He released a short bark of laughter as he ran the duster over the tables and dresser. “I wish.”

“What does that mean?”

“She doesn’t seem all that interested in me.”

Linda expelled what sounded like a sigh of relief. “Oh, well, that’s good, I suppose.”

Mac whirled around to face her. “No, it isn’t. I like her. I really like her.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You could have any woman you want. Just this morning, I talked to Doro Chase. She can’t wait to meet you.”

“What’re you talking about?”

“I told her you’re home, and she’d love to meet you. I said I’d set it up.”

“That ain’t happening. I don’t need my mother arranging dates for me.”

“You need something because that woman you’re shacking up with in town is all wrong for you.”

“That woman I’m shacking up with is all right for me.” Mac enjoyed watching his mother blanch. “In fact, she’s more right for me than any woman I’ve ever met.”

“You can’t be serious.”

Deciding he’d said enough for now, he grabbed the last of the towels from his basket and headed for the bathroom. “We’ll see you at dinner.” He poked his head out the door and made eye contact with her. “You be nice to her, or I swear you won’t see me again for a long, long time.”

“Honestly. I don’t know what’s happened to you.”

“Believe me, you don’t want to know.” He’d fallen in love with a woman his mother had nothing but disdain for. Any doubt he’d had about the love part had disappeared during the long day at the hotel. He loved her. He wanted her. He couldn’t wait to see her again. He was going to do anything and everything he could to be with her.

And if his mother didn’t like it? Too bad.

Mac limped out of the hotel at three thirty. The long night without sleep, the long day without so much as a ten-minute break and the battle with his mother had left him weary and drained. He wanted to go straight back to Maddie’s and sleep until dinner. But first he needed to see his father, so he started the bike and headed for the marina.

The aroma of fried food and diesel fuel blended with sunscreen, dead fish and something being cooked on a grill. A group of boys raced crabs down the ramp into the water, and their shrieks filled the air. Overhead, a flock of seagulls watched the action onboard one of the big powerboats where the day’s catch was being cleaned. Just another summer day at McCarthy’s.