“And if it makes you feel any better, Declan, I remind myself every day of what I cost this family financially and emotionally,” I say and glance back over my shoulder toward the wheelhouse to make sure River isn’t listening. He doesn’t know about what happened. I will probably tell him one day when he’s a teenager so he doesn’t follow my path, but I’m not looking forward to seeing his expression change. To lose the way he looks at me right now—as a hero. “And I carry that man’s death with me every damn day of my life.”
“I don’t want you to ruin your life over this, Logan,” Declan barks at me. “Jesus, if that’s what I wanted, I never would have agreed to give his family that money. I would have let them drag your name through the mud, and I wouldn’t have agreed to mortgage the restaurant to pay for your rehab either. I want you to move past it. I want us all to. I’m just…I get frustrated it happened at all.”
“We all do,” my dad says, surprising me. He’s never said that before. “I wish I’d paid closer attention to Logan’s drinking. I wish I’d realized that he was out of control. But now Logan is clean and sober, and our business is making it. Sure I’m not going to Tahiti anytime soon, but I can make a mai tai and wear a stupid Hawaiian shirt right here in Maine. I don’t need no damn Tahiti.”
“Can you do me a favor and call me when you put on a Hawaiian shirt?” Declan replies with a smile finally tugging at his mouth. “So I can alert the media that hell has frozen over.”
“I think you should pair it with one of those straw safari hats,” I add and Declan starts to laugh. “It’ll complete the look.”
“You two are smart asses,” Dad says, shaking his head as he turns to hurl the newly baited trap back into the ocean. “I raised a bunch of smart asses.”
The conversation ends with that. We continue pulling in lobsters and pushing back our traps. An hour later we’re done and River is helping his gramps steer the boat back home. I stand beside them and listen to Dad give him gentle directions. River’s level of concentration as he holds the wheel is almost comical, and the way his face is lit up like a Christmas tree makes my heart swell in my chest.
“So…” Dad says to River. “Did you like staying at your dad’s house last night?”
“It was super fun. Chewie slept on the floor by my bed all night,” River says excitedly. “And a nice lady watched me while Dad was with Uncle Jake.”
My father’s head snaps towards me, his blue eyes wide with shock.
“The house across from mine had a fire last night. Mrs. Green’s house actually,” I explain. “It woke me up and the firefighters weren’t there yet, so I had to go see if anyone needed medical attention.”
“Is Nellie okay?” Dad asks about Mrs. Green, and when I nod, he has another question. “Who is the nice lady watching my grandson?”
I smile. Dad’s eyes grow even wider at my expression. “Chloe. My landlord.”
“I see…”
“Her favoriteStar Warscharacter is C3PO, which was weird, but she had a scar like a hockey player, so I liked her,” River says as his eyes narrow on the sea in front of us. “But she and Daddy talked a loooong time, and he took forever to tuck me in.”
Dad bites back a chuckle at that and lifts an eyebrow in my direction. “I feel like there’s a little more to this landlord than I know about.”
“Yeah. There is,” I confess, and it feels good to say it to someone. “She’s also my girlfriend.”
“I see…” he says again and now he is grinning like a Cheshire cat.
“She makes a killer eggs benny recipe,” I say, hoping to divert him from asking any questions about her. “She mixes the hollandaise and lobster bisque and puts lobster meat on top of the egg, all over a potato pancake thingy that has bacon in it. I’d love for her to share the recipe with Ma.”
“She’s a good cook then? Like your mom? This one sounds like a keeper,” Dad says and laughs. “Don’t let me get ahead of you, son. I’m just happy for you is all. You’ve had enough choppy seas in your life, kiddo. You deserve some smooth sailing.”
“Logan, can you help me with the lines for the dock?” Declan says and startles me. He’s been so quiet, I forgot he was there. I nod and follow him to the back of the boat.
As we dock, Terra is waiting, bundled up in her ridiculous purple fake fur coat that is two sizes too big but she loves even though Finn, Jake, and I have told her repeatedly she looks like a Muppet when she wears it. I carry River off the boat and place him on the icy dock. Terra immediately takes his hand, and I can’t help but notice how happy and healthy she looks. She’ll never be a hundred percent because there is no cure for lupus, but she’s definitely been in a very long good period, which is amazing. I’m not sure it’s all related to the kidney Jake gave her either. I’m pretty sure it’s finally being with him, her lifelong crush, that really puts the pink in her cheeks. If I say it to her, though, she’ll punch me, so I just smile. “Grammy needs a taste tester for the batch of hot chocolate she just made.”
“I can do that!” River boasts loudly.
“She was hoping you’d say that,” Terra replies and winks at me as they turn and make their way back to the restaurant.
As we start hauling coolers full of lobsters up the dock leaving Dad to finish up on the boat, I turn to Declan. “I’m sorry for being nosy about you and Nova. It’s not my business. For the record, Finn and I care about your feelings too. If anything ever happened to you or you feel like you did back in high school…”
“That is never going to happen again,” Declan says with a bite to his words. He’s not angry, but determined. “I’ve made peace with who I am and made a life I can live with. It’s going to be fine. Nova and me and everything. Please don’t keep pushing that, okay?”
I nod. But his words sit funny in my gut. Something has always been weird about Declan and Nova. I mean, I don’t doubt she loves him, and I know he loves her. He has this way of being with her, soft, kind, relaxed, that he isn’t with anyone else. But I wouldn’t exactly call them the epitome of a loving couple. He’s never offered up a lot of details on how Nova and him came to be. But I know, even through my drunken haze then, that it was sudden. They married before anyone even realized they were dating. No one worried about it, though, or cautioned him because like with everything he does, Declan was confident in his decision, and you had to trust him. And honestly, we all already adored Nova, who had been working at the restaurant before they eloped.
Nova’s brother Javi swings open the back door to the Shack that leads directly into the break room. “So do you want to hug in front of Mom, or should we just play it cool and walk in with our arms around each other?”
Declan breaks into a grin and I grin back. Ma pushes open the swinging door into the kitchen from the restaurant and catches it. Her whole face brightens. “My boys.” She walks over and grabs both our chins. “I like seeing you working together. Come join River for some hot chocolate.”
She turns and heads back into the restaurant as we drop the heavy coolers by the prep station. “Phew!” Declan says in mock relief. “That worked out and I didn’t even have to touch you.”
