Page 8 of The Summer We Made Promises (The Destin Diaries #3)

T essa and Jo Ellen crossed Gulf Shore Drive and walked the short distance to the entrance of the neighborhood marina. There, a twenty-nine-foot Sea Ray that Tessa had skillfully managed to negotiate as payment from a client waited in its slip.

Getting her client to agree to give her the beautiful cabin cruiser had been a massive coup on Tessa’s part—a boat was a huge perk in a place surrounded by water. But the real benefit was the fact that this marina reminded her so much of her father.

The privately-owned warren of wharves with rental slips had been upgraded and rebuilt over the years, but it had the same understated vibe, appealing to the owners of small boats and the locals.

Artie and Roger had always worked a deal with the guy who ran the marina to rent a cheap fishing vessel for the months they’d spent here. Her father loved to take out whatever boat they had, throw down a line, and fish until he ran out of bait.

He and Tessa had some great talks on this small waterway that connected to Destin Harbor. Now, she just liked to sit on her boat and think about him.

As she and her mother walked across the wooden docks, chatting about how the marina had expanded over thirty years, Tessa knew the same memories were dancing in Jo Ellen’s head.

As they made their way to her slip, they passed the marina office, a sun-washed wooden building with cheery blue trim. Before they reached it, the manager stepped out of a screen door and waved to them.

“Hey, Tessa,” he called in greeting. “Good to see you again.”

“Hey, Clay.” Tessa slowed her step as they approached the young man, a really dedicated worker in his mid-thirties. “This is my mother, Jo Ellen Wylie. Mom, this is Clay Donahue.”

Jo Ellen’s eyes flickered with recognition at the name. “A Donahue still runs this place?”

Clay grinned. “Yes, ma’am. My family’s been managing this marina since my grandfather’s days.

Not that he’s given anything up,” he added with a laugh.

“Grandad Seamus comes here plenty, trying not to tell me how to do my job.” He tipped his chin toward the door of the small building.

“He’s back there now, as a matter of fact. ”

Jo Ellen gasped. “Seamus Donahue is here?”

“Who’s looking for me?” The screen door swung again, and out stepped a tall, white-haired man in a faded Guy Harvey T-shirt.

Well into his seventies, he had the leathery sun-weathered look of someone who’d spent a lifetime on the water.

His hair still held a bit of a curl, and his sea-blue eyes scanned them with curiosity. “Need some fishing tips, ladies?”

“Seamus!” Jo Ellen stepped forward, lifting the brim of her sunhat and then taking it off as though she needed to get a better look. “I can’t believe it! It’s Jo Ellen, Artie Wylie’s wife.”

“What in the heck?” He reached out and wrapped her in a hug, practically scooping her out of her sandals. “Artie Wylie?” He eased her back and looked around. “Where is that SOB? He still owes me a beer for that forty-five-pound snapper I helped him haul in.”

Tessa’s heart dropped and so did her mother’s expression. Enough that Tessa was certain she saw Jo Ellen’s eyes fill, so she stepped up to answer the question.

“Hi, Seamus,” she said. “I’m Tessa, Artie and Jo Ellen’s daughter.”

“Course you are! I’d know your daddy’s eyes anywhere. And just as pretty as you were when you were a young thing and could tangle up a line faster than a cat in a crab trap. Hello there, little lady.”

He gave her a hug, too, and looked around expectantly for a second before leveling his gaze on her.

“He’s gone, isn’t he?” he asked, the simple, sad question telling her that she wouldn’t have to say a word. No doubt her expression said it all.

“About seven months ago,” Tessa said softly, easily recalling the man with the Irish name and the Alabama accent who had been friends with her father. How had she never seen him here in the past month or so? “But he sure loved fishing with you, Seamus. It was one of the great joys of his life.”

“Aw, shucks.” He shook his head and took a minute to let an emotion hit, then turned to Jo Ellen. “I’m sorry for your loss. I buried Suzanne a few years back and, good Lord, it ain’t easy.”

She only answered with a tight smile, so Tessa put a hand on his arm. “Thank you, Seamus. And we’re sorry for your loss, too.”

He nodded. “Must be thirty years, then, since y’all never came back after Opal hit.”

“Not until this year,” Tessa confirmed.

“Bet you’re shocked at the changes.” He gestured around them.

“That hurricane was the beginning of…well, not the end. Just the new Destin. After the storm, the real money poured in here, nothin’ but new builds and tourists.

