Dad has been up most of the night putting the finishing touches on the boat. The smile on his face gives me hope that my family can be whole again without me. That's what they need. I can't stand seeing my family as broken as they are.

"DAMN IT!!" he screams, holding his thumb.

The drill fell off the edge of the boat and made it's home on the dust covered floor after bouncing off his hand. My dad stands up, wraps a towel around his hand and walks toward the giant freezer in the corner.

"Hopefully nothing is broken," he says. Placing a few pieces of ice in between the folds of the towel, he turns off the lights and heads inside to get some sleep before the sun comes up.

Walking passed my bedroom, he stops, opens the door just enough to poke his head in,

"Goodnight P-Bug,"

He takes a few more steps down the hall, knocks on Jen's door and opens it just a hair,

"Goodnight Jen, see you in the morning."

My sister is still awake, listening to music and browsing Instagram, double tapping on pictures of shoes, makeup, and muscular celebrities. She takes one earbud out.

"Dad, are you sure about tomorrow?"

My dad lets out a small sigh as he steps into Jennifer's room.

"I'm sure I want my family back. I'm sure we all miss Paige. I'm sure we all need time together to get back a piece of what we lost," he takes a seat on the edge of her bed and starts to pet Hayden. "What about you Sweetie?"

"I'm nervous. We're fucking broken Dad, and I'm not sure this trip can fix that."

Our dad turns toward my sister and wraps both arms around her.

"I know we're broken. I know we've all made mistakes. Life isn't fair, and I wish more than anything that I could bring Paige back, but I can't. Nobody can,"

Wiping a tear from his eye, he continues,

"You lost a sister, your best friend. Your mom and I lost a daughter. It's going to take time to get better. I turned to alcohol when I should have turned to my family, and I accept that I messed up. It's time we all take a step forward to grow together, and I think this trip is a big step forward."

"I love you Dad, but I'm still not sure," Jennifer wraps both her arms tighter around our dad and kisses his shoulder.

"What happened to your hand?" she asks, gently grabbing his wrist.

"Oh, my drill fell on it when I was finishing up with the boat earlier. I'm fine Jen."

Dad gets up and rubs Hayden's head before walking passed the mountain of packed luggage by Jennifer's bedroom door. Her purple and white gym bag full of hair supplies slides from the top of the mound and hits the floor.

"You think you packed enough?" he asks with a laugh.

"Honestly, I think I'm forgetting something." she responds with a grin, placing her headphones back in her ear.

"Goodnight Jen, I love you." He shuts the door and makes his way to his bedroom. Crawling into bed, he can't help but laugh again.

My mom is sprawled across the bed, mouth open, vibrating the mattress with her drunken snores. He grabs her arm and gently lays it on her stomach as he nudges himself as close as he can get to my mom without waking her, and kisses her on the forehead.

"Goodnight babe. Tomorrow is a fresh start."