“He really is.” That was not in question. Not in the least.
“I know he hurt you, but looks like you’ve forgiven him.” Teagan swung her legs over the edge of her chair and nodded at Reid’s small fishing boat puttering toward the dock. “Looks like Drew is back, so I’m going to go meet him.”
She’d recently gotten engaged to Drew Collier, and she wanted everyone in the world to be as happy as they were. So maybe her advice was a bit prejudiced.
She stood and squeezed Ryleigh’s shoulder. “Finn’s a keeper. Don’t toss him back in.”
Ryleigh got up too and grabbed a cane pole plus a bucket of worms and went to the dock. Not knowing what she was going to do or say, she stopped short of Finn and Avery, hoping Finn would come to her so she didn’t seem like she was stalking him.
She sat on the wooden dock, dangling her legs over the shimmering water, and dug into the bucket for a big fat juicy worm that she slid onto her hook just like her grandad taught her.
“Ew,” Avery said, coming up to her. “You do your own worms?”
Ryleigh wiped her slimy fingers on a towel and tossed her line into the water. Her red and white bobber popped up and floated on the surface. “Grandad wouldn’t take us fishing if we didn’t handle our own bait.”
“He did mine for me.” Avery set down her small pink camo pole that Ryleigh’s grandad had gotten just for her and plopped down next to Ryleigh.
“Yeah, he does that the first time to get you hooked on fishing.” Ryleigh winked at Avery. “Then the next time he makes you bait your own hook.”
She looked uncertainly up at Ryleigh’s grandad. “I don’t know if I can do it.”
Ryleigh leaned closer to Avery. “I’ll tell you a secret. I didn’t think I could either, but he joked with me the whole time I was hooking the worm, and we laughed so hard that I was distracted and had my hook baited before I knew it.”
“Maybe I can do it.” She scrunched up her eyes like she might cry. “If I ever get to go fishing with him again.”
Ryleigh tried to smile away the child’s sadness. “I’m sure if you ask, he’ll be glad to come down here to take you fishing.”
“You think so? Even if he might not be my grandad?”
Ryleigh had no idea what she meant by that and didn’t know how to answer.
“I want a grandad just like him.” Avery looked longingly down the dock.
“He’s a good one for sure,” Ryleigh said, wishing the same thing for this child.
“Finn said maybe we can move to Portland so that can happen.”
“He what?” Ryleigh’s voice shot up.
Avery startled.
“Sorry, sweetie. That just surprised me. Tell me exactly what he said.”
“I asked him if we could move to where you live. He said he would think about it.”
“When was this?” Ryleigh glanced at Finn, who caught her gaze and put down his pole to join them.
“Just now.” Avery looked up at Finn. “I know I’ll miss my friends, but I want a real family. One who can’t go away at any time, and you have the best family ever. They stick together. I want to be part of it.”
“We know you do, Peanut,” Finn said. “But there are a lot of things to consider.”
“Papa and Nana.” Avery cast a wary glance at Ryleigh. “Your mom and dad said I could call them that.”
“That’s nice.”
“They said they were so happy to have me in the family. That I would be the perfect grandchild.” Avery frowned. “I don’t think I can be perfect, but I’ll try.”
“Oh, sweetie.” Ryleigh took the child’s hand. “They don’t expect you to be perfect. They just meant they’ve wanted a grandchild for a long time and it would be perfectly wonderful to have one.”
