Head over Heels for the Holidays

by Jennifer Bernard

  But hey—on the bright side, they would, in fact, be alone in an ocean-going vessel. So there was that.

  Chapter 9

  How was it possible that she could command respect as a police chief and yet not have the nerve to ask Rune to be her holiday date?

  Maya bustled around in the Egret, her father’s twenty-six foot, twin 200 horsepower engine Sea Sport Kodiak, getting it ready for the trip into the bay in frigid twenty-degree temps.

  She’d been on the verge of doing it last night in Harris’ kitchen. After another fifty-two dating app busts, she’d deleted the app. She’d talked herself into just…throwing the idea out there to Rune.

  But at the last minute she’d chickened out and gone for the boat request instead.

  Coward.

  But her need for a pilot was real. Finally…finally…she’d heard from the FBI. Agent Dick Clement.

  “We intercepted a communication about a drop-off in Lost Souls Wilderness. Can you check it out for us?”

  “You have a location?”

  “Coordinates and a rough time window, that’s it.”

  “Send them over.” Since she was on the phone, she’d done an invisible happy dance. “Does this mean you’re actually opening a case?”

  “Don’t get ahead of yourself, Badger. Monitor this drop-off and we’ll talk. It could be nothing. Believe me, you don’t want your name on something that turns out to be a big waste of our time.”

  She’d had to clench her teeth to keep back everything she’d wanted to say to that.

  But now that Rune had agreed to be her boat pilot for this mission, maybe she could try again. It shouldn’t be so hard! But it felt like the first step in a risky direction.

  The Egret rose and fell as a departing boat’s wake rippled under her hull. Maya grabbed onto a hand hold, even though she knew there was no danger. Harris used the Egret for fishing and getting out on the water on a sunny day, and of course had trained her in the basics.

  But boating—not for her. She always got seasick on the water. Her father had offered her all kinds of prevention techniques—an acupressure bracelet, Dramamine, deep breathing, fixing her gaze on the horizon until her eyes dried out. None of it had worked completely, so she preferred to stay land-based.

  Even the smell of the harbor—a little fishy, a little salty, a little diesel-y—made her slightly nauseous.

  Lucas Holt, the harbormaster, ambled down the float toward the Egret. He wore a Helly Hansen jacket and a thick knitted watch cap that set off the strong lines of his face. She and Lucas had dated in high school; in fact, he’d been her first heartbreak, before she knew what heartbreak really was.

  Now he was engaged, with a new family.

  “I must have eaten some bad crab cakes at Captain Crabbie’s. Is that really our very own ocean-hating police chief heading out to sea? Official business?”

  She unscrewed the cap of the gas tank and checked the level. This wasn’t great, that she’d been noticed before she even left the harbor. But maybe it was better this way. Whatever she told Lucas, he could tell other people who asked.

  “This is strictly personal,” she told him. “Rune hasn’t seen Misty Bay yet, and we’re running out of time before winter sets in.”

  She shivered at the very sound of the word “winter.”

  Lucas eyed her four-inch-thick parka and thick winter gloves. “You might have already missed that window.”

  Shrugging, she screwed the cap back on the tank. “Better late than never. Rune really wants to see the bay. You’ve met Rune, right? The travel nurse?”

  “My mother has. She raves about him.”

  On cue, Rune hurried down the boat slip. In his rubber fishing boots and Carhartts, he almost looked like an Alaskan. “Sorry I’m late. Last-minute infusion emergency.”

  “Rune, this is Lucas Holt, the harbormaster. I was just telling him how much you’ve been wanting to see the bay.”

  He didn’t miss a beat. “You bet. Nothing like the Pacific Ocean on a twenty-degree day. Something to tell my grandkids about. It’s a Bucket List item, for sure.”

  Lucas narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “Do you know much about boats? I know they’re not Maya’s thing. Let me see if Megan can take you guys out on the Forget Me Not. I’ll call her right now.”

