by Kasie West
“I have no idea what voice you’re talking about,” Frank was saying.
“That voice,” Alana snapped. “You just used it again.”
“That’s my voice. I can’t do anything about it.”
Diego started walking slowly backward. He grabbed hold of my sleeve and pulled me along with him as Alana and Frank kept fighting. We made it to the kitchen before we both started laughing.
“What’s going on with those two?” he asked.
“Frank is not our favorite person,” I explained.
“Why?” he asked.
“Longstanding family feud.”
“Over what?”
“Land, basically.”
“What is this, the Wild West?”
“No, more like the Roman Empire,” I said.
“There’s two sides to every story,” Frank said as he walked into my kitchen. Why was Frank in my kitchen?
My eyes went to Alana, who said, “Keep your enemies closer?”
“Are you staying?” I asked Frank, appalled.
“You see, Diego,” Frank said, ignoring my question. “My family and Kate’s family are like the Montagues and Capulets. Our grandparents were sworn enemies and the hate has been passed down from generation to generation.”
“Did you just compare us to Romeo and Juliet?” I asked.
Frank picked up a gummy worm and popped it in his mouth. “I did.”
“Not sure that has the ending you want,” Diego said.
Frank contorted his lips into a frown, seeming to consider whether or not Diego’s statement was true.
Diego threw an M&M at him.
Frank laughed. “Hey. Did I see you out fishing the other day in a crappy boat?” he asked Diego.
“Yep,” Diego said.
“Next time, text me. Then you can fish in the lap of luxury,” Frank offered.
“Are you referring to your lap?” Alana asked him.
“Ha ha,” Frank said.
“Well, nobody talks like that,” Alana said.
“Obviously, somebody does because I just said it.”
“You shouldn’t have,” she retorted. “That’s my point. It’s gross. I’m trying to help you out here so we can let you be around real people.”
This time Frank picked up an M&M and threw it at Alana with a smirk on his face. Maybe Alana knew how to play him after all.
A loud bang and laughter sounded from the other room.
Alana jumped, then took a deep breath. “We should calm all the kids down,” she said. “Maybe we should put on one of those boring documentaries you love, Kate.”
I grinned at my friend. “I sense that was meant to be an insult, but I wholeheartedly agree.”
It only took thirty minutes for the soothing voice of Morgan Freeman on the penguin documentary to quiet down the cousins and lull Cora to sleep. She had snuggled up between me and Diego on the couch and was now leaning against Diego’s arm, eyes closed.
“That’s so adorable,” Alana said. She was right, it really was.
I looked around but realized Frank wasn’t on the far side of Alana where I had last seen him. “Where is Frank?” I asked.
“He went to the bathroom.”
“I’ll make sure he didn’t get lost.” I didn’t trust Frank Young wandering my house alone. And I was right not to. When I made it to the hall, he was coming out of my dad’s office. He looked alarmed when he saw me.
“What are you doing?” I demanded.
“I was looking for the bathroom.”
“And that took walking all the way into my dad’s office?”
“I didn’t walk all the way in. I was just shutting the door when you saw me.”
That wasn’t true. I knew what I’d seen.
“You have trust issues, Kat,” Frank whispered, then walked to the next door, the actual bathroom, and shut himself inside.
I did not have trust issues. I had Frank issues. I walked into my dad’s office and straight to his desk to see what Frank might have been able to find. In the top middle drawer, I knew, was a ledger that recorded outgoing and incoming money. I’d never looked at it myself. I opened the drawer and rubbed my hand over the cover. What could seeing our financial information do for Frank or his family? Not much. That was between my parents and their lenders. My hand stopped at the edge of the cover. But what if our business was in trouble? Was that why my parents were pushing me to do something else besides the marina? To try other things?
I flipped open the book and stared at the numbers on the page. These numbers would have to carry us through the off-season, but I was surprised by how good they were. My parents were doing great, actually. So what was their problem? Were they trying to subtly tell me that I might not be good at running the marina? I shut the drawer and came out of the office just as Frank came out of the bathroom.
“The bathroom is right here, Kate,” he said. “Might not want to go nosing around.”
I shoved his arm, feeling a little guilty. My parents’ finances really weren’t my business, either. “You aren’t funny.”
Frank and I walked back into the living room together. Both Alana and Diego looked our way.
“Found him,” I said, by way of explanation.
Frank glanced at the TV screen. “I like penguins as much as the next guy, but I’m going to go now.” He headed toward the door, and Alana stood and followed him, probably wanting to interrogate him about what he’d been doing wandering around my house. I hoped she could find out more than I had.
Cora was still leaned up against Diego’s arm. I looked at my phone. It was already eleven o’clock. Although I had been doing a good job of not thinking about Hunter’s text, I couldn’t help myself now. I pulled it up and stared at it. I should’ve deleted it. I didn’t, though. I just tucked my phone away.
“Here, let me take Cora to bed,” I said, finishing the walk to the couch.
“I got her. Can I carry her somewhere?” Diego shifted her into his arms and stood.
“Her bed is in the house next door.”
“Lead the way,” he said.
