“Hi, Seamus,” she said. “I’m Tessa, Artie and Jo Ellen’s daughter.”
“Course you are! I’d know your daddy’s eyes anywhere. And just as pretty as you were when you were a young thing and could tangle up a line faster than a cat in a crab trap. Hello there, little lady.”
He gave her a hug, too, and looked around expectantly for a second before leveling his gaze on her.
“He’s gone, isn’t he?” he asked, the simple, sad question telling her that she wouldn’t have to say a word. No doubt her expression said it all.
“About seven months ago,” Tessa said softly, easily recalling the man with the Irish name and the Alabama accent who had been friends with her father. How had she never seen him here in the past month or so? “But he sure loved fishing with you, Seamus. It was one of the great joys of his life.”
“Aw, shucks.” He shook his head and took a minute to let an emotion hit, then turned to Jo Ellen. “I’m sorry for your loss. I buried Suzanne a few years back and, good Lord, it ain’t easy.”
She only answered with a tight smile, so Tessa put a hand on his arm. “Thank you, Seamus. And we’re sorry for your loss, too.”
He nodded. “Must be thirty years, then, since y’all never came back after Opal hit.”
“Not until this year,” Tessa confirmed.
“Bet you’re shocked at the changes.” He gestured around them. “That hurricane was the beginning of…well, not the end. Just thenewDestin. After the storm, the real money poured inhere, nothin’ but new builds and tourists. Got so expensive not even the spring break kids could afford a trip here anymore. Not many of us left who really remember this town before Opal.”
“I can’t believe how different it is,” Jo Ellen agreed. “The house we rented is gone now, but the Lawsons built a mansion on it.”
“The…” He inched back. “Roger and, uh, Maggie, was it? They live here now?”
“Oh, no,” Tessa said. “Roger passed away many, many years ago. Maggie lives in Atlanta, but she owned the property and rebuilt on it this year.”
“Huh. Well, that’s just a nice blast from the past.” He turned to Tessa. “You need to rent a boat or fishing equipment?”
She laughed. “We’re not fishing. I have the Sea Ray in slip fifteen-A.”
“I thought that went with the big rental some corporation owned,” he said, thumbing in the general direction of her former client’s house.
“It’s mine now,” she said, smiling up at him. “And I wanted to take my mom for a ride. I don’t fish anymore.”
“Well, ain’t nobody quite as good as your daddy. And he could fix up a broken rod and reel like no one I ever met.” He chuckled and shook his head. “When he’d come down here in the summers, I’d just drop a pile of busted gear on his lap and he’d put some thick glasses on and pick up a screwdriver and start fiddlin’. Next thing you know, it was good as new and I could give it to the kids.”
“Your kids?” Tessa asked.
“No, no. Me and Suzanne ran a ministry called The Abundant Catch that teaches some underprivileged kids how to fish and learn about Jesus. Artie used to say when he retired down here that all he’d do is fix up broken gear and teach those kids how tofish.” His voice thickened. “Bet he’s bringing in the big catch up in heaven now.”
Tessa’s own throat tightened as a lump formed. “I didn’t know he planned to retire here,” she said, turning to her mother with a question in her gaze.
“He had some pipe dreams, but it was always easier to stay in Ithaca,” Jo Ellen said with a shrug. “But I know he’s smiling down on you, Seamus. Every time we’d go out on Lake Cayuga, he’d talk about fishing with you.”
“Nice to know he remembered me. And good to see you again, ladies. If you ever want to pick up where he left off, I got plenty of rods that need love.” Seamus pointed to Tessa, a glint in his blue eyes. “You cast like you were swattin’ flies, but you tried hard. Your daddy said that was what mattered.”
Holding on to that sweet memory, Tessa said goodbye and they promised to stop by the office again.
A moment later, they reached the beautiful cruiser that she intended to renameGood Time Girlwhen she got around to having the boat name painted on the back.
“I just got the owner paperwork and insurance,” she told her mother. “So you can be my first legal passenger, Mom. Welcome aboard!”
“Goodness, this is exciting.”
Tessa helped her climb onto the deck, then showed her around, including the small cabin underneath with a single bunk, a bare-minimum kitchenette, and a head.
After she untied the lines, Tessa got behind the helm and started the engine, letting it rumble before she pulled out of the slip. As she was about to accelerate, she saw her mother, sitting on the bow bench, wipe a tear.
Oh. The grief would never stop, would it?
