“She’s not going off to college.” He couldn’t stand the thought of her out there in the big bad world. She was fragile, vulnerable. There were other ways for her to get an education. “She’s going to do it all online. She doesn’t need to be in some dorm where everyone parties. She’s not that girl.”

Noelle was studious. She took her classes seriously and she was focused.

And what would happen when she graduated from her online school? How the hell was she going to find a job here?

He shook off that worry. It was years away, and lots of people worked remotely these days.

“Well, that’s still the prevailing theory around town. You’re going to find more and more Mirandas and Annies on your doorstep, and they are not going to be happy about the rumors you started this morning.”

“I told you why I was there.” But no one would believe him. He hadn’t even thought about it. However, he couldn’t see how it would do any real harm. “I am dating Lila. Well, almost dating her. We’re going to have dinner on Friday.”

He thought he might have to avoid her entirely until he showed up on her doorstep. He would do it so she had zero opportunity to back out of the date. She was a polite woman. If he showed up with flowers and dressed nicely, she probably wouldn’t be able to send him away.

He turned the boat, giving it a little more gas. Up ahead he saw the turnoff that would take them to Petrie Island. It was marked by a massive bald cypress whose base lay in the murky waters, the branches extending far above into the sky.

He wondered if Lila would like it out here. He liked the quiet. Even when he’d lived in New Orleans, he’d missed this place, missed the calm he found here.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea? She doesn’t seem like your type.”

“I have a type?”

A thoughtful look crossed Roxie’s face. “I guess I don’t really know. You haven’t dated since I took this job.”

“I haven’t dated since I brought Noelle back here,” he admitted. “At first it was too hard. I had to focus everything I had on her. Even after we settled down I couldn’t find the time. She’d lost her mom. I didn’t love my ex-wife. Not at the end. But I couldn’t bring someone in to replace her. Noelle had to know she came first.”