loafers in the car and ran barefoot as fast as I could toward my boat and the promise of a glorious evening.
Nora was standing near the door, her sumptuous body clad in a sheer silk nightgown, two beach towels in her hands. “I saw you park,” she said with a bright, welcoming smile.
“Thank you,” I said as I dropped a towel on the floor and stepped on it.
“Why don’t you get in the shower and I’ll make you a drink?”
I couldn’t help but grin. “Does that mean what I think it means?”
“Just get in the shower, Romeo!”
In any boat, except for the mega yachts costing tens of millions, a shower stall is not a roomy place. Onboard space is a precious commodity, to be used in the most efficient way possible. But my father, when designing the layout to his dream boat, had made some allowances and sacrifices here and there and came up with a shower-and-head combo that could easily fit two standing adults. There were plenty of boats out there whose space restrictions allowed for only a single handheld showerhead, to be used while sitting on the lid of the toilet. Not my father. He used to say there was something fundamentally wrong in any boat’s design if you had to shower and take a dump in the same spot.
It wasn’t long before Dr. Norton joined me in the shower and then led me to bed, where we got sweaty all over again. As we rolled onto our backs, glowing and exhausted, I decided not to bother with another shower.
Outside, above the soft sounds of our labored breathing, the storm raged on. I glanced at the alarm clock. It was 2:23 a.m., and though I was well into my first day of a long-anticipated vacation, I was no better rested than yesterday. We had little chance of departing as planned, if at all. I felt a long, slender finger softly tracing the outlines of my no longer so well chiseled abs.
“Jason?” she said, almost purring my name.
“Hm-m...?”
“So what did you think of Amy?”
“Nice girl.” I put my arms under my head and stared at the ceiling. “Sad case, though.”
“I know,” she said as she turned to look at me, her head resting under her left arm, her right hand caressing my chest. “Doesn’t it break your heart to see someone so young so beaten down by circumstances?”
“It’s tough. I’m sure she’s not alone, though bad shit happens to a lot of good people.”
“Can you help her?”
I turned over and stared at her. “Why are you so interested in this girl?”
She thought about it for a moment, then said, “Her mom was not just a patient; she was a good friend, someone I really came to care for. For most of her life, she carried a big cross on her shoulders a few of them, in fact. And in the end, after all she had been through, this man she married not only took everything from her, he may have also taken her life. And I think this man may possibly be a threat to Amy if she goes after him.”
True to character, Nora was doing what she always did. She was by nature nurturing and a sucker for a sad story any sad story. So this preoccupation with Amy’s plight was not entirely a surprise. But the really hard part, the challenge of recouping what had been taken from Amy, would fall squarely on my shoulders. Nora would go back to her sad but safe, sterile environs at the hospital, and it would be up to me and Sammy to do the heavy lifting. And I had a feeling that Evan Robertson wouldn’t give in without a fight.
I must have stayed quiet too long. “A penny for your thoughts?” she asked playfully.
I glanced at her before answering. “I have a feeling this is not going to be so easy,” I said. “This guy is not simply going to roll over and give up what the law says is legally his.”
“Then what can you do?”
“Dig deep. It’s going to take a lot of research and legwork maybe too much. Maybe this will require more time than I have at the moment. Maybe this is something I won’t be able to see through to its bitter end.”
“I can help!” she
Nora was standing near the door, her sumptuous body clad in a sheer silk nightgown, two beach towels in her hands. “I saw you park,” she said with a bright, welcoming smile.
“Thank you,” I said as I dropped a towel on the floor and stepped on it.
“Why don’t you get in the shower and I’ll make you a drink?”
I couldn’t help but grin. “Does that mean what I think it means?”
“Just get in the shower, Romeo!”
In any boat, except for the mega yachts costing tens of millions, a shower stall is not a roomy place. Onboard space is a precious commodity, to be used in the most efficient way possible. But my father, when designing the layout to his dream boat, had made some allowances and sacrifices here and there and came up with a shower-and-head combo that could easily fit two standing adults. There were plenty of boats out there whose space restrictions allowed for only a single handheld showerhead, to be used while sitting on the lid of the toilet. Not my father. He used to say there was something fundamentally wrong in any boat’s design if you had to shower and take a dump in the same spot.
It wasn’t long before Dr. Norton joined me in the shower and then led me to bed, where we got sweaty all over again. As we rolled onto our backs, glowing and exhausted, I decided not to bother with another shower.
Outside, above the soft sounds of our labored breathing, the storm raged on. I glanced at the alarm clock. It was 2:23 a.m., and though I was well into my first day of a long-anticipated vacation, I was no better rested than yesterday. We had little chance of departing as planned, if at all. I felt a long, slender finger softly tracing the outlines of my no longer so well chiseled abs.
“Jason?” she said, almost purring my name.
“Hm-m...?”
“So what did you think of Amy?”
“Nice girl.” I put my arms under my head and stared at the ceiling. “Sad case, though.”
“I know,” she said as she turned to look at me, her head resting under her left arm, her right hand caressing my chest. “Doesn’t it break your heart to see someone so young so beaten down by circumstances?”
“It’s tough. I’m sure she’s not alone, though bad shit happens to a lot of good people.”
“Can you help her?”
I turned over and stared at her. “Why are you so interested in this girl?”
She thought about it for a moment, then said, “Her mom was not just a patient; she was a good friend, someone I really came to care for. For most of her life, she carried a big cross on her shoulders a few of them, in fact. And in the end, after all she had been through, this man she married not only took everything from her, he may have also taken her life. And I think this man may possibly be a threat to Amy if she goes after him.”
True to character, Nora was doing what she always did. She was by nature nurturing and a sucker for a sad story any sad story. So this preoccupation with Amy’s plight was not entirely a surprise. But the really hard part, the challenge of recouping what had been taken from Amy, would fall squarely on my shoulders. Nora would go back to her sad but safe, sterile environs at the hospital, and it would be up to me and Sammy to do the heavy lifting. And I had a feeling that Evan Robertson wouldn’t give in without a fight.
I must have stayed quiet too long. “A penny for your thoughts?” she asked playfully.
I glanced at her before answering. “I have a feeling this is not going to be so easy,” I said. “This guy is not simply going to roll over and give up what the law says is legally his.”
“Then what can you do?”
“Dig deep. It’s going to take a lot of research and legwork maybe too much. Maybe this will require more time than I have at the moment. Maybe this is something I won’t be able to see through to its bitter end.”
“I can help!” she
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