Chapter One Hundred Eight

Dane taught Kenzie how to play Marco Polo. He’d forgotten how much little kids cheated at games where they were trusted to keep their eyes closed. Tobey had been the same way. Even when he promised he wasn’t peeking, he was peeking.

While Dane had spent a lot of time in a pool over the last few months for physical therapy, it was different when trying to avoid getting eaten by a six-year-old shark. Or while dragging her around on her large inflatable dolphin.

He needed a break, and he could tell Kenzie was winding down, as well.

“Look,” she whispered. “Mama’s asleep. I’m going to go wake her up.”

“No,” he whispered, and put a finger to his lips. “Let her sleep. She’s tired. She’s been through a lot.”

Plus, he’d seen her face when he’d said he quit his job. That wasn’t strictly true, but Thorne had made it pretty clear he should move on. Good thing Lena had been sitting down, she’d looked so shocked.

“Yeah. She cried at my daddy’s funeral,” Kenzie said.

“I’m sure it was sad,” he said sympathetically.

He had seen a short notice about the memorial service in the Charleston paper on one of his internet digging expeditions.

“I’m mad at my daddy,” Kenzie confessed with a frown. “Miss Tanya said it’s okay to be mad at him because he made me scared and took me away from my mommy.”

Dane guessed Miss Tanya was a therapist and knew how to handle such things. He was glad Lena had thought to take her to talk to someone who could help her deal with the experience. Was she also seeing the therapist?

Kenzie took his silence as approval to sneak over to her mother, where she proceeded to drip all over her. But the joke was on Kenzie, because he’d seen Lena’s lips twitch while trying not to smile. And as soon as Kenzie got close enough, she jumped up and grabbed her.

The little girl squealed in surprise, then laughed as Lena wrapped a towel around her and pulled her onto the chair next to her.

“Are you two having fun?” Lena asked, giving him a searching look.

“Yes!” Kenzie shouted. “I want Dane to stay here for longer.”

So did he.

He wanted to stay for the rest of his life.