In other words, the prenup that had forced Joe to stay with Didi was now biting her in the ass. It had a certain karmic justice to it.

“Didi,” Lucas said, “Joe’s going to file the papers one way or another, even if he dies before a divorce can go through. If you fight it, I’m guessing that everyone will wonder why that nice Joe Campbell wanted to get away from you so badly.”

“But—”

“But if you grant him an uncontested divorce,” Lucas said, “he’ll keep it quiet, and no one will have to know. Not even Bryce.”

“So? I think Bryce should know that his father is behaving like an ass!”

“Didi,” Grace said in her gentle voice, “I understand how shocking this is. And honestly, I think it’s awfully bighearted of you to even consider it—”

“I’m not considering it!”

“—granting the father of your son his last wish. Even if it seems hard to comprehend, since you’ve been such a loving wife all these years.”

The sarcasm was lost on Didi.

“But if this is Joe’s last wish, it seems so...uncouth to disregard it.”

Didi’s eyes flickered. Colleen had been right. Reputation was everything to Didi.

This was, of course, why Grace and Frank were here. That, and to say goodbye to Joe.

“And of course, we’d still think of you as part of the family,” Grace went on, giving Lucas a wry glance. “We’d hope you’d still come visit for New Year’s and such.”

Didi’s expression turned speculative.

She’d always loved that New Year’s Eve party, after all. She glanced at Joe, and Lucas could practically see her doing the math. Bryce would have his own money, enough for his own place. He wouldn’t live in his mother’s basement anymore, not with more than a cool million in the bank.

But if she got invited to the famous Forbes New Year’s Eve party, she could find some rich guy. After all, there was no accounting for some people’s taste.

“It’s stressful, I’m sure,” Frank said. “Once all the paperwork is filed and the dust has settled, you should plan on spending some time at the lake house for a little rest.”

That sealed the deal. The Forbes lake house was more like a compound, acres and acres of waterfront property in Wisconsin, several wooden boats and a live-in housekeeper. Triumph shone in Didi’s pale eyes. “That’s so generous of you, Frank,” she said. “I’d love that. But only if it’s what Joe wants.”

* * *

LATER, WHEN THE details had been agreed on and Didi had left, and after Steph took the girls back to Lucas’s apartment, where they’d be spending the night, and Ellen and her parents had headed back to Chicago, Lucas wheeled Joe down to the dock, Bryce alongside him.

“Push me in,” Joe said merrily. “Save me the trouble.”

“Dad, don’t even joke about that. You look great. What are we doing down here?”

“I thought we’d take a sail,” Lucas said. “If you don’t mind going out on the water again, Bryce.”

“No, not a bit. I love boats.”

Carol Robinson owned a rarely used sailboat, and when Lucas asked if he could take his uncle out on it, she only charged him a kiss on the cheek. “Use it, use it!” she said. “That Joe is a nice man.”

He and Bryce lifted Joe into the boat, which was a sweet little sloop. Lucas wasn’t a great sailor, but he was good enough to take the boat out; Colleen had taught him back in the day. The past couple of years, when his divorce created too many solitary nights, he’d taken some lessons, too.

The sun was setting, that time of evening when daylight seemed reluctant to go, and filled the air with golden light. Joe sat in the bow and immediately closed his eyes, Lucas in the back with his hand on the rudder, his cousin next to him. The sails caught the wind and the boat slid out into the deep blue water.

Lucas looked at Bryce. “Everything okay?” he asked.

“Sure. Just...I don’t know.”

Maybe the reality of his father’s condition was dawning on him. It was hard to believe it hadn’t yet.

“I miss Paulie,” Bryce said.

Not what Lucas expected to hear. “She’s a good person.”

“Yeah. Doesn’t judge and stuff.”

They rounded Meering Point. A bunch of kids were playing under a waterfall, their gleeful shrieks carrying on the wind. “Bryce,” Lucas said after a minute, “you ever think you sell yourself short?”

Bryce gave him a questioning look.

