Johanna blushed at Graham’s question. “Women stuff.”
George and Graham chuckled. “So, it’s okay for you and the ladies to talk about us, but we can’t talk about you?” George asked as he leaned forward, sticking his head between the seats.
Graham had seen a slight change in his father, one he attributed to Grady’s most recent accident. He would never wish harm on his brother, but in a way, he was thankful for everything that happened Thanksgiving weekend. George and Grady needed a wake-up call.
She brushed him off. “It’s not the same, and you know it. We talk about new cleaning products we’re using or how we got a certain stain out of a shirt. You silly men . . . well, who knows what you guys go on and on with for hours.”
“Talk about sports, who caught the biggest fish, and how retirement is treating us.”
Graham smiled. For the first time in a while, he enjoyed spending this time with his parents when they were like this. It had been a long time since he had seen his father act playfully toward his mother. He even saw his father hug his mom the other day, which made Johanna cry, and when Graham asked her why she had tears in her eyes, she said it had been years since he’d touched her.
When they pulled up to the ferry booth, Graham showed the attendant their reservation. After they parked on the ferry, Graham helped his mom out of the car and held on to her until they were seated on the top deck. Surprisingly, his father followed. Their last trip on the ferry, George had stayed in the car. As soon as the boat pulled away from the port, Johanna excused herself, telling Graham and George she had to use the restroom, and left the two of them alone.
The Chamberlain men looked out the window, watching the passing scenery. A young boy stood next to George and pointed out the window. “What do you see?” George asked him. Graham turned his attention toward his father and watched him interact with the young boy.
“I think I saw a whale.”
“No way,” George said.
“Yes, sir. Right out there.” More people congregated to where they were sitting. People lined the wall, looking out the large pane of glass, and while it was freezing outside, people rushed out to the side of the ship to get a better look.
Time moved faster than Graham expected, and he was startled by the captain’s voice as it rang out over the loudspeaker, telling everyone to return to their cars. George stood and asked Graham, “Where’s your mother?”
“She should’ve been back by now from the bathroom.”
Together, they scanned the people moving toward the stairs and finally found her resting against the bar with a cocktail in her hand. She was in deep conversation with a woman Graham had never seen before.
“I see her, Dad. Why don’t you go down to the car, and we’ll be there in a minute?” George and Graham parted ways. He went to his mom and touched her elbow. “Sorry to interrupt,” he said. She jerked in surprise and smiled brightly at him.
“Oh, honey. Let me introduce you to Cindy. Her daughter, Lacey, just moved to Cape Harbor. Have you met her yet?”
Cape Harbor was small, and normally when someone new moved to town, Peggy from the diner knew about it first. It was like some odd rite-of-passage sort of thing. When people arrived, they stopped in and introduced themselves to Peggy, and the grapevine in town was strong. A neighbor of Lacey’s would’ve told Peggy, and Peggy would’ve announced it to the community. Still, Graham hadn’t heard a thing.
“Sorry, no. Come on. We have to get to the car. We’re almost to the dock.” He tugged lightly on her elbow, but she didn’t budge. She was still carrying on a conversation with Cindy. His eyes went wide when they exchanged numbers, and this woman handed his mom a piece of paper. When they finally said goodbye, and she was out of earshot, he asked his mom what that was all about.
“Oh, nothing, really. We got to talking.”
“You exchanged numbers?”
“I’m going to go to her book club. It’s in Skagit Valley.”
He opened the door for his mom and waited for her to get situated before closing it and rushing over to the other side. “And on the piece of paper?”
“Oh, that’s for you. It’s Lacey’s number. You should call and ask her out.”
“Sweet heavens, Johanna, what did you do?”
She turned in her seat and looked at her husband. “I’ve done nothing wrong, George. A mother is supposed to help her children out every now and again.”
“Not when it comes to dating. Graham’s a big boy. He can find his own dates.”
He couldn’t, but that was because he hadn’t really tried. He told Krista he was going to, though. He was going to start dating and living his life.