  “No.” Maya groaned inwardly. This was exactly what she’d been worried about. Lost Harbor was a small town to start with, and the harbor community itself even more so. “Rune is a very experienced boat pilot. He grew up on Oahu. He knows everything about boats.”

  Lucas looked Rune up and down, but with more respect than before. “Alaska waters are a lot different from Hawaii’s.”

  “Hey, the humpback whales go back and forth. I think I can handle it.” Rune stepped onto the gunwale, then onto the deck. From the way he instantly got his balance, it was obvious he was a natural on the water.

  Lucas hung around a few more minutes as Rune familiarized himself with the controls and the gauges. “All right then. Stay safe out there.”

  “Stop worrying.” Maya shooed him away. “You’re the harbormaster, not the harbor mother hen.”

  “Ha ha.” But he relented and headed back to the ramp that led up to the boardwalk. Over his shoulder, he called, “Don’t forget the Haunted Harbor party. Command appearance. No excuses.”

  She cringed at the reminder. She considered the Haunted Harbor party to be the kickoff of the holiday “relive the Jerome disaster” season. They’d gone together, and in fact had kissed for the first time behind a fake gravestone.

  “That’s not how people usually look after they get an invitation to a party,” Rune observed as he tested the wipers that kept ocean spray from completely coating the windshield.

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” she grumbled. “Come on, let’s go before someone else shows up.”

  She handed him the key and he started the engine. He looked out at the sullen gray water of the harbor and the low overcast clouds trailing across the sky overhead. “I like our cover story, by the way,” he said dryly. “Makes total sense that I wouldn’t be able to wait for a warm, sunny day to see the bay.”

  Laughing, she patted him on the back. Even through his thick fleece-lined jacket, she could feel the hardness of his muscles. It made her think of the strength in his hands while he’d worked the tension out of her neck. She hadn’t slept so well in weeks. Not since her father had gone into the hospital.

  “Just go with it. Everyone knows I never willingly go out on the water. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”

  “You’re the boss. Really curious what this is all about.”

  “All in good time.” She went back onto the deck to cast off the lines. “Ready,” she called to him.

  She stayed out on the open deck while Rune slowly steered the boat out of the slip. The fumes from inside the cabin tended to trigger her seasickness. As they glided through the harbor, she fixed her gaze on the horizon—the snow-dusted bulk of the mountains on the other side of the bay.

  As they exited the harbor and gained speed, the icy wind bit at her cheeks and nose.

  Okay, she could admit it. This was crazy.

  She abandoned the open deck and ducked into the cabin, where Rune was whistling at the steering wheel, legs braced apart.

  “Doing okay?” he asked her.

  Not wanting to lie, she didn’t answer that question. “Head for these GPS coordinates.” She rattled off the numbers Agent Clement had given her. He punched them into the GPS and swung the wheel to the east, toward Far Point.

  “Are we meeting someone out there?” he asked.

  “Not exactly.” She hesitated, not sure how much to tell him. She knew he was discreet; he had to keep all his patients’ information confidential, after all. With all of his experience dodging the stalker, he knew how to handle himself. And then there was the time in Hawaii when they’d walked through a forbidden lava tube and he hadn’t told her father.

  She could trust him
.

  “What I’m about to tell you is completely confidential,” she said seriously. “You cannot say anything to anyone.”

  “You have my word.”

  “I’ve been trying to get the Feds to come down and investigate some suspected criminal activity in Lost Souls. But I’ve gotten nowhere with that. I’ve started taking in personally, to be honest. It’s like they don’t trust a young black female police chief. Go figure.”

  “Idiots.”

  Major points for his instant backup. “Anyway, they finally got hold of their own red flag and they want me to check it out. The coordinates are from a little cove just past Far Point. We’re supposed to get close enough so we can see if anything’s going on, but not engage. I brought my zoom lens in case I can get some pictures. We have to make it look like we’re just sightseeing or something so we don’t burn the source. We can always pull out my dad’s fishing rods if we need to make it look more real.”

  Rune listened closely, frowning all the while. “If they get a glimpse of you, won’t they recognize the police chief?”

