Course of the Heart by Cam Dawson Page B

expression softened. She stood before him, waiting.
    Say it, Drew. Tell me you don’t want me to leave.
    He opened his mouth to speak, then frowned. “Guess we better get ready to shove off.”
    “Yeah, I guess so.” She turned away from him, willing away the tears. She gently placed the dishrag on the galley sink and returned to the guest stateroom. She closed the hatch behind her, leaned against it, and slid slowly to the floor of the cabin.
    With her face in her hands and her hands on her knees, sitting silently on the cabin floor, she began to cry.
    As Sam stood close by, Drew cut the line securing the dinghy and engine and watched them sink out of sight into the blue abyss of the deep water off the out island. The scene had the flavor of a memorial service and for a moment he had to choke a lump from his throat. Not for the damn dinghy, but for the way the morning had gone downhill.
    He had wanted so much to tell her that he wanted her to stay with him, but after his comment about having to possibly go back to Fairhope and then Auburn, he saw the hopelessness of the situation. He realized he had little to offer her, especially with the urn gone. Money wasn’t important to her, but she seemed the type who wanted a house, and stability–the last thing on his priority list. But was that list changing? Until he could figure it all out, he wasn’t going to toy with her future. So he was forced into playing along with the excitement of her leaving for a new life. Yet all he could think about was the night they had spent together. All he wanted was a chance to be with her, to see if the feelings he was having could keep building into something long term.
    “Well, that’s that.” He moved to the wheel, after hoisting the sails. The winds had picked up. With any luck at all, with the strong eastern breeze, they would sail into Andros Town before dark.
    She sat on the port settee, nursing a cup of coffee, as he turned about and caught the wind. After trimming the sails he sat in the captain’s seat and his mind flashed back to the night before, when Sam had been naked, sitting where he now sat. He shook the image away and took a deep breath. The sun was nearly directly overhead.
    “Would you like something to eat?” she asked.
    “No, thanks.” Even thinking about her and the night before made him uncomfortable. He thought about telling her how he felt, glancing off the port bow toward a long hilly island to gather his thoughts, when the sun reflected off an object in the distance.
    “What is it?” She followed the direction of his gaze.
    “I thought I saw something.” He squinted his eyes against the sun’s glare. “Over there, toward the island.” He reached under the pedestal and pulled out a chart. “Can you take the wheel a minute?”
    Sam stood, reached over and took the wheel while he sat on the starboard settee. He quickly found the island on the chart and shook his head. “That’s just a spit of an island. Not inhabited, according to the chart. And we’re too far out for anyone to be day tripping there.”
    “What do we do?”
    “It’s only a little out of the way, let’s check it out.”
    Within a half hour, they were within a mile of the island. His binoculars gave little indication of what was reflecting in the sun. It appeared as if it was floating inside a narrow cove in docile waters. Drew dropped sails and motored to within a hundred yards of the floating objects, until the water became too shallow. Dropping anchor, he turned to Sam as he stripped off his shirt and stepped out of boat shoes. He made his way below and returned with his handgun in a plastic bag, which he stuffed into the oversized pocket of his swim trunks.
    “Stay with the boat, I’m going to check it out. Looks like a partially submerged dinghy.” He made his way to the stern.
    “What?” She frowned and folded her arms, glancing toward the cove.
    “Okay, would you like to go with me?”
    “Well, if my guess is