It was hot on Sunday when Amanda brought the Coho up to the dock in Winchester Harbor after a long, frustrating day. It seemed like they’d trolled half of Lake Huron without catching anything, or even having anything much showing up on the fish finder. Then, after they’d called it a day they’d gotten a small lake trout barely half a mile off the harbor entrance. It was barely a keeper but at least kept them from having a skunk day.

The Chinook wasn’t back yet, so it was a pretty good guess that her mother and Sam were having pretty close to the same level of success. Amanda had pretty well resigned herself to having to do a landing without shore-side assistance – it happened often enough – when she noticed a couple familiar figures waiting for them at the dock: Ron and Cordy!

“Hey, you guys!” she yelled as she tossed the bow line to Ron. “Good to see you!”

“Good to be here,” Ron replied as he caught the line.

There were the usual details to be dealt with getting the customers off the boat and saying she was sorry the fishing hadn’t been better, but she hoped they would come back and try it again. It took a few minutes, while Ron and Cordy stood back out of the way. Finally, as the customers were getting into their cars and leaving there was time to talk. “So how was the trip up?” Amanda asked.

“Not too bad,” Ron said as the two of them fell into a hug. “We got in a couple hours ago. Rather than drive up, we flew up to Detroit Metro and got a rental car. It would have been about the same cost as driving all the way and a lot less tiring.”

“This is quite a place you got here,” Cordy added; she was wearing a camisole top, no bra, and very short shorts. “A little on the cool side, though.”

Amanda rolled her eyes, at least inwardly. If Cordy thought this day was cool it really must be an oven down in Jacksonville! She hoped the Rag Doll wasn’t melting. “I’m surprised you managed to get away,” she said to her friend.

“It wasn’t easy,” Cordy sighed. “It’s been a little slow anyway, and my cousin Ike just got out of jail on a work-release thing, so Pa figured he had to keep him busy.”

“So how long are you planning on staying up here?”

“We head back a week from next Saturday,” Ron replied. “We’ll be around here for a few days just to say hello to everybody, but we’re also going to take off in the Pixie for a while. Since the motel is full up now, Dad said we might as well stay on the Pixie right away. We saw you coming in and decided to help out with the landing.”

“Nice boat,” Cordy commented. “I think the Rag Doll is going to be nicer, though.”

“I hope so,” Amanda said, taking a look at the two of them together. They looked like a couple, even more so than they had the last time she’d seen them back in early March. “I take it you two are still getting along pretty well.”

“Better than ever,” Cordy replied with a twinkle in her eye. If that didn’t tell Amanda a lot, it was unclear what would.

“We’ve been kicking around the idea of getting a place together,” Ron announced, confirming Cordy’s statement. “But there are some complications, so we decided to spend a few days together on vacation up here before we take on that issue.”

Yes, Amanda thought, this is showing all the signs of getting serious. “Look, let me get the Coho put away for the night, and then let’s drop Beffy off at my room, then go over to Dot’s and have a beer. You can tell me all the details then.”

It didn’t take Amanda and Ron long to deal with the Coho; he’d done those chores for years before he’d joined the Coast Guard. A few minutes later the three of them were sitting in the cool of the bar, enjoying ice-cold drafts. “So,” Amanda asked as she felt the cool of the beer start to take effect on her, “what’s the problem with you two getting a place together?”

“The Coast Guard, as usual,” Ron sighed. “There’s no actual problem with our living together off base, but if we want to draw the extra money for Cordy being a dependent, we’d have to get married, and when you get down to it we’re not quite ready to do that yet. Quite.”

“Part of the problem is that Ron’s tour is going to be up in Jacksonville sooner or later,” Cordy added. “When that happens, they’re probably going to be sending him pretty far away, which means I’d have to quit working with Pa, or not go with him. So we’re trying to make up our minds about what to do about that.”

“I could see how that could be a problem,” Amanda replied, thinking of how virtually the same potential problem had been one of the reasons she’d been a little shy about letting things get a little more serious with Zack back last winter. Things with Cordy weren’t quite the same, but close.

“I figure it’s another year, give or take, before I’ll be prime for reassignment,” Ron explained. “But it’ll come for sure sometime and we don’t want to get backed into a corner at the last minute.”

“I don’t mind working for Pa,” Cordy told her. “At least I don’t have to prove myself there like I would almost anywhere else I go. But I really ain’t making a lot of money and I don’t think I want to spend the rest of my life doin’ what I’m doin’ there.”

There really wasn’t a great deal Amanda could say to add to the discussion. “I guess that’s a decision you’re going to have to make for yourselves,” she said as she shook her head. “I’m just glad it’s not a question I have to face right away.”

“You really like that goin’ out and fishin’, huh?” Cordy smiled.

“It’s about all I ever wanted to do,” Amanda replied. “Well, that and go cruising. I suppose I could change my mind about it eventually but I don’t expect to do it soon.”

The discussion drifted away to other topics, but it left Amanda a little bemused. It was really beginning to look like Cordy was going to be her sister-in-law, although she and Ron weren’t quite there yet. There was little doubt what they were going to be doing on the Pixie for the next few days, and it seemed likely that sailing wasn’t exactly going to be at the top of their priority list.

