“Nope. They’ve been working their magic for years.” Jamie laughed.
Jenna narrowed her eyes and glared at Bella. “Nope. I still can’t be mad at them. They deserve medals for not giving up on us.”
Jamie draped an arm over her shoulder. “You know better than that. Seaside friends never give up.”
“Get your own girl already.” Pete’s smile told Jenna he was kidding. He knew how close she and her friends were, but she also knew that Pete had at least one jealous bone in his body, though he hid it fairly well most of the time. She didn’t mind, as she felt the same pangs of jealousy when other women ogled her man.
“Ready to christen this baby?” Pete asked. He helped his father onto the deck of the boat and stepped on behind him.
“I thought we already did that,” Jenna whispered.
Pete patted her butt and leaned in for a kiss. “How about we name it, then?”
Pete hadn’t even revealed the name of the boat to Jenna yet, and she was dying to know what name he and his father had chosen. His brothers had come to visit the day his father came home from rehab, and even after hours of brotherly pressure, Pete hadn’t caved.
His father came to Jenna’s side and placed his hand on her elbow. “Son, can I have a moment with you and Jenna before we do this?”
“Sure, Pop.” Pete said something to the others and followed Jenna and his father to the far end of the boat.
Jenna had gotten close to Neil over the past few weeks, and she saw Pete in many of his mannerisms—the way he ran his hand through his hair when he sighed, the dichotomy of his soft tone to his masculine breadth when they were having a private conversation, and maybe the most striking of all, his protective nature toward his family. The last one struck her, because he seemed to have forgotten that one when he was drinking. Luckily, Pete had a long memory, and he’d never given up on his father finding it once again.
“I have spent six weeks trying to figure out what I wanted to say to you,” his father began. “At first, I was pretty pissed at you, Pete, and at you, Jenna. I figured that Pete’s demand for me to go into rehab was because of you.”
Oh no.
“Pop, please.” Pete reached for Jenna.
His father drew in a breath and set a serious stare on Pete. “Peter, I’m going to have my say, so settle down and have a little faith, will you?”
Pete tightened his arm around Jenna’s waist.
“Into rehab. I can say that now without feeling like I want to choke someone.” He smiled at them. “When you lose someone you love, you have two choices. Handle it like a man, or run from the pain. I ran. Straight into the bottle. Pete, I know I put you through the type of torture that no son should ever have to experience, and heaven only knows how, but you managed to keep our family together, and you never gave up on me.” He slid his gaze to Jenna. “I know now that it was your relationship with Jenna that finally pushed you to give me that ultimatum.”
Jenna swallowed hard, unsure of what was coming next.
He continued and held Pete’s stare. “And I’m sure glad she did.” He turned a soft gaze to Jenna. “Jenna, I owe you my life as much as I owe it to Pete, and in the end, to Sky, too.”
Pete had told Jenna that when Sky and Pete were working together one morning at the hardware store, Pete had come across his father’s stash of alcohol. He hadn’t even realized he’d had one there at the store, but he wasn’t surprised. By then he’d read the books Jenna had bought at the book sale and he’d spent time with his father’s therapist and learned of the many ways alcoholics hide their drinking. Finding a box marked VARNISH full of bottles of alcohol was par for the course. Pete, Jenna, and Sky had scoured every inch of the store after that. Turned it upside down and cleaned out every hateful reminder of the two years that nearly ruined their family. Sky had gone through every emotion in the book—anger, sadness, guilt—and finally settled on not taking apart what she felt, but honoring each of those feelings until she came back to her normal self. She spent most evenings with Pete and Jenna, talking through her feelings, which had been good for all of them. She and Pete had become even closer right before Jenna’s eyes.
“I didn’t do anything other than fall in love with Pete. It was his efforts that made the difference.” Jenna smiled up at Pete and he kissed her forehead.
“No, Pop’s right. It was my love for you that made the difference. You were my eye-opener, Jenna.”
“And you were mine, Peter,” his father said. “I guess I just wanted to take a moment to say that I love you both, and, Peter, your mother would be proud of you for standing up to an old, stubborn goat like me.” He embraced Peter, then extended that embrace to Jenna.
“I haven’t had a chance to say it before this, but welcome to the family, Jenna. You deserve a lot more than a plastic tiara.”
“I love my tiara.” Jenna reached up and touched the accessory she cherished the most.
His father nodded at Pete and headed back toward the others.
Jenna took a step to follow him, and Pete gently pulled her back to him.
“We should join them.”
“We will. I just want a second to say my two cents.” Pete pressed his hands to Jenna’s cheeks—she loved when he did that, and smiled in response.
“Jenna, you changed my world. You opened my heart and my eyes, and Pop’s right, you do deserve more than that tiara.” He kissed her forehead. “That’s why I’ve gotten the permits to add another structure to our property, a smaller one. An art studio. For you.”
“Pete. That sounds expensive, and I don’t even have a new job yet.” Holy cow. Jenna was used to living on an art teacher’s salary, a shoestring budget. She had enough savings to help with a few household expenses—which he continuously told her was ridiculous, but still she offered. She was enjoying settling into their new life together, and she’d planned to start looking for a job the following week.
“Shh.” He kissed her. “This is my gift to you. You can get another job if you want, but you don’t need to. I make enough money to take care of us, and Kurt hooked me up with his friend Blue Ryder, the guy who renovated his cottage for Leanna. He gave me a great deal in exchange for my refitting his brother’s boat. That’ll be mine and Pop’s next project.”
“I…I don’t know what to say.”
Pete dug his hand into his pocket and reached for Jenna’s left hand. He sank to one knee, and suddenly she felt like she was in a vacuum, her eyes fixed on Pete’s. The sound of the water splashing against the boat, the din of their friends, and the heartbeat that had been thundering in her chest—silenced.
“Say you’ll marry me.” Pete’s eyes never left hers.
Ohmyohmyohmy. She couldn’t breathe. Her legs turned to wet noodles, and it was all she could do not to cry. She placed her hands on his shoulders for stability.