After a while the storm died down to a steady drizzle; the air was much cooler, a real break from the heat of the last few days. They could still see the storm out over the lake, still dark and throwing lightning around, but the overcast skies coming behind were a lot lighter. Finally, the rain had slacked enough for the customers to think about getting off the Coho; Amanda took a few minutes to gut and fillet the last Coho they’d caught.

The customers had pretty well agreed to make a quick stop at Dot’s Tavern to settle their nerves a bit, and Amanda was invited along, but she begged off. “I think I’d better be here when Dad gets in,” she told them.

After they were on their way, Trent came up to her and said, “If you’re going to be here, maybe I’d better head back down to the fuel dock.”

“Yeah, that ought to be all right,” she replied. “Thanks for your help, Trent, and your quick thinking. Like I told you earlier, you did good.”

Soon Amanda was alone on the Coho, getting things put away and set up for the next day after she’d used the cabin to change into the spare clothes she kept on board for such an event. She was not very happy with herself – she knew she’d let herself get carried away with the good fishing and hadn’t been paying as much attention as she should have to the approaching storm. She’d gotten away with it – and had done so before – but this whole hassle had been avoidable if she’d been paying attention to what she was doing.

It was still dripping rain, so she settled down in the pilot’s chair behind the wheel of the Coho, just a little bit worried about her father, and about Ron and Cordy out on the Pixie. Really, there was no reason to worry about them; her father had ridden out a lot of such thunderstorms on the lakes, and there was a good chance that Ron and Cordy were in a harbor somewhere. Even if they weren’t, Ron knew how to handle the Pixie in the storm, and Cordy was a competent sailor as well. Everyone was probably all right, but not knowing was tough.

She was tempted to give her father a call on the marine band radio or the CB, but decided not to. If he had trouble he could call, and if he was in the middle of the storm he might be too busy to want to screw around with the radio. She found a couple chores to do around the boat to try to keep her mind occupied, and realized that she was glad she hadn’t brought Beffy along like she usually did.

Fortunately, in about half an hour she looked up to see the Chinook coming across the harbor. Apparently her dad had decided to ride out the storm on the lake rather than trying to come into the harbor. Maybe she should have done that, she thought, but with it right in front of her, it had been the easy choice to make, and it had worked out.

She got off the boat to help with the Chinook’s dock lines, noting that the stern was going to have to be hosed off – apparently at least one customer, and maybe more, had lost his lunch in the wild weather outside the harbor. Sam was up on the bow, ready to toss her a docking line, and looking a little green herself, but gamely carrying on. She’d have a story to tell about this one, Amanda thought.

The docking went off about like normal, and of course Amanda pitched in to help the customers get their gear together and off the boat. Soon enough they were gone, and in the process Amanda heard the subject of going over to Dot’s mentioned by more than one of them. Once they were gone, Jake said to Amanda, “I’ll tell you what, that was a rough one. We were on some good fishing and decided to stay and catch some more while we had the chance. I’m glad to see you made it in all right.”

“More or less,” Amanda told him. “We stayed out too long and came in right in the thick of things. That was kind of a dumb-ass thing to do, not only to stay out too long but to try to make it in while it was blowing as hard as it was.”

“I thought about it,” he replied. “But I could see it was easing up a little so we just sort of slowed down for the last half mile or so before we came in. Did you limit out?”

“Yeah, but we should have skipped that last one,” Amanda shook her head.

“Shit, we went through all that stuff and still didn’t limit out,” Jake smiled. “I guess it’s no harm, no foul, although maybe we both should have had our heads screwed on a little tighter.”

“Well, I guess it’s OK, although that’s a mistake I’d rather not make again,” Amanda replied. “It was just hard to give up when we were on the fish. I’ll tell you what, though, I can’t help but wonder how Ron and Cordy took it on the Pixie.”

“If either of them had a lick of sense they’re sitting in some bar in some harbor somewhere,” he shook his head. “Or maybe spending a little quality time up in the V-berth.”

“I have to admit, that’s an idea that’s more than a little appealing to me right now,” she told him. “I guess you knew that Zack headed back to Jacksonville this morning, and I’m missing him more than I thought I would. Missing him up until I realized that storm was getting close anyway, and then for a while there I was a little too busy to think about him.”

“Understandable,” Jake grinned. He turned to Samantha and said, “Hey, you did good out there today,” he told her. “I know that wasn’t the easiest thing in the world, but it happens. Now, if you want I’ll toss your bike in the pickup and take you home. Amanda, what would you think about a quick stop at Dot’s afterwards?”

