Page 71 of Our Hearts Knew Better

“Yep,” I answer. “On the water.”

Floyd huffs a laugh. “You should just sell everything you got and get a houseboat.”

Ihavethought about that. It would lower costs, and I’ve already grown accustomed to a reduced living space. But therewould be other charges, other maintenance and costs, and I already have good views and tide at my fingertips.

“When are you getting my daughter out ofhersituation?” he asks, like his daughter’s a damsel.

I pause my hand around the last opened cupboard door before I close it, the dull thump ricocheting knifelike in my chest. He’s asked me this in various ways after I told him things about Summer’s life she wouldn’t want him to know. She wouldn’t want me even helping him—at first discovery that I am—but I’m taking this chance for her, and if I founder, I’ve at least swum these waters before.

I normally ignore the question, but this evening, I have news.

News I’ve held out from my chest since Adam told me, because I can’t make Summer’s return about me.

I pause a few more beats, to control mine, hanging tough through that gap, before I turn to hopefully see Floyd’s hope for a reunion when I tell him he’s about to have his second chance.

“She’s coming back.”

He stares into his near empty glass, tapping the side, then swallows the rest down like a shot of the wine he would tear into before his heart attack.

And that’s just not good enough.

“She’ll be here in two days.” I push the time frame, leaning toward his profile, pulling for his initiative, hisinterest, his groveling and planned speeches for Summer.

He grunts, giving a pull for mine as he meets my stare. “Are you gonna fix your mistake?”

He’s swinging the pendulum, the counter question an adrenaline signalingdanger, and I lean away from it, the counter now pressed into my lower back its own balance for me as I swing the pendulum back. “Are you gonna fix yours?”

He smiles with one side of his mouth, aiming a finger from his grip on the glass to me. “We’ll see who fixes their mistake first.It’ll be me,” he adds without a pause, leaning back in his chair with another yawn he doesn’t cover now.

I can’t help but chuckle at his tone, one that does vow to repair his relationship with his daughter, but one that also says I’d sooner start clucking than fix what happened on my end that summer.

“Oh you think?” I half tease, rising up to this challenge, in a lowly illuminated room, with no Summer, so I can fall back into the wuss her father thinks I am for only one set of eyes.

I’mnota wuss. I just—

“You have more to lose,” Floyd says, speaking my defense for myself with a shred of understanding, not actually thinking me a clucker. I do have more to lose on top of other losses. “I have nothing left to lose.”

I nod, letting him know I’m hearing him, something likethanks, but I’m still feeling defensive as I turn to close up the bag with the few things left to drop by my mom’s. “What I fix and don’t fix is my business, so mind yours.” I mean to tell him his chance is more important in the grand scheme of Summer’s life, and I’m halfway turned back to drill that in, when he lets me know again we’re on the same page.

“Well, don’t mind yours. I could use a good word.”

My response is pointed, a mustered smile through my slackening jaw. “So give her one.”

He waves his glass. “Why don’t you give me some more water? I’m on my last legs,” he kids, as my boots already do their shuffle over to him. “Any stories from the shop today?”

“Always,” I say as I refill his glass, hearing the scrape of chair legs across the floor as he kicks out the one across from him for me to park.

And I park for the length of time it takes to relay my customers’ tales for the day, of fishing, boating, riding, this one about twenty minutes.

Floyd will never be my dad, nor do I ever want him to be, but he’s a dad someone I love can still have.

And he’s notterribleto talk to.

Unpredictable Predictability

Summer

I smell the sea through the car vents as soon as the tires touch the Rosalee Bay town line, and it feels like the first biggest breath I’ve been able to take in years. Those salty and sweet emotions a wave with each one. My heart thudding my ribcage.

---