Page 69 of Swept Up In You

Then came the cuddling.

Sam enjoyed it almost as much as the sex. It was pure comfort, especially waking up in Taylor’s arms, her lips pressing softly into Sam’s shoulder blades. She hadn’t wanted it to end, but after a quick coffee together downstairs, Taylor had left for a pre-planned brunch date with Jess. She could already picture Taylor’s bestie absolutely grilling her this morning, and she smiled at the thought as she downed the last of her coffee. She’d need a lot of caffeine to get through today. She was so tired.

A knock at the door had her scrambling to her feet. She’d barely set down her mug in time, almost tipping it over in her rush. “Shit.” She’d completely forgotten about her dad coming over this morning and hadn’t thoughtat allabout what to say. Fuck.

“Morning, Dad,” she said breathlessly, opening the door for him.

“Hey Sammy.” The same folder was tucked under his arm as he came inside. He walked to the dining table, popping it down right where Taylor had been leaning against it the night before. She flushed at the memory and cleared her throat.

“Coffee?” she asked, walking over to the kettle. She started making one anyway—her dad was a multiple-coffees-a-day kinda guy. He never said no.

She placed the mugs down, sitting opposite him as he flicked through some papers. It was only now that she noticed his usual messy hair was more unkempt than usual, and he looked tired.

“So, uhh.” He scratched at the stubble on his chin. “I’ve been thinking a lot since our chat on the boat. And firstly, I want to say I’m sorry how I handled it at the time. You really threw me for a loop.”

“I’msorry for putting all of that on you at once.”

He waved her off. “You’re young Samantha. You have your entire life ahead of you. Selfish me would’ve loved you to stay, to take over the shop and cook me pancakes every other weekend.” He winked, giving her a lopsided smile.

“But,” he continued, holding up a finger, “that would all be for my benefit. WhatIwant. Full ofmyassumptions. It’s a dream world—one I made up in my head and continued to play out without checking in with you along the way to see if we still matched up. So,” he cleared his throat, “I’ve been talking to an agent and I’m going to sell the business.”

“Wait, Dad, no! You can’t?—”

“IcanSammy. It’s time. I’m ready to be free of this responsibility, and there’s no use either of us having ties here if webothwant to set sail.” A small grin started to show as he looked Sam right in the eye.

“Wait, wait, wait… what?! You’re leaving too?”

He nodded as his grin widened, his eyes lighting up. “You got me thinking. Contemplating so many things. Hearing the joy in your voice talking about the work you’re doing on Manny and your plans… Well, turns outyou’veinspiredme. Reignited thewantfor me to see the world beyond Karkalla Beach.”

“Wow.” Sam sat back in her chair, shocked. “Well. Of all the ways I thought this conversation would go, this was not one of them.” She was speechless.

Her dad laughed. “Me too. If you’d said this to me a couple of months ago, I’d say you were crazy.”

Thinking of Taylor, she knew too well how quickly and dramatically things could change—to have your whole world view turned on its head, your identity as a person changed forever. She still wasn’t ready to share this fresh discovery of herself with her dad just yet. One big thing at a time.

“Not crazy at all. Obviously, a huge shock. I weirdly hadn’t thought of you selling. I was thinking about hiring people to run the business for us, maybe I’d help… but you’re right, it’d still tie us both here. The more I sit here, the more selling does make sense.”

Her dad looked relieved, like he expected Sam to put up a fight—which, hey, at another time she might have. But in this moment, it felt right. Maybe now she was more ready to let go as well?

He slid around the paperwork to face her, her eyes almost bugging out of her head. She looked back up at him, floored for the third time in as many minutes.

“You’ve already got an offer?!”

He couldn’t nod fast enough. “They put it in on Friday.”

The penny dropped and she snapped her fingers. “That’swhy you dropped in to see me Friday. I’m so sorry I didn’t talk to you then.”

“It’s fine, really. You had your friend over, and we have until Monday before we need to get back to them with our initial thoughts. It worked out better anyway, as it gave me extra time to think on it before talking with you. So what do you think?”

She looked back down at the substantial sum. It was more than enough for her dad to retire on, and then some.

Then she saw her place was included in the sale.

“Oh, it includes the townhouse?” She felt a mix of sadness and elation at the thought of actually leaving her home. Then she thought of Manny. A familiar mop of brown hair sitting at the front, her arms wrapped around Belle. She almost snorted at the daydream. Since when had she thought about anyone else living on the boat aside from her? She snapped back to the present.

“…so the terms are thirty days,” her dad was saying. “Obviously, that’s very soon, and I know we haven’t been talking properly lately, so I don’t know where you’re at with your plans or when you’d even be ready to leave.”

“I’ve got my charts and logbooks, and I’ve started plotting out a rough course. I’ve also organised what food and water amounts I’ll need between ports, and…” She drummed her hands on the paper. “Yeah, that’s pretty much where I’m at. Everything should be up to scratch on Manny himself now. I just have a couple more tools to buy from Taylor’s recommendation.” She smiled at the memory.

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