“Heard a rumor about the Bakers starting a new venture.” He looks at me. “You good, Chevelle?”
I nod. “Fine.”
“Glad to hear it.” He admires the new boat that will be a permanent fixture here. It’s definitely the odd boat out and looks as though it belongs down in California somewhere, not Alaska. “Man, I just got in off the water. Have either of you seen that Five Seas boat?”
“One with the purple stripe?” Rowdy asks. “It’s a beaut.”
I frown. “I haven’t seen it. I’ve never heard of that boat company.”
“I heard it’s new, out of Winterberry Falls or something. You’ll know it when you see it. They are some gorgeous boats,” Vinny says.
“Fishing charters?” I ask Vinny.
He shakes his head. “No, they’re like classic wooden boats.”
“I’ll have to keep my eye out.”
“Like I said, you’ll know it when you see them.” He chuckles.
My eyes catch a familiar figure walking down from the entrance of the marina, a four-legged companion following. Cam glances in our direction and lowers his head, walking to the new boat. He shakes hands with all four of the Baker Muscle, and they hand him a pouch full of stuff. He climbs aboard his new boat with Gunner hopping on right next to him. That dog has been around boats his entire life.
“Lucky bastard,” Vinny mumbles. “Anyway, see you guys later.” He heads into the warehouse.
“Me too. Gotta hose down, fuel up, and get ready for an early mornin’ excursion.” Rowdy steps away but turns back, looking at the sky. “Get home ‘fore it’s dark, okay?”
I chuckle because it’s Alaska in the summer. It won’t be dark for a long time yet. “Okay, dad.” I salute him and he gives a stern expression. “I will, Rowdy. Promise.”
He nods. “Good.”
Sometimes I think everyone still watches out for me because in their eyes, I’m the little girl who lost her mother.
Cam walks out from the wheelhouse and sits on one of the luxury chairs in the back, staring out at the bay. I try not to watch him as I finish my work, but I can’t take my eyes off of him. Gunner sits next to him, and Cam pets his head, not taking his eyes off the horizon.
I wonder what it must be like to have everything handed to you your entire life only for it to be stripped away so fast. I always envied him for having money and going on trips, but I sense that maybe his life isn’t as easy as I always thought.
I grab two beers from my fridge and walk down the pier to his boat. “May I come aboard?”
He blinks out of his thoughts, and a smile that weakens my knees shines on his face. “Always.”
I try not to read into that and step aboard. Gunner rushes to me, wanting to kiss my face as I hold out a beer to Cam.
“Welcome to the family.” I sit in the chair next to his.
He accepts the beer and cracks it open. “Thanks. Although I thought I was already part of the family.”
We clink bottles. “Now you’re one of us. Instead of a stuffy, uptight executive.”
He chuckles and tips back his bottle. “Guess I need a new wardrobe.”
“Yeah, not a lot of captains in suits and polo shirts.”
He continues to watch the last of the fishing boats returning to the marina. A woman rushes down the pier toward a boat that I know was out for gold crab. Cam smiles as she waves to a man who barely steps off the boat before she attaches herself to him.
“I can’t imagine what that’s like,” Cam says.
“To be gone that long so often? I don’t know how they do it.”
He looks at me, expression serious. “No, I mean, I can’t imagine having someone miss you that much.”
It’s the first time I’ve seen Cam so vulnerable, and I understand what he’s saying.
Gunner comes and lies between us. We watch a few more women walk down the docks, some with kids in tow. Each family reunion makes me wonder what it would be like to have someone permanent in my life.
“But you forget the long nights of wondering if they’re alive… the fear of losing your loved one always in the back of your head and the knowledge of how common it is. Is all that fear worth the love?” I ask.
He looks at me and I swear he frowns. There I go disappointing someone else again.
9
“BYE, SWEETIE.”
Cam
I hurry up and finish getting ready since there’s only one bathroom in this house. How in the hell did four women live here with only one bathroom?
Gunner lies on the back porch while I prepare breakfast, listening to the sounds of Chevelle getting ready upstairs. There’s a lot of cursing and banging, but I ignore it.
Twenty minutes later she comes down, her hair in two braids, a tank top with the name of her company across her breasts and shorts that make me want to bite my knuckles. Especially when she bends over in the fridge to pack her cooler.
“Good morning. Hungry?”
She glances back at me. “You left the floor in the bathroom all wet and I almost fell on my ass.”
“Well, I made you breakfast to make up for it.” I shrug.
She grabs the Tupperware containers she prepared last night and leans her back against the fridge. “You’re being sweet. What’s up, Cam? We don’t do that.”
“You let me move in.”
“And you beat a guy up for me. We’re even.”
I frown at the mention of Derek. “Speaking of, how are you feeling—”
She holds up her hand to stop me. “I’m fine.”
I stare at her for a beat.
“I mean it, I am. I just had that one encounter and thankfully I’m out of that situation. I can’t imagine what women in abusive relationships go through.” She shakes her head, her forehead wrinkled.
“Are you sure?”
“I said I’m fine, Cam.”
“But if you needed to talk to someone—”
“I would. But honestly, I’m just glad it’s behind me.”
I nod then look at the eggs and bacon I’ve prepared, hoping she’s being truthful. “I already made too much, so this is your one chance to have my specialty breakfast.”
She accepts my change of subject and chuckles while zipping up her cooler and setting it on the table. “Is this what you make for all your morning-after girls?”
I plate our food on two plates, and she fills a to-go coffee mug.
“You assume I let them stay for breakfast.”
She shakes her head. “You’re such a pig.”
I place the plate in front of her and sit in the chair across from her. My knees almost brush hers under the small round table.
“Gunner sure is comfortable here.”
I follow her line of vision to the back porch where he’s soaking up the sun on his side. “Yeah, I worried he’d have accidents or something in the house since it’s new to him, but he loves it here. Probably ’cause he loves you.”
She smiles, and Jesus, what a smile. “He’s a great dog.”
“The one good thing I’ve done in my life.”