“You’ve got more going on than you think,” Lucas continued. “You’re like your dad. Heart of gold, not a mean bone in your body. Why do you think you’re so good with animals? And kids? You saw how the girls love you.”

“Yeah, they’re great.” He picked at a hole in his jeans.

“Maybe you need to believe in yourself a little more.”

“Easier said than done,” Bryce said.

Lucas paused. “Why?”

Bryce shrugged and glanced at his father, who appeared to be sound asleep. “I don’t know, Lucas. Maybe because I’ll never be as good as you.”

Lucas blinked.

“I mean, not that there’s a competition. You have a great job—”

“Which I’m leaving.”

“—you married a Forbes—”

“And divorced a Forbes.”

“—and you never left Chicago. Dad thinks you walk on water.” He paused. “That’s why he sent for you. To take care of me, right?”

“Well, not the only reason. But yeah, he’s worried about you. He wants to see you settled.”

Bryce swallowed. “Settled how? Married with kids?”

“I think you could start with getting a job, buddy.”

“Doing what?”

“Doing anything. No shame in hard work.” The boat was really skipping along now, the waves slapping sharply against the hull.

“My mom says I should wait till I have something I’m totally into. No need to do grunt work.”

“You can start out with grunt work. I did. Lots of successful people did. Right? Paulie’s father used to clean chicken shit, if you believe his commercials.”

Bryce pondered that. “Don’t you think it’s better to be unemployed and kinda cool, or have a job doing grunt work?”

“Bryce. You’re thirty-one years old. Being unemployed is not cool. Get a job.”

He nodded. “Yeah, I guess.” He paused. “Maybe Paulie would think...well. That I grew up a little.”

“Do it. Show her you’re worth a second chance,” Lucas said.

“I don’t even know if I like her that way.”

“Have you ever missed a girl you’d broken up with before?”

“Nope.” Bryce glanced at him and smiled. “But Paulie’s not my usual type.”

“What is your usual type?”

“Slutty and beautiful. The fling type.”

Lucas laughed. Colleen had said something like that, too. “Maybe it’s time to try something else, then. Have some faith in yourself, Bryce. You can be good at something other than video games and dog adoptions, you know.” He squeezed his cousin on the shoulder, and Bryce smiled.

“Yeah. You’re right, dude. Thanks for the pep talk.”

“It’s what I’m here for. Now go sit with your father.”

Joe woke up as his son sat next to him, and he put his arm around Bryce’s shoulders. Bryce kissed his father’s head, and the two sat in the breeze, the sun making the water quiver in the shimmering light.

Lucas turned his head, sensing that this was the goodbye Joe so wanted with his son.

He would’ve given a lot to have been able to say goodbye to his own father this way...or any way. To have felt his father’s arm around him once more, to have held his hand when he finally slipped away, instead of knowing he died alone on a cold cement floor in the prison basement in a state he’d never seen except through bars.

He would’ve given anything to have been able to just have seen his father’s face once more.

But at least Bryce would have that. And if Lucas couldn’t have been there for his father, he was here for Joe.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

ONCE AGAIN, COLLEEN was indulging in a little Clorox therapy, this time in the ladies’ room of O’Rourke’s.

Things hadn’t been right between her and Lucas since two weeks ago, when Ellen the Perfect had swept into town in all her pregnant radiance.

They weren’t fighting. It was more like there was a tremor in the Force.

Because a judge had apparently been a member of the same secret society at Yale as Frank Forbes, Joe Campbell was now quietly divorced. Lucas had thanked her for the idea...but still, it couldn’t have been done without perfect Ellen. Not that Colleen was insecure or jealous (cough). No, Ellen was completely nice and classy and engaged and preggers, and why the hell did she bother Colleen so much, anyway? Ellen was back in Chicago now, as were Lucas’s sister and nieces. They’d come into the bar to say hello and stayed for dinner, and Colleen had had to go into the office and cry for a second—the girls were so big! Once upon a time, she and Lucas had babysat Mercedes and the infant twins. She’d never even met the fourth one.

