The next three weeks were on the dull side for Amanda after the excitement of finishing up the Rag Doll – and the bridges she had crossed with Zack.

Mostly it was waiting until Ron’s leave came around so she could sail south down the Intracoastal for the family reunion with Cordy and him – and after that would come Zack’s long leave. That was something to look forward to!

Oh, there were things to do every day, and she did them. There were still minor items to be done on the work list, and she piddled away at them. On several occasions she took the Rag Doll out sailing by herself, sometimes having to let the autopilot do the steering while she handled the sails. Once, when she knew Zack wasn’t going to be available, she took a two-night trip up the Intracoastal to investigate Amelia Island and some of the rivers up around there, which was more sparsely inhabited than the area around the marina. There was a lot of bland marsh grass up that way, but she was a little sorry to have to turn back. Maybe someday, she thought, she might be able to investigate the Intracoastal farther up that way, but it would probably be a while off if she ever managed to do it at all.

Zack’s schedule continued to be irregular and somewhat unpredictable, but they managed to get together on a few days, and for a few enjoyable evenings, too. One morning when he showed up, he asked, “Do you have any particular plans for the day?”

“Not really,” she said. “Work on a few odds and ends, and maybe get another coat of varnish on the outside wood. There’s nothing I couldn’t put off if there was a reason to.”

“Good,” he smiled. “Let’s sail over to the station. Chief Barnes and a few other people have heard Ron and me talking about you and this boat, and they’d like to see it.”

“That sounds about as good as anything else we could do.”

It was a nice day for a sail, even though it was not a long one; in a couple hours they were tied up at the public dock at the station.

Although Amanda had heard much talk about Chief Barnes for over a year, she’d never met the man. He turned out to be about her father’s age, a little heavier set, going gray, with a nice smile. “I remember seeing this boat sitting back in a swamp up the river a ways even before Ron asked me about it,” he told them. “It looks like you’ve really worked a miracle with it.”

“It’s been a lot of work,” Amanda told him. “There was a huge list of stuff to do, and I’m still working on it.”

“That’s the way it is around any boat,” he laughed. “Let me tell you a secret about boats. If you ever get to the point you’ve scratched everything off your to-do list, you’re not paying enough attention to boat maintenance.”

While not everyone Ron and Zack knew from the station was around – in fact, only a few of them were, and even Ron was gone – there were several people who looked the boat over. Chief Barnes even gave them a clean inspection sticker, which while not required would simplify things if a Coast Guard patrol boat wanted to look them over.

After a couple hours, their visit was complete. Zack got the lines and got on board, and Amanda started the engine to get them away from the dock. “That was kind of fun,” she smiled as they motored away, not yet quite ready to get the sails up. “But you were sort of showing off your girlfriend, weren’t you?”

“I can’t deny it,” Zack smiled. “But I was also showing off the fact that I have a girlfriend who really has her act together around boats. I have to admit it makes me feel pretty good.”

One way and another the days passed. While Amanda was happy to be able to see Zack now and then, it was clear to her that her time in Jacksonville was complete – she’d done what she had to do there, and she was getting anxious to get out and see some new territory.

Finally the day came when Ron and Cordy could leave to go with her. As usual, they didn’t waste much time, and got under way heading south down the Intracoastal before the sun had barely risen.

The air was calm, and the Intracoastal right in there wasn’t really conducive to sailing, so they were running along on the engine, sipping coffee and eating eggs and ham. “It’s not really a breakfast at Earlene’s,” Cordy sighed after a while, “but it ought to do.”

For one reason and another Amanda hadn’t seen much of Cordy in the last couple weeks – the distance from the marina over to the boat yard was part of the reason. “So how did your dad get along with the idea of you making this trip?” Amanda asked.

“He wasn’t real thrilled about it,” Cordy replied. “There are a couple barges that need work, and a workboat that needs to get sandblasted and painted. He was all set for me to do that, but I told him this trip had been planned for a long time and I was going on it.”

“So what is he going to do?”

“I don’t know,” Cordy replied. “And to tell you the truth, I don’t really care.”

“Does he know about you and Ron going to Sitka?”

“Not that I know of. But it’s going to happen, no matter how he feels. I just want to work it around that if he’s real pissed off about it, I don’t have to put up with it for long.”

Cordy was in a tough position and Amanda knew it – but then, it was nothing new, either; it had been talked about before. There was nothing to be gained by going over the same old ground, so they found something else to talk about.

