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Humor passes over his face, there and gone in a flash. “I was just going to say hi.”
Pulling back my sleeve, I check the time.
“Let’s just get this over with.”
I trudge down the plankway toward the docks. Rex and Dad are waiting about a hundred yards down, and I head toward them, feeling like I’m carrying around a ton of bricks. It was difficult to get out of bed this morning. If Charlie hadn’t come to check on me, I might have stayed under my covers all day.
Insulated and safe.
Dad gives me a bear hug. I blink, biting my tongue.
He is way too old to be trying to lift me off my feet.
“Cole! Glad you’re here.” He smiles at me. “I thought you were still hiding out.”
“Hiding out?” I echo. I give him a puzzled look. “From what?”
“You tell me.”
“Oh, we’ll get into that. Believe me.” Rex grins and bumps my shoulder with his own. “But first, we have to check out Dad’s new drip.”
“My what?” Dad asks.
“Rex is just making sure we all know that he’s cooler than us,” River adds helpfully. “Good job, Rex.”
Rex flexes and brushes imaginary dust from his shoulder.
“Someone has to be the cool one.”
As we start down the pier toward the dock, I roll my eyes. “Can you guys just go ahead and give me a condensed version of whatever it is you want to talk about? I have a lot of planning to do.”
Rex isn’t listening. He whistles as we walk down the dock toward my dad’s brand-new boat. It’s sixty-five feet of sleek white fiberglass encasing a powerful engine.
“Jesus,” River exclaims as he follows a few steps behind me. “You must have dropped a mint on this baby.”
Rex hops on board like he climbs onto small yachts all day, every day. He’s never been one to feign disinterest in the newest toy, whether it be a car, plane, or a huge mother of a boat like this one. He disappears inside and River rushes around me to catch up with him.
“Dibs on the best seat!” River yells.
I climb on board, shading my eyes from the broad light gray sky overhead. Inside, I’m wondering if I should feel excitement over this boat.
All my feelings are oddly blunted because I’m feeling forlorn and lost ever since Sav kicked me to the curb. Now I’m floating in a cloud of unpleasant numbness and I’m surly about it.
Dad comes up behind me, patting me on the shoulder. “You okay, son?”
I shrug a shoulder. “I’ll figure it out.”
That’s a dirty lie and we both know it. I feel like I’ve cut the boat’s mooring and now I’m floating free in a pool of gloomy muck. But my father just claps a hunter-green bucket hat on his head and gives me an encouraging smile.
“I know this has been a hard year for you. First Holly, now Savannah…”
“Who said anything about Savannah?”
He chuckles. “You’ve been wandering around town, looking like a puppy that’s been kicked. Three times now, I’ve found you on the beach in front of the house, staring into the ocean. Like you don’t have a house of your own to mope around in. And Rex says that Savannah doesn’t work for you anymore. I can put two and two together.”
I scowl. “The last thing I need is my brothers gossiping about me.”
Dad gives me a long look.
