Page 65 of Sincerely, Mr. Braden

Me: He insisted. Dad’s in rare form, too. He called Seth “the client.”

A face palm emoji rolls in.

Becca: Seth is either brave or stupid.

Me: Brave, and he’s really good with Dad. But Dad is grouchier than normal. I’m worried about him.

Becca: I’m worried about Seth.

Becca: Don’t leave them alone. Dad might scare him off.

I glance at the house, and worry bubbles up inside me.

Me: Too late. They’re fixing a leak under the sink, but I don’t hear any yelling.

Becca: Oh God. RIP Seth Braden.

A broken heart emoji pops up.

I pocket my phone as Barney bounds over. “Come on, Barney,” I say, petting him. “Let’s see if Seth’s still standing.”

When we step inside, I hear my father say, “You’re telling me you choose to crawl into holes for fun?” I grab Barney’s collar, so he doesn’t interrupt them.

“Not all caves need to be crawled through. You’d be surprised at how massive some are. But they can be hard to navigate,” Seth says. “And some are so dangerous, they leave you questioning your life choices, which is why I think you’d like it.”

Oh no. Don’t egg him on.

My father laughs. It’s been so long since I’ve heard him laugh, it nearly brings tears to my eyes.

“Finally, another smart man who does dumb things,” my father says. “How about that?”

Barney pulls to go to them. I let go of his collar and follow him to the kitchen. I see my father peeling himself out from under the sink. Seth is kneeling beside him, his hand covering the edge of the cabinet to protect my father’s head. My heart swells, waylaying all my worries about his ability to deal with my dad.

Barney bounds up to my father.

“What’re you doing, brat?” my father says, ruffling his fur. Barney licks his face. My father grumbles, but Barney’s already off to sniff an old piece of PVC pipe lying on a towel on the floor.

Seth pushes to his feet, gazing affectionately at me as he offers a hand to help my father up.

“I ain’t that old yet.” My father swats his hand away and pushes slowly to his feet. “When are we going caving?”

I look at Seth and lift my brows in question.

He gives me a reassuring look as he puts tools away and says, “You can’t go caving until you’re in top shape.”

“Few days, and I’ll be good to go,” my father says.

I open my mouth to dispute that, but before I can, Seth says, “You might be, but I won’t. If you’re going caving with me, we have to do it right. That means preparing. While you’re resting and regaining your strength, I’ll put together a plan. We’ll need to start with hikes for endurance and a rock wall for practice. I was hoping to get Ellie started, too.”

My father’s head snaps in my direction, his brow furrowed. “Ellie?”

Shoot. My nerves flare as I realize I was Nori to him when I was younger, too, and hearing Seth call me Ellie might stir up bad memories for him about my mother. Hoping that’s not the case, I scramble for a way to explain. “Seth has thought of Taylor as a guy for years, so I thought it would be best to go back to Eleanor with him. Only him.”

My father seems to chew on that while looking between me and Seth. “Well, I’ll be damned,” he says, and the tension in his expression eases.

I exhale with relief. “It surprised me, too.”

Seth tosses me a wink as he closes the toolbox.