Under The Boardwalk. Amie Denman

wiped a tear from her cheek, pulling back to look at her brother. “If you’d known you’d be running Starlight Point this summer, what would you have asked Dad?”

      “How to do everything.”

      “You already know everything about Starlight Point. You’ve been training to run it since you were born. I thought Dad shared everything with you already?”

      Jack frowned and stared at his feet.

      “You’ve been his right-hand man,” Evie insisted.

      Jack turned his gaze to the water, not sure how much to reveal to his younger sister. Protecting her meant lying to her.

      “You know,” Evie continued, “the secret trapdoors, the key to the safe, how to get gum off the midway, what we do with the giant collection of coins we find under the coasters. All that stuff.”

      “I know about the coins at least. We donate that money to a local charity. Mom picks one every year.”

      “See,” Evie said, smiling and patting his arm. “You’ll be fine.”

      “I wish I had as much confidence in me as you do.” He tried to keep his voice light as he took her arm and steered them down the boardwalk toward the hotel.

      After his father’s unexpected death, his mother had turned the company over to her three children. They were equal partners and owners. His sisters had unanimously elected Jack the leader and president because June lived out of state and Evie had one year of college left. Jack’s excitement about the leader’s job hadn’t lasted long, but his mother and sisters believed in him. And he had no choice but to keep moving forward.