Page 44 of Taming Waves

Just Great.

Parker

“Her father hates me.”

I went home and managed to get four hours of sleep before Anson woke me up. We had a large charter to take out at nine. I have no one to blame but myself for convincing Audrey to go to breakfast; I just wasn’t ready for the night to end. She had been standoffish all night after my mistake on Sunday, and I knew I could win her forgiveness with a trip to Waffle Castle. She has had a weakness for that place since we were kids.

“Can you blame the man?” Anson asks. “I mean, Seb, what would you do if, on Leia’s sweet sixteenth birthday, you found out some horny asshole—”

“Do not finish that sentence,” Sebastian hisses.

“My point exactly,” Anson says. “The man has a right to want to castrate you.”

“She’s not a little girl anymore,” I remind him.

“She’ll always be his little girl,” Sebby says.

My eyes go to him. He’s quietly been taking in the conversation as he sits in the stern, sorting and inventorying lures.

“And I’ll bet that when he saw her sitting in that booth and you seated across from her, all he saw was a brokenhearted teenager that he couldn’t help.”

“So, not only do I have to convince her I’m a different man, but I also have to convince Rand?”

Sebby nods. “He’ll be tougher than she will be.”

“Fucking great,” I mutter under my breath.

Sebby sets the lure in his hand aside and focuses on me. “Did it ever occur to you to reach out to the man? To afford him the respect of looking him in the eye and apologizing for hurting his daughter?”

“No.”

He shakes his head.

“I wouldn’t know what to say,” I tell him.

“In my experience, it’s always best to start with the truth.”

“He probably wouldn’t listen.”

“He might not forgive you, but you won’t know until you make the effort. You’ve been saying that you’re no longer the boy you once were, so it’s time to prove it because they both deserve that much from you. Even if you don’t succeed in winning either of their forgiveness, it’s important to try.”

I know he is right. I should have marched into Rand’s office the day I returned to Sandcastle Cove, faced him man-to-man, and taken responsibility for my actions because they’d affected more than just Audrey and me.

“I know you are a good man, son. I also understand your father’s abandonment of the family affected you profoundly and made you doubt yourself. However, you’re not your father. You returned to make things right. It won’t be easy; it will be painful and humbling. But in the end, it will be worth it.”

“Damn, Sebby, coming in with the sage old man’s advice,” Anson says.

Sebby cuts his eyes to Anson. “Better than your immature prick advice.”

Anson grabs his chest. “Ouch, Sebby. That hurt. I was trying to tell him the same thing you did. It just sounds wiser coming from an old fart, I guess.”

Sebby grins. “This old fart is the one who pays your salary, so you’d be wise to shut your trap and get back to work.”

“What’ll it be, ladies?” I ask as I place a couple of fresh cocktail napkins in front of them.

Tonight has proven to be even busier than last night. Brew booked a new band from Nashville for a three-day engagement, and they have attracted a crowd from as far as Charleston.

The blonde leans over the bar as far as the wooden barrier will allow and smiles.

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