“Don’t worry about that. It is. I’ve had Kai maintaining it. He’s the marina master. He knows more about boats than anyone else I know. The boat is in perfect condition.”
“Then the outing is still a go?”
“It is. Why? Are you getting cold feet? I know some people aren’t comfortable on the water. I should have asked, I guess.”
“No, I’m looking forward to it. We all are. Willa especially. She wants to know if it’s okay to post some pictures on social media tomorrow when we’re out on the boat. I told her you might not want that, seeing as you’re a very private person, but I said I’d ask.”
“I…” He hesitated. How did he feel about that? Truth was…he didn’t love it. But he also didn’t want to be the bad guy. “I don’t know.”
“It’s okay to say no. Setting boundaries is a good thing.”
He smiled. “Now you really sound like a therapist.”
“Sorry, wasn’t my intention.”
“No, it’s fine. And you’re right. Boundaries are good. But for the last few years I’ve been nothing but boundaries. Maybe a couple of pictures on your niece’s social media isn’t the hill I want to die on. Especially if it would make her happy.”
“It would make her love you more than she does already, which is a pretty spectacular feat. She thinks her professors would even be impressed.”
He snorted. “I don’t know about that.”
“Mitch, modesty is great and all, but you’re a household name. At least among the literate.”
“And thanks to Netflix, the not so literate, too.”
This time, she laughed. “You’re just proving my point. If you want to say no, it’s fine. Willa will understand.”
“I do want to say no, because it’s easy and safe. But there’s a big part of me that thinks I should say yes.”
Harper’s eyes narrowed. “I can’t make this decision for you. And I won’t. Whatever you do, it has to be completely your own.”
He nodded. “I get that.”
“Good. Do you want to talk about it some more?”
“No, I have some thinking to do but I’ll figure it out.” He frowned, as some of that thinking happened faster than he’d expected. “Although…”
“Yes?”
“It’s nothing.”
Harper’s gaze held obvious skepticism. “It was clearly something.”
He sighed. “I was thinking about my son. What his reaction might be if he saw I was out on the boat with people. Of course, he’d have to be checking my social media for that to happen, which is doubtful. I guess someone could show him the posts. I don’t know.”
She shifted, uncrossing her legs, then crossing them in the opposite direction. “Do you think it would upset him?”
“My guess is everything I do upsets him, otherwise we’d be on speaking terms.”
“What about it do you think would bother him?”
Mitch pondered that. “Probably that I was living my life. That I was enjoying myself and not still miserable about Jeanie. Which I am. I’ll mourn her the rest of my life. But, as cliched as it is, life goes on. Whether you want to live it or not.”
“True.” Harper rested her hands in her lap. “Do you think Kyle is still grieving for his mom?”
“From what I’ve seen of Addison’s social media, he’s not. He’s doing whatever Addison tells him to do.”
“And Addison is who?”
