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“John said you can go to the garage if you want to talk to him, Harvey. He is busying himself with the car and is not moving an inch away from there!” Mom announces, coming back into the kitchen as loud as a raven.
“I’ll take you there,” I say, offering him my hand.
Dad is there, and just as mom said, he has his face deep into the car’s engine.
“Dad, Harvey is here,” I say, letting go of Harvey just slightly.
“Oh, hi Harvey!” He doesn’t move his attention from the car. “Pass me that wrench from the table, will ya?”
Harvey hands dad the wrench and looks at the engine as well.
“Any trouble, John?” Harvey says.
“Just a little noise,” dad says. “Tinkering around with it is mostly to keep me busy.”
“As long as you don’t break the car again, mom will be happy!” I say, holding back a laugh.
“Oh, keep quiet, Elsa!” Dad looks over his shoulder to say. I giggle and dad turns his attention to Harvey. “But what brings you here, boy?”
Harvey takes a step back and flexes his biceps as if getting ready for a fight.
“Elsa told me you enjoy sailing, so I was wondering if I could introduce you to my girl at the marina,” he says, his voice shaking a bit, which melts my heart.
“Oh!” Dad moves his head out from under the engine, now getting genuinely interested. “I could only wonder what a couple million could do to a boat!”
“Billion, dad,” I correct him with a laugh. “He’s a billionaire, remember?”
“Eh, so be it. Both are amounts of money I will never have!” Dad shrugs, defeated. “Count me in. When shall we do it?”
“Today,” Harvey offers him his hand. “This afternoon I’ll take you to meet the Queen of the Marina!”
“Beautiful name! Mine is called—”
“Roadrunner!” Harvey points a finger gun at him. “Smart name, John!”
And all I can do is watch them getting along, the smile on my face growing wider and wider.
Chapter Twenty-Four
HARVEY
Iamlookingforwardto getting to know Elsa’s dad better and am just relieved there is something we both have in common: sailing.
We are meeting at 3 PM, and I arrive at 1:30, busying myself with knots, weights, masts, and sails while I wait.
After a while, I hyperfocus and completely blank out everything around me. This is a nice thing I do, a refuge from everything, and I always say I should do it more, but I always forget and don’t.
After a while, I realize the sun is changing and look at my phone. It’s almost 4 PM and none of them have arrived.
I realize I left my phone in the truck, so I dismount from the boat in a single, swift jump. With my back turned to the boardwalk to tie ropes properly, I don’t see that I have company until it is too late.
“Are you just arriving or just leaving?” Elsa’s voice reaches my ears, and I turn to her with a smile.
“I was just going to grab my phone from the truck and call you to see if you were still coming! I always get distracted while I am on the boat and lose track of the time. Is anything wrong?”
She rolls her eyes and lets out an “Ugh!” that feels like a knife to my heart.
“I was wondering why you weren’t picking up! I unblocked you by the way. Well, dad messed up the car again and I booked a ride to come tell you since I couldn’t get you on the phone.”
