“And I’m witty. I’ve got a great sense of humor. I have a great car—”
“From 2007.”
“It’s still alive! It’s amazing!”
“Hm.”
“I have a beautiful daughter—”
“This is true,” I allowed. “But you have a severely lacking love life.”
“Which is none of your business.”
“Fine. Whatever.” I leaned against the rail. “So, ignoring my evil machinations, what do you think of Cora?”
“She’s very smart,” he said primly.
I rolled my eyes. “She’s smart, she’s hot, and she’s a nerd. I honestly don’t know what more you could want.”
“For my daughter to back off,” Dad said firmly.
“Whoa.” I held up my hands. “Strong words.”
Dad sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Just—will you let me do this howIwant to do this?”
I perked up. “Does that mean youwantto do this?”
“Jordan!”
“Dad, you’re out of practice. You haven’t—you haven’t dated since Mom.”
I held my breath. I’d never said anything so blatant before about his dating life.
Dad didn’t say anything.
“If you don’t want to date, fine,” I said. “As long as it’s becauseyoudon’t want to, not because you’re concerned about me. Because I’m okay, Dad. I’m good. You don’t need to worry about me.”
He looked at me for a long moment. “Of course I have to worry about you. You’re my daughter.”
I swallowed hard. “Okay.” I refused to lose sight of the goal, even if that’d been an emotional sucker-punch. “You can worry about me, but you shouldn’talsoavoid living your own life because of it. You can’t use me as an excuse.”
He sounded astonished. “I’m not!”
“Good. Don’t. I want you to be happy, Dad. I want you to date, if it makes you happy. I think it might.”
For a moment, he was silent. We listened to the roar of water. Always here, out on the ocean, but so ever-present it was easy to forget it, despite how loud it really was.
“Okay,” Dad finally said. He reached out and hugged me to his side. “I’ll think about it.”
“Good.”
We stayed there and watched the shooting stars for a long time.
Nineteen
At 2:55 a.m., my alarm went off. I flailed wildly, then remembered I was awake on purpose. And on a boat. Flopping out of bed, I brushed my teeth and pulled on a cozy old sweater. The sleeves fell past my hands and the hem fell to the top of my thighs.
A quiet knock sounded on my door, and I opened it to Ethan. “Hey,” he whispered. “You ready?”