It was around three hundred miles to the marina near Hollywood, Florida, where they’d parked Ron’s car a few days earlier so he and Cordy had a way to get back to Jacksonville. They had two weeks to make a trip they could have made in less than a week if they’d been willing to push hard. As it was, they had plenty of time to poke around, make side trips, or just lay around on the boat or in a bar if the weather was bad, which occasionally happened.

Most of the time it was nice, and it allowed them to make a visit to Daytona International Speedway – there was no racing going on, but there was some sports car testing, which was interesting to watch for a few minutes. They loitered near Cape Canaveral for a couple days to watch a big rocket go up, and while they were there each of them teased the others into visiting a nude beach nearby.

They continued on south. When it had become clear a month before that there was no way Amanda would be able to leave the Rag Doll at Sims Boat Yard for the next summer, she’d had to look for another possibility. Zack and Ron had taken the question to Chief Barnes, and while he’d said that the area south of Cape Kennedy was out of his responsibility, he could get a recommendation from a friend at another station, and the friend suggested a small marina near Ft. Pierce. They stopped off to look the place over, and Amanda found that she liked the place, and liked the fact that it offered bonded storage. She was able to make a deal that was a little more than she would have paid had she been able to leave the boat at Sims, but the idea of being farther south had some appeal, too.

As they got farther south the possibility of being able to wear swimsuits in the peak heat of the day became more of a reality. While Amanda decided to avoid wearing the shiny blue micro-bikini she’d made the previous summer – that was saved for Zack – she and Cordy spent a fair amount of time on the foredeck working on their tans. Cordy said she’d better do it while she had the chance since there would be damn little tanning time out on the beach at Sitka, especially in late February when they expected to arrive.

As it was, they dawdled so much that they were a little tight for time when they were getting close to Ron’s car at Hollywood, so they had to run hard for a couple days. Still, they were interesting days, passing big waterfront homes and nice yachts, the kind that were nice to dream about but that they could never think about actually owning.

All in all it was a good two weeks, just lazing around with her brother and Cordy, who had become the best female friend Amanda had ever had. Although they planned to drive down for the family Christmas reunion, that would only be for a day or two, and Amanda knew it could be a long time before she saw the pair again. Maybe, she thought, if she could swing it, she might be able to make a quick trip up to Sitka to see them sometime, but it would have to be in the cold months. It was something to think about, but it was anyone’s guess whether it would actually happen.

Finally they pulled into the marina in Hollywood where Ron’s car was waiting for them. As planned, they spent the night in the marina, then Ron took off late the next morning to pick up his parents and Samantha at the airport.

It was good to see her parents and Sam again – it had only been a few weeks, but a lot had happened in that time. She didn’t really want to tell them the details about what had happened with Zack, but they knew that the two were closer than they’d been at Winchester Harbor the previous summer.

There were a few hours of reunion aboard the Rag Doll as Ron and Cordy got ready to head back to Jacksonville, and while the three from Winchester Harbor moved aboard. The Rag Doll was going to be crowded the next few days, with Amanda and Samantha staying in the main cabin while Amanda’s parents would use the V-berth in the forecabin. It really wasn’t all that roomy up there, but both of them said it reminded them of the early days when they’d traveled for months on end around Florida in the first of the three Pixies the family had owned. Stories of those days were part of the reason Amanda had gotten hooked on sailing her own boat around Florida in the winter, anyway.

Amanda and Ron’s parents had already known that Ron and Cordy were planning on getting married and going to Sitka together, and they’d had at least an outline of the hassles that Cordy was going to have to go through to make it work. Now they heard a little about the details. “I’m sorry it has to be that way,” Jake told them. “But you kids seem pretty solid and you ought to be able to make it work.”

On top of that, Amanda’s father had news for them. “I talked to Adam one day last week,” he announced. “I’d told him on the call before that that you weren’t still at Sims, but that you’d moved somewhere else, and I wasn’t sure where. But we worked it out that we’re going to meet up at Key Largo. Greg and Lisa have a slip arranged there, and Adam said he’d reserve one for the Moonshadow and one for you, at his expense. It’s damn good he was willing to pay, because they’re rare as hell that time of year and cost like it, too. Greg and Lisa are looking forward to seeing him too; he and Greg are old friends who go way back.”

“That’s neat!” Amanda exclaimed. “I knew from when we used to go down there in the Winter Haven that those slips are pretty expensive, and really, beyond my budget. But it’ll be nice to see him again.”

