“What?” Amanda exclaimed. “Is something the matter?”

“Yeah,” Cordy said. “I didn’t find out all of it until the last few days, so again, there was nothing you could do about it up north except worry, so we agreed to keep you in the dark a little bit. I hope you don’t mind.”

“But what happened?”

“You remember my cousin Ike, the one who helped Pa out while I was up north last summer?”

“I remember you telling me about him, I don’t remember the details. Oh, yes, he was out of jail on a work release deal. That was about all you told me.”

“Well, the good part is that he’s back in jail since he broke his work release by getting drunk and into a bar fight,” she said. “He won’t be out till the end of the month. He’s bad news, Amanda, really bad news. Like I said, I didn’t find out about this until a few days ago, but apparently he broke into the Rag Doll back while we were up north.”

“Oh, shit,” Amanda replied, her heart falling.

“Don’t worry, he didn’t hurt anything,” Cordy said. “The fact that you didn’t leave shit on it had much to do with it. He figured that a boat like that had to belong to a rich yachtie so there had to be something to steal on it, and I guess he was disappointed that you’d pretty much left it bare.”

“That wasn’t the plan, but I guess I’m glad I did.”

“All he did was cut the lock on the hatch with some bolt cutters,” she explained. “He even put the tarps back the way they were supposed to be so Pa and I didn’t find out about it for a while. But when he sees it back in the water he’ll figure there’s something in it and try again. Like I said, he’s bad news, and I don’t want him to get any ideas about you, especially if you’re living on the boat.”

“After your dad found out about it, is he likely to want him to come back?”

“I don’t know,” Cordy said. “I told Pa that if he’s here I wouldn’t be. Among other things, Ike would really like to tear a piece off of me and wouldn’t bother asking if I wanted it or not. But that wouldn’t keep the stupid bastard from sneaking around the yard in the dark if he thought there was something worth stealing.”

“It’s not all bad,” Ron told her. “You’ve still got three weeks to get the Rag Doll out of there. Cordy and I talked it over, and we don’t think you have three weeks’ worth of work left that has to be done in a boatyard.”

“Well, probably not, but that doesn’t allow time for things to go wrong or the unexpected to happen.”

“I don’t know for sure,” Cordy said, “but remembering where you were when you left last spring, there probably isn’t much left that’s going to require you being in a boatyard. Yeah, things can go wrong, but there’s probably not much that’s going to involve having to take the boat out of the water. If there is, it’ll most likely be a quick fix that can be done while it’s on a boat lift or something.”

“Zack and I have been looking around,” Ron told her. “There’s a small marina over on the other side of the river where you could probably get a slip for a couple weeks if you needed it. That’d give you some time for some shakedown runs and to fix things if you need to.”

“As far as that goes,” Cordy said, “we could probably do it at the boatyard, so long as you were in and out the same day. But I don’t think you should be there at night after shithead Ike gets out of jail.”

“Well, I suppose,” Amanda nodded. This was bad news, but not real bad news; it could be dealt with so long as she was fairly quick about it. “And I see why you wouldn’t think I should leave the boat there this spring.”

“Yeah,” Ron smiled. “To top it off, neither Cordy nor I will be around to keep an eye on it.”

“Ron?”

“I got my warning orders. I’m going to be leaving in early February, and Cordy is going with me.”

“That was sort of what you were planning last summer, wasn’t it?”

“Pretty much,” Cordy smiled. “The situation with Pa is still the same, we’re going to drop it on them at the last minute, or maybe elope, we haven’t worked out the details yet. We may have to say that I’m pregnant, we don’t know yet, although I’m not and don’t intend to get that way for a while yet. That’s the other side of the coin about not leaving your boat at the yard, too. If I’m gone, my dumbass Aunt Mildred will probably get on his case about hiring Ike back on, and he’ll be in bad enough need of someone he’ll probably do it.”

“Well, I’m happy for you guys, but a little sorry for your dad. He was a lot of help last winter, and I couldn’t have gotten as far along with the Rag Doll without him.”

“I hope it will work out,” Cordy shrugged. “I plan on telling him that he’d be a damn fool if he hires Ike on again, but Aunt Mildred will be chewing on him all the time, so he’ll probably give in. It doesn’t matter when you get down to it. I don’t mind working in the boat yard, I kind of like it, but I’ve gotten to where maybe I need to move on. There’s a good chance I might be able to do something pretty similar where we’re going, too, we don’t know yet.”

“You guys never mentioned it,” Amanda grinned, “but where’s that?”