Got so expensive not even the spring break kids could afford a trip here anymore.

Not many of us left who really remember this town before Opal. ”

“I can’t believe how different it is,” Jo Ellen agreed. “The house we rented is gone now, but the Lawsons built a mansion on it.”

“The…” He inched back. “Roger and, uh, Maggie, was it? They live here now?”

“Oh, no,” Tessa said. “Roger passed away many, many years ago. Maggie lives in Atlanta, but she owned the property and rebuilt on it this year.”

“Huh. Well, that’s just a nice blast from the past.” He turned to Tessa. “You need to rent a boat or fishing equipment?”

She laughed. “We’re not fishing. I have the Sea Ray in slip fifteen-A.”

“I thought that went with the big rental some corporation owned,” he said, thumbing in the general direction of her former client’s house.

“It’s mine now,” she said, smiling up at him. “And I wanted to take my mom for a ride. I don’t fish anymore.”

“Well, ain’t nobody quite as good as your daddy.

And he could fix up a broken rod and reel like no one I ever met.

” He chuckled and shook his head. “When he’d come down here in the summers, I’d just drop a pile of busted gear on his lap and he’d put some thick glasses on and pick up a screwdriver and start fiddlin’.

Next thing you know, it was good as new and I could give it to the kids. ”

“Your kids?” Tessa asked.

“No, no. Me and Suzanne ran a ministry called The Abundant Catch that teaches some underprivileged kids how to fish and learn about Jesus. Artie used to say when he retired down here that all he’d do is fix up broken gear and teach those kids how to fish.

” His voice thickened. “Bet he’s bringing in the big catch up in heaven now. ”

Tessa’s own throat tightened as a lump formed. “I didn’t know he planned to retire here,” she said, turning to her mother with a question in her gaze.

“He had some pipe dreams, but it was always easier to stay in Ithaca,” Jo Ellen said with a shrug. “But I know he’s smiling down on you, Seamus. Every time we’d go out on Lake Cayuga, he’d talk about fishing with you.”

“Nice to know he remembered me. And good to see you again, ladies. If you ever want to pick up where he left off, I got plenty of rods that need love.” Seamus pointed to Tessa, a glint in his blue eyes.

“You cast like you were swattin’ flies, but you tried hard.

Your daddy said that was what mattered.”

Holding on to that sweet memory, Tessa said goodbye and they promised to stop by the office again.

A moment later, they reached the beautiful cruiser that she intended to rename Good Time Girl when she got around to having the boat name painted on the back.

“I just got the owner paperwork and insurance,” she told her mother. “So you can be my first legal passenger, Mom. Welcome aboard!”

“Goodness, this is exciting.”

Tessa helped her climb onto the deck, then showed her around, including the small cabin underneath with a single bunk, a bare-minimum kitchenette, and a head.

After she untied the lines, Tessa got behind the helm and started the engine, letting it rumble before she pulled out of the slip. As she was about to accelerate, she saw her mother, sitting on the bow bench, wipe a tear.

Oh. The grief would never stop, would it?

She blinked back a few of her own and took them out to the harbor for a slow ride around, thinking about Dad fixing rods and reels for poor little kids. How was it that she didn’t know that about him?

And that just made her wonder…what else didn’t she know about her father?

An hour later, they had cold drinks open and sat in the beautiful sunshine, anchored with a perfect view of the shops and wharf of HarborWalk Village.

Jo Ellen sighed and leaned back on the cushions that made a comfy seating area in the back of the boat.

“I miss him so much,” she confessed. “Out here? On the water? Oh, there was nothing he loved more.”

“I know, Mom. It was bittersweet talking to Seamus. I don’t meet many people who knew him.”

“Not in Florida. The memories are everywhere up at home.”

“You should stay here for a while,” Tessa suggested. “It’s good for you.”

“If Maggie doesn’t claw my eyes out, it is.”

“You two will find your rhythm. You were so close. Always laughing and drinking wine and working on something in the kitchen. You should cook together while you’re here.

” Tessa pushed up her sunglasses to underscore this great idea.

“Not only do we need it since Jonah went to California, but you and Maggie could get close again. God knows we’d all be happier and healthier for it. ”

Her mother considered that, and nodded. “Maybe. We did like cooking up concoctions together.” She was quiet for a long moment, staring out again. “Sometimes it feels like yesterday. Sometimes it feels like another lifetime.”

“Dad or cooking with Maggie?”

“Both,” she said with a smile. “But I was thinking about Artie.”