“Right.” We walked outside and turned right. The grown-ups were having dinner at my aunt Marinn’s house, so Uncle Tim’s still sat empty. I led Diego around to the back glass door. Our back doors were all generally left unlocked, so I wasn’t surprised when it slid open easily. Diego followed close behind.
We both walked inside the dark living room, and I shut the door behind us. “Light,” I whispered. “Let me find a light.” I moved toward the wall and tripped on his foot, catching myself on Diego’s arm before I fell. Thankfully, I didn’t clip Cora’s head in the process.
“Sorry,” he whispered.
“No, it’s my fault. I can’t see.”
He gave a breathy laugh. I ran my hand along the closest wall and finally found a light switch that turned on a few lights above us.
“Her room is upstairs, follow me.”
I switched on lights as we moved through the house until we got to Cora’s room. That light I left off so that she wouldn’t wake up when we laid her down. I arranged the comforter on her bed, put her pillow in place, then moved aside for Diego. He gently lowered her onto her bed and pulled the blankets up around her. “Dulces sueños,” he whispered.
We left the room, shutting the door. “What did you say to her?” I asked.
“Have you not taken any Spanish in school? I’m offended,” he said, even though it was obvious by his smile that he wasn’t.
“I actually did. But I don’t remember anything.”
“Language is slippery when not practiced.”
“For sure.” I paused for a minute. “Or when not learned very well to begin with.”
We headed down the stairs and he asked, “Are you going to leave her here alone?”
“I’ll text her mom and wait here. Will you tell Alana bye for me?”
“Of course.” He paused by the back door, his hand on the handle. “Dulces sueños. It means ‘sweet
dreams.’ ”
“Do you speak Spanish at home?”
“When I was little and my grandparents were around more, I did. Now, not as much.”
This probably wasn’t a conversation to be having with his hand on a door handle, ready to leave, but I couldn’t stop myself from asking, “Where are your grandparents now?”
“My grandmother passed a couple of years ago and my grandfather lives in a home now because he has Alzheimer’s.”
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“It’s okay. It’s life, right?” He slid open the door. “Bye, Kate.”
“Bye, Diego.”
He let himself out. I texted my aunt, then stared at the text from Hunter again. After a few minutes, I heard laughter outside. I walked to the living room. It was dark, barely lit by one of the lights I had turned on in another room. I parted the front curtains and watched as Diego, his niece and nephew, and Alana headed along the front walk from my house toward his car. Alana grabbed hold of Diego’s hand, pressed it between both of hers, and said something to him. He laughed. Then she picked up Camilla and spun her around before placing her on the ground again. I let the curtains fall back in place.
“Kathryn!”
My lights flipped on, and I winced against the sudden brightness.
I held my hand up to block the light and sat up, disoriented from sleep. It was Saturday morning and the sun wasn’t even up yet. A quick glance at my cell phone showed it was five a.m. “What?” I asked in confusion. “Is everything okay?”
My mom stood over me. “We had a break-in last night.”
Now I was fully awake. “Someone broke into our house?”
“No, the marina. They released all the WaveRunners.” Mom’s face was drawn and worried.
“Released them?” I had no idea what that meant. At night we kept the WaveRunners on the south side of the dock, locked behind chain link.
“They’re scattered all over the lake.”
I climbed out of bed and opened my dresser to grab one of my swimsuits. “They just let them loose on the lake? They didn’t steal them?”
“No, they didn’t steal them. We can see them on the GPS, scattered everywhere.”
“That’s so weird. Did they take the keys, too?” I asked.
“No, they must’ve had a boat or their own WaveRunner and dragged them around that way,” Mom said, turning to go.
“And Patrol didn’t catch them? Nobody reported noise on the lake last night?” Powered vehicles on an otherwise quiet night were loud.
“Nothing makes sense. We’re still trying to get answers. I’ll meet you down there.”
She was right. Nothing made sense. I changed into my suit, pulled on a windbreaker, and slipped into a pair of flip-flops. In the hall I met up with Max, who had bedhead and was mumbling about sleep. Together we went out the front door, around the corner, and across the street to the marina. As I passed through the gate and onto the dock, I paused to look at the padlock. It was cut and hanging lopsided on the latch.
Inside the shop, my dad stood talking to my aunt and uncle. CD came over and nudged my leg with his snout until I petted his head. Then he moved on to Max.
“Hey, kids. Any idea how this happened?” Dad asked.
I looked at Max, who shrugged. Why would we have any idea?
“Friends playing a prank?” Max offered.
“Friends playing a …” I closed my eyes. “Frank?”
“You think the Young boy did this?” Dad asked.
“I don’t know; he’s the only one I can think of,” I answered, my suspicions growing the more I thought about it. “He was here at the marina the other day, saw how we kept things.” Plus, he’d been nosing around our house the night before; maybe he’d seen the inventory list dad kept with the ledger. “He has a boat and a WaveRunner. He could’ve easily done this. And you know his family has an in with the Patrol and a problem with us.”
“I hope you’re wrong,” my dad said.