“I’m sure he’s got some stories to tell,” Jake agreed. “Maybe we’ll actually be able to get some of them out of him.”

“Well, good,” Ron said. “As soon as you know where it’s going to be, let us know. I’m pretty sure I’ll be off on Christmas, and maybe a day either side of it, unless we get an oil spill, of course. It would have to be a quick out-and-back trip, but maybe Cordy and I can drive down to the party.”

Shortly after that Ron and Cordy were headed back to Jacksonville. Amanda, her parents, and Samantha settled in for a night aboard the Rag Doll in the marina, and the next morning they started southward again.

Once again, they took their time. Samantha had been complaining that she’d hardly seen the sun in months, and it wasn’t long before she was out on the foredeck in a bikini that wasn’t quite as revealing as Amanda’s micro-bikini. Close, but not quite. When asked if she thought that maybe it wasn’t a little extreme, she smirked and said, “Hey, at least for this week, I’m a yachtie, so I ought to act like one.”

Even though everyone kept urging liberal applications of sunscreen on her winter-white body, she didn’t mind much. “If anyone at school asks about it, I’ll just tell them I got a sunburn in the best possible way, laying out on the deck of a yacht going through Miami.”

“That sounds good,” Amanda told her. “But people called ‘bullshit’ on me when I told them that I sailed into Paris on the deck of a yacht.”

Four days later, as Christmas approached, they reached Key Largo. They’d had to anchor out two nights, when slips in the Miami area proved to be too full or too expensive for their tastes, but that was fun, too. On one day they were able to get out and sail on the open ocean, where the Rag Doll could show her stuff.

The marina at Key Largo was packed with boats, and it seemed a miracle that Adam had been able to arrange for slips for them. The Winter Haven was already there, with Uncle Greg and Aunt Lisa on board, and as luck had it, they shared a slip with them. There was some more catching up to do, of course, and they got busy at it.

They were sitting around on the decks of the two boats, both of which had their Biminis erected for sun protection on what was an almost too warm day, when they heard a familiar voice. “There you are!” Adam called out. “We looked everywhere else and you weren’t there, so we knew you had to be here.”

Amanda looked up with the rest of them, to see Adam standing on the pier hand in hand with a chestnut haired woman about his age. “Audrey,” he said, “these are my friends I’ve been telling you about. Everybody, this is Audrey Melbourne. She’s been sailing with me for a while.”

“See, Amanda” Jake snorted. “Right hand, left hand, just like I told you.” He turned to Adam and said, “Good to see you weren’t alone. We were all worried about you being by yourself.”

“There was nothing to worry about,” Audrey replied, pronouncing it “aboot” which gave away the fact that she was Canadian. “Adam is a fine sailor, and the Moonshadow is a fine boat. We’ve had some great times together.”

“Well, come on board, grab a beer, and tell us about it,” Jake said. “We’d figured you had some stories to tell, but we weren’t hearing much about what was going on.” He shook his head and went on, “Adam, this is the first time I’ve ever heard you had someone with you.”

“Audrey has been with me since I left Frenchtown Harbor last May,” Adam announced. “There were some reasons why we didn’t want to get too detailed.”

“Adam, there is such a thing as too detailed, and there’s such a thing as nothing being said at all,” Jake shook his head again as the two stepped onto the Rag Doll.

“Well, we had our reasons,” Adam said, glancing around the Rag Doll. “Wow, Amanda, this boat looks a lot better than when I saw it last spring. You’ve really got it spiffed up.”

“It’s been a lot of work, but I had a lot of help, including you,” she replied. “But this is a real surprise, to see you show up with a girlfriend.”

“Well, girlfriend for now, but maybe more later if we can work it out,” he replied. “There are some issues, which is why I haven’t said anything much.”

“Most of the issues involve my daughter-in-law,” Audrey explained in a cultured-sounding voice as she accepted a beer that Samantha handed out from the cabin. “She is positively aghast that her mother-in-law would take off sailing with a man she hardly knew. My son isn’t much better. He’s unwilling to accept that his father has been dead for years, and that his mother needed to have a little life of her own.”

“Sounds like one of those deals,” Greg smiled. Though he and Lisa were friends of Adam, there was a little touchiness there, especially since they’d been the ones to introduce him to his ex-wife many years before. That had turned out to be a disaster in many ways, but they were aware that Adam was getting over it.

“Unfortunately yes,” Adam grinned. “But Audrey and I have been friendly ever since we met up in Newfoundland.”

