Mac smiled. “Remember me asking you how I’d know when the right one came along? You said, ‘You’ll know, son. You’ll just know.’”

“Sounds like something I’d say.”

“Well . . .”

Mac watched the awareness dawn on his father’s face. “No kidding?”

Mac shrugged.

His father’s eyes went shiny. “It’s about time,” he said softly. “Wow, just like that?”

“I took one look at her, and that was that.”

“And we’re talking about Maddie who cleans up the hill?”

“Yeah,” Mac said, still awed by the wonder of it all. Two days ago, he was in Miami. Two days ago, he didn’t even know she existed. And now his every hope and dream was somehow mixed up in her and her son.

“I don’t know her real well, but she seems like a sweetheart of a gal,” Big Mac said. “Had some tough breaks, though.”

“She sure has. And because of that, she’s kind of. . . skittish.”

“Can’t really blame her. That father of hers. . . No one could believe it when he just walked away from his wife and kids. That’s the thing about this place—you can jump on a ferry and run away from it all.”

“I don’t think she ever recovered from that.”

“Who would?”

Mac decided to level with his father. “I’m kind of in uncharted territory here.”

“How’s that?”

“You’re gonna laugh. . .”

His father did just that. “Spill it, boy!”

“It’s just that usually when I like someone, they tend to. . .” Mac combed his fingers impatiently through his hair as he searched for the words. “How can I say this without sounding like a total jackass?”

This time Big Mac howled. “They tend to fall at your feet in gratitude that Mac McCarthy has chosen to give them the time of day?”

“That is not what I was going to say!”

His father continued to laugh at his own joke. “Am I warm?”

“Sort of,” Mac said begrudgingly.

That set his father off again.

“I’m glad you’re getting such a kick out of this.”

Big Mac wiped the laughter tears from his eyes. “I’m very sorry, but I think it’s a riot that you finally find one who makes your head spin and she could take or leave you.”

“Well,” Mac said, thinking of their passionate kisses, “I wouldn’t say that, exactly. But she doesn’t seem to be jumping for joy that she’s attracted my interest.”

Big Mac had the good grace to at least try to hide his smirk. “She’s probably overwhelmed. A good-looking, self-assured guy like you would scare the pants off a gal who’s been treated the way she has by other men.”

“None of the stuff they say about her is true, Dad.” He thought of his brother Evan and the conversation they needed to have—soon. “None of it.”

“That so? Interesting.”