  She gestured at her own bundled-up body. “No uniform, a bulky hat, a scarf. They’ll barely be able to tell that I’m human.”

  Her joke didn’t chase away his expression of concern. “Even so, I think you should stay out of sight. You can take pictures from inside the wheelhouse, right?”

  “I’m not going to hide away.” Irritated, she dug around in her dry bag for her camera. “You have no idea how frustrating this whole case has been. They won’t even admit there is a case. If this is the only thing they want me to do, I’m damn well going to do it.”

  He snorted, spearing her with an amused sidelong glance. “Hit a nerve, did I? Fine. I just want to volunteer my services as a complete stranger that no one’s going to recognize.”

  A wave crashed over the bow. The impact shivered through the Egret. Maya gagged as the first surge of seasickness hit. She staggered to the bench and sat down, gripping a handhold as if her life depended on it. “Let me know when we get close,” she said tightly. “I’ll be staring at the horizon until then. That faraway one, that doesn’t keep rocking up and down.”

  “Want me to slow down?” The swells didn’t seem to bother him. He shook his hair back from his face, a picture of exhilaration with his braced legs and flashing eyes. Like when he used to bodyboard right up onto the sand at her feet.

  “No,” she managed through gritted teeth. “I don’t want to miss the window when they’re supposed to be there. Lucas already delayed us.”

  She went quiet after that, focusing on keeping the gorge from rising in her throat. How could the daughter of a lifelong Coastie be so prone to seasickness? Maybe her mother had suffered from it too. She didn’t know.

  “Does it help if I talk or is it better if you suffer in silence?” Rune asked over his shoulder, not taking his eyes from the churning waves ahead.

  “I honestly hate you a little bit right now,” she groaned. “You’re having fun, aren’t you?”

  “Hell yes. I haven’t been on a boat in a while. Sorry, do you want me to look more miserable? I can fake it.”

  “No. It’s fine.” Would it help for him to distract her with conversation? It was worth a try. “Talk to me. Was it hard switching from EMT to nurse?”

  A white froth of ocean spray splashed across the outside of the cabin enclosure. She tightened her grip on the handhold.

  “A little.” Expertly, he kept the Egret headed into the waves instead of letting them hit the side of the boat. Harris would be proud. “I liked the adrenaline of being a paramedic. You know me, I like action. Home-visit nursing has a slower pace. But it has its good parts too. When you’re a paramedic, you never get to know anything about your patients. You never see them again after you get them to the ER. Now I get to know all about them. A little too much, sometimes. But that’s okay. People are so grateful for the help. They bake me cookies, they crochet me little handmade gnomes, they set me up with their granddaughters.”

  Okay, now that was interesting. “I’ve never heard of scamming dates through home nurse visits.”

  “I haven’t gone on any dates like that,” he corrected with a laugh. “But it’s kind of them to try.”

  “Why don’t you have a girlfriend? You were always such a girl-magnet.” This was something she’d been wondering about for a while, but apparently it took being about to vomit on her dad’s boat to actually ask about it.

  “I have girls,” he said lightly. “Girlfriend implies longevity. It’s hard to do that when I have to move every few months.”

  Of course. She kept forgetting that he was not long for this part of the world. “Do you think things will change at some point for Cara? Will she go to college?”

  “You mean, how long do I have to be her bodyguard? I don’t have an answer to that.” A seagull hovered over the deck, then flapped away when he realized they weren’t carrying any fish. “We’ll see what things are like when that time comes. We’re hoping he moves on to another obsession, like toy trains or Fortnite. Or, if we get lucky, he’ll slip up and do something he can be arrested for. I’d love to stop him from ruining some other girl’s life.”

  Hearing the frustration in his voice, Maya vowed to herself that she’d do everything she could to make that happen—if she had the opportunity.

  “If it’s any comfort, Cara seems like a pretty happy girl. Especially considering the circumstances. You’re a good guardian.”

  He glanced over at her, looking touched. “Thank you. We manage. But that’s mostly due to her. She’s so good-natured. I don’t know where she gets it.”

