I shake my head. “Lucky Queen.”
Ayden’s expression stills. “Lucky Queen?”
“Yeah.”
“Dad’s boat.”
His voice is barely above a whisper, but you could hear a pin drop on the porch right now, and Ayden’s last two words out of his mouth sound as heavy as a coffin we never got the chance to bury our father in.
I stop pacing and go take a seat on the couches. Ayden sits on the same couch, the one where we’re facing away from the gorgeous view. We’re staring at the main house throughthe slider window, but with the glare of the sun, we can’t see inside. I venture to say we decided to sit this way on purpose—it’s like the beauty of the natural world behind us isn’t a match to the painful topic we’re about to discuss.
“Fill me in.”
Ayden’s demand is anything but aggressive. He sounds nearly on the brink of tears, the same way I feel.
And that’s why I’m here.
Because Ayden gets it.
It’s hard to explain to someone else what it’s like to lose someone who’s never been found.
Just how hard it is to give up hope.
Just how much it hurts.
Just how confusing it is.
And just how many fucking times you go to the door expecting to see him…
Standing there with his crooked smile.
Winking at you that it was all a big fucking cosmic joke.
Swearing that he didn’t mean for the joke to go this far but he just couldn’t help himself. Ma would scream and cry and throw herself into his arms, simultaneously hitting him for doing this to her and kissing him because she had the love of her life back. Relieved that the father of her two sons was here and she wouldn’t have to play both mom and dad to two boys who were angry and sad and without a role model.
Logically, of course, when the storm hit and the Lucky Queen with twelve men never returned, we all knew then. This was it. Life would be forever changed.
In order to fill Ayden in, I have to start at the beginning.
“I met a woman last night.”
“You mean your blind date.”
“No. Not the blind date woman. A different woman. She was…”
I pause, flashing back to Emery and how her eyes lit upwhen we talked. How her hair was so lush and shiny I had to restrain myself from running my hands through it. How her energy lit me up.
Ayden raises his eyebrows. “Well, this is a first.”
“What is?”
“I’ve never seen you look fucking smitten before.”
I flip him off. “We connected. And then this morning, she dropped her purse and…” I suck in a breath before forcing the rest of the words out. “And a Lucky Queen pin fell out.”
I hear Ayden’s breath whoosh out of him.
“What the hell…” he mutters. “How is that possible?”
