“Oh, yes, your son. What’s his name? David? No, Dean, is it?”

“Declan. Yeah. Haven’t seen him in a while, so I’m going to hang out with him for a few weeks.”

“That’s sort of sudden,” Sergeant Jeremy said.

“Yeah, well, I didn’t get a chance to see him over Christmas.”

“But the tourist season is just picking up for you, yes?” Sergeant Jeremy said, peering at him.

“I’m going to have Little Jorge take out the boat.”

Sergeant Jeremy gaped at him for a beat. Like everybody else on the island, he knew all about Little Jorge and his family’s sketchy reputation for going on sudden “vacations.”

“Time to give that boy some experience out on his own,” Gannon added. “Do him some good.”

Sergeant Jeremy hopped down from the Jeep’s hood.

“That’s a good plan, Michael. At least the part about you going away for a bit. That’s probably best.”

“Best? What do you mean? Why’s that?” Gannon said to the sly old codger.

Sergeant Jeremy winked as they shook hands.

“We can never spend enough time with the ones we love,” he said.

PART TWO

Give My Regards to Broadway

25

Up on the wall behind the counter was the lineup of all the usual suspects. There was Elmo, of course, and Dora and several of the Power Rangers. There were also a few newcomers since last time, a Wonder Woman and PAW Patrol dog and one of those yellow one-eyed Cheez Doodles Minion things.

Then Ruby saw it and smiled because there was obviously no contest at all.

“I’ll take that one,” she said, pointing at the giant inflated pink baby bootie balloon that said IT’S A GIRL! across the incredible length of it.

“Oh, and one of these as well,” she said with a yawn as she picked up a bottle of 5-hour ENERGY from the display beside the register.

“Actually, make that two,” she said, cracking open the one in her hand and grabbing another.

What a day! she thought.

She’d gotten back to Pensacola at eleven at night, and at a little after three, her sister Lori’s water broke. With the jet lag and panic, she’d driven like a nut to Sacred Heart Hospital, almost breaking the mechanical stick that blocked the parking lot entrance.

But it had all worked out. Seven hours later, at 5:11 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, her first and only niece, Alice Wells, a brand-new, healthy tiny human, had arrived on earth only slightly before her scheduled due date.

Lori and Ally were doing great, thank God, and her husband, Mitch, had been able to watch it on Skype from Afghanistan on her phone. If Ruby hadn’t already been crying in the delivery room, the enormous roar of Mitch’s fellow marines when he screamed “It’s a girl!” at them would have done the trick.

Now, exhaustion or no exhaustion, it was crack-of-dawn victory lap time. In addition to the balloon, Ruby was going to grab a bottle of champagne and Lori’s favorite roast beef hero from Firehouse Subs and then swing by Lori’s neighbor’s house to grab her nephew, Sean, so he could meet his little sister.