Hoping for Love by Marie Force Page B

boss.”
    That drew a grin from Big Mac. “Damned straight.”
    “So the guy was totally out of control. You know the type, all power and no skill. His crew of drunken women had managed to get the stern line to you, and you had it wrapped around the piling. Luke and I had wandered over to help when he gunned it and dragged you right off the pier.”
    A shudder rippled through Mac as he thought of his father disappearing from the dock. Rubbing at the stubble on his jaw, Mac took a minute to regain his composure. His father would never know that he’d had nightmares for weeks about that moment.
    “I, ah… I looked into the water, saw you floating facedown, and I jumped.”
    Seeming to sense this was difficult for Mac to talk about, his father rested a comforting hand on his shoulder.
    “I turned you over and… You weren’t breathing, so I did rescue breathing until you started breathing on your own again. There was, um, blood in the water from where you smacked your head on the swim platform. The boat… It came close to us. Really close.”
    “Was that when Luke jumped?”
    “Yeah. I didn’t see him jump, but I heard him land. So did the captain, and he finally killed the power.”
    “Close call.”
    “Very. Luke saved both our lives by getting the guy’s attention before he could run over us in the water.”
    “He’s paid a big price for that.”
    “Hopefully, the surgery fixed up his ankle once and for all.”
    “Let’s hope so.” Big Mac squeezed Mac’s shoulder. “I knew you’d come in after me but not all that about the breathing and such. I needed to know so I could say thank you.”
    “Come on, Dad. Like you wouldn’t have done the same for me or anyone.”
    “Were you scared?”
    “Senseless. My hands shook for hours afterward. I kept trying to picture what could’ve happened, what it would be like if…” Mac shook his head. “Unimaginable.”
    “It’s gonna happen someday,” his father reminded him.
    “Not like that. I’d prefer it to happen when you’re about ninety-nine or so and have driven us all crazy for years being a grumpy old pain in the ass. Maybe by then I might be able to conceive of life without you.”
    “You’re a good boy, son,” Big Mac said, his voice gruff. “Always were.”
    Though his father’s words touched him deeply, Mac went for levity lest he end up bawling his head off. “Even when you were bailing me and Joe out of jail for flattening mailboxes in your truck?”
    “Even then.”
    It wasn’t like his father to miss a chance to jab at him about the mailbox incident. Mac had heard about it daily for years afterward. “You’re going to be okay, Dad. I know it.”
    “I hope you’re right.”
    “How’s Mom doing?”
    “Why do you ask?” Big Mac asked, instantly on alert. “Did she say something to you?”
    “I don’t know what you mean.”
    Big Mac tipped his head to study his son. “Don’t give me that bull crap. You know something. Spill it.”
    Why he ever thought he could get away with being less than truthful with his father was beyond Mac. “Evan said you guys have been fighting a lot.”
    “Evan’s got a big mouth.”
    “He’s worried, Dad. We both are. It’s not like you two to fight.”
    “I’ve been hard on her. I know that, but I can’t stand the way she hovers, waiting for me to need her help with something. Drives me batty.”
    “She only wants to do whatever she can to help you get better.”
    “I know that, but the hovering is too damned much.”
    “What if I talk to her and ask her to back off a bit and let you fend for yourself?”
    “Then she’ll know I was griping to you about her, and that won’t do me any good. Trust me on that.”
    Mac thought about that for a minute. “Then how about some romance?”
    “Come again?”
    “Take her out on a nice date. Wine her, dine her, and somewhere over the course of the evening let her know that you’re going to be fine and it’s time for both of you to get back