Page 49 of Comeback
After Mackenzie woke from her nap, we headed above deck. The three of us shared the skipper’s bench, the wind in our hair, as we spent the afternoon cruising around the lake.
Soon, the sun began its journey to the horizon. Although we had plenty of daylight left, I knew our day together was coming to an end.
“After a day like this,” Emma said, stretching in a sunbeam, “it’s going to berealhard going back to work tomorrow.”
“So don’t go,” I said with a shrug. “You know you won’t have to work anymore, right?” I glanced at her from the side of my eye, making sure she understood my meaning.
She looked at me and clicked her tongue. “You’re bad, Jack. You know that?”
“Bad, Jack!” Mackenzie agreed, like a gleeful parrot. I ruffled her hair.
“You can’t tell me you’re not tempted,” I teased Emma.
“I’m beyond tempted,” she mused. “That’s the problem.”
“I know. I was only joking.” I paused. “Sort of.”
“Soon, okay?” Emma asked. She happily sighed. “If things keep going like this … I won’t need long.”
“That’s good to hear,” I said. I put my arm around her shoulder, discreetly, so Mackenzie wouldn’t see.
“We should probably head back, though. It’s getting late.”
“Aye, aye,” I said, turning the boat around and heading for home.
Back at home, I parked the boat back in the garage and shut her down. Mackenzie didn’t want to get off. Sheparked herself on the skipper’s bench, clasped her hands around the wheel, and refused to leave. She was having a mini-meltdown.
“Sorry,” Emma said. “She’s had a long day.”
“Hey, it’s no problem.”
“I wanna go fishing,” Mack quietly sniffled to herself.
I grabbed Emma’s elbow and pulled her close. “Pst.I don’t know how you want to handle this, but we could cast off the boat house balcony a few times if you think it’ll help.”
“You don’t mind?” she whispered.
“Not at all.”
“Mackenzie,” Emma said, trotting out her firm but kind mom voice. “It was very nice of Jack to invite us out on his boat, wasn’t it?”
Sniffling, she nodded her head.
“But now we have to help him clean so he can put his boat away. If we don’t help him, he might not want to invite us out again because we left him with a mess on his boat.”
Mackenzie stared at her mom, her wide eyes looking troubled.
“Maybe if you help us clean up, then you can ask Jack if he’d take you out onto his balcony andmaybehe’ll let you make twenty more casts into the lake.”
The prospect of twenty more casts brought a smile to Mackenzie’s face. Eager to help, she wiped the tears from her face and slid off the skipper’s bench. “Yes, Mommy.”
Emma passed her one of their bags. “Here. You can carry this.”
“Okay.”
The three of us carried their bags to my car.
I chuckled and nudged Emma’s shoulder. “Wow. You’ve got the magic touch.”
