“I’m sorry I wasn’t here,” I whisper, and hug him so tightly. “But I’m here now, and I’m not going anywhere.”
“Thank you.”
He squeezes the orca again and settles against me. Finn is asleep by the time Seb’s message finishes. My tailbone aches, and muscle spasms tighten around my hips, but no amount of pain will stop me from being here for Finn. Shay dims the lights and pantomimes that she’s going upstairs. I bet she can’t wait for a break, and to return to her life, though I’m sure it’ll be hard on both of them.
Morgan sidles closer. “I’m proud of you, Sunshine.”
I rest my head on his shoulder. “Thank you for not giving up on me.”
“Never. Until death, remember?” He rises and reaches for Finn. “Come on. Let’s go to bed.”
I tighten my arms around Finn. “But what if he wakes up without me?”
“Finn is a deep sleeper who does karate in bed. We can set an alarm and wake up before him.”
“I don’t want to risk it. Make a bed for me on the floor. A true slumber party.”
Morgan rolls his eyes, and walks toward the guest room, returning a few minutes later with a mattress he then hauls up the stairs, like the strong, sexy man he is. The soft thump above means he dropped it in Finn’s room.
He returns for Finn and I follow as he carries him upstairs. The orca drops from Finn’s limp arm and tumbles down the steps.
“I’ll go get it,” I say.
When I pick it up, I hug it to my chest until I hear Seb’s voice again, and it feels like he’s not just talking to Finn, like he hoped his words would comfort me too.
“Find me in every living thing, and in everything that reminds you of me, because even though I can’t be with you, I will never leave you completely.”
Epilogue
COLE
Six months later
Seafarer Therapy is on the thirty-first floor of a drab concrete high-rise that has the curb appeal of seasonal affective disorder. If Morgan hadn’t dropped me off the first time, I probably would have turned around and gone home.
I’m glad I didn’t. This place saved me.
I hide a mason jar filled with a bouquet of marigolds and eucalyptus behind my back, and press the button below the doorbell camera outside the suite.
“Good morning, Cole,” Sadie chirps through the speaker.
“Morning, Sadie.”
The automatic lock clicks, and I walk into the empty waiting room decorated in soothing seafoam with pops of tangerine. The non-profit clinic specializing in maritime therapy has a separate exit and staggers appointment times so I never have to worry about bumping into another patient. All the staff at Seafarers have personal experience with the commercial fishing industry, and understand the stigma of mental health care for fishermen.
I reveal the mason jar from behind my back.
“Flowers again? Mr. Morrissey, you shouldn’t have.”
“They reminded me of the waiting room.” I smirk playfully, and pretend to tuck my inch-long hair behind my ear.
“How romantic.” She rolls her eyes.
Sadie’s husband died at twenty-three while salmon fishing, leaving her to care for their four-year-old son alone. She shared her story with me after I burst into an embarrassing bout of tears in the waiting room, and I made it my mission to treat her and Liam like family. Fishermen take care of their own.
I lower the bouquet to the counter, and place Liam’s gift—a small monster truck Finn picked out—beside it.
“Liam is going to love that. Tell Finn thank you.” She fluffs the flowers gently and inhales. “Thank you for the pretty flowers too.”