Page 38 of Comeback
“I doubt that. You’re so humble—I bet you werebetterthan good.”
From the corner of my eye, I saw her pull her phone from her purse.
“Hey, what are you doing?” I asked in a slight panic.
“I’m looking Jack Hathaway up,” she said, her fingers tapping away at the screen.
“Sorry, Emma,” I said. “No screen time on the boat. Captain’s rules.”
Her bottom lip jutted. “Really?”
“How often do you get a view like this?” I asked, waving my hand across the open water.
“You’re right.” She gave a contented sigh, and the phone went back into her bag. “So, do you miss hockey?”
I gave a shrug. “Everything comes to an end.”
“Hopefully noteverything,” she said, and our eyes secretly locked for a moment.
“Hopefully not,” I said.
I grabbed a sailor’s hat and put it on Mackenzie. The thing was way too big for her head and kept sliding over her eyes—but she looked so adorable in it.
“I’m the captain,” I told her, “and you’re my first mate, okay?”
“Yep!” Mack said with the biggest smile. She pushed the brim up again so she could see. “What’s a first mate do?”
I put her in my lap and gave her the wheel. “Steer.”
“Woooooow!” Mackenzie shrieked as she wrapped her tiny fingers around the wheel. She didn’t even have to turnthe wheel, she just had to hold it to be amazed. “This isawesome!”
“Yeah? You like it?” I asked.
“Love it!”
“Should we go faster, then?” I asked.
“Yeah,faster!”
I opened the throttle, and the engine wailed as we raced across the lake, jets of water spraying outside the helm’s window.
“Weeeeeee!” Mack shouted and laughed.
“Watch this!” I yelled. I yanked the wheel hard to the right. ThePortofinohandled like a sports car, and Emma’s body was pressed against mine as the hull rolled hard to the right. I put my arm around her.
“Jack!” Emma giggled, glued to my side. “Iknowwhat you’re doing!”
***
After we had our fun zipping around the lake, I dropped anchor and made drinks: lemonade for the little one, and white wine spritzers for Emma and me.
Then we went below deck so I could show them the saloon and start cooking lunch.
Mackenzie took one look at the giant leather lounge couch in the saloon and jumped right on it. “I love this boat, Mommy!” she said as she bounced up and down on the cushions. “Can we get one?”
“I love this boat too, sweetie, but let’s not jump on the couch, okay?” Emma said. “This boat is very expensive, and we want to keep it nice.”
“Okay, Mommy,” Mack said as she climbed down.
