Race to the Beach (The Turner Family of Bluestar Island #7)

1. Chapter One

Chapter One

B eep. Beep. Beep…

The shrill cry of a fire alarm echoed through the small cozy home on picturesque Bluestar Island.

“No! No. No,” a distant voice called out.

Maxine “Maxi” Daniels’s heart leaped into her throat at the sound of her aunt’s frantic voice. Maxi dropped the hairbrush onto the sink counter. She had been getting ready to accompany her aunt to a springtime wedding on the island.

The pink summer dress swished around her legs as Maxi ran to the landing at the top of the stairs. The pungent stench of smoke smacked her in the face. What in the world? The smoke didn’t smell like food that had burned. No. This smoke was much more intense and smelled like melting plastic.

Maxi raced down the stairs so fast she nearly tripped over her own bare feet and then jumped down the last few steps. Her heart hammered in her chest. She had to find her aunt and get them both outside.

“Aunt Bonnie?” Maxi yelled.

“Over here.”

Maxi’s eyes started to burn from the smoke. She squinted before spotting her aunt across the kitchen. “We have to get out of here.”

Cough. Cough. Maxi swallowed hard.

“No.” Aunt Bonnie shook her head. Her aunt wasn’t making sense.

“We have to go outside. Then I’ll call nine-one-one.”

This time she wasn’t going to put up with her aunt’s refusal to leave. She knew how much this house meant to her aunt, but it wasn’t worth risking her life. Nothing was worth that. And Maxi had already lost too many people she loved. She couldn’t bear to lose someone else.

Maxi stepped up to her aunt and reached for her hand. “Come on.”

Aunt Bonnie wouldn’t budge as she coughed. “It’s the microwave.”

Maxi struggled to catch the meaning of her aunt’s words. “What?”

“The microwave.” Aunt Bonnie waved her hand in the direction of the unit. “It’s on fire.”

Maxi turned in the direction of the microwave, which rested on the countertop. Without thinking, she reached out to touch it. Searing pain pulsed from her fingertips. She yanked her hand back. Well, her aunt had been correct about the culprit.

Thinking fast, she grabbed a couple of oven mitts from the drawer. She picked up the still-smoking microwave. The stench caused her to cough repeatedly. She had to move fast.

Holding her breath, she started to turn but was jerked to a stop. It took her a moment to realize the microwave was still plugged into the wall. She gave the microwave a yank, but the plug was intent on putting up a fight. She pulled again. Still the plug wouldn’t release from the outlet.

She had no choice but to settle the microwave back onto the counter.

She leaned over to pull out the plug. It wouldn’t budge at first. Gripping it tightly, she yanked.

It came free. The outlet definitely needed to be replaced.

It was yet another item on the long list of repairs that needed to be done around the house.

Grabbing the still smoking microwave, she turned and came to an abrupt stop. Her aunt was blocking her way to the door.

“What are you doing in here?” Maxi adjusted her hold on the microwave.

“I’m not leaving you.” There was a firmness to her tone before she coughed. “I need to open the window above the sink.”

“I’ll take care of the window. But first I need to get this outside.”

“Oh. Yes.” Aunt Bonnie rushed over to the back door and swung it open.

Maxi rushed outside and kept going with the microwave until she was a good distance from the house. She half-lowered and half-dropped the microwave to the ground. She yanked open the microwave door and black smoke came pouring out.

She left it there in the grass. She ran to her aunt, whose complexion was pasty white. “Are you all right?

Aunt Bonnie nodded. “I’m fine.” She turned a worried look toward the house. “But all of that smoke.”

“I’m calling nine-one-one.”

“No. Don’t. It’s just a bunch of smoke. Everything will be all right now that the microwave is out here.”

Maxi hesitated. The safest thing to do was to get the fire department here to go over everything, but her aunt seemed resistant to the idea. Maybe if Maxi went back inside, she could assess things. Maybe it just looked worse than it was. She could only hope.

“Will you be all right out here?” Maxi was hesitant to leave her aunt’s side, but Aunt Bonnie nodded her head. Her face was still quite pale. Maxi directed her toward the lawn swing. “Why don’t you sit over here?”

Aunt Bonnie hesitated. “But I have things I have to do.”

“Not right now. I’ll go back inside and make sure everything is all right.”

Once her aunt was situated, Maxi hurried back into the house. She propped the back door wide open. The smoke was dissipating, but the stench was still strong.

Maxi immediately moved to the counter where the microwave had been situated.

She pressed her palms to the outlet. It was cool to the touch.

Next she felt the wall, moving her hand over a wide area.

It was also cool to the touch. It appeared her aunt was correct.

The fire had been contained in the microwave.

She breathed out a sigh of relief. Things could have been so much worse. Maxi moved to the window over the sink. She unlocked it and lifted. It didn’t budge. Her aunt hadn’t been exaggerating when she’d said it was stuck.

As she worked to open the window, Maxi accepted that her worries about her aunt needing help weren’t unfounded.

Aunt Bonnie was her mother’s older sister.

She was widowed, retired, and didn’t have any children of her own.

And her island home needed lots of help—the dysfunctional microwave was just the beginning.

All of the kitchen appliances were on their last leg.

Maxi wanted to help her aunt, but she didn’t have the financial means to do it.

Since her father had passed, business at the auto repair shop had experienced a dramatic decline.

Most of the male clients didn’t believe a woman could repair a car as well as a man could.

It infuriated Maxi that they wouldn’t even give her a chance to prove them wrong.

Her father had taken the time and patience to teach her everything he knew about repairing automobiles.

It wasn’t her dream occupation—far from it. When she was younger, she dreamed of being an artist. Her father had told her she’d be a starving artist. He’d told her she’d be better off with a practical occupation.

Thankfully, her female clients kept coming back. They told her they loved that she didn’t talk down to them when explaining a problem. And they raved that their vehicles had never run better.

Still, money was tight—too tight to help herself much less her aunt. This trip to Bluestar Island had been a huge luxury—one she couldn’t afford again in the near future.

Luckily, it was a warm springtime day. She was able to open all of the windows in the house, and with the aid of the ocean breeze, the house aired out quickly.

When her aunt joined her inside, Maxi said, “I’m so sorry this happened.”

Her aunt sent her a watery smile. “You have nothing to be sorry about. It was my fault. I put a frozen dinner in there, and I must have punched fifty minutes instead of five minutes. And then I went to check on the laundry.”

It answered some of the questions that had been floating around in her mind. Maxi felt like she was being pulled in two different directions—remaining on the island to help her aunt or returning to Virginia to keep the family business going.

“It’s almost time to leave.” Her aunt’s voice drew her from her thoughts. “We don’t want to be late.”

“Leave?” It took Maxi a moment to remember the wedding they were supposed to attend. “Oh, you mean the wedding.”

Maxi glanced down at the pink dress she’d picked up at a thrift store. There were black smudges all over the front from carrying the microwave. She lifted the material and sniffed it. Ugh! There was no amount of perfume that would cover up the stench.

She looked at her aunt. “I’m sorry. But I’m not going to be able to go.”

Her aunt’s brows drew together as a frown pulled at her lips. “You mean because of your dress?”

Maxi nodded her head. “I’m so sorry.”

“Well, if that’s the only reason, I have a solution.”

A solution? “But there isn’t much time. There’s no way to wash and dry my dress in time for the wedding.”

“Agreed. I have something else in mind.” Her aunt walked away.

Maxi had absolutely no idea what Aunt Bonnie was up to, but she’d learned as a kid that her aunt liked to surprise people. What would her surprise be this time?