“Sitka, Alaska,” Ron grinned. “Not quite as far away from Jacksonville as you can get in the Coast Guard, but pretty close.”

“What are they going to have you doing?”

“I don’t know yet. It could be navaids again, but it might not be. I’m just hoping they don’t get me on an oil spill cleanup crew again.”

“I wouldn’t think there’s the chance of a major oil spill in the Alaska panhandle.”

“Maybe not, but there are plenty of chances for minor ones and sometimes people up there don’t report things like that. Besides, do you remember hearing about the Exxon Valdez?”

“That was years ago.”

“It could happen again, and Sitka is a lot closer to the oil port in Valdez than anything in the lower forty-eight.”

“Wow,” Amanda shook her head, the implications of it all starting to hit her. “Cordy, you’d better take some warm clothes, or you’re going to freeze your ass in Alaska in February.”

“No shit,” Cordy said. “I guess I’m a Coast Guard wife now, or at least I’m going to be. We haven’t got all the details of the move worked out, or even very many of them since this all just came down. It could be I sell my piece of shit car and drive Ron’s to Seattle, where we can take the ferry up to Sitka.”

“We don’t know if I’m going to have to fly, or we can do it on the ferry,” Ron explained. “That’s one of a bunch of decisions we’re going to have to make.”

“It sounds like you’re going to have your hands full.”

“It doesn’t make it a damn bit simpler to have to do it more or less under the table, at least as far as Pa and Ma are concerned,” Cordy nodded. “But we’ll work it out. There are worse places we could be stationed than Sitka, and New York is one of them.”

“I suppose,” Amanda sighed. “It’s supposed to be awful pretty up there, after all.”

“I guess we’ll find out,” Ron said. “By the way, the folks know. This only came down the day you started south.”

“Are you still planning on going with me down the coast on the Rag Doll?”

“Still planning on it, but things could change,” Ron shrugged. “Cordy and I haven’t had time to digest it all yet. We’d really like to, but, well, stuff happens. We’ll get out on it with you a little, though. How long is going to have to depend on when and how much.”

“Well, Cordy,” Amanda sighed, “it looks like you and I are going to have our work cut out for us on the Rag Doll.”

“Unfortunately, not me,” Cordy sighed. “We’re pretty busy right now. You remember that crane barge we had so much trouble with last winter?”

“I remember you swearing about it quite a bit.”

“It’s up to its usual shit again, and it’s going to eat up at least a week, maybe longer. It’s going to be a hell of a rush job, too. Don’t worry, when you get the Rag Doll ready to go in the water it’ll go, even if I have to do it after work or something. But I’m not going to be able to help you out very much.”

“Shit,” Amanda shook her head. “It’s going to slow things down to not have an extra set of hands, and might make getting out of there in less than three weeks something of a problem.”

“I’ll help,” Zack told her. “When we started figuring out what was happening, I went to Chief Barnes and asked for a week’s leave, and I got it. I could probably get more if I have to, but I’d have to ask for it.”

“Wow, thanks Zack! That’s going to be a big help.”

“It doesn’t start until Sunday, but I have a day off coming the day after tomorrow, and that might help, too.”

“All right,” Amanda said. “I guess that means we need to get serious about planning how this is going to get done. I’ll figure on getting the tarps off tomorrow, and there are a couple other things that need to get done on the hull. If everything goes well, Zack, you and I can get the antifouling paint on the bottom on your day off, and then we ought to be able to get it on the water that evening.”

“I can do that,” Zack smiled.

“Sounds like a good idea,” Cordy said. “I doubt that they’re going to give Ike an early release, but if they do, you could probably get out of there on the engine and do the last of the work in that marina Zack and Ron found.”

“I’ll try to get over here in the evenings, too,” Ron said. “That might help a little.”

“Zack,” Amanda said after thinking things over for a moment, “is your taking off for a week going to cause any problems with our being able to go cruising together after Christmas?”

“It shouldn’t,” Zack told her. “I have plenty of leave time coming, that’s one thing. I’ve already put in for six weeks’ leave starting right after the first of the year, and that ought to be solid unless something unforeseen happens, like a big oil spill or a terrorist incident or something. That’s the kind of thing that can’t be predicted, but that you have to be ready for in the Coast Guard.”

“Well, good,” she smiled. “I’ve really been looking forward to that, and I hope you have, too.”

“You wouldn’t believe how much I’ve been looking forward to it,” he said. “I’m just hoping it’ll go as well as I’ve been hoping it will.”

