waiting a whole week. I just nod and flash a warm smile. “It’ll be all right, Dad. I’m here for you.”
Wrapping my arms around his thin body, I cherish the hug, knowing a time will come when I can only dream about these moments. “You’ve done so great at your cookie business, I don’t want you to turn your focus away from that,” he whispers into my hair. His over six-foot frame towers over my five foot two one. I wish I had gotten some of his height.
I dig my head into his chest. “Nothing is more important than you.”
Even Ryker.
I won’t be taking him up on his offer. Being here for my dad is my top priority.
“Thank you, honey.” He pulls away from me and steps off my porch. “Can you make me some of your famous red velvet cookies? It’ll make me feel a lot better.” His fanatical smile makes me laugh. I’d make him anything he asked for.
“Girl, you’re making a great mistake. This is your chance to explore.” Mama Doe says, whipping out the sheet so it’ll fall flat on the bed. After my delivery this morning, the girls at the front said she was looking for me.
I tuck in a side, helping. “He’s sick. I can’t leave.” At my dad’s appointment, a few days ago, we found out his cancer has come back. But it’s a slow-growing cancer. The treatments the doctor talked about have a high success rate.
“Pshh,” she says, waving me off. “He’s not going to die anytime soon.”
My eyebrows cock up in surprise. “You don’t know that. What if something happened to him while I was gone?” I would never forgive myself.
“He doesn’t even act sick, child. I’ve seen men on their deathbed. Your dad is not. I saw him on his fishing boat this morning.”
I ignore her, tucking in the sheets with a little too much force. She doesn’t understand. He’s fishing because that’s his lifeline. It makes him happy. I glance up at her after tucking the corner in. “Did you tell him I got a letter?”
The pillow she was fluffing plops on the bed. “Aspen, do you need to ask me that?” No. Of course she didn’t. She might be everyone’s Mama Doe, but she’s so much more than that to me. She took me under her wing when I was a teenager and helped me in areas my dad wasn’t able to. Like the day I got my period and my “I’ll always be here for you” dad walked out of the room with a pale face and brought me Mama Doe instead. She’s my adopted mom.
I sit on the bed and exhale heavily, hating that I’m second-guessing everyone. “I figured it wasn’t you.”
She fluffs the other pillow and fixes them at the head of the bed. “The ears on this island can hear whispers.” That’s the truth. After a long pause, she adds, “You can be back in a day. If something was to happen to Rudy, I could call the boy to get in touch with you.”
I push off the bed, and she grumbles, coming up behind me to fix the tousled corner where I was sitting. Standing in the threshold that leads out to the private patio, I blindly stare out to the water. Am I stupid for not going?
If I go with the attitude that it’s nothing more than a trip to help me plan my future, and seeing Ryker is just a bonus, then I won’t be setting myself up for disappointment when I come home. I shake my head at my thoughts. Don’t be stupid, Aspen. You said that last time.
“You’re not going.”
Dante’s words slice through me as if he has any say. Despite being surrounded by water and land barely in sight, I stand up from the bench I’ve been laying out on and jump in the water. I’m done with this conversation.
The saltwater envelops me and it does nothing to cool me off. How dare he tell me I can’t go. I swim toward the boat.
Maybe I’m not done.
When I pull myself up the ladder and find Dante, he’s leaning against the canopy of the boat with his arms crossed. I take a deep inhale, my one last chance at calming down. Except it doesn’t work.
“That was a pretty direct statement,” I bark.
He shrugs a shoulder. “It couldn’t have come out any clearer.” His smug attitude only fuels the fire in my chest. Why is he being an asshole?
“Oh, it