“Wait,” I say, holding up my hand. “In college he did? I thought he took over after Bike and Build?”

“No,” Oliver says. “When he was nineteen his dad had the heart attack and then a stroke a year later. Colton was sixteen. Levi was like eleven? There was literally no other choice for Finn but to take over.”

“His father is better now,” Ansel continues. “But there’s a lot he still can’t do, and Finn has basically run the entire thing since he was a kid. He took the summer off one year for Bike and Build when Colton was old enough to give Finn a break, and he came to Vegas, but other than that, this trip to San Diego was his only time away from the water.”

I nod, lifting my water glass with a shaky hand. I want to see him now, want to kiss him and help him and fix all of this.

“I actually like what you tried to do,” Ansel says. “When I talked to him a couple of nights ago he told me about it.”

“Did he use lots of four-letter words?”

“None, actually.”

I raise my eyebrows, impressed.

I look over at Oliver. “When you saw him this weekend, did he tell you what he’s going to do about the business?”

Oliver tilts his head, blinking. “Harlow.”

So he’s not going to tell me. Fine. I go for broke; I have no more pride: “Did he even mention me?”

Oliver shrugs. “Not much. But remember this is Finn we’re talking about here. He usually says the least about the things he’s thinking about the most.”

I laugh. Well played, Aussie.

OUR FLIGHT TO Victoria on Monday lands at four in the afternoon, and Sal and I ride to the Magnolia Hotel together in a cab, discussing the plans for the next two days: meetings, boat visits, and more meetings. The air here smells like ocean, but so different from home. It’s heavier, saltier somehow, and the winds feel more substantial, making me think of San Diego as a sweet, docile beach town. This place is on the edge of the ocean frontier.

I’m so nervous to be here, so close to Finn again that even in the October sun, I feel chilled. The last time I came here, I had nothing but the champagne bubbles of excitement, effervescent in my stomach and giving me a secret smile the entire trip. I barely noticed the wilderness, the space between houses, and how much water there is, everywhere.

This time, I notice everything. Even as we discuss work, and names I need to know and what kinds of notes Sal needs me to gather on this trip, I notice it all.