A quiet moment settled between them, full of unspoken memories.
“I didn’t know he fixed fishing gear, either. I mean, his own, yes. And the ones I ruined by getting the lines tangled like…” Tessa rolled her eyes. “A cat in a crab trap.”
They both laughed.
“I wish I did know how to fix gear,” she said after a moment. “I’d help old Seamus out just to honor Dad.”
“He’d like that,” her mother said. “And he’d like me to get his rods and reels down here to donate them. I think I’ll try and figure that out.”
“Awesome, Mom,” she said. “Let’s definitely make that happen.”
“It’s not enough,” Jo Ellen said softly, looking off to the other side of the harbor. “Never enough.”
“I know.” Tessa took a sip of water and leaned back. “I mean, do you even remember his memorial service? It was a blur. I don’t know who was there, let alone what we said.”
Her mother sighed noisily. “I’m sure he was looking down and disappointed.”
“Why?” Tessa asked.
“He used to ask that I would throw his ashes in the Gulf of Mexico.” She gave a tight smile. “Obviously, I didn’t.”
Tessa sat up. “We can. Where are they?”
“In a box on my dresser in Ithaca.”
“Mom.” She leaned forward. “Let’s honor his request, please. Let’s do another memorial service that we’ll actually see because we’re not bawling our eyes out.”
Jo Ellen just looked at her. “Another one? Wasn’t one enough?”
“We’ll call it a Celebration of Life,” she said. “We’ll get Kate and her kids down here. She can bring the ashes and the rods along with the files and paperwork you said Peter wanted.”
“Oh, I don’t know if I can handle…that.”
“Mom! The man made you promise to put his ashes in the Gulf, right?”
“Yes.”
“Well, we owe him this!” Tessa reached for her. “Please. I’ll organize everything.”
After a few seconds, she nodded. “I think it’s a beautiful idea, Tessa. When we get back, we can call Kate.”
Tessa smiled, beyond satisfied with that decision and this day. Yes, there were a few old memories that hurt, but all in all, this was exactly why she’d wanted this boat ride and this time with her mother.
Vivien pulled into the driveway of the stunning modern home overlooking Four Prong Lake in the heart of one of Destin’s most upscale areas, and shook her head with a half-laugh. All she could see was sleek lines, soaring glass, and tropical landscaping that looked plucked from a resort catalog.
And not a broken sprinkler head in sight.
Had she really thought Danny Sullivan was a fake handyman? Well, he had doused her in water and had all the markings of a con artist. So, the mistake was understandable but, whoa, she’d been so wrong about him.
Now she knew that Danny was a successful independent hedge fund manager who had moved here to keep an eye on his prickly widowed sister, Fiona Buckman, who was Vivien’s client. That meant he had both a soft heart and a thick skin. She also knew he’d lived here less than a year, had another place in New York, and that he looked awfully good without his shirt on.
Not that how he looked mattered. She was here to give him some professional help with “a big empty space”—at least that was how he’d described it when she’d seen him at Tessa’s event a few days ago. Who cared that he was charming, handsome, andhad that wry sense of humor that Vivien found so attractive in a man?
And Peter was jealous of… How did he put it?The dude could barely wipe his drool around you.
As if, Peter.
Anyway, the only thing that needed to be attractive for this job was his budget—based on the look of this place, she assumed it was—and her design work.
