Island Blues by Wendy Howell Mills Page A

was being uncharitable, and kept a charming smile on her face while she waited for Sophie to explain. For all she knew, the girl was a perfectly lovely person inside.
    â€œI give nicknames because I can never remember anyone’s name.” Sophie’s ravishing face was earnest.
    â€œPlease?”
    â€œYou remind me of a girl I knew in high school, Lisa. I’ll call you Lisa so I can remember your name.”
    â€œBut Lisa is not my name,” Sabrina pointed out logically.
    â€œBut at least I’ll remember it.”
    Sabrina looked over at Patti and the older woman shrugged, her handsome face apologetic. She was used to her young friend’s foibles, and seemed inclined to forgive. Sabrina decided to give the girl the benefit of doubt.
    Sophie’s cell phone rang, and her eyes widened in alarm. “Shane, you’re not supposed to call me,” she said upon answering the phone. She moved away from them, but her distressed voice was still audible. After a moment, she covered the mouthpiece of the phone and whispered, “Patti, go on without me. This might take a while.”
    Patti sighed and shook her head. “I’d like to say that love’s shambles is harder to deal with when you’re young, but I don’t think it’s true. It’s never easy. Would you like to go kayaking with me, Sabrina?”
    Sabrina wasn’t sure what to say. Did she really think that Patti had cold-bloodedly murdered Gilbert Kane and was now turning lascivious eyes on her as the next victim? Of course it was ridiculous.
    â€œThat sounds fantastic!” Oops. Way too enthusiastic. She toned it down a bit. “I mean, that sounds like fun. I’ve never done it before, though. Are you up to teaching a novice?”
    â€œIt’s easy. You’ll love it.” Patti beamed and Sabrina saw that the woman took genuine pleasure in introducing other people to her favorite sport. As this was a good opportunity to talk to Patti in private, Sabrina was feeling pretty pleased herself. Any niggling doubt she squashed without compunction, and when she found it still wriggling, she stomped on it repeatedly until it stopped bothering her.
    â€œLet’s go. We don’t want to miss the sunset.” Patti dragged her kayak farther into the water and proceeded to give Sabrina a quick and dirty lesson on kayaking. Once Patti pointed out how easily the kayaks could flip over, Sabrina concentrated hard on the pointers about keeping her balance.
    â€œYou may need a jacket. It gets a little chilly after the sun goes down.” Patti looked at Sabrina’s short sleeve aquamarine shirt and her bright tropical culottes and shook her head. They were standing in knee-deep water, and Sabrina was shivering as the cooling breeze nipped at her wet slacks.
    â€œHere.” Sam finished adjusting the footrests on her kayak and stripped off his windbreaker.
    â€œI couldn’t—”
    â€œYou can tip me later.”
    Sabrina bit her lip to prevent herself from saying she had a tip for him right here and now: take a long walk off the Shell Lodge’s short pier and take his blasted windbreaker with him. But sheer self-preservation won out. She was cool, and the windbreaker looked warm. She put it on, noticing that the jacket smelled not-unpleasantly of sweaty man and fish guts. Or maybe there was something wrong with her, because that combination should not have been appealing.
    After donning her life jacket, Sabrina climbed on top of the kayak and Sam gave her an enthusiastic push that set her to rocking in the shallow waves. She frantically put the paddle out to the side as Patti had shown her, trying to regain her balance. For a moment it was touch and go, but finally she got the craft under control. She threw a dirty look at an entirely-too-innocent-looking Sam before paddling after Patti, who was already headed for the mouth of the cove.
    For the next twenty minutes, she concentrated