Eventually they went up to the snack bar for dinner; her mother and Sam had made it in by then, following a skunk day. “The heck of it is,” Rachel said, “the spotty way everything has been, we could limit out tomorrow. It’s going to be a little goofy tomorrow anyway, since Sam won’t be going out. She has a dentist appointment so she’s going to have to take a day off.”

“I’ll bet that thrills her to death,” Amanda replied a little sarcastically.

“Oh, she’s tickled pink,” her mother grinned. “She’s going to get her braces off. That’ll make her look three years older right there.”

“Right, that’s different,” Amanda grinned. “Hey, how about if you or Dad take the Coho tomorrow? Ron and I could go on the Chinook so we could show Cordy what this is all about.”

That was what they eventually decided to do. Ron and Cordy decided to delay their departure for a day to be able to do it. The next morning the three met the customers of the day, got things organized, and got going, with Ron up on the flying bridge. Cordy handled the lines while Amanda greeted the customers and explained that the fishing had been mixed the last few days but that she’d try to get them some action.

After stopping at the Channel Stop for breakfast and to top off the big boat’s fuel tanks, they headed out onto the lake. Cordy climbed up onto the flying bridge and spent much of the day up there with Ron, but spent some time down in the cockpit where the fishing was going on. Having the two with them must have brought them some luck; only about half an hour out they came across a nice package of salmon and were soon reeling them in. Amanda’s father in the Coho joined them shortly afterward, and the two boats wound up limiting out for the day, the first day in a couple weeks both boats had done so. It made Amanda happy to be able to show Cordy what a good day fishing on the lake was like.

The next day things went back to normal, with Amanda back on the Coho, and her mother and Sam on the Chinook. Both boats got under way at the same time, and very early, before anyone was on deck on the Pixie. But the rhythmic waves of the bow of the boat moving up and down a little on the still waters of the harbor were all the evidence anyone needed of what was going on in the V-berth in the bow of the boat. Amanda had to keep her giggles to herself, since she didn’t exactly want to share her surmises with the three customers she had on board, but she hoped her brother and Cordy were enjoying themselves.

The Pixie was gone when both the fishing boats made it back in during the late afternoon. The day hadn’t been as good as the day before, but it hadn’t been a skunk day, either, so there wasn’t much room for complaint. Amanda and her mother managed to note that each of them had seen what was happening with the Pixie when they left in the morning. It went without saying that they both expected the V-berth to be getting a lot of that kind of use over the next few days.

Amanda thought a lot about the two of them while she was out on the lake that day. She liked Cordy, of course, even though they’d had a rough start. She still had doubts about how well she and Ron were going to work out, and how things would happen when Ron got reassigned elsewhere, but still, she could see that both of them were happy with the idea. It would be nice to have a guy like that, she thought. It was something she’d mostly missed in high school and hadn’t had much to do with since, except for Zack, of course, and that had been mostly a hanging-out-with relationship, not a true boyfriend-girlfriend thing like Ron and Cordy had.

There were plenty of pitfalls to face if something like that were to happen, say with Zack or someone else, but they were the same old ones: she wanted to have a guy without it affecting some other things in her life too much, but maybe that was unrealistic, too. She was thoroughly aware that a lot of women had to give up their career plans to stay with their husbands, and it was especially true of women who had husbands in the service.

She’d even admitted that it could happen to her – but she hoped to hold that day off for a few years. It wasn’t as if she didn’t have time, after all – she was still only twenty-one, so there was no big rush. Between her job in the family and the Rag Doll, she’d put together a pretty good deal for her age and she didn’t know anyone else who had done better. Sure, maybe some of the kids she’d known in high school who had gone on to college had more potential, but then again, maybe not, too. There was no point in ruining a good thing too soon over some guy.

But still, as she thought about her brother and Cordy out on the Pixie, having fun sailing toward some distant harbor, enjoying being together, and yes, the sex that had to be going on – well, there was no denying that it had some appeal.

It was not surprising that there wasn’t any word from Ron and Cordy for a while, not that anyone was terribly worried about them. Ron had been a good sailor on the Pixie and the fishing boats long before he’d joined the Coast Guard, and Cordy was no slouch on the water although she apparently was relatively inexperienced with sailing. There wasn’t even any real need to worry when a pretty stiff squall line blew through a couple of evenings later, which brought a little relief from the heat for a couple days, but it was hot again by the end of the week.

When Amanda brought the Coho up to the dock on Friday afternoon she was hot and tired again, and a little frustrated; a day’s worth of serious fishing had brought in only three small salmon, one of them too small to keep. Right about then she could have used a day off, but if the weather stayed nice there were no such things as days off around Winchester Harbor during the summer. Having a beer and getting on her bikini to take a dip in the lake were her prime priorities as soon as she got the customers on their way; the only question on her mind was which one to do first.

Going for a swim finally won out, only because she knew she’d want to drop Beffy off and get out of her hot clothes and get into something comfortable either way. Even a few minutes in her air-conditioned room would be a relief. She got into the Chevy and drove up to the motel, but when she got to her room she found a note stuck to the door with a piece of tape: Amanda, there’s a guy waiting to see you in the snack bar.

