Zia asked, “You got a bone in your throat?”
Amos wiped his eyes, said to his wife, “As far as apologies go, I’d say this is pretty much top of the list.”
Aldana, however, was not done being grumpy. “It’s a start.”
Which was when Noah’s phone chimed. He pulled it from his pocket, told Jenna, “It’s Lane.”
Zia asked, “Who?”
“Lane Pritchard,” Jenna said. “By all accounts, not a good guy.”
“But he’s making a cash offer for the boat.” Noah made the connection, said, “Lane, I’ll need to phone you back.... Yes, all right. Today. No, I can’t say exactly what time. As soon as we’re done with something important.”
When he lowered the phone, Jenna went on. “We don’t know exactly what the offer would look like. Noah cut things off before we got that far.”
“Actually, two offers,” Noah said. “A straight buyout, and maybe talking a share.”
“No. Please, not him as a partner.”
Noah felt another smile take shape. “Are you asking or telling?”
“Whichever keeps that man at arm’s length.”
He said to the others, “Basically what it comes down to is, we could probably walk away with half a million after all our expenses. Maybe more.”
“Enough to buy a nice, clean, reasonably-sized boat,” Jenna said. “For all of us.”
“No, absolutely not.”
The response, coming from Zia’s wife, surprised them all. Briana was most comfortable in the background, a placid woman who quietly ran their family.
Zia asked, “Are you sure about that?”
“Am I sure? You ask me after all the time you’ve spent dreaming about your days on this boat?”
“Unfinished,” Zia said. “Dry-docked sixty miles inland, and—”
“And nothing. Zia, honey, this is yourdream. You tell your sons bedtime stories about where we’re going. You’ve already got a photo of this boat on our wall. No. We’re not selling. They can. But you’re not. No.”
Noah looked at his brother. “I’m assuming you’d like to sell.”
“Well, you’re assuming wrong.” This from Aldana. “As usual.”
Amos asked his wife, “Really? With two daughters planning on university? We need another expense—”
“No, Amos. With two daughters who talk about nothing else but getting on that boat and sailing to Fiji.”
“Those islands are a little out of range.”
“Don’t you sass me. Don’t you dare.” Aldana pointed at Noah and Jenna. Holding hands. “Just because those two have gone all lovey-kissy-kumbaya doesn’t mean I’m all out of venom.”
“But . . . You hate boats.”
“Correction. You and I both hate the sort of bouncy little smelly things. Not to mention that awful boat your pals can’t be bothered to clean. Which is all we’ve ever been able to afford.” She pointed to the boat partially shaded by the barn. “What do your daughters call that?”
“Their very own floating palace.”
“See, I knew you could listen when you had to.” She crossed her arms. “The answer is no. We’re not selling.”
