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“I don’t want Bree to go back to her trailer tonight. Or any other night for that matter.”
He whistled. “Dicey.”
I was relieved he understood. “Correct. I want you to ask her to stay at the houseboat with you while I’m gone.”
“Where are you going?”
I frowned, wondering if I really was this terrible at communicating. “Didn’t I tell you?”
He frowned too, pulling at his altered Ari’s shirt and looking uncertain as he replied, “Yes.”
I leveled him with a look, causing him to drop the act and laugh. “Yes, brother. You told me last night. I was very impressed.” He raised an eyebrow at me. “The question is, did you tell Princess? You didn’t, did you?”
“Why are you calling her Princess?”
“So my loyalties are clear.”
I smirked, not at all put out by that, and thought over what he’d said. “That’s why I’m asking you to stay with her on the boat. I know you’ll take her safety seriously.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “It’d be great if you could take yours seriously too while I’m gone.” I leaned back on the patio railing, my gaze drawn to the stool Bree had been sitting on when we shared our first kiss. “The forecast looks clear for the week, so there shouldn’t be a chance of having to move the boat inland. If that changes, I’ll come back immediately.”
“I know,” Liem replied, his conviction affirming that our trust was back on track.
“I’ve also warned Malachi that you’ll be around. He agreed to lift your ban for the week, but even so. Do not go near the fishing boats.”
Liem just laughed. “I won’t. I’m looking forward to a few days of uninterrupted best-friend time. I already have some plans in the works for us.”
“Anything I should be concerned about?”
He smiled his biggest smile and fixed his visor on his head. “Why are you worried? My last big plan worked out just fine, didn’t it?”
“Bub?”
I jerked my head around toward the sliding glass door to find Aunt Ari looking at me with concern.
“Are you okay? I called your name several times.”
I blinked, reorienting myself to the present. “Sorry.”
She closed the door behind her before joining me on the balcony, commandeering the Adirondack chair beside me. “Something on your mind? I halfway expected you to be scowling, but you’ve almost got a smile on your face. You drift off to somewhere good?”
I dipped my chin. “I did.”
“What brought you out here in the first place?”
“I was saying goodbye to the view.”
“Ahh, the plight of youth. Being somewhere beautiful but then getting lost somewhere else. You can visit whenever you’d like, you know. We know you love this town. And we can’t tell you how much we appreciate you letting us do this. It has been a dream—one we didn’t even know we had—come true.” She reached over, squeezing my arm affectionately before continuing, “With all the meetings, inspections, and what have you, I haven’t really had the opportunity to ask, and I’d like to hear it from you because I think you’ll tell me the complete truth. How is my brother?”
It took me a moment to process her abundance of words, but then I answered, “You know how he is. Mom said he's been off the strong pain meds for a while now, which was something he was concerned about. We’ve been trying to get him to set an appointment to get fitted for his prosthetic, but he’s been stalling. Your guess as to why is as good as mine.”
She pursed her lips. “I didn’t know that. When I talked to him this weekend, he made it seem like he was waiting on the clinic to schedule it.” She rolled her eyes. “He’s scared and will never admit it. If I know my brother, he’s probably putting off dealing with what has happened to him. Has he been getting out of the house at all?”
“Some.”
She hummed. “I can’t tell you how relieved I am that you’ll be with them. I’ve been feeling pretty guilty for leaving like that, but I also knew the last thing Monny would want or need was his big sister hovering.”
My lips twitched. She wasn’t wrong. Dad loved his sister but preferred her company in small doses.
“Regardless, we will see you all at Thanksgiving, if not sooner.”