She couldn’t help but wonder what that was all about. She couldn’t think of a guy who would want to see her, unless maybe it was about the Knick-Knack, which was still down at the boat shed with a “For Sale” sign stuck to its bow. Might as well get it over with, she thought, even though it would put off changing out of her damp and sweaty clothes. She put Beffy in the room, and headed over to the snack bar.

When she walked into the place she was surprised to see Zack sitting there! What was he doing here? Nothing came to mind . . . so there was nothing for her to do but go and see. She went over and sat down at the table across from him. “Hi, Zack,” she said with a smile. “Long time, no see.”

“Hi, Amanda,” he said shyly. “I’ve missed you. I hope you won’t mind that I’ve come to see you.”

“No, not at all,” she replied. “This was about the last place I expected you to show up, though. What brings you here?”

“I needed to talk to someone,” he replied quietly. “And I couldn’t think of anyone else.”

“That’s a long way to come to see me. Couldn’t you have talked to Ron or Shades?”

“No, not really,” he sighed. “Shades got transferred to Boston a month ago, and this isn’t something I would have wanted to talk to him about anyway. And really, not Ron, either. It’s . . . well, it’s not something I’d have wanted to talk to him about. I guess it’s just as well that he and Cordy have gone somewhere.”

Now what? she wondered as Shannon came over to the table. “You look pretty hot and tired,” she said. “Can I get you anything?”

“How about a large iced tea?” Amanda replied, thankful for the moment to think. Whatever had brought Zack all the way from Jacksonville had to be pretty important, but she had no idea what it could be. “I don’t even want to think about food until I’ve had a chance to cool off.”

“OK, coming right up,” Shannon said as Amanda took a closer look at Zack. He seemed troubled, although there was no hint as to why. “How was the fishing today?” she asked as she headed for the counter in the largely empty snack bar.”

“Lousy,” Amanda told her. “We either find them or we don’t and we barely did today.”

After a moment Shannon brought the iced tea over and sat it on the table, then went back to whatever it was she’d been doing in the back. Amanda turned back to Zack and said, “This sounds pretty important to bring you up here from Jacksonville.”

“I didn’t come from Jacksonville,” he replied slowly. “I came by way of Clinton City.”

“Clinton City?” she asked, a mental map of the country coming to her mind. Clinton City had to be even farther from Jacksonville than Winchester Harbor, and it was probably at least as far to come here from there. “Your home?”

“Not my home,” he said with a flash of anger. “I haven’t had a home since well before the day I left there. I didn’t want to go back, but I had to – but now that it’s done I don’t ever have to go back there again.”

“Zack, did something happen?”

“Yes,” he replied, his anger fading a little bit. “It’s, well, it’s personal. It’s something I haven’t told you about, or Ron, or any of the guys at the station. I, uh, I just feel like I have to talk to a friend about it, get it off my chest, and honestly Amanda, you’re the only friend I have who I feel I can talk to. The guys around the station would talk, even Ron, and I don’t want it to get out.”

That sounded a little strange to Amanda. They’d been friends down in Jacksonville over the winter, if not close friends by her standards. She had been aware just about as long as she’d known him that he had some secret in his past he was reluctant to talk about. There had never been any hint about what it could be, other than the fact that he was happy to be as far as he could get from Clinton City. That secret past was one of the things that had made her reluctant to get closer to him – and maybe, she thought, the same thing could be said the other way around. “I won’t say anything, Zack,” she said. “Not even to Ron.”

“Thanks, Amanda. I was pretty sure I could trust you. At least I hope I can, because I don’t really have anyone else I can talk to about this, and it’s not easy to tell you, even though I need to talk this out with someone. You . . . well, I don’t make friends easily – you know that – and I think I understand why, at least a little bit.”

“Zack,” she smiled, “all I can do is listen. I may not be able to help you.”

“I know that,” he shook his head, and glanced around the snack bar. No one was sitting close, but in the quiet place Shannon was probably in earshot. “Is there any place we can go where we can be by ourselves to talk?”

Wow, she thought. He really wants to keep this a secret, or else it’s really bothering him and doesn’t want to risk anyone overhearing. “Tell you what,” she said. “Let me drain this iced tea, then I’ll go over to my room and get my swimsuit on. We can take a walk down to the little beach down by the breakwater. It’s quiet, and we could sit in the shade and talk as long as you need to. There isn’t usually anyone there, and if there is we can go out on the breakwater a ways.”

“I suppose that’d work,” he said, a little more brightly. “I didn’t bring a swimsuit with me since I didn’t know I’d need one, but I do have a pair of shorts.”

“All right,” she said, then thought that maybe this might be something she wouldn’t want to be too alone with him about. “Shannon,” she called, “Zack and I are going down to the beach by the breakwater. I don’t think this is going to take all that long, maybe an hour or two. I’ll be looking for some dinner by then, but tell Mom or Dad to come looking for me if we’re not back by when they’re ready to eat.” She drained her iced tea – it was mostly ice and felt good – and added, “OK, Zack. Let me go change, and I’ll meet you in a few minutes.”

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