The St. Augustine Municipal Marina was busy for a weekday morning. Boats bobbed gently in their slips, their lines creaking with the movement of the water. Seagulls wheeled overhead, calling to each other, and the smell of salt air mixed with diesel fuel from the nearby fishing vessels.
Gabe stood beside Jane near the marina’s entrance, his mother’s phone heavy in his jacket pocket. He felt the familiar weight of his injured leg, the dull ache that reminded him his SEAL days were behind him. But right now, he had a different kind of mission. Confronting the woman who had helped destroy his mother’s marriage.
“There she is,” Jane said quietly, nodding toward a figure walking down the dock.
Terry looked different than how Gabe remembered from that awkward encounter at the inn. She was dressed casually todayin jeans and a sweater. Her face was anxious as she scanned the marina, clearly looking for Holly.
When her eyes landed on Gabe instead, she stopped short, her expression shifting from hope to confusion to something like dread.
“Gabe?” Terry said, her voice uncertain. “Where’s Holly?”
“She’s not coming,” Gabe said flatly, moving toward her with Jane at his side. “I’m the one who messaged you.”
Terry’s face paled. “You... you pretended to be Holly?”
“I did,” Gabe confirmed, no apology in his voice. “We need to talk, Terry. And I figured you wouldn’t agree to meet me if you knew it was me asking.”
Terry looked like she wanted to run, but she stood her ground. “Gabe, I don’t know what you want from me?—”
“Answers,” Gabe interrupted. “And some honesty for once in your life.”
Jane stepped closer, her presence a steady comfort at Gabe’s side. Terry’s eyes moved between them, clearly trying to figure out the dynamic.
“This is Jane Evans,” Gabe said. “Jack Christmas’s daughter. I think you met her briefly when you and my father showed up at the inn uninvited.”
“I remember,” Terry said quietly, her eyes dropping to the ground.
“Good,” Gabe said. “Then you know we both have a stake in what you and my father have been doing.”
Terry wrapped her arms around herself, looking miserable. “Gabe, I’m so sorry. About everything. About Holly, about…”
“About forcing my daughter to keep your affair a secret?” Gabe’s voice came out harder than he intended, anger flooding through him. “About making Trinity carry that burden for months while you and my father lied to everyone?”
Terry’s face crumpled. “I know. I know it was wrong. It’s worried me and eaten away at me ever since. Trinity was so scared, so confused, and we—” Her voice broke. “We made her promise not to tell. We told her it would hurt Holly more if she found out from Trinity instead of from us.”
Jane scoffed. “But not enough to call it off with your best friend’s husband and do the decent thing by coming clean to Holly yourselves.”
Terry’s eyes filled with tears. “I was weak and stupid. I ruined a lifelong friendship. Holly and I grew up together. We were like sisters. And I threw it all away.”
“For what?” Gabe demanded. “For my father? A man who was married to your best friend?”
“I’m in love with Simon,” Terry admitted, her voice barely above a whisper. “I always have been. Since we were teenagers. But he chose Holly, and I thought I could just be his friend and push those feelings down. But I couldn’t. And when hestarted paying attention to me, when he said he had feelings for me too...” She shook her head. “I let myself believe it was meant to be.”
“Wow,” Jane said, her voice dripping with disdain. “With friends like you, Holly didn’t need any enemies.”
“I know,” Terry said, tears streaming down her face now. “I was weak and stupid and I ruined a lifelong friendship. I deserve Holly’s hatred. I deserve all of it.”
“Oh, boo hoo,” Gabe said coldly. “You lied to my mother for years. You made her feel crazy when she suspected something was wrong. And then you made my daughter keep your sordid secret without a single care for what you were doing to either of them.”
“I’m so, so sorry, Gabe,” Terry said, her voice breaking. “But please, don’t punish your father because of this. You’ve kept him out of one of the most amazing things to happen in six years.”
She glanced at Jane, then back at Gabe. “You came back from the army for Christmas without telling him. You’re clearly in a serious relationship. And he’s finding out through photos Trinity sent him instead of from you.”
“Navy SEALs,” Jane corrected sharply. “Not army. Navy SEALs.”
“Yes, that’s what I meant,” Terry said quickly, turning back to Gabe. “Please, Gabe. Include him in your life. He’s your father. He loves you, even if he didn’t always show it the way you needed.”
“Why?” Gabe scoffed. “The moment I said I wanted to join the Navy and become a SEAL, my father instantly lost interest in me because I wasn’t becoming an attorney like him and his father and his grandfather.”
