“Maybe not. But I sent him a Christmas present every year. Sometimes he sent me a card. I wonder why he didn’t tell anyone he had cancer?”

“Would you have rushed down here to take care of him if you’d known?” Reece asked. “Would any of us? Last I heard, my dad and Johnny weren’t speaking.”

“I’m not sure what the beef was between Uncle Johnny and the rest of the family, but he wasn’t mad at you or me or Max. He wouldn’t have disinherited us without a damn good reason.”

“Maybe he wanted to take care of Allie.”

“And maybe Allie took advantage of a sick old man and conned him into changing his will.”

The waitress chose then to bring out their breakfasts. Reece frowned at his bowl of oatmeal, then picked the raisins out one by one, replacing them with strawberries. Cooper dug into his bacon and eggs.

“Not all women are Heather, you know,” Reece said, almost absently.

Cooper gritted his teeth. “Don’t bring her into this.”

A few moments later Max joined them, his face carefully turned away. He pulled out one of the wooden chairs and swiveled it around so he could straddle it.

“Good God, man, what happened to you?” Cooper demanded when he spotted the plastic bag of ice Max held against his face.

Max didn’t seem to be suffering much. He grinned. “Remember Allie’s neighbor Jane? Well, the woman has a jealous husband with a mean left hook.”

Reece looked up, horrified, but Cooper took it in stride. “Max, when are you going to learn to ask first? Someday a jealous husband is going to do more than blacken your eye.”

Max sighed. “She’s gorgeous. The guy said he’d kill me if I so much as looked at her again. How am I going to not look at her if she’s on the boat next to ours?”

“You’ll be too busy,” Cooper replied. “We need to launch a massive advertising and marketing campaign for Remington Charters. Sure you’re up to it?”

Max perked up. “Absolutely. When do we start?”