“You should have asked.”
“I would have warned you sooner, but Finn changed his mind, then changed it again this morning.”
Before I can digest what he said and verbalize how terrible an idea this is, a truly horrifying sound greets my ears—an adorable little voice going a mile a minute and small feet scampering up the stairs.
Morgan blanches and whispers, “I’m sorry. Please be nice to him.”
Well, that just pisses me off even more. Why wouldn’t I be nice? I don’t have beef with Finn. It’s me I hate.
“Uncle Cole!” Finn shouts.
I only have enough time to turn before he hugs me around the middle.
“Hey, Finn! Where did you come from?” I kneel and give him a hug, narrowing fuming eyes over his head at Morgan.
Morgan could have taken Finn on a field trip any day I wasn’t here. He could have at least given me the choice to go take a walk so I don’t start my trip confronted with the kid I orphaned the last time I was on this ship.
Shay’s hurried footsteps follow. “Sorry, Mor. Oh, hey Cole.” Her caramel hair falls over her face as she braces her hands on her thighs and catches her breath. “Finny, I know you’re excited, but you can’t go running off like that.”
“You guys brought a kid on a floating death trap, and you can’t even keep an eye on him? For fuck’s sake. He isn’t even wearing a life jacket.”
Far from chastened, Shay squares her jaw like she’s ready to throw fists.
“I’m sorry.” Finn’s lip trembles, and I feel like the world’s biggest asshole.
“No. You’re not in trouble.” Morgan pushes past me and picks him up. “Uncle just wants to keep you safe.”
“But I know how to swim now.”
“You do?” It feels like a lifetime ago that Seb promised to teach him to swim when he got back from our trip.
“Yeah! Uncle Mor taught me.”
I turn to Morgan. “You did?”
“You missed a lot while you were out fishing.” He carries Finn to Seb’s old chair and drops him onto it. “Want a driving lesson?”
Finn nods enthusiastically. Morgan’s so good with him.
Apparently, driving the boat means testing all the alarms, and smashing a handful of buttons that trip the breaker. I take my sweet time going down to flip all the switches back on. By the time I return, Morgan’s taught him how to blow the horn.
Lovely.
Finn stands on the chair and reaches for the PA mic. Morgan passes it to him. Finn promptly drops it, and nearly falls off the chair in his hasteto save it.
“Okay. All captains sit on their chairs.” Morgan waits until Finn complies, then passes the mic to him again.
“Daddy!” Finn shouts in full surround sound over the speaker.
Morgan takes the mic and hangs it back up with a grimace.
“What? No, Daddy’s…” Morgan trails off.
“Dead. I know,” Finn says, like Morgan is a dumbass, and points at the photo of Seb on the beam.
“I put Seb’s picture up,” I explain.
“Oh, right.”