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But something had lodged in his craw the minute she’d walked away with the man after this morning’s post-drama powwow.
Yeah, she had an agenda talking to Mr. Archaeology, and?—
Wait—
“You good, bro?”
He looked over to see Austen step up, hanging on to the overhead bars. She’d braided her hair and held it back in a diving scarf, wore sunglasses and a thin pair of diving pants. Under it, she wore a green one-piece with long arms.
Water splashed, spraying them as the driver cut through a wave, and the boat jerked. Across from him, Heather let out a playful scream, and Dr. Scott put his arm around her. They seemed to be having a good time.
As did Elise and Hunter Jameson, who sat in the back of the boat, holding hands. They’d asked him about Jamal this afternoon as he helped people assemble their dive gear. He hadn’t mentioned the kidnapping.
Jamal seemed to have bounced back. But Doyle recognized a kid trying to hide his emotions, having looked in the mirror one or a thousand times.
So as Doyle looked up at his sister, he weighed his answer, then smiled, nodded. “I’m okay.”
She narrowed her eyes at him, then sat on the bench beside him. “I see you keep glancing over at Tia. You two?—”
“Codirectors.”
“That’s what Declan said. How’s that working out?” She grinned at him.
“Why?”
“You don’t ‘co’ anything.” She finger quoted the word.
“I can be a team player.”
“Only if you get to call the plays.” She nudged him with her shoulder. “And Tia seems the same way. Declan said she used to run the Pepper family charity, EmPowerPlay.”
“She’s smart, that’s for sure. And determined.” And maybe didn’t have a good picture of her own limitations. But he clamped down on those words.
“And pretty.” Austen winked at him.
“Yes. Whatever. Weworktogether, Austen.”
She sighed as the boat began to slow. “I know. Can’t blame a sister for wanting her brother to find a happily ever after.”
“I’m fine. I had my chance at happily ever after.”
“Wait—what? You get one chance and that’s it?”
The boat settled in the water. To the east, Cumbre de Luz rose, lush and peaked, encompassing most of the tiny island. The port was situated at the bottom, a sea of red-roofed homes, whitewashed and scattered along the harbor. Palm trees dotted the boardwalk along the black-sand beach like truffula trees. Around the boat, the deep azure blue of the ocean stretched over a shallow reef, fish teeming in the translucent water.
“Listen. I had a plan for my life. And then I didn’t. Now I don’t know what the destination is, and frankly, I’m not sure I want one. I’m no longer a candidate for ‘happily ever after.’” He finger quoted his repeated words. “To be honest, I’m not sure I’ll ever be ready for... Well, what Juliet and I had can’t be duplicated. And I’m not even going to try.”
“It’s been five years, Doyle. And just because the plan changed doesn’t mean God doesn’t have a new one.”
He glanced at her. “Maybe I don’t want a new one.”
He stood up and reached for his tanks. He’d already attached his rig to the oxygen and now opened the valve, tested the air.
Austen stood up too, considered him for a moment. Looked at Tia, back at him. “Whatever you say.”
Then she walked over to her rig.
He couldn’t stop himself from glancing at Tia as the boat came to a stop. She sat on the bench, working on her dive vest, having zipped up her wet suit. She too wore a headscarf, and now pulled her dive mask over her eyes, held her fins in her hand, and approached the end of the boat.