The corner of his mouth not buried in a pillow lifted. “You will, I promise. Thanks, Hannah, for taking care of me.”
“Anytime, Xander.” Heart tapdancing with unseemly glee, she left him to recover.
Chapter Four
Xanderstoodbesidevacationrental agent Cheryl Rossi in front of Trappers Cove’s ugliest building. Puke-green paint peeled off the walls of a two-story shoebox pierced with small, salt-smudged windows. Judging by the beer swag, cannabis print curtains, and dead plant décor of the other three units, his neighbors were not upwardly mobile young professionals.
Then again, neither was he.
Cheryl, a fifty-something woman with a squirrel’s chirpy energy, wrinkled her nose. “You sure about this, hon?”
No, he wasn’t, but this was the cheapest option, and he had to conserve as much capital as possible. Besides, he’d be spending most of his time at the shop.
“I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
She let him into a dim, dingy upstairs apartment. At least he wouldn’t have to deal with neighbors stomping on his ceiling, like he did in Seattle. The place had definitely seen better days—stained navy and white canvas sofa, mismatched chairs around a scratched dining table, a very small kitchen with cigarette burns on the Formica countertops. Ikea bookshelves held cheap, tacky nautical décor—a plastic seagull, a garden-gnome sea captain, desiccated starfish, and—
Xander picked up an ashtray shaped like a flying saucer. “Is this from Gus’s shop?”
Cheryl grinned. “You’d be hard-pressed to find a rental in town that doesn’t have something from your uncle’s collection. It’s a Trappers Cove tradition.”
He forced a weak smile. “This’ll do. Thank you, Cheryl, for finding me an apartment so quickly.”
After showing her out, he surveyed his temporary lodgings and grumbled, “Definitely need to spruce the place up before having company.”
An image flashed through his mind—sitting with Hannah at the wobbly dining table, watching candlelight dance in her dark, bewitching eyes. Their glasses raised in a toast, their fingers intertwined…
Where the hell had that come from?
With a weary sigh, he sat on the lumpy couch and pulled from his pocket another letter from Gus, the one he’d been clutching when Xander found him. The police chief had passed it on this morning, along with the coroner’s pronouncement that Gus had died from a brain aneurysm.
If there’d been any doubt Gus was losing his marbles, that doubt was erased by his final message to Xander:The visitors are coming for me, son. I can feel the star portal opening. My bones are vibrating to a new cosmic frequency. Don’t feel sad for me. I’m going to a better place, and I’ll be watching you. You’re going to shine, agori mou, as bright as Sirius. Just rememb—
Gus’s shaky handwriting trailed off into gibberish.
Agori mou. “My boy.” Warmth filled Xander’s chest as he heard those words echoed in Gus’s deep, raspy voice. Even through these mysterious, unbalanced ramblings, his uncle’s love shone through.
As it did in his will. Seemed the news of Gus’s death triggered a call from the police chief to Gus’s lawyer, who left a voice mail while Xander ran on the beach. He’d needed that physical escape after fielding a thousand questions on the family text chain and a tearful call with his mother. Typical—Gus was Baba’s brother, but Mama handled the emotional work.
“I’m so glad you’re there, son. You’ve got the time to handle Gus’s affairs. The rest of us are so busy. You understand, don’t you?”
Yeah, he understood. In their eyes, his time was less important than the rest of the family’s. No matter. In light of Gus’s will, he’d be stuck in Trappers Cove for quite a while, because Gus had left him the shop: lock, stock, and leaky barrel.
“Don’t you worry, son,” the kindly lawyer had assured him. “Everything here was prepared four years ago, when Gus was definitely of sound mind. I’ll testify to that fact if need be.” She handed him a handwritten addendum Gus had penned before he spun off into outer space.
Xander, you were always my favorite. You’ve got a kind heart, a sharp mind, and a good head on your shoulders. I’m leaving you my business because I know you’ll take Souvenir Planet to a new level of success and prove to those stubborn Greeks that this second son curse is bullshit. I did it, kiddo, and you can do it even better. All I ask is that you follow the three provisions, so when they come back, they’ll know where to find me.
Unfortunately, Gus had sold his cute little beach cottage a few years back to cover his debts, and had been living out of the shop, a revelation that stabbed Xander with fresh guilt. How did the family not know Gus was doing so badly? Why hadn’t he reached out?
Xander had no room to criticize Gus’s secrecy, though, since he’d been hiding the full extent of his own financial disaster.
Was Gus’s gift a lifesaver? Or an albatross around Xander’s neck?
He flipped the thick packet of documents to page seventeen.
Xander Ioannis Anagnos will assume full ownership of Souvenir Planet, LLC, so long as the following conditions are met.