Riley hesitated a beat. “Nate? Is that you?”
“It’s me.”
“Is there another ferry tonight? I’ve finally persuaded everybody we have to evacuate.”
He looked out the office window and saw the lights of the Carolina Queen riding the chop across the bay. “We just boarded the last passenger and she’s pulling away from the dock, Riley. But hang on a minute.”
Annie had been working the phones all night, booking passengers and answering panicked questions about whether or not the ferry would keep running. She put her hand over the receiver and turned to her son.
“I’ve got the sheriff on the line. He said he’s rounded up another couple of dozen stragglers who’ve finally agreed to evacuate. Wants to know if we’ll have room to take them.”
“Tell him yeah, but this is last call.”
Nate checked the NOAA satellite map he’d pulled up on his computer and went back to his own phone. “Riley? I’m looking at the radar, and they’re still projecting the storm will make landfall just north of us by nine a.m., which means we can expect tropical storm–force winds in the next four to five hours. If you can get everybody loaded up and waiting by the time the boat gets back here—say nine o’clock, we’ll make one more crossing. After that, it won’t be safe.”
“We’ll be there,” Riley said. “And Nate? Thanks.”
* * *
They made a ragtag crew, exhausted, rain-soaked, and shell-shocked, huddled together under the cover of the loading area. Parrish joined them, with her two cats in a carrying case. Mr. Banks, on his retractable leash, and Evelyn’s pug, Ollie, spooked by the lightning and thunder, raced around in circles, barking and snarling at each other and the other dogs gathered, ready to evacuate the island.
It was a much larger crowd than Riley had expected, more than a hundred people, which was at least as many as would be arriving on the island on a normal summer holiday weekend. But this, she knew, was the furthest thing from a normal summer, or a normal holiday, than she’d ever experienced before.
Evelyn cradled a large hand-tooled leather case under one arm and leaned against a large black rolling suitcase, which she directed Billy to keep by his side, refusing to allow the deckhands to stow it with the rest of the luggage being loaded into baggage bins.
“Mama, I realize you’d want to pack up all your good jewelry, but did you really need to pack Daddy’s old bowling ball in this thing?” he asked, dragging it toward the loading area.
“Hush,” she whispered. “It’s my silver. And all the baby pictures.” She opened her pocketbook, took out a tiny mother-of-pearl case, and popped a tablet in her mouth before extending it to him. “Dramamine?”
“No, thanks,” Billy said. “I try never to mix alcohol and drugs.”
At nine o’clock, Nate joined them on the loading ramp. “Everybody,” he called, raising his voice to be heard above the howling wind, “We’ll board in five minutes. Now, it’s gonna be a pretty rough ride across the sound, because we’ve got seas at six to eight feet, and the wind is blowing thirty-five to forty knots with the tide running against us, so I’m afraid there’s gonna be a lot of rockin’ and rollin’, and not the fun kind. And yes, it’s going to be crowded because, for safety reasons, I’ll ask everybody to stay together in the main cabin. Nobody will be allowed on the upper or observation decks. The deckhands are going to hand out life jackets, and we’ll ask you to put them on, not because we expect to sink, but because that’s the way my dad always did it when we had a bad storm like this one. Now we won’t have the concession stand open for obvious reasons, but my mom, Annie Milas—I think you all know her—rounded up whatever cookies and doughnuts were left at the end of the day at the Mercantile, and she’ll be handing those out to anybody who’s hungry, once we’re under way. Everybody good? Then let’s board!”
Riley decided it was the longest crossing of her life. They were all jammed together in the cabin, overheated with the orange life vests strapped around their shoulders, and miserable with crying babies, boisterous toddlers, ill-tempered islanders, and weekenders with ruined holiday expectations.
True to Nate’s prediction, the Carolina Queen pitched and rolled, and with each roller-coaster descent, Riley’s stomach protested violently. She clung to Maggy, who clung to her with each wave that crashed over the bow. She’d never experienced seasickness before, but this time she found herself dashing for the head three different times. When Annie Milas approached, halfway through the crossing, oatmeal cookie in hand, Riley almost didn’t make it a fourth time.
Finally, after a lifetime, the five-minute whistle blew, and Nate emerged into the cabin from the pilothouse and called for their attention again. “Docking is not gonna be smooth,” he warned. “Captain Wayne is the best there is at this but, again, the wind and the tide are working against us. We’ll ask everybody to be patient, and once we’re tied up, the deckhands will do their best to help everybody safely disembark. Make sure you have all your carry-on baggage with you, please, because after our passengers are unloaded, the crew and I will be heading out to find a safe place to sleep tonight, and we will not be back on board the Carolina Queen until the Weather Service and the Coast Guard give us the all-clear to do so.”
* * *
Riley turned to ask her mother if she had everything, but was amused to find Evelyn asleep, snoring softly with her mouth open, her head lolling on Billy’s shoulder. She gave her a gentle shake. “Come on, Mama. Wake up. We’re here.”
Evelyn sat up. “I wasn’t sleeping. I was just resting my eyes.” She looked around and saw Maggy, with Mr. Banks squirming in her arms, and saw Scott and Billy talking quietly, their heads close together. She saw her own dog, Ollie, dozing at her feet. She glanced around the cabin again and blinked, puzzled by what she didn’t see.
“Where’s Roo?”
Riley looked around, too. “Billy, have you seen Roo?”
“No. Maybe she’s in the head?”
“I’ll go check,” Maggy volunteered. Five minutes later she was back. “She’s not in the bathroom.”
“You’re sure?” Evelyn asked. “Maybe in the men’s room? She’s bad like that, just goes into the men’s room if the ladies’ is occupied.”
“I know. I checked there, too,” Maggy said.
“Oh, my God,” Evelyn said in a choked voice. “Roo.”
Riley found Annie Milas standing near the cabin door, counting heads. “Annie,” she said softly. “We can’t find my aunt Roo. Is there any chance she would have gone on the upper deck?”
“None,” Annie said. “Nate chained up the gangway. You’re sure she’s not in the main cabin? Or the head?”
“We looked. She’s not there.”
“Come to think of it, I don’t recall seeing your aunt tonight, Riley. Are you sure she boarded?”
Riley turned back to the rest of the family without answering. “Everybody, think. Did anybody see Roo actually getting on the ferry?”
“Mimi sent me over to bring her back to the big house,” Maggy said. “But she said she’d wait and get a ride with Bebo.”