Love, Legacy, and Little Green Aliens: An Over-40 Beach Town Romantic Comedy

Xander explains his family curse to Hannah:

“Don’t change the subject.” A dozen battered clam strips tumbled onto her plate when she lifted her po’boy. “You were going to tell me what makes you tick.” She chomped into the sandwich and closed her eyes on a moan.

“I was?” A warning tickled down his spine. She was doing it again—teasing out details he didn’t intend to share.

Then again, why not get an unbiased opinion?

He clasped her hand. “Promise me I’ll never see these words in your newspaper?”

She crossed her heart, her expression solemn and attentive.

“I’ve never talked about this with anyone outside my family.”

The corners of her mouth ticked up. “In that case, I’m honored.”

Just do it, coward.

He sucked in a breath. “There’s this thing in my family that goes way back to the old country. The curse of the second son.”

“You’re a second son, I take it?”

“Yeah. So was Gus.”

“And what does this curse entail?”

He twirled his spoon in his soup. “Supposedly, second sons are doomed to failure. Business, divorce, you name it. Whatever we try, we fail.”

She made a delicate snort. “Well, that’s clearly not true. I mean, look at Gus. He was married to Martha for how many years?”

“But she died.”

She shrugged. “Everyone dies.”

“And they never had kids.”

“Maybe they didn’t want kids. I think the shop was his baby.” She sipped her beer and wiped foam from her cheek. “He put a lot of love into that place. I felt it every time I walked through his doors. Souvenir Planet buzzed with upbeat energy. Every shelf, every wall, every corner was stuffed with something to make you smile.”

He stifled a snarky laugh. “Spiderwebs make you smile?”

She grasped his forearm as if yanking him back to the topic at hand. “The point is, Gus was far from a failure. Everyone loved him.” Her hand slid down to cover his, her touch satin-soft. “And you’re not a failure either.”

It would take a lot more than a pretty woman’s kind words to make him believe that. “My last few business ventures tanked. But Gus’s place is my chance to break the curse, to prove them wrong.”

“Who, your family?”

“Yeah.” Chuckling, he rubbed the bridge of his nose. “You’d think by my age I’d be over it, but their pity really gets under my skin. It’s a shitty feeling, knowing they’ll always see me through that lens.”

She scooted closer on their shared bench and—God help him—squeezed his knee, her eyes brimming with sympathy. “I’m sorry you’re going through that, Xander. You’re a good man. You deserve better.”