“Part of me says it’s a great idea,” she replied, but thinking of Zack and his revelation about not liking to drink put it off. She didn’t drink much, but maybe she ought to think about dialing it down a little, especially after the kind of day it had been. “But part of me is thinking about a nice cup of coffee up at the snack bar, and maybe something reasonable to eat. Something that doesn’t involve fish.”

“You know, when you put it that way, you might have something there,” he laughed. “I guess I’ll see you up at the snack bar.”

The next morning dawned bright and clear, if a little cooler than they’d been experiencing recently, about the only real thing the storm had left behind. Even a little break in the heat was welcome. Amanda was out in the Coho again with a new set of customers, and like the day before she’d headed to where they’d been having their action before the storm set in. Of course, there were no fish to be seen, but she’d noted that the fish had been heading southeastward the day before, so decided to search down that track a little, and as luck would have it soon found them again. Around noon her mother called on the CB and indicated that she wasn’t having much luck, so Amanda called her in to the hot spot. Because of the slow start the Chinook wasn’t near limiting out when Amanda managed it in the Coho, so she turned toward shore, glad to be off the lake early for once.

On her way back in, she found herself thinking about Zack and how his trip back to Jacksonville must be going. Winchester Harbor to Jacksonville was a long day’s drive no matter how you cut it, but she knew he was going to try to do it in two days, so by now he must have been down in Georgia someplace, getting farther away from her all the while. More and more she found herself wishing that he hadn’t had to head back at all, or that she could have gone with him, but it hadn’t happened, and she’d known it wasn’t going to happen. Oh, well, she thought, only about three and a half months to go, maybe a little less. Then, say, a month to finish up on the Rag Doll . . . then things might be a little different.

She had gotten the Coho back close to the channel when she noticed a sailboat was going to beat her into it. It didn’t take much to realize that it was the Pixie, so obviously Ron and Cordy had made it through the storm all right. She’d had little doubt that they would, but still, it was nice to know.

As the Coho drew closer, Amanda could see that Cordy was at the wheel of the boat, while Ron was busy getting the sails in. The Pixie would be slower going up the channel than the Coho, but big deal, she thought. They were going to be in considerably earlier than she had expected, and it would be nice to have an afternoon to kick back and relax a bit. But something didn’t seem quite right, and the more she looked at the wheel the more she couldn’t help but think that Cordy must be steering the Pixie in the nude . . . that must have been quite a week they’d had, she thought.

Before they reached the lights at the ends of the breakwater, Amanda’s curiosity could hold her no longer. She eased the binoculars out of the cubbyhole where she kept them and focused on the Pixie. It took her a while to realize that no, Cordy wasn’t steering the boat in the nude, but that she had on a flesh-colored thong bikini that was the next thing to it. There was an awful lot of Cordy there – she was a little wide in the butt in the first place – and not much bikini. Boy, she thought. They must have had a hell of a good time, and Cordy must have yanked Ron’s chain – and yanked it a lot!

By the time they were in the channel the customers on the Coho had discovered what was going on, and most discussion of a good day fishing was left behind as several pairs of eyes stared out through the windshield. Cordy’s bikini may not have been the most extreme that Amanda had ever seen around Winchester Harbor – there were some yachtie girls who came through that made Cordy’s bikini look almost conservative – but it was something that Amanda didn’t think she’d wear.

Except maybe for Zack sometime when they were out on the Rag Doll . . .

Damn it, girl, she thought. You really are starting to get hung up on him, aren’t you? If this keeps up you’re going to be in a hell of a shape by the time you get back down to Florida!

Once they got out onto the wider waters of the harbor proper Cordy pulled the Pixie to the side a little to allow the Coho to pass and run up to the dock. That gave everyone on the fishing boat a real good look at her in her bikini as they went past. The bikini was a little more modest in front – but just a little, and Amanda could just about hear the eyes popping on the Coho. Which, she thought, is probably just about what Cordy intended in the first place, she realized. For being a workboat kind of girl, Cordy sure was acting like a yachtie girl this afternoon!

After Amanda got the Coho tied up to the dock, Cordy and Ron put the Pixie into its slip at the far end of the Winchester Harbor Fishing Charters dock. They spent some time bagging up the sails and doing such other odd chores while Amanda got the customers on their way – not without frequent glances from all in Cordy’s direction, of course.

As soon as she could, Amanda got Beffy in her arms and walked down to see Ron and Cordy, to ask how their trip had gone – as if the looks on their faces and the bikini Cordy was wearing didn’t already tell her more than perhaps she wanted to know. There had been more than a little sailing and drinking going on during that trip, she was sure. “So,” she asked as she got close to the Pixie, “did you have a good trip?”

