Page 61 of The Words We Lost

Joel locked gazes with her. “No, sir. I wasn’t invited.”

“Then go home.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that.” Joel’s gaze skimmed over Ingrid before turning his dark eyes back to Hal.“Not until we have a conversation.”

“I don’t owe you or your family anything.”

“No, you don’t. But I’m hoping we might figure out a solution together. One that works for everybody. One that doesn’t mean leaving Port Townsend.”

Hal assessed Joel for an immeasurable amount of time before he turned back to his daughter. “What did I tell you before? Rich boys like him live to be the hero, but their promises are empty.”

“You don’t know anything about him.” Ingrid’s voice was barely audible.

“I know enough.” Hal leaned forward in his seat, a smirk dancing on his lips as he pressed his elbows to the table and dropped his head into his hands. “I’d offer you a drink, but we seem to be having a bit of a housekeeping issue tonight.”

Joel stayed where he was, his body positioned between Ingrid and her father. “My dad will help you.”

Once again, Hal seemed to consider the young man before him. “I don’t need your dad or his charity. I can find other work.”

“You’re a captain without a boat; seems like you might need him more than you think you do.”

Captain Hal huffed. “We’ll be just fine. Won’t we, Ingrid?”

When she didn’t answer, Joel’s expression softened, and Cece could tell he was searching for the right words. Maybe even praying for them. He took a single step toward the table. “Everyone has things they regret from their past—my father included. But he always says we can’t change the time we’ve spent, just how we choose to spend the time we have left.” Joel eyed Hal’s fingers choking the rum bottle. “You might have more options than you think you do right now. But you have to talk to him. You have to be honest about what’s really going on here.”

A minute passed before Hal spoke again, his voice disarmed and almost wistful. “I had a beauty of a boat once—named her after my wife, Skylark. She changed my life, made me into an honest man. Gave me dreams, hopes. We were supposed to sail the whole world together in that boat.” His chest heaved as an unexpected sob broke from his throat. “Her initials carved into my ax are all I have left of her now.” His nose dripped into his wiry beard, but he made no effort to wipe his face. “And my loyal daughter.”

At Hal’s pronouncement, Ingrid closed her eyes.

“I’m going to get another boat someday and name it after both my girls,” Hal said, his words are as droopy as his eyelids. “TheIngrid Sky.”

“I hope you do, sir.”

Hal’s eyes closed as his body swayed hard to the right. He bumped against the wall as if ready to call it a night right then and there.

Joel twisted to look at Ingrid and asked, “Where’s his room?”

She didn’t budge.

“Ingrid,” Joel repeated. She blinked and met his gaze. “Where’s his room?”

“Back cabin. Portside,” Ingrid responded as if coming out of her self-induced coma. “But he won’t let you touch him. I’m the only one who can handle him like this.” She jerked her dad’s shoulder back and forth as if she’d done this routine many times before. “Time for bed, Dad. Let’s go.”

Hal only grunted in response, and Ingrid shook him again. This time Hal’s eyes popped open and stayed wide.

“I’m taking you to bed. Stand up.”

Ingrid hooked her arm under Hal’s and shook her head at Joel when he reached to do the same on Hal’s other side. He backed off as Ingrid escorted her father to the back of the boat alone. The whole ordeal took less than a minute or two, and then she was striding back through the main cabin. Only Ingrid didn’t return to her place among the kitchen rubble, she bolted through the open door and into the freezing, damp night. She wrapped her arms round her chest, covering the Team Edward design on theTwilighttee she’d purchased with Cece last summer in Forks. Joel was hot on her heels, careful to avoid discarded cookware and trash in the darkness.

Cece pushed away from the boat wall and headed straight for them, stopping short at the sight of her cousin reaching for Ingrid’s upper arm before she ripped it out of his grasp. “You hadno rightshowing up here tonight. I had it handled!”

“You had ithandled?” Visibly shocked, Joel made no attempt to move toward her again. “I was worried about you, Ingrid. When my dad told me Hal had been caught drinking on duty and then you didn’t show up tonight, I—”

Her laugh was tight, cold. “Is that what all this is about? Hisflask?”

“A passenger reported him drinking from it multiple times yesterday on the excursion, pouring it in his coffee and soda. They even took pictures for proof.”

Ingrid peered at Joel as if he’d lost his mind somewhere between the boat and the forest. “My dad’s been drinking from that flask longer than I’ve been alive. He’s not a threat.”

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