“That makes two of us, Zack,” she smiled. “We’ve got all this other stuff to get taken care of first, but I plan on having a real good time.”

In spite of having to work on the crane boat across town, Cordy joined Amanda at Earlene’s Kitchen early the next morning. Roseanna was still the waitress there, and that made the place seem familiar; Amanda thought it was something of a shame that she wouldn’t be coming there much more. While the two drank their coffee and waited for their breakfast to arrive, Cordy said, “Hey, I’m sorry to have had to drop all that shit on you all at once last night, but a lot of this crap happened at the same time. You know how that stuff goes, everything is quiet for a while then everything happens at once.”

“It’s a lot to swallow,” Amanda told her. “But in a way I guess it’s not all bad. After the summer I’ve had I wouldn’t have wanted to just sit back and contemplate how wonderful it all is rather than actually getting to work on it. At least this will get things done sooner.”

“Yeah, there’s that, but try not to cut any corners,” Cordy warned. “You’ll regret it in the long run. That’s why this crane boat is such a pain in the ass. If you can’t get it all done at the boatyard, you can finish it up at that marina Ron and Zack found.”

“I suppose,” Amanda said. “But I’d sort of had it in my mind that when I took the Rag Doll out of your place for the last time it would be all the way ready to go. If it can’t be that way, well then, I guess it can’t.”

“I wish I could be more help to you,” Cordy said. “But among other things, I want to leave things in as good a shape as I can for Pa when I do head out. If he gets stuck with Ike, he’s going to be in a hell of a mess and I won’t be able to help him much from Sitka.”

“That kind of sucks when you stop and think about it.”

“Yeah, but what the hell else am I going to do? Damn it, Amanda, I love Ron, and I’ve had a hell of a time coming to the conclusion that the only way we’re going to be able to stay together is if I go with him. I hate it for Pa that it has to be that way, but with the Coast Guard involved it has to be one way or the other.”

“I know,” Amanda sighed. “I can see something of the same thing coming with Zack, and it’s made me wonder more than once just how serious I want to get with him. Darn it, I know we don’t know each other very well but I like the guy. I’d be giving up a hell of a lot to follow him as a Coast Guard wife.”

“Right,” Cordy agreed. “After seeing what you do up at home I realize you’d be giving up more than I am if you made the same decision. I don’t know what to tell you to do, Amanda. I’m not even exactly sure I’m making the right decision for myself. But damn it, there are good reasons to leave too, even if you don’t count Ron.”

“It’s not easy,” Amanda sighed. “I might as well tell you that when Zack and I decided to go cruising after the first of the year it was sort of on a basis of let’s have fun and see what happens. There’s not a big decision to get married or anything hanging on it.”

“There could be by the time you get done.”

“I know, Cordy. I know, and that’s what I’m worried about.”

After Amanda and Cordy finished their breakfasts, they split up to go their separate ways, Amanda to the boatyard and Cordy to the crane boat.

Amanda had decided to leave Beffy at the motel for the next few days to keep the little cat out of trouble – and there would be more possibility of it now than when the Rag Doll was on the water. The first thing Amanda did when she got to the yard was find a ladder and start getting the tarps off the boat and folding them up. That took a while, but then she gave the boat a serious inspection.

It appeared that the boat had gotten through the summer with no damage, although there was a strong paint odor in the cabin from fresh paint having had all summer to cook in the sun. There was no sign of Ike’s breaking into the boat except for a different lock on the hatch – Cordy had bought a new lock and had given her the key. It was as Cordy had said, there wasn’t much on the boat to steal, except for some sails and some coils of line. Other than the new lock, the Rag Doll was much as it had been left in March.

One of the things that had been discovered when the boat had been taken from the water in the fall was that the prop had a big ding in it, too big to be repaired. That wasn’t a serious problem; they’d taken the prop off back in the spring, and Amanda had brought a replacement with her, although it took her a while to get it on.

That and a few other chores took her most of the day; Ron, Cordy, and Zack showed up in the evening and helped her get finished up; then they went out to get a pizza for dinner.

Zack showed up at the boatyard early the next morning, just about the time Amanda got back from Earlene’s Kitchen. The two of them started right in on the antifouling paint, which was a messy job with a paint that was mildly toxic, so they had to take precautions in handling it. However, everything went pretty well and they had the job all but done when Cordy showed up in the evening, cussing about the damn crane barge.

