
“Not that much of a pest,” David Beckett said, “I remember really liking you. I can’t believe that you’re an adult now.”
Kelsey seldom flushed, but she did so. David Beckett had an amazing sense of class and kindness.
Like Liam.
But her mother had always said that their grandfather, Craig Beckett, was one of the most honorable men she had ever known. He had taught his progeny well, she thought.
She needed to take a step back; this did feel like old-home week. And she wasn’t staying. She had started life over again, and she was comfortable where she was. She loved her work, her neighborhood, and she wasn’t sure why she had come, other than guilt and a sense of debt, and she was very afraid of falling back into…she didn’t know what. Maybe the oddity of belonging to the house and being Cutter Merlin’s granddaughter.
“Thank you, David. And Jonas, it’s really okay—I wasn’t so fond of you back then, either,” she said, and the group laughed.
“Have a seat—I’ll get you a Guinness,” Liam said.
“Oh, wait! I’m supposedly working,” Clarinda said.
“It’s all right—I know the owner,” Liam said laughing. He headed straight back behind the bar to pour the beer himself.
“We’re right across from you,” Clarinda told Kelsey. “I live with Jonas, and if you need anything at all, we’re really close.”
“Thank you.”
“Yes, honest. Now I’ll be glad if you stop by,” Jonas said. He made a face. “And I’ve got rooms if you want out of the old place.”
“Actually, I loved living there,” she said.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Katie put in. “Liam said it’s in pretty bad shape. Although I’ll be happy to come over and help you put things in order, if you like.”
“That would be great,” Kelsey said. Could she really ask someone else to sweep up spiderwebs and dust with her?
“I would absolutely adore getting into that house!” Jaden said. “That’s what Ted and I do. Well, not exactly. We own a place called Sunken Treasures. Most of what we do is restoration of things that divers bring up. Salvage restoration. But I worked at an auction house for a while before Ted and I opened our own place, so I’m pretty good at assessing the value of old treasures.”
“That’s great to know,” Kelsey said.
Liam returned with two pints of Guinness, setting one in front of her. She thanked him, and Ted said, “Well, you do have an army here for help, if you want it. I must admit, I’m fascinated by the prospect of getting into the house, too.”
“We could have a clean-the-house day,” Liam said.
“Do you all have a conception of just how bad the house is?” Kelsey asked.
“Oh, hey, well, it doesn’t take a lot of talent to get entangled in spiderwebs,” Katie told her.
“There’s still a barbecue out back, isn’t there?” Jonas asked.
“Oh, Lord, if there is, God knows what’s in it,” Kelsey told him.
“We have an old portable barbecue somewhere,” Sean said. “Why don’t we dig it out? I mean—if you want an army trampling over on Saturday. I’m thinking Saturday would be the best day?” He looked at Katie and the others. “Katie, you don’t start until nine or ten on Saturday night, Clarinda can come in late, and Ted and Jaden can close early. Liam, you take Saturday off, don’t you?”
“Unless someone calls in with a real problem,” Liam said.
The pretty blonde at Sean’s side—Vanessa—cleared her throat. “Excuse me—we’ve all just invited ourselves over, you realize.”
Kelsey laughed. “It sounds great. Sean, you can bring the barbecue, but I’ll supply the food. If you’re cleaning the house for me, the least I can do is supply the barbecue.”
“It’s not that bad. The weather should hold,” Liam said. “We can clean—then wash all the spiderwebs off by taking a dip. The water is a little cool right now, but not that bad.”
“Hey…I’ve got to get started,” Katie said. “We have a group of coeds looking at the suggestion books, and I’m not sure they’ll like the choices.”
Kelsey glanced over to the stage area. She smiled, as well—it looked as if the cast of a college comedy had just walked in. They were beautiful people; three girls who were blonde and slim and wearing tiny shorts and belly-baring ripped-up tees had come in with two young men who looked like linebackers—young ones. They still had baby faces.
Katie slid behind her computer, politely salvaging her songbooks and apparently telling the crew that she probably had what they wanted right on the computer; they just needed to name their songs. She made an announcement using the microphone.
“This is O’Hara’s, and it’s Katie-oke here, four nights a week. Sometimes, it’s actually Clarinda-oke, but it’s all the same fun. O’Hara’s offers twenty-five beers from the cleanest taps you’ll find from here to Canada, so enjoy—responsibly, please.” Katie said the last with a hopeful but ironic twist in her tone. Key West and responsible drinking weren’t really known for going hand in hand. Luckily, partygoers usually stayed within walking distance of the bars on Duval, while a lot of the major-chain hotels farther around the island sent shuttles to drop off and pick up their guests in the Old Town area.
Katie started the music. The college crew whooped and hollered and began dancing energetically to the music.
“It really wasn’t that long ago, but I don’t ever remember being quite so young,” Liam said, his grin wry as he seemed to echo her thoughts.
“It’s a good-looking group, and they seem friendly and ready to have fun,” Kelsey told him.
Liam nodded. “Cheerleaders,” he said solemnly. “You can tell.”
“A bit too happy for me,” Jaden said. She yawned. “Ted, feel like calling it a night?”
Ted nodded. “We’re still working on a lot of treasure recently brought up from that film shoot.” He shuddered. “Ugh. We’ll tell you all about it at the barbecue, Kelsey.” He stared at Vanessa. “It was bad. Very, very bad.”
“Hey!” she protested. “We did capture a pair of truly deranged murderers.”
“That’s true,” Jaden said happily.
“Oh! I did hear about that!” Kelsey said. She stared at Liam. She had been so caught up in her own situation, she had forgotten that she had seen their names online, and one night on the news. Sean O’Hara and the Becketts had gotten involved with a film crew, recreating the situation in which two people had been brutally murdered on an uninhabited island. A documentary would air sometime the following year.
“And it’s over,” Vanessa said with a shudder. “Next week, I’m filming dolphins for a public-service feature. I’m much happier!”
“That sounds great,” Kelsey said.
“Okay, we’re really out of here,” Jaden said. “It’s wonderful to meet you,” she told Kelsey. “And thanks for letting us get in the place on Saturday.”
“My pleasure. If anyone is allergic to dust, they’re in trouble,” Kelsey warned as Ted and Jaden left.
It