“What’s that?” Lacey asked, her voice soft enough to barely be heard over the wind and the inboard engine now that they’d picked up a little speed.
He didn’t answer right away, but glanced at Lacey. “You sure I can be honest?”
“If you don’t want to be thrown overboard,” Tessa answered for her.
Lacey nodded, staring at him with a question in her expression, as if she had no idea what he was about to say and might be a little nervous about it.
He looked from one woman to the other. “My parents, Bob and Faith, have an amazing marriage. They’re connected in a way that very few people enjoy. I’d like that one day, and kids. Several of them, if I had my way. I think family is the most important thing in the world and I also think it’s not valued enough today.”
Lacey stared at him, silent. Tessa felt her jaw loosen.
Really? He was…looking for love? A family?
“I can imagine you meet a lot of…” Tessa left the question unfinished and drifting in the sea breeze.
“Yeah, I do,” he said, obviously knowing where she was going. “Haven’t met someone who’s down-to-earth enough for my taste.” He gave Lacey a little squeeze. “Present company excluded, of course.”
She just smiled, quieter than Tessa could ever remember.
“That’s it,” he said. “That’s my thing. Family.”
Wow. That was…a good thing. “Do you have siblings?” Tessa asked.
“No, no. I was…um, an only child,” he said quickly, as if correcting himself. “So that’s why I want a big family.”
“How old are you?” she asked.
“Just twenty-five. Plenty of time, but that doesn’t mean I don’t think about it.”
Twenty-five. Tessa felt a jolt as if she’d driven over a wave, not the glassy harbor water.
That was exactly the age her son would be—was—somewhere in this world. Good heavens, she hoped that baby had turned out as fine and strong and impressive as this young man.
She felt Lacey’s gaze on her, intense and knowing. Of course. Lacey knew her secret and she had to guess exactly what Tessa was thinking.
“Okay, kids,” she said brightly, happy to see the break to the bay and change this subject. “Hang on to your hats and each other. We’re getting underway!”
With that, she kicked the throttle and the bow rose from the water, getting a hoot of happiness from Roman. He threw his arms around Lacey and gave her a hug as if protecting her. Tessa’s heart crawled into her throat, her emotions as wild as the wake behind her.
Was her son—the one she’d held exactly one time in her whole life—anything like this boy? Was he falling in love right now? Living his best life? Wondering about her?
She hoped so. And just thinking about it kind of hurt her heart.
So, she pressed the old pain away and took them for a fun joyride around the picturesque bay, then found a cove Seamus had told her was teeming with speckled trout and redfish. The spot was in the shadow of the bridge, tucked into thickets of mangroves and pepper trees.
“This is exactly like my backyard growing up,” Roman told them as they dropped anchor.
“Nice life,” Lacey said. “Beats the suburbs of Atlanta.”
“It beats everything.”
“Where exactly was that?” Tessa asked. “Near Jacksonville?”
He looked up at her as he pulled a rod from the collection. “A few hours south, near Cape Canaveral,” he said. “Close enough to grow up seeing space launches.”
“That’s cool,” Lacey said.
“It was awesome. Our house had a fat canal in the back, lined with these mangrove trees. There were dolphins, manatees, and pelicans everywhere. And so many fish it was crazy.”
