“Oh my God, that necklace was probably a couple of thousand dollars, and I just dropped it into the water.”
“Want me to get some scuba gear and go look for it? It’s not very deep.”
“You’re serious, aren’t you?” Deep down, she knew he was.
“For you, yes.”
She shook her head. “No, I don’t. I don’t ever want to see it again.”
“You could pawn it,” he told her, and while the thought was appealing, her desire to never lay eyes on it again was stronger.
“I think I’m good.”
“Well, now that you’re talking, want to tell me what happened?”
She tore her eyes away and looked out over the water. The kayakers were still in the area and hadn’t ventured far enough out where they’d need to be rescued. “Do you ever wish you could take your house sailing?”
He laughed. “No, the thought has never crossed my mind.”
“Oh, because it’s crossing mine right now. I want to be out there, away from the world.”
“Okay,” he said. He got up and went into the house. She heard muffled voices and wondered who he was talking to. He came back to the patio and rested against the railing. “We need to go to the store, or I will, but three docks down is Bowie’s boat. We can take it out.”
“Did you tell him I was here?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Being as I’ve picked you up in Canada when you’re supposed to be with someone else, I imagine that someone is going to come looking for you. It’s better this way. Bowie and Brooklyn won’t tell anyone where you are.”
“How long can we be out there for?”
“Depends on what we’re doing. What do you want to do?”
She stood and pointed. “I want to be away from people.”
“Okay,” he said. “I can do a couple days until Krista will need a day off. I might have to send her to Hawaii or something after this. She’s been covering my shifts a lot lately.”
“She’s a good employee.” Rennie paused and then looked at Graham. “Okay, can we go?” She felt like a heel asking him, but she needed to get away. She needed to be someplace where no one would find her.
“Of course.”
Together, they walked over to where Bowie’s boat was and undid the tarp. They worked as a team to fold it as small as they could get it for storage. Graham stepped onto the transom and stowed the tarp in one of the cabinets and climbed the steps to the bridge to start the engine. Rennie followed, and Graham asked her to go down the stairs and into the accommodation area to see what they would need for blankets and such. She made a mental note of items to take from Graham’s and met him back in the upper salon, where the galley kitchen and primary living space was.
“We need some bedding,” she told him. “There’s only one bed, though.”
He laughed. “There are two rooms down there, and the couches fold out,” he told her.
“Oh, okay. Well, there’s some bedding, but I’m not sure how long it has been in there.”
“We can bring some from my house—come on.” He placed his hand on her arm and helped her step off the boat. He left it running, likely because they weren’t going very far and were coming right back.
At his house, they gathered what they needed, and Graham packed. She heard him make a phone call, and while she wanted to listen, she kept herself busy instead, rummaging through his cabinets.
“What are you looking for?”
She jumped at the sound of his voice, almost like she had been caught snooping. She wasn’t, and she hoped he knew she would never do something like that. “Provisions.”
“Not here. I wasn’t planning to be home much, so I don’t have anything except a couple bottles of beer.”
His words gave her pause. She was keeping him from something or someone, and she couldn’t do that to him. “I’m sorry, Graham. This was a mistake. I don’t mean to keep you from your plans or whatever.”
He chuckled. “If you call working at the bar plans, I must really live a sad life.” He went to her and leaned his hip against the counter. “Krista is going to cover for me. It’s going to cost me extra, but it’ll be worth it.”
“How do you know?”
“Because you’re my best girl, Ren, and you need me right now.”
She moved toward him until her head rested on his chest. She wrapped her arms around his waist, and he did the same to her. She felt his lips press to the top of her head, and her body relaxed against him.
“Come on.” He let go of her and removed her hands from him. “We have enough gas to get to Kiket Bay. There’s a marina around there somewhere. We can get gas, food, and the provisions we need.”
“Are you sure you want to do this, Graham?”
He didn’t say anything as he reached for her hand. He led her out onto the front porch, closed and locked his door. They picked up their bags, with Graham carrying most of them, and made their way over to the boat.
When they arrived, Bowie’s slip neighbor was getting ready to untie his boat as well. “Morning, Mr. Reser.”
“Morning, Graham. Taking the Holmes Forty-Two out, I see?”
Graham’s hand pressed into Rennie’s lower back, and he helped her onboard but didn’t follow. “For a few days at least,” Graham told the man. “What about you?”
“The missus wants to spend New Year’s Eve out on the water, away from the crazies.”
“Sounds smart. Have a good time, Mr. Reser. See you next year.” Graham climbed aboard and winked at Rennie as he passed by her and disappeared down below. Rennie was climbing down the steps to get the last bag when the man spoke up.
“He’s a good man.”
She paused and looked from the man to where Graham had been a few moments before and back at the man. “I know he is. Someone like me doesn’t deserve someone like him—that’s for sure.”
“Happy New Year.”
“You too,” Rennie said. She bent down and picked up the last bag and gave the man a wave before ascending the stairs to the upper salon, where she found Graham putting a few things into the locking cabinets.
“I put your suitcase in the bigger room. I’ll take the smaller one or sleep up here. The view from the boat at night is pretty spectacular.”
“Oh, okay,” she said. She went downstairs and into the master bedroom and decided to unpack. She felt the boat start to move and chided herself for not helping Graham pull buoys. He was doing everything for her, and she had nothing to offer in return.
She came out of the room and found him behind the steering wheel, playing with the navigation equipment. “You know, Brooklyn never told me how nice this boat was. It reminds me of the boat my parents had when I was growing up.”
“Maybe that’s why.”
“Yeah, I guess.” Rennie sat down across from where Graham sat and looked out the window. “How long until we’re at the other marina?”
“Not long. I thought we’d fuel up there, grab a few snacks or something for lunch, and head to Friday Harbor. It’s a great island. It should take us about four to five hours, depending on the wind.”