About that time Ron also showed up. Cordy walked the boatyard’s crane over to the Rag Doll, and they got lifting slings under it. In a few minutes, the boat was dangling from the crane, while Ron and Zack painted the bottom of the keel, which had been sitting on the ground, and the places where the cradle had blocked out being able to put the paint earlier.

The type of antifouling paint they were using shouldn’t be left to air-dry too long, so Cordy left the Rag Doll hanging in the slings while Ron went off to get another pizza. They stood around nibbling on the pizza for a while, and when it was done, Cordy swung the boat over the water and let it down. In a few minutes the slings were off, and the Rag Doll was afloat for the first time since March.

Now, with the boat in the water, Amanda could get started on the serious fitting out. The next morning she backed her car up as close as she could get to the boat and started unloading. The pesky, space-stealing cushions were just about the first things out of the car, and the cabin looked a lot better once they were in place. Much more was to follow; some of it she could deal with as she brought it aboard, but some of it piled up on one of the settee berths so she could work on it later. The boat was starting to get a little liveable by the time she got the car unloaded, which was about the time the gang showed up after work.

Amanda hadn’t given much thought to where Zack was going to stay while he was helping her with the boat, but he told her he didn’t want to have to stay on base, partly to not have to waste time driving back and forth,. More importantly, he didn’t want to be around in case something came up and he could get called in to go on patrol or something. Out of sight, he said, out of mind.

“Well,” she said without hesitation, “I suppose there’s no reason you can’t stay on the Rag Doll with Beffy and me. You can have the V-berth, so that shouldn’t be any problem.”

“I can do that,” he said quietly. “Look, Amanda, I don’t want this to sound like I’m inviting myself into your bed.”

“I’m not inviting you to do that,” she said. “At least not now. I’m not saying it’s not going to happen, because it probably will happen. But I’m just not ready to do it now, not with this deadline for the Rag Doll hanging over me.”

“I understand,” he said. “Look, it wouldn’t matter to me if it worked out that we don’t do it at all. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to do it with you, but if I learned anything from what happened to me and my sister, I know it has to be on your terms. That’s the way it has to be with me, Amanda. I feel like you’ve given me a great favor by letting me into your life at all, and I hope I can be more a part of it. I hope we’ll be able to work out some of those issues this winter, but well, I think we need to get to know each other a lot better than we do before we start to make the kind of decision Ron and Cordy are making.”

“I think you understand me,” she told him. “There’s a part of me that’s saying, ‘Let’s do it.’ But there’s a part of me that’s saying that we ought to be damn sure we understand what we’re in for when we do get around to doing it. I mean, having fun and being fuck buddies is one thing, but going beyond that is another.”

“We’re probably thinking pretty close to the same way,” he smiled. “But right at the moment I know you’ve got enough hanging over you that it’s one issue you don’t want to deal with. It doesn’t matter, Amanda. I’ll be ready when you are.”

Thus it was that Zack spent the night up in the V-berth, while Amanda was on one of the settee berths, with Beffy on her pillow, of course. It seemed strange indeed, as much as she’d fantasized about Zack the last few months, but it was clear to her that the time wasn’t right just now. She was pretty sure she was going to be doing it with him sooner or later and could have stood for sooner, but under the circumstances she was just as glad. When she did it, more than ever she wanted to do it right.

The next few days Amanda and Zack set up the running rigging, something she hadn’t paid much attention to the winter before. While there were some old ropes on the boat, she’d long since made the decision to not trust any of them, and new line was among the pile of stuff that had filled her car on the way down from Winchester Harbor. Although some minor problems arose, there was nothing that couldn’t be solved, and before the end of the day the sails had been mounted and run up the mast to test the rigging, although the wind had been nothing at the time and the sails just hung there.

They were getting closer now. For the first time since Amanda had owned the Rag Doll it was capable of being sailed.

Ron and Cordy joined them the next day, which turned out to be a long tussle getting the new Bimini and dodger arrangement rigged. This involved several deck fittings, many in places where the soft deck had been replaced the last winter. Amanda made sure that plenty of bedding compound was used when the fittings were mounted, and they made several large backing plates in the boatyard’s shop to make sure things were firmly mounted in the still-suspect areas.

Finally the chore was done, and it had been done a little more quickly than she’d expected. Once again the four of them shared out a couple of pizzas and some beer in the cockpit as the day drew to an end.

“Well, that was a pretty good day’s work,” Ron said as he grabbed a slice of pizza. “What’s on the list for tomorrow?”

“There’s stuff that could be done,” Amanda said. “But there’s nothing that can’t be put off for a day. I think we’re ready to find out if the Rag Doll can really sail.”

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