Didi had gone off to visit a friend in Boca and would stay for the duration. It had only cost Lucas about four grand, he’d told her, and it was money very well spent. Joe could now die in peace.

The loo was now spotless. With a sigh, Colleen returned to the bustle. But all through the evening, she obsessed. Worried, fretted, mulled and, ironically, tried not to think about Lucas.

Their time together was drawing to a close. They were still sleeping together, but it was almost too much—the intensity, the meaning, the poignance. Soon, one of these times would be their last. Or not. Or they’d try a long-distance thing.

But without saying the actual words, Lucas had made it clear: Manningsport was not his home. Chicago was. Manningsport was where he had lived for a short time and no more. A place that meant nothing to him, and everything to her.

She wasn’t going to leave.

Not that he had asked, mind you.

At the end of her shift, she called the nursing home to check on her grandfather.

“Hey, Coll,” said Joanie. “He’s a little restless right now.”

“I’ll pop over, then,” Colleen said.

A half hour later, she was sitting at Gramp’s bedside, holding his hand, talking about her day, the specials Connor had whipped up, how she’d taken Savannah for a swim in Keuka and how cold and clear the water had been. “I remember how you told me about you and Gran, taking a row in the moonlight on your honeymoon,” she said. “You said she looked like an angel, and you could hear a whip-poor-will calling.” Gramp didn’t respond, but she hoped he could picture it, those long-ago days with the love of his life.

But then, she ran out of things to say. Rufus, whom she’d brought in for company, was lying on the floor, twitching in sleep. Aside from his sighs (it sounded like a pretty good dream), the place was quiet.

Gramp made a whimpering sound, and Colleen kissed his hand. Rufus’s tail thumped the floor as if to reassure the old man. “I’m still here, Gramp. Don’t worry.”

Connor came to visit about once a week, more than anyone else except Colleen herself. The other O’Rourke cousins felt—perhaps legitimately—that their visits did nothing more than confuse Gramp, because the staff did report he’d be agitated afterward.

Dad never came. Once, Colleen had brought Savannah, but Gail and Dad had both had fits over it...exposing their innocent flower to the ravages of time, etc., etc. So it was just Colleen. She sometimes thought that if she could, she’d move in to Rushing Creek because she and Gramp had always had a special bond.

Her grandfather pulled his hand away and rubbed his forehead, his classic move when he was agitated.

“So I’m in love again, Gramp,” she said, more so he could hear her voice than anything else. Well. Except it was good to say out loud. “Same guy as last time. Dumb, huh? No live and learn here. He’ll be leaving pretty soon. We try not to talk about it. I think he wants me to live in Chicago, and I want him to stay here, and neither one of us is going to get our way.”

No answer.

She adjusted her grandfather’s blanket. “You’re right. Live life for the moment. Eat dessert first. I brought you some cookies, by the way. Peanut butter. Your favorite.”

“Hey.”

She jumped. Lucas stood in the doorway. Hopefully, he hadn’t heard her. “Hi. What are you doing here so late?”

“I’m on my way out, actually.” He paused. “They just admitted Joe to Hospice. He took a turn for the worse this afternoon.”

“Oh, Lucas. I’m so sorry.”

“He’s sleeping now. Pretty doped up. He had a bad coughing fit and brought up some blood, so he discontinued dialysis and...” He ran a hand through his hair. “It won’t be long.”

“I’ll look in on him.”

He gave a ghost of a smile. “He always liked you.” Another pause. “How’s your grandfather?” he asked.

“The same as ever.”

Lucas went over and took Gramp’s hand. “Hi, Mr. O’Rourke,” he said. “It’s Lucas Campbell. Good to see you again, sir.”

“Liar,” Colleen said, though her eyes were full.

Gramp turned away and closed his eyes. Pulled his hand free and rolled onto his side. “He’ll sleep for a while now,” she said. “That’s my cue to leave.”