  “What are you talking about? You’re good-natured too. You always had the best smile, like a toothpaste commercial. That’s why all the girls loved you. You were the hot ticket of fourth grade.”

  He snorted. “Guess I peaked early.”

  “Uh…I don’t think so.” She ran her eyes up and down his strong form, so sexy the way he manhandled the wheel. Long lean legs, muscular thighs braced apart—he made her mouth water.

  And not in the seasick way.

  Her scan of his body brought her back up to his face—where she got busted by his amused smoky green eyes.

  Quick. Change the subject. “Why’d you decide to be friends with me back then?”

  “You mean after I saved your life?” He turned back to watching the ocean rocking them up and down, side to side.

  “Here we go again. Okay, yes, after you saved my life. Which you might be doing again, right now.” The boat slammed into the valley between two waves.

  Again, he seemed unbothered. “Why did you want to be my friend? I was a scrawny little hyperactive rule-breaker.”

  “But you were always so much fun. I was more serious.”

  “Maybe that’s part of it. We were so different back then. You were calm and sensible—until I started getting you into trouble.” He gave a Dr. Evil laugh. “Besides, you were fun too. You made me laugh.”

  A blast of wind found its way into the cabin, and she shrank into her parka. “Are you laughing at me right now?” she asked dryly. “Seasick and miserable?”

  “A little.” He grinned at her, then shook his head. “No, of course not. You know what’s funny? We’re not as different now. Becoming a full-time guardian made me a lot less of a goofball.”

  “I hope you still have some Jay-Jay in you. I miss that little kid.”

  “Want me to bring him back? Say the word and I’ll do those hula dances that always made you laugh. I used to do anything just to make you laugh. It was always a good day when you flashed those braces at me.”

  She ran her tongue across her teeth, remembering the feel of those braces. “I hated those things.”

  “Do you remember when we kissed behind the lifeguard stand? When we were making fun of all the teenagers?”

  Stunned, her mouth fell open. She’d forgotten all about that! She and Rune had kissed. Just a kid kiss, obviously. A quick planting of lips a
gainst lips. But still. She’d forgotten all about it until just now.

  Rune looked over at her and gave a double-take. “Wait…you forgot about it? Don’t break my heart like that.”

  “No, I just…okay, yes, I forgot. We were nine! And my Dad would have flipped. I probably blocked it out.”

  Turning back to his navigating, he shook his head ruefully. “Damn, that hurts, Maya. That was my first kiss.”

  “Well, mine too. Until my next kiss, which I guess I thought was my first…” She trailed off at Rune’s look of outrage.

  “I didn’t even get credit for being your first kiss? I demand a recount.”

  She burst out laughing. “You want me to track down Jimmy Melkov and inform him that he was, in fact, my second kiss, not my first?”

  “If it’s not too much trouble.”

  Torn between laughing and rolling her eyes, she realized with a start that she’d forgotten all about her seasickness. Apparently talking about kissing was the magic pill she’d been looking for all this time. “I’ll consider it.”

  “You’ll consider it. That’s what you tell people when they come to you with wacky ideas about how to keep the peace in Lost Harbor, isn’t it?”

  He knew her so well. How did he know her so well? It was strange, really, that she felt a kind of bedrock familiarity with Rune when they were different in so many ways. Starting with skin color, of course. Gender. State of origin. Family background. And yet—they both knew the pain of a missing parent. They both felt like outsiders at times. Maybe all that time they spent together as kids had made her comfortable with him on a cellular level.

  “It might be,” she admitted. “But don’t tell anyone my secrets.”

  “I take patient confidentiality seriously.”

  She tilted her head at him with a patented Badger family skeptical frown. “Patient?”

  “That neck massage last night. Once a patient, always a patient.”

  Right…that massage. All the sensations from last night came surging back. The gentle skill in those strong, practiced hands of his. The way his warmth sank through her skin into her muscles. The way her entire body succumbed to the floating bliss he generated with each stroke.