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Jess scowled.
Her father chuckled again. “Don’t be mad at him. He was saving his business. And I think he also really wanted to save you. I barely had to ask before he screamed an enthusiastic yes.”
“He probably did a dance when he said it.”
“He did, actually.”
She began to smile, then caught herself, schooling her face back into a frown.
“Business is steady, but we need more,” she explained. “We’re not making enough to support ourselves through the offseason. I might have to consider letting Zach go, which I really don’t want to do. We might have to sell and hope the owner doesn’t want to demolish the place.”
“I could invest more.”
“Excuse me? With what money?”
He shrugged. “Getting bought out of your own business does have its perks. I have a lump sum in the bank, enough to allow me to go into early retirement. Plus some.”
She felt flustered at how willing he was to simply solve her problem. “No. That’s way too much to ask of you.”
“You didn’t ask. I offered.”
“And I’m refusing.”
He smirked. “Still as stubborn as ever.”
“Did you think I wouldn’t be?”
“No. But I did hope that maybe you’d want to work with your old man.”
She glowered at him. “You really think we can make the jump from not speaking to one another to being in business together after one conversation?”
“We’re already in business together, Jessie.”
“Against my will,” she grumbled to herself.
“I know it’s a lot to consider, and you’re right, it’s one conversation.” He revved the engine. “But I would like to keep having more conversations.”
She eyed him, his face full of hope. Hope for what they could be, for what they could return to. Jess nodded once in his direction. He returned one with a smile, then drove the boat back toward the dock in comfortable silence.
Jess tentatively followed her sister into the house she thought she would never step into again. Despite the throngs of people and the pastel shower decor, everything about her childhood home felt the same, and she was thankful for it. Thankful she could count on this place to be a constant when everything else in her life was changing by the minute.
Dakota snatched her hand and pulled her down on the leather couch next to a mountain of presents. She handed her a notepad with a smile and asked her to take notes as she opened gifts. Jess was thankful again that her sister still knew her so well, knew that she would want something to do with her hands and keep busy instead of shifting uncomfortably.
Thankful. It was a feeling she did not expect to experience today.
Jess took notes with a smile, watching her sister glow and laugh as she opened each onesie and pacifier and bib. She was joy and sunshine and goodness, a beacon of happiness in the living room. The same exact spot Jess’d had her last conversation with them on a dark, dreary, horrible night.
Dakota held up a breast pump with a grin. Jess shook her head at her sister’s amusement over a breast pump, then scribbled it down.
Her sister placed it carefully back in the bag and handed it to their mom, who was looking at Jess like she was a ghost that would disappear if she glanced away.
Jess cleared her throat and leaned close to Dakota. “Any chance you know where Kevin went?”
Dakota’s face fell a smidgen. “Calvin picked him up. I tried to get him to stay, but he told me he didn’t want to be the cause of any more of your pain. Something about how this is your true home?”
She frowned deeply, his words from the other night in the storm ringing in her head. I want you to be my home, Jess.
She’d said those words right back, without hesitation, after he told her how he truly felt. Yet, when she told him how she felt, she let those three words tumble from her lips without being completely honest. Then she did what she does best. She pushed him away.
