I shook my head, my mind racing. After Amelia had gotten a job there, I had looked into the magazine and been extremely impressed by how well it was doing. Circulation and ad sales were both up during a critically difficult market, which was really saying something. The word on the street was that they were looking to sell, and I had mentioned it offhandedly to my father-in-law, but I didn’t know he was actually considering it. And now that he was, I was beginning to have second thoughts. I would obviously have to make sure that Amelia wasn’t fired again in another McCann Media takeover. In fact, I would make sure she got a promotion. Yeah. That would make her happy.

I picked up a copy of Parenthood. I still thought every day about the way Amelia had said goodbye. It wasn’t a See you soon!

I thought that being unable to get that goodbye out of my head was a sign I should try to say hello again. But I didn’t have the nerve to reach out. And, even if I had, I wouldn’t have said all the things that were on my mind. I knew we’d both be home for the Summer Splash and Fish. At least, I assumed that she would be. I hated how excited I was to see her. I hated how the idea of looking over and seeing her sitting on the end of her dock, hair blowing in the breeze, made me want to kiss her like I had wanted to do for so long.

But then there was Greer. Was moving on dismissing her memory? So I said, “Hm. Keep me posted on that. I have a lot of ideas I’m going to want implemented.”

Brian saluted me. “Will do, boss. Will do.”

I glanced down at Parenthood again and noticed that the couple on the cover was telling a story of how they’d adopted out their frozen embryos. I thought of Amelia. I wondered if she’d ever finished that story.

I got a nostalgic feeling when I thought about the weeks we’d had together and remembered sitting beside her on the boat, puttering through the creeks and canals around the beach.

When I asked her to ride with me, she had said, “What if all that motion isn’t good for the babies?”

I had barely been able to get her out of the house all week, and, while I appreciated what she was doing, I didn’t want her stressed out or feeling stuck.

“We won’t go fast. Promise.”

As we made our way out of the marsh we both cherished, I glanced over at the serenity on her face. I loved the way she looked in moments like this, when it was just the two of us, the wind blowing her wavy hair, her skin bare and sun-kissed. She was so effortlessly beautiful. Greer was gorgeous. No doubt about that. But a lot of care and concern went into her appearance. It was a very different thing to be living with a woman who took five minutes to get ready in the morning.