Music in the Night (Logan 4)

He turned and marched off before I could respond and left me simmering, my hands pressed into tight fists at my sides, my stomach feeling as if it had been twisted and turned inside out. The way some of the other students were looking at me as they passed me in the hallway made me think I had ribbons of steam coming from my ears.

"Are you feeling all right?" Robert asked me when we left school that afternoon. "You haven't said a word."

"I'm fine," I said. "It's just . . . my brother gets me so angry sometimes, I feel like screaming."

"Maybe you should, Laura. Maybe it's time you let him know just how you really feel," Robert said.

"Maybe."

I looked at him, at his face full of concern, and I knew that he was right.

"I'd better wipe the frown out of my face before I meet your parents," I said, "or they'll think you've chosen a witch for a girlfriend."

He laughed and we got into his car and drove to the Sea Marina.

Although the building itself had been neglected, the property on which it lay was prime seaside real estate. Only the front of the hotel had any real lawn. The rear was sandy beach with a pathway that led to a small dock. At one time, the hotel had a sailboat, but it was long gone. All that was left were two rowboats, neither looking very seaworthy, both covered with mildew and both with small leaks. Robert's parents had been concentrating on the building itself, replacing broken shutters, worn, cracked, and broken porch floorboards, painting the walls, repairing the kitchen, putting down new flooring, and replacing the bedding, sitting room furniture, lamps, and electrical fixtures.

"My father's always been pretty handy," Robert told me as we drove up. His father was on a ladder, repairing a loose clapboard.

I knew that the Sea Marina had once been one of the most interesting houses in the area. It had been built as a mansion for a Captain Bellwood, who had developed a successful whaling business when sperm oil was in great demand. As with many great houses, the family lost its fortune and eventually converted the home into a rooming house for tourists. A sign bearing the words THE SEA MARINA was slapped over the entry doors and a new history for the building began. It was never well kept and four or five years ago was finally shut down. Robert explained that the bank had foreclosed on the inn and Robert's parents were able to buy it cheaply enough to have money left over to restore it.

It was a three-story building with twenty-two rooms available for renting. Robert and his parents lived in the downstairs rear of the house. Above the roof was a large cupola with a round dormer. The house had been constructed with a great deal of decorative detail, cresting along the roof line, a widow's walk, paired windows above the front doors, bay windows on the lower floor, and a one-story porch with carved railings and posts. The entire outside of the building had to be stripped and sanded before it was repainted. The-cement steps that had cracked and chipped were replaced, as were a half dozen cracked and broken windows. I had ridden my bike past the Sea Marina before and knew how rundown it was before Robert's parents began this prodigious remodeling. It was no wonder he was occupied and working so much of the time.

Mr. Royce saw us drive up and waved. Immediately I saw that Robert had inherited his smile from his father. When we drew closer and he came down the ladder, I also noticed that Robert shared his blue eyes as well. His father was an inch or so taller, with the same lean, muscular frame.

"What are you hooky players up to?" he asked.

"I told you school was out early today, Dad," Robert said. His father winked at me.

"Yeah, he told me, but can I believe him?"

"Yes you can, Mr. Royce," I said quickly and he laughed. "I see you have a loyal partner there, Robert. You going to introduce us or just stand there looking foolish?"

"This is Laura Logan, Dad. Laura, my father, Bob Hope."

"Bob Hope? If I was that good a comedian, do you think I'd be out here sweating over clapboard? Hi, Laura. Well, what do you think so far?" he said, stepping back, his hands on his hips. We all looked up at the Sea Marina.

"It's looking very good, Mr. Royce. It's going to be beautiful."

"Thank you. Robert's had a hand in all this, but you should see what his mother's accomplished inside." "Come on," Robert said.

"It's nice meeting you, Mr. Royce."

He smiled and gave Robert a look of approval that broadened his shoulders even more.

"Feel free to drop by anytime, Laura. We could always use another hand clutching a paint brush," he said.

"Dad!" Robert protested.

"I'd like to," I said. "It looks like fun."

"Fun? You call this fun?" he joked. "I like this girl, Robert."

"Bye, Dad," Robert said, rolling his eyes and seizing my hand. "Come on, let's meet my mother," he added in a deep, low voice, filling me with

trepidation.

We went up the front stairs and inside. Unlike the outside, the inside of the inn looked like it needed weeks and weeks more of work. The floors were still bare, the walls in the sitting room had only been sanded down and prepped for paint, wires hung from ceilings waiting for their fixtures, and doors were still off their hinges, lying against the walls like impatient guests waiting to be checked in.