Once she got into open water she set a course for the most likely place to find schools of snapper. It would take more than an hour to get there. During that time she needed to make sure all the men had the correct equipment and bait, and she had to serve them up a snack.

This group was easy. They’d all fished with her before and they knew their stuff. Mr. Cox, who’d been fishing for forty years-most of those with Johnny-could answer any questions. Her only real challenge was to avoid Mr. Nelson’s roaming hands.

She looked down at the deck and spotted Cooper. He’d found a deck chair and a soft drink and was in an animated conversation with one of the passengers. She was going to have to watch him every minute-the guy was used to being waited on, not the other way around. And God knew what he was telling her customers.

“Cooper!” she called down. “Come take over the helm.” All he had to do was go in a straight line and avoid hitting any other boats. Surely he could handle that.

He looked up at her and grinned. “Aye-aye, cap’n.”

Once she had him safely ensconced in the captain’s chair, she set to work with the rods and reels, making sure each man had equipment he was happy with, untangling line, figuring out who would be positioned where.

“Is it true, what that Remington boy said?” Mr. Cox asked in a low voice. “Is he taking over the business?”

“He’s going to try.” Allie made it sound like she wasn’t concerned. “Johnny’s family isn’t happy about the status quo, and Cooper is going to try to break the will.”

“Think he can do it?”

“The Remingtons have large coffers of discretionary cash to fight a legal battle. Obviously I don’t. So we’ll have to see.”