His First Love, My Last Goodbye novel · Chapter 23 of 24
Chapter 23: Two People
The Keeper died on a Tuesday in March, with the lamp on, in the middle of a dream about weather.
His daughter drove down from Maine the next morning with her two children.
He had left a boat, a deck of cards, and a note in pencil that said only, "For the nurse and the Doctor. Look her over."
By April the boat sat in a cradle at the Rockport boatyard with her hull half painted.
Her name was Half Measures, in gold letters on the stern.
Esme climbed the ladder after her Thursday shift on 6 West, in jeans and the green cardigan.
Her curls had grown out past her chin.
Her hands were bare.
The cabin lamp was lit below.
Matthias sat at the little table in a paint-stained sweatshirt with the Keeper's cards laid out in front of him.
He had a streak of white along his jaw.
He had been reinstated in February, off the panel for good.
He spent his weekends at Harbor House and his Thursdays here.
He never asked her to come.
He stood when she came down the companionway, and he waited.
"Third coat on the port side," he said. "The yard says she floats by June."
"He'd say you missed a spot."
"He'd say it twice."
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of His First Love, My Last Goodbye are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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