“Oh, pretty good,” Cordy grinned. “You’re right, there’s some nice stuff up this way. Maybe if we do it another time we can head over to the far side of the lake, in Canadian waters. Ron says that’s even neater.”

“I think it is,” Amanda agreed. “But I’ve never been able to get over there much. There’s almost always been something I had to do around here in the summer.”

“Maybe someday,” Ron agreed. “It probably won’t be before next summer now, and there’s a good chance I’ll be reassigned by then. But who knows? Did you get caught out by that storm yesterday?”

“Yeah, both Dad and I did. I came back into the harbor right in the thick of things, while Dad stayed outside and got the Chinook all barfed over. It was a little hairy but I think I got the better part of the deal, at least on that one. So did you guys get caught out?”

“No, we saw it coming and pulled into Cheboygan in plenty of time. We got a chance to look over the new Mackinaw. Boy, that’s a hell of a nice boat. I sure wouldn’t mind getting assigned to it, but I doubt the Coast Guard will ever want me stationed that close to home.”

“So where all did you two go, anyway?”

“We started out by going up to Drummond Island, the Potagannissing Bay side, and messed around a little there. We spent a couple nights at anchor at Harbor Island, just hanging out and winding down. After that we headed over to the Les Cheneaux Islands and hung out there for a couple days. We stopped at Mackinac Island for a night, then sailed over to St. James on Beaver Island. We really didn’t do anything too spectacular, but we got some good sailing in and we had a good time.”

“A real good time,” Cordy smirked. “It would have been hard to ask for anything better. So how did things go around here?”

“Pretty well,” Amanda said, knowing that she was facing a little problem, and the time to deal with it was now. Zack had said he didn’t want to let Ron know he’d been there, but there was no way of avoiding Ron’s finding out about the visit; after all, even if Amanda kept quiet about it, someone else was liable to let it leak. The only other possible course of action was to be honest about it, but only to a point. “While you two were out sailing around and getting your jollies, I had my boyfriend visit me.”

Ron looked confused for a moment, then realized who she was talking about. “Zack? He was here?”

“Yes,” she grinned. “I guess he was feeling lonely and bored, so he drove up to see me. We had a real good time. I took him out fishing and we, well, uh --” she was trying to act a little embarrassed in order to give the wrong impression, without letting out a hint of the truth – “we had some other good times as well.” There, she thought. That ought to hint that Zack and I were doing about what the two of you were doing, and in a way I’m starting to wish that we had. Well, maybe next winter.

“He was here? I don’t believe it! He didn’t even say he was thinking about it before we left.”

“I don’t know,” Amanda said, lying just a little bit. “Maybe it was you taking off that got him thinking about it.”

“Well, I’m sorry we missed him,” Ron shook his head. “It would have been nice to have taken him out sailing, but I guess we weren’t here to do it anyway.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Amanda told them. “I’ll get him out on the Rag Doll next winter.” She temporized for a bit, and then decided to add a little bit of truth. “We, uh, we might just even outdo you,” she giggled. “We were talking about the Bahamas.”

“You’re not talking about a week or ten days to do that,” Cordy giggled, getting the message even if Ron didn’t. “This sounds, uh, a little more serious than the two of you were acting back last March.”

“Well, I didn’t say anything about getting serious,” Amanda snickered. “But a girl has to have a little fun in her life once in a while. You’d know all about that, wouldn’t you Cordy?”

“Uh, yeah, I guess,” Cordy replied, realizing that whatever the thin story about her and Ron just sailing together hadn’t been much of a cover story at all.

“Nothing’s settled,” Amanda told them. “It’s still pretty much in the kicking-around stage. I mean, about the Bahamas, that is. A lot still depends on how well I do in getting the Rag Doll going when I go back to Florida next winter. And, well, on some other stuff, too, so we can’t tie it down too tight.”

“I still can’t believe it,” Ron shook his head. “He seems so shy all the time. Well, I’m glad he decided to buck up his courage and come see you. He is a nice guy, it’s just he’s awful quiet and keeps to himself so much.”

“He is a nice guy,” she smiled. “But we’re going to have to wait and see what happens.”

Amanda and Beffy helped Cordy and Ron with buttoning up the Pixie – since it was going to have to sit for a while, not just overnight, and be ready for Greg and Lisa to use in a few days. That meant a thorough cleaning, which took a while; Beffy helped by finding a nice soft bunk cushion to curl up on for a nap. Ron and Cordy were going to spend their last couple nights in Winchester Harbor in the motel, which now had space, and without anything being said it was clear that the two of them were looking forward to having the space of a full-sized bed to work with.

