I smile. “How was your appointment?”
Since I moved to San Diego shortly after I found Aden at my sister’s grave, he’s been attending a group for soldiers with PTSD. What started out as therapy turned into something so much greater as now he takes those who’re willing and teaches them how to fish. The majority of his staff of fishermen are ex-military who suffer from the long-term effects of war. He says helping others makes him feel less guilty for the ones who paid the ultimate price for his life.
“It was good, just got a new guy who’s starting next week after your folks leave.”
I push up on my toes and kiss his soft lips. “Have I told you lately that I think you’re the most wonderful human being I’ve ever met?”
His face grows serious. “Yeah. You tell me all the time.”
“Well . . .” I push his shaggy hair behind his ear. “I mean it.”
“I know you do.” He kisses me again, this time deeper than before.
“Break it up, guys.” C.J. wiggles between us, pushing us apart. “We gotta get to sea.”
“Later,” Aden whispers in my ear before scooping our daughter up and onto his shoulders and then heads for the dock.
ADEN
“Which one’s gonna be mine, Daddy?”
With C.J.’s tiny legs draped over my shoulders and her hands gripping tight to my hair, all is right in the world. The sound of my wife’s voice, light and carefree as she laughs with her parents, sends a warmth through my body that is indescribable.
It’s better than any high.
“You’re five, baby. Let’s revisit this conversation in twenty years, ’kay?”
“But . . . you said I could be a fishing captain too and we need to have a plan!”
A plan. It’s safe to say that little Celia Jane ended up the perfect combination of me and her gorgeous mother.
“I tell you what.” I punch the code into the keypad to buzz us into the marina that now holds eight boats that I own. Six strictly for fishing, and two for personal use. We pass by Jenks’s old boat, the Amelia Lynn, now updated with new hardware, sails, and paint and I look up, hoping he can see me now, praying he knows how much I cared for him and how his memory was a huge influence when it came time for me to get my shit together. “I’ll get you a little sailboat and we’ll start there. Deal?”
“Deal!”
“Colt, you got a second?” Ryan, an ex-marine I hired three years ago, jogs to me with a clipboard in his hand.
“Sure, man.”
“Ryan! I’m gonna have a sailboat and sail around Messico like Jenks did!”
He looks up at her, making sure to overexaggerate his surprise. “Oh yeah? You leaving now?”
She giggles. “No, maybe tomorrow.”
I take the clipboard from him, making sure to keep one hand wrapped tightly around the leg of the other half of my life.
“Just need you to give those numbers a skim and sign the bottom.”
“I can do it.” Sawyer scoots up next to me and I hand her the clipboard. “He’s got his hands full.”
I lean down and kiss my wife on her jaw, some of her long silky hair blowing into my face. “Thank you, freckles.”
With a chin lift to Ryan I climb aboard my boat, the Second Chance.
When the company had its highest grossing year I decided it was time for an upgrade and bought the latest and greatest in yachts. It’s not huge, only two bedrooms, but it has all the bells and whistles, including a full-functioning gourmet kitchen and full-sized bathroom with tub.
It’s become our home away from home and Sawyer doesn’t know I’ve arranged for her parents to take C.J. back to the house later so I can have my wife to myself tonight.
I gently take my daughter from my shoulders, bringing her around to blow a raspberry on her stomach before placing her on her feet. “Go get your life vest on.”
“Daddy!”
“Don’t argue with your dad, honey,” Darlene says as she places a few items into the fridge. “Go get it on.”
“Fine.” She stomps off and I watch her until I’m sure she’s safe in her life jacket.
“She is so much like her, ya know.” Darlene shakes her head with a wistful look in her eye.
“So, my wife was this much of a pill when she was young.”
Her expression softens. “Not Sawyer. Celia.”
I look on as Sawyer scoops our daughter into her arms and holds her on her hip while pointing at something off on the horizon. “I love them so much. I can’t imagine what it would be like to lose either of them.” I turn to her, seeing the loss of her daughter is still so fresh in her tearing eyes. “I can’t imagine what you must’ve gone through.”
She smiles sadly. “You’ll never have to.”
I pull her in for a quick hug. “Now . . . how ’bout a root beer. We are subject to Captain C.J. Colt’s orders.”
“I’d love one—” Music comes from her pocket followed by the words of Akon singing, “I Just Had Sex.” “What in the . . . .?” She scrambles for her cell, but it’s stuck in the fabric of her sweatshirt as the song goes on. “What is he saying about his penis?!” Her face is bright red as she finally gets the device released and pushes something to make it stop. “My gosh.” She shoots daggers at my wife, who is laughing hysterically on the deck outside. “Sawyer Colt, you’re gonna get it!” She presses the phone to her ear. “Kathy, I’m sorry, are you there, honey?”
I burst out laughing when I realize who’s on the other line, earning a scowl from Darlene.
“Your son and daughter-in-law are driving me batty.”
I lean in to the phone. “Hi, Mom!”
Darlene nods. “Your mom says hi and to stop tormenting me.”
“Yes, ma’am.” I pull out root beers and pop the tops, handing one to my mother-in-law.
“Of course, there’s plenty of room for you and Paul and the kids. Is Stephanie coming? Great! We’re so excited you could make it down while we’re here.”
I sip from my soda as Sawyer heads inside, looking like Morpheus does after he raids the bait tank when I’m not looking. She presses into my side.
“That was some funny shit, freckles.” I kiss the side of her head.
She smiles up at me. “When will she learn to stop leaving her cell-phone unattended.”
I motion to the woman responsible for the life of my gorgeous wife. “She’s talking to my mom about tomorrow. The whole crew is coming out, my sister, the kids, I was thinking maybe we should take everyone to the zoo?”
Pulling the root beer from my hand, she tosses back a gulp. “I think that’s a great idea.”
I scan my surroundings, C.J. on the deck with Sawyer’s dad, my mother-in-law laughing with my mom, and the most amazing woman on earth in my arms, and I can’t imagine life being any sweeter.
Long after sunset when all the boats are rocking softly in their docks, I’m sitting on a lounge chair with my fucking sexy as hell wife between my legs. It has to be close to midnight, and after a long and very heated sex-fest we had to come outside to cool off.