“Hey, wait a minute,” Amanda’s mother said. “You said you were with him when he left Frenchtown Harbor, but he went from there to Newfoundland.”

“Well, yes,” Adam grinned. “I actually met her there the summer before when I went up to see Matt and Matty. Then, a few weeks later we happened to meet again in Georgian Bay near her summer cottage outside of Flower Harbour. Then, we managed to trip across each other a third time when I was down here last winter in the Knick-Knack.”

“We wound up cruising together for two months,” Audrey grinned. “I’m afraid that was what stirred the pot with my son and daughter-in-law. They were very negative about the fact that I’d run off with a man they hadn’t pre-approved.”

“You were down here sailing together last winter?” Amanda shook her head, just about unable to believe her ears. “Adam, I never heard a word about you having someone with you.”

“I must admit to being at fault for that,” Audrey smiled. “After we finished our time together I decided that I had best go back to Toronto and make amends with them. But they were such pests about it that I knew I couldn’t put up with it, so when Adam called me and asked me if I would like to go along with him on the Moonshadow, well, I was interested but I thought I’d better try to make peace. Then my daughter-in-law Josette got wind of his suggestion somehow and made a terrible scene. That caused me to make up my mind that I had a choice between doing what I wanted to do or doing what she wanted me to do. I was lucky to catch Adam just before he left Frenchtown Harbor.”

“I’ll bet that went over like a lead balloon,” Lisa grinned.

“You may infer that she was less than happy,” Audrey laughed. “I was nice enough to leave her a note telling her what I was planning on doing, but I’m afraid I didn’t mention where I was meeting Adam. You will understand that we decided not to stop in Toronto, let alone get near the place.”

“Well, Adam,” Jake said, “I guess you had a good reason to not tell anyone in Canada what you were up to, but you could have told us.”

“You know that I had to keep a lot of secrets, especially during my divorce,” he replied. “I guess that sort of carried over, and when you get right down to it I didn’t want Brittany to know about it, even though we’re long divorced. But so far, it’s all worked out for the best. Audrey and I have discussed what comes next, and we’re still working out the details.”

“Mostly we’re waiting for my son and daughter-in-law to cool off enough to accept reality,” Audrey sighed. “I have called home on three occasions and they were still very negative about it, especially Josette, who has a very narrow view of propriety. She seems to think, or at least says, that Adam has to be after me for my money. I’m just a widow on a small pension with a few investments, and if anyone is going to be after someone for their money, it would be me pursuing Adam. But they don’t seem to understand that.”

“Does this have anything to do with why you told me to take the ‘For Sale’ sign off of the Knick-Knack?” Jake asked.

“Well, maybe,” Adam said. “We have given some thought to sailing it into her family summer cottage next summer, just to try to make a little peace. But before we do that we want to be sure someone is going to want to make peace as well.”

“I should like to be on speaking terms with them again,” Audrey explained. “But to do so they’re going to have to accept what they consider unacceptable. It may take us a while to get them to that point. But, as I said earlier, it’s a case of doing what I wanted to do or doing what they wanted me to do. At my age, I should think I ought to have the right to make up my own mind about such things.”

“Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?” Jake sighed. “Audrey, I don’t think I introduced the rest of the clan.” He took a minute to go around everyone on the two boats, then added, “The only ones of us who are missing are my son and future daughter-in-law, who are facing the same kinds of issues. There are differences, of course, but there are similarities, as well. They’re going to be down here tomorrow, so you’ll have a chance to meet them. Adam is kind of a distant and shirt-tail relative, but he’s a friend who we value very much. I’m sure the two of you will be able to work it out with your kids, and if you can’t you have to remember that you have to be happy, too.”

“I have come to much the same conclusion.”

“Well, enough of the trouble stuff,” Jake said. “About all we know is that you two must have had a heck of a cruise, down the St. Lawrence, to Newfoundland, and then back down the East Coast. That makes for a pretty hefty summer cruise in my book. Are you going to keep going?”

“Until spring, anyway. Then we’ll probably consider a trip back north to have it out with her kids. If that goes well, fine. We may leave the boat down here someplace, and next fall after hurricane season head down into the Caribbean. If we can’t make peace this spring, we may head back to Newfoundland, or something. We haven’t worked it out yet. It doesn’t really matter, since we’re going to be together whatever happens.”

“Great,” Jake said. “I’m glad to know that you finally have someone in your life who appreciates you. You deserve it. But now that you don’t have to keep quite as many secrets, at least from us, how about telling us a bit about your trip?”

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