It makes me feel good, but sad, he thought. Then he drew his mouth into a grimace of self-rebuke. That didn’t make sense. Or maybe it did, and he just felt awkward trying to analyze his emotions. He thought of himself as a simple man with simple reactions, and he didn’t like feeling confused, as he did now. Jed had no love for the island, but its beauty made him ache with a wistful mixture of pain and pleasure. He shook his head at the softheaded thoughts. Bulldozers. That’s what this place needed. Bulldozers and construction crews and condominiums for slick, silly rich people. “Hold on, hoss,” he said aloud. “You got fifteen million bucks and an island, so don’t go talkin’ about rich people. And you’re soundin’ pretty damned silly yourself at this particular minute.” The spoken words whisked away in the wind, and Jed had an odd sense of having been overheard by something or someone. Feeling uncharacteristically vulnerable, he clamped his mouth shut and listened to waves whisper against the sand a hundred yards away.
