It was Zach who spoke first. “I didn’t want to chapter out of the Navy. I loved what I did. But those two surgeries on my knees made it impossible to get around the ships without pain, and standing for hours in the galley was no longer an option.”

“You could move to Rockville and open a lobster shack,” Chad suggested.

Zach rolled his eyes. “As if the forty-three already in operation aren’t enough.”

“Fine. Something else, then. You know as well as I do that there aren’t enough good restaurants in the area,” Chad said. He turned to Knox. “And the Coast Guard is just as busy up here in Maine as it is in Florida.”

Knox snorted. “Um ... no, it’s not.”

“All right, fine. It’s not. But I have no doubt training is just as important here as it is there. You told me not too long ago that you were looking for more of a challenge.”

“Yeah,” Knox mused.

Taking a deep breath, Chad turned to his older brother. He had a feeling Lincoln would be the most difficult to convince.

After high school, Lincoln had gone into the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs and had flown jets for their country .

.. until something went terribly wrong on a mission, and he’d had to eject over enemy territory.

Chad still didn’t know all the details—Lincoln never talked about it—but he knew his brother had spent a week evading enemy forces and walking about ten miles a day toward the border before he’d been extracted.

By that time, he’d lost twenty-five pounds and injured his shoulder so badly, he could no longer fly the jets he loved without pain.

He’d been medically retired a couple of years ago and was living the life of a recluse out in Montana.

“Linc, you can’t tell me that Maine is all that different from Montana. It’s rural as hell, you get as much snow as we do here, but there isn’t any decent seafood for a thousand miles,” Chad joked.

Lincoln didn’t even crack a smile. “Rockville doesn’t get nearly as much snow as Montana,” he deadpanned.

The two brothers locked gazes, and Chad struggled to understand what he was seeing in his brother’s eyes. He took a deep breath and decided to lay his feelings on the line.

“I miss you guys,” he said. “Growing up with all of you ... it was amazing. Lobster Cove was our home base, but the entire state was our playground. I didn’t realize how much I missed it until now.

And Mom does need us. Sure, I can attempt to step into Dad’s boots, but we all know it’ll take more than one of us to do everything he did. To make Lobster Cove flourish.”

He held his breath as his brothers thought about what he was suggesting.

It was a huge step. Uprooting their lives and moving back to their hometown.

But as far as Chad knew, none of them were in serious relationships.

It wouldn’t be easy to find someone to settle down with here in Maine, and they were all well past the age their parents had been when they got married. Maybe that wasn’t their destiny.

Maybe Lobster Cove would be their legacy.

Chad pushed away the cynical thought about what the point was in making their childhood home flourish if there was no one to leave it to.

“I’m in,” Knox said suddenly. “You’re right. I was already thinking about finding another contractor position. It’ll be a nice change to be up here where my balls aren’t sweating at six in the morning.”

Everyone chuckled.

“Fine. I’ll come too. But I’m not opening a fucking lobster shack,” Zach said.

Everyone’s gaze swung to Lincoln.

Their oldest brother stared at the people milling about on the property. Then he sighed. “ Someone has to keep you assholes in check.”

Chad smiled as contentment spread through his veins.

He was suddenly excited about the future.

About being able to spend more time with his brothers.

He’d missed them. Yes, they were all adults now, and they’d changed a lot since they were kids, but blood was blood.

When push came to shove, the Youngs stuck together. Family first.

They had a lot of details to figure out. Where to live—it wasn’t as if there were apartment buildings on every block in Rockville—jobs, division of responsibilities at Lobster Cove ... but they’d figure it out.

“Love you guys,” Chad blurted. It wasn’t something they said to each other a lot.

But their father dying so suddenly had made them all understand the fragility of life.

Of letting those you loved know how much they meant to you before it was too late.

He couldn’t remember the last time he’d said the words to his dad, and he’d regret not saying them to him more often for the rest of his life.

Lincoln grabbed him by the back of the neck and pulled him into a tight embrace. Zach and Knox crowded in, putting their arms around each other’s shoulders. All four of them huddled together, cementing their commitment to each other, their mother, and their family legacy. Lobster Cove.

This was a new start for all of them. There would be bumps in the road, that was guaranteed, but as a family, they could get through anything.