Tessa took a slow sip. “I thought I’d get used to it.

Not in a way that makes it easier, but just…

accustomed to it. But it still catches me off-guard.

Like, I’ll reach for my phone to call him or think about something I need to tell him, and then…

” She trailed off, fighting a lump in her throat. “Then I remember he’s gone.”

They sat silent for a while, only the sound of the water against the hull and a distant steel drum playing from a restaurant on the wharf.

“Tessa,” Jo Ellen finally said, leaning forward. “I know you and I were never that close. That you were always closer to your father.”

Tessa’s chest tightened. She hadn’t expected that. But then, wasn’t that why she’d come out here today? “Mom?—”

“No, let me say this.” Jo Ellen stood and made her way to the center of the boat, slipping into the passenger seat next to Tessa.

“You and Kate were always so different. She was an open book, and I think I clung to that. You were more private and independent. I should’ve tried harder to meet you where you were, instead of expecting you to be more like her. I’m sorry.”

Tessa’s chest ached at this apology. “Don’t be. I was a Daddy’s girl.”

“I know,” Jo Ellen said softly. “And I never resented that. But I do wish I’d been someone you felt like you could come to when you needed…a parent.”

For a quick second, Tessa wondered if her father had shared her secret. Did her mother know she’d had a baby all those years ago?

No. He’d never betray her like that. He’d promised. Jo Ellen would have been so upset.

Then, anyway. Now? She doubted it would get the same reaction.

Maybe this was it. This was her chance to confide in her. After all, she’d told Lacey. Couldn’t she tell her own mother about the son she’d given up all those years ago?

The words pressed at the back of her throat, but when she opened her mouth, all that came out was: “There are things I haven’t told you. About my life.”

Jo Ellen held her gaze, something flickering in her expression—understanding, maybe. Sadness.

“I’m sure there are.”

Tessa blinked and kept her mouth closed. She couldn’t do it. She just couldn’t.

Shifting on her seat, she searched for a new subject. “How did I not know that Dad wanted to retire in Destin?” she asked, grabbing the first thing that occurred to her.

Jo Ellen sighed, her fingers sliding over the can of soda she held.

“I don’t know how serious he was. You know, we’d get home after a summer here and by February, he just didn’t want to deal with the snow and ice.

Of course, there was his job at Cornell with all the politics in the department.

He loved the freedom of being in Destin. ”

A quiet moment settled between them, full of unspoken memories.

“I didn’t know he fixed fishing gear, either. I mean, his own, yes. And the ones I ruined by getting the lines tangled like…” Tessa rolled her eyes. “A cat in a crab trap.”

They both laughed.

“I wish I did know how to fix gear,” she said after a moment. “I’d help old Seamus out just to honor Dad.”

“He’d like that,” her mother said. “And he’d like me to get his rods and reels down here to donate them. I think I’ll try and figure that out.”

“Awesome, Mom,” she said. “Let’s definitely make that happen.”

“It’s not enough,” Jo Ellen said softly, looking off to the other side of the harbor. “Never enough.”

“I know.” Tessa took a sip of water and leaned back. “I mean, do you even remember his memorial service? It was a blur. I don’t know who was there, let alone what we said.”

Her mother sighed noisily. “I’m sure he was looking down and disappointed.”

“Why?” Tessa asked.

“He used to ask that I would throw his ashes in the Gulf of Mexico.” She gave a tight smile. “Obviously, I didn’t.”

Tessa sat up. “We can. Where are they?”

“In a box on my dresser in Ithaca.”

“Mom.” She leaned forward. “Let’s honor his request, please. Let’s do another memorial service that we’ll actually see because we’re not bawling our eyes out.”

Jo Ellen just looked at her. “Another one? Wasn’t one enough?”

“We’ll call it a Celebration of Life,” she said. “We’ll get Kate and her kids down here. She can bring the ashes and the rods along with the files and paperwork you said Peter wanted.”

“Oh, I don’t know if I can handle…that.”

“Mom! The man made you promise to put his ashes in the Gulf, right?”

“Yes.”

“Well, we owe him this!” Tessa reached for her. “Please. I’ll organize everything.”

After a few seconds, she nodded. “I think it’s a beautiful idea, Tessa. When we get back, we can call Kate.”

Tessa smiled, beyond satisfied with that decision and this day. Yes, there were a few old memories that hurt, but all in all, this was exactly why she’d wanted this boat ride and this time with her mother.