Page 227

“Maybe we should go over a few things,” Trey began.

“I’ve grilled her already,” Owen said. “She knows what she’s doing.”

To prove it, Cleo put the cat under her arm, stepped off the dock ontoThe Siren’s deck.

She got her balance, set the cat down.

Pye walked toward the bow, sat. Like a masthead.

“Oh God, here we go.” Sonya unleashed Yoda.

“Pray for us.”

She kissed Trey for luck.

Obliging, Yoda jumped onto the boat. Hoping for the best, Sonya followed.

Trey watched them paddle away from the dock. “That looks promising. But hey, maybe we empty our pockets, ditch shoes. In case.”

“They’re fine.”

And they watched Cleo move to the windward side, stepping over the cockpit where Yoda planted himself. She took the tiller with one hand.

And hoisted sail.

Her shout of triumph echoed back asThe Sirenglided over the waters of Poole’s Bay. Sonya’s laugh flowed back with it.

“She’s sailing with a cat.” Owen pushed up his sunglasses. “And a dog. The cat’s wearing a pink PFD, and the woman’s handling that boat like she was born at the tiller. I’m done. That’s it. She’s it. Jesus, she’s just it.”

Trey clapped a hand on Owen’s shoulder. “You’re just figuring that out?”

“I should’ve known she was trouble. Fuck it, I did know she was trouble. Now I’m sunk.”

Trey looked out where Sonya lifted her arms to the sky.

“That makes two of us.”

In the boat, Cleo tacked, andThe Sirenflew.

“You were right. So right! I forgot what it was like to justgo! Yoda’s loving it. Look at him.”

Pointy little ears pinned back by the wind, he had his head lifted to it. And wild delight gleaming in his eyes.

“And Pye!”

Sure-footed, the cat had walked back to sit beside Cleo. And looked like a queen pleased with the performance of her barge.

“We needed this. We deserve this. Man oh man, Son, this boat handles like a dream. That man’s amazing.”

“He sure gets you. Everything about this boat says Cleopatra Fabares. Oh, what a day. But you were wrong about one thing. It’s not silly fun. It’s just fun.”

“And how’s that stress?”

“What stress?” With another laugh, Sonya waved to a boat as one of its passengers took pictures of them.

She supposed they made one. Two women, a cat, and a dog in a mermaid of a boat.

They sailed for an hour before Cleo guidedThe Sirenback to the dock. As Sonya secured the lines and removed Yoda’s PFD, Trey wandered out of the open double garage doors of the shop. Yoda leaped out, shook the spray from his brindled fur, then pranced into the shop.