“I don’t know,” she said with a worried glance at the baby, who sat on Mac’s lap like he belonged there.

He squeezed her hand. “Come with me. It’ll do you good to get off the island for a day.” Knowing most of her expressions by now, Mac could tell she was tempted. He flashed his most charming grin. “Come on. . .”

“All right! Fine. We’ll go. God, you’re relentless!”

Swamped with relief, Mac sat back in the booth but didn’t release her hand. “Good.” It wasn’t a breakthrough, exactly, but it was one more day together. Right about now, he’d take it.

Thanks to his connections with Joe, Mac was able to get his father’s truck on the first boat off the island at eight the next morning. Joe invited them to join him in the wheelhouse, but Mac wanted as much time alone with Maddie as he could get, so he declined.

“Whatcha got going on there, pal?” Joe asked with a grin as Mac bought their tickets.

“Hopefully, the most important thing I’ll ever do in my life.”

Joe’s eyes nearly fell out of his head. “No way.”

Mac glanced over at Maddie, who was watching the seagulls with Thomas while she waited for Mac to drive the truck on the boat. “Yes way.”

Once onboard, they stood on the bow of the ferry where a light spray hit them every time the boat crested a wave. Thomas loved the air and the water and the motion of the ferry. Mac kept a firm grip on him as they stood at the rail.

“This is nice,” Maddie said, looking more tranquil than he’d ever seen her as they watched the northern end of the island disappear into the morning fog. He’d known that getting her off the island would be good for her. He hoped it would also be good for them.

“When was the last time you were off-island?”

Maddie thought about that. “About a year ago. Before he was born.”

“That’d make me nuts! Don’t you ever feel confined?”

She shrugged. “I’ve gotten used to it.

“You know, it’s funny, when I lived here as a kid, I couldn’t leave if I felt confined. It would be totally different as an adult. I could leave any damned time I wanted to.” He laughed at the somewhat major revelation. “That never occurred to me until right this second.”

Maddie flashed him a rueful smile. “The confinement used to drive me crazy, especially when I wanted to go to college. I didn’t have the money to pay tuition and live there, too, and it wasn’t like I could commute.”

“I’ve never thought about that before.” Of course he hadn’t. He’d gone to college on a full athletic scholarship and never once had to worry about paying for it. “What would you have studied?”