Page 4 of Kissing in the Rain
Gabe growled low in his throat. This wasn’t the first time Jonathan had neglected the basics of the job. “Okay. Well, what’s her name?” Maybe her contact information was already in thesystem.
Jonathan’s brows furrowed. “It was a real sweet name. Let’s see.” He scratched hischin.
“You didn’t make her fill out the waiver?” Gabe asked, biting his words. “You just put a woman on a boat without getting any of her contactinformation?”
“Dude. I’m sorry. Am Ifired?”
“NOOOOO! Don’t fire Mr. Jonathan!” Kimberly held out both arms and jumped in front of Jonathan as if she were protecting him from abullet.
Gabe rubbed his forehead. He’d never fired anyone in his life, but thoughts of being sued for every penny he had flashed in the forefront of his mind. This guy was a family friend, but he was also a liability. “No, you’re not fired.”Yet.“But next time, write the info down and have them fill out the waiver. I could call the woman right now if I had her number. I could tell her to head back in. Who knows how far out she got. Maybe the storm hasn’t even reached heryet.”
“Yeah. Okay, boss.” Jonathan gave a thumbs-up and returned to playing withKimberly.
Gabe turned back to the window. The skies seemed to have grown darker in a matter of seconds, reducing visibility. A front was supposed to be moving in later tonight, but it looked like it had arrived early to the party. In his work with the Coast Guard, Gabe had done some search and rescues following afternoons that started out exactly like this one. Hopefully, that wouldn’t be the case thisafternoon.
The front entrance opened, and Lorelai walked in. She closed her umbrella and placed it against the wall. Despite the umbrella, she was soakingwet.
“Mommy!” Kimberly dashed across theroom.
“Hey, sis. You’re earlier than usual. Did you get off early because of thestorm?”
Lorelai’s brows knit together. “I’m worried aboutJillian.”
He stepped closer. He knew Lorelai’s friend Jillian had been staying over for the last couple of days. She was going through a divorce and had taken time off from her job. Lorelai had also mentioned she’d been acting out of sorts lately. “She okay?” heasked.
His sister shrugged. “You tell me. Is she backyet?”
It was Gabe’s turn to frown. “Back fromwhere?”
“Oh yeah.” Jonathan held up a finger. “Jillian. That was the woman’sname.”
Gabe glanced over his shoulder at his new employee. “Jillian Maready is the one on the water right now? You let a woman on the edge of a nervous breakdown take out one of my sailboats byherself?”
Jonathan’s face went sheet white. Gabe guessed he was going to ask if he was fired again. “She didn’t look crazy,” Jonathan said. “She looked pretty nice. And she said she hadexperience.”
“Maybe when she was fifteen,” Gabe ground out, turning back to Lorelai. “You knew Jillian was going to take a boatout?”
“Yeah. She texted me about it earlier. What’s wrong with that? Shedoeshave experience. But now it’s storming, and I’m worried about her. She's not answeringher cellphone.”
“How long has she been out there?” Gabe askedJonathan.
“Maybe an hour. She got here a little earlier than she was scheduled for. So maybe an hour and ahalf.”
Gabe cursed. Then he apologized to Lorelai. He hated cursing in front of Kimberly. Crossing the room, he grabbed his raincoat and pulled it back on. “I’ll go get her,” he said. “Don’tworry.”
The water was rockingthe boat so forcefully that Jillian had to white-knuckle the side. She had experience with sailing, but it had been a long time. When the water had been smooth, she’d thought she was actually doing pretty well, even though she had no sense of direction. That had surprised her too. She’d navigated these waters as a teenager without any problem. Now she had no clue where shewas.
Turning and looking in all directions, she couldn’t see anything or remember which way led back to the rec center. Thunder rumbled overhead, and rain pelted her bare skin. She should’ve listened to the old woman at the bookstore. If she had, she’d be warm and dry and reading one of the books she’d purchased right now instead of drenched andshivering.
“Okay, Jillian. Just think.” All she needed to do was turn the boataround and retrace her path. Except the wind was so strong right now that the sails were actually working against her, collecting its force and pushing her forward at a speed much faster than she was comfortable with. The visibility out here was poor. For all she knew, she could be sailing at record speeds right toward a rockyshore.
She reached for her cell phone for the third time already and checked for a signal. None. Another wave hit her tiny boat,and she screamed as she nearly fell over the side. There had been a Blushing Bay resident last summer, she remembered, who had fallen overboard and was never found out here on these waters. Chris Watson. He’d been an experienced fisherman who worked with one of the Sawyer brothers at the Sawyer Seafood Company. Jillian was frustrated with her life right now, but she still wanted to keepit.
As the storm calmed downfor just a moment, she pulled the sails down so she would at least stop advancing forward at such a quick pace. Then she searched the compartments for a life vest. Finding one, she put it on quickly and moved to the center of the boat to wait out the storm. If she could survive the next hour, she’d probably befine.
Hopefully.
She closed her eyes and took deep breaths, looking for the calm place her therapist back home had always coached her to find. Ironically, Blushing Bay had been her calm place in the therapist’soffice.