They finished the job just about the time Ron and Amanda’s mother showed up in the Chinook. It turned out they’d limited out too, on the spot that Amanda had turned up earlier. Since back-to-back limit days had been rare this summer, it was a special cause for celebration. This time they went over to Dot’s for a cool one – Cordy put on clothes that were at least a little more modest – and then they went up to the snack bar for dinner.

Jake was there – it had been his turn to pull the duty at the Channel Stop that day, a chore that Amanda had largely managed to avoid all summer. “Well, so the wandering sailors return,” he grinned as they found a table in the snack bar. “I take it the trip went all right.”

Ron and Cordy gave him a brief account of their trip, leaving out a few of the more intimate details that they’d only hinted at, even to Amanda. “I guess I’ll have to get a passport,” Cordy said. “Now Ron has got me all anxious to see Georgian Bay, but it’ll have to wait until next summer, now.”

“It’ll be worth the trip, I’ll tell you that,” Jake told them. “Hey, while you were gone today, I had a call from Adam.”

“You did?” Amanda asked. “I take it he made it into Blanche Tickle all right?”

“Yeah, he did, and he said it was a great trip and that Matty and Mary are doing fine. I guess the plan now is that he’s going to stay there until about the end of the month, then head south. You know, like he was talking about, try to beat winter to Florida, but maybe not by much. I have no idea of what he’s going to do after that, and I don’t think he does, either.”

“That’s going to be quite a cruise,” she smiled. “He’s going to have to go some to top it.”

“Well, you know Adam, he doesn’t say much,” Jake grinned. “I’m just a little surprised he got to Newfoundland and didn’t decide to take after Matt by sailing on to Ireland, but I wouldn’t put it past him in the long run.”

That evening Amanda, Ron, and Cordy found chairs out on the motel deck, found some cold ones, and managed to talk a little more. There was still one subject that hadn’t come up, and one that Amanda had some intense interest in for her own reasons, although she didn’t want to get into them with the two. “So,” she finally managed to work her way around to her question, “did the two of you get any nearer to deciding whether you’re going to get a place together, or what?”

“It would be nice,” Ron said. “And maybe we managed to take the edge off it a little, but for a couple reasons we decided it probably wouldn’t be the best thing to do, at least right away. It gets both a little expensive and awkward for us to be living together and not be married, with me in the Coast Guard and all.”

“At the same time,” Cordy added, “I’d get a little static about it from my side of the family. I don’t think anyone much cared that we came up here together, because it was out of sight. We wouldn’t be out of sight down there.”

“But how about getting married?” Amanda asked.

“I think Cordy and I agree it’s coming,” Ron told her. “But the time for it just isn’t quite right, yet.” A lot of it involves where I’m going to wind up getting transferred to, and how soon. I know it’s coming sooner or later.”

“It might have to come down a little quickly,” Cordy agreed. “Let’s just say there are some rocks and shoals in my family that have to be avoided. There’s a part of me that would like to do the deed and get way out of town before the repercussions set in.”

“From your dad?” Amanda asked.

“Yeah, that’s a part of it,” Cordy said. “If Ron and I move away he’s going to have to make do without me, and if he winds up having to hire someone like Ike full time, he’s going to have to have someone else and pay a lot more. He’d like to keep me around, and I don’t mind it, but when the time comes to go, I think I’ll be ready.”

While it was interesting information, and something Amanda hadn’t heard before, it didn’t seem to have a lot of bearing on her own question of what would happen if she and Zack were to get together. That was a question that was still going to have to be answered.

Early in the morning a couple of days later, just before Amanda had to go out on the Coho again, Ron and Cordy loaded up their rental car at the motel and said goodbye on their first step on their journey back to Florida. “It’s been good to see you two,” Amanda told them. “And I’m looking forward to seeing you when I get down to Jacksonville in November.”

“Why do I think that you’re at least as anxious to see Zack as you are to see us?” Ron smiled.

“Well, I do want to see him,” she smiled. “And I’ll expect that we’ll be having some fun when we do. But I want to get back, get the Rag Doll finished, and go sailing on her. “She let out a sigh and added, “At least if I happen to feel like not going sailing, but hanging around on anchor all day, I’ll be able to do it. Don’t get me wrong, I like getting out and fishing, but it gets old to do it day after day.”

“It won’t be all that long,” Cordy said. “And I guarantee you, the Rag Doll will be waiting for you.”

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