Marshall sobered. "He had a special relationship with our grandmother."
Hayden frowned. "You weren't upset that he got the house?"
"None of us were. Hopefully, he can do justice to the house with the renovation, keeping the old and marrying it with the new."
"It will be fabulous once it's done," I said, running a hand over the wallpaper.
"Then we can have a huge family party. I haven't been to one here in a long time," Marshall said, seemingly lost in his memories.
Hayden wandered into the bathroom. "These could be updated."
Marshall poked his head in. "Shep hasn't gotten to this one yet. There's a lot of bedrooms and bathrooms in this place."
The primary bedroom faced the water with an expanse of windows that showcased the view. Shep's things were neatly placed on the dresser.
We didn't spend much time in there because it was his personal space. It was the only room that looked like he lived in it. Everything else was a shrine to Kingston family history.
We made our way downstairs to the kitchen where Shep's and Maya's heads were still bent close together.
Marshall cleared his throat. "Hayden needs to go to the center, so we'll leave you to it."
Shep stood and gave him a brotherly hug. "Thanks for coming over. Maybe the next time you can get your hands dirty."
Marshall nodded. "I'd love to work on something besides flower beds."
"Dad said you might be coming back to work with us," Shep said, walking us to the front door.
"I'd like to."
Shep paused at the front door, considering Marshall. "You work things out with Hudson yet?"
Marshall grimaced. "I need to talk to him."
Shep nodded. "It would be nice to have our family all back together."
"I want that too," Marshall said before opening the door.
"Glad to have you back," Shep said as we walked out the door and said to me and Hayden, "Nice to see you again."
"Thanks for letting us see your beautiful home," I said to him.
"Hopefully the next time I see you, we'll be having a party to celebrate a newly renovated home," Shep called after us.
Marshall got into the cab. "It'll be a while before he can host anyone in that house."
"Is it because it's hard to do most of the work himself?" I asked.
Hayden slipped on her earbuds and closed her eyes in the back seat.
Marshall threw the truck in reverse. "It's because he has a hard time executing plans. He gets overwhelmed with the details. He starts one thing and doesn't finish it. Then starts another. You saw all the projects he had going on in there at once."
"I did."
He looked over at me. "That's not usually how we renovate a house."
"Maybe that's why he wants Kinsley's help?" I asked.
"He should be able to plan a project by now. He's been renovating houses for years." Marshall turned left onto the main road that connected Captiva to Sanibel.