Suddenly, I was sure I wasn’t. “Where’s Mom?” I asked, glancing around the store.
“She went to make a report. Uncle Tim is going to take a boat out to the first WaveRunner and drop you off. You’ll drive Max to the next WaveRunner. Take walkie-talkies. I’ll direct you both from there. Don’t tow more than two at a time, please.” He looked at his watch on his wrist. “Hopefully, we can get this done before we open.”
On Saturdays, we opened at six a.m. Mainly for our fishing boats and supplies, but also for the hardcore skiers who liked their water like glass, unaffected by the choppiness that more boats on the lake produced.
Uncle Tim patted his leg and CD ran over to him, his tail knocking against some swimsuits, sending the hangers swinging.
Aunt Marinn stilled the hangers. “I’ll drive,” she said, shoving my uncle so she could get out in front of him. He chased after her.
My dad handed me two sets of keys, for the first two WaveRunners he was directing us to. We could tow in the rest without powering them on. Max retrieved the life jackets and ropes, and we all, including CD, boarded one of our three powerboats, which were nowhere near as nice as Frank’s. Uncle Tim shoved us off from the dock, and we were on our way.
The sun would rise over the mountains any minute now, which I was glad for. I may have loved the lake, but the thought of riding alone on it in the dark wasn’t an appealing one.
“Looks like we’ll avoid the lake monster,” I said, poking Max in the ribs. He wasn’t a morning person so I knew that was about all the teasing he could probably handle.
“Now we’ll just have to deal with the forest one,” he said, surprising me. I should’ve known he’d jump on the family stories. He was a storyteller, after all, with his comics. “She stays out until at least seven.”
“Yes, she steals as many fish as she can.”
“You two are scaring CD,” Uncle Tim said, covering the dog’s ears.
“You’re right, CD is kind of a wimp.” He hid during Fourth of July fireworks, and every time there was a thunderstorm.
“There’s one!” my aunt called, pointing out the windshield into the distance. “That’s good to see.”
My uncle nodded at the sight of the WaveRunner up ahead. “I know. I thought maybe they’d taken the GPS trackers out and thrown them in the lake.”
I hadn’t even considered that possibility. So we weren’t dealing with real thieves, just pranksters. Which made me even more certain it was Frank.
Aunt Marinn pulled up alongside the WaveRunner, and I peered over the side.
“Can you get me any closer?” I asked. End of season water was warmer than beginning of season water, but still, it was too early to get wet this morning.
“Who’s a wimp now?” Uncle Tim said.
Aunt Marinn circled one more time, and my uncle was able to reach over and grab hold of the handlebar. I climbed on and Max followed behind me.
The next test was seeing if the runner actually turned on. I stuck the key in the ignition and it powered to life. I breathed a sigh of relief. My uncle handed me the walkie-talkies and ropes I had left on the seat in the boat. Then he and my aunt drove away the boat, waving to me and Max.
I radioed in to my dad to find out the location of the next closest vehicle. It was in the cove.
As Max and I took off, the water was still black, the sky barely a light gray. I thought it would be brighter, but the sun hadn’t quite made it yet.
“This is how you wanted to spend your Saturday morning, right?” I called back to Max over the wind.
“You really think Frank did this?”
“Yes,” I said. “You don’t?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who else would?”
Max didn’t answer, probably because he knew I was right.
For the second time in a week, when I rounded the outcropping of trees and rocks to get to the cove, I saw a boat floating beside our WaveRunner. This time, it was a small fishing boat. No lines were cast and the occupant�
��a dark-haired guy my age—was sitting on our WaveRunner. He was studying the metal placard we had on all our power vehicles, the one that bore the name of our marina and our phone number. The guy had his phone in the air as if that would help him get a better signal.
He turned at the noise of our arrival. To my surprise, it was Diego.
“Hey!” he called out, obviously recognizing me.
“Hi,” I said.
“I was just trying to call the marina.”
“There’s no signal here in the cove.”
“I was learning that.” He looked at my brother behind me. “Hey, Max, nice to see you again.” Diego stepped off our WaveRunner and back into his boat.
“Hey.” Max climbed off the back of one WaveRunner and onto the other.
“You’re out early,” I said to Diego.
“I have to beat the forest monster to the fish,” he said.
Max’s eyes shot to Diego. That was a family story. I was surprised, too.
“Where did you hear that?” I asked.
“It must’ve been your mom who told it to me a couple summers ago when I was buying bait at the marina,” Diego said. “I didn’t know it was your mom at the time, but she looks a lot like you.”
“Yes. She does.”
Max used the key I handed him and the engine turned over.
“What happened with the WaveRunner?” Diego asked, nodding toward the one Max was on.
“We’re not sure. How long have you been out here?” I asked.
“About an hour or so.”
“Did you see anyone out on the lake this morning?”
“I saw a big fancy boat first thing, but I think it was heading in.”
I tried to keep my grumble to myself but it was hard.
Max had his own walkie-talkie and he gave me a questioning look.
“Yes, you’re good to go,” I told him.
“See you around,” Diego said, and Max waved at us before taking off.
“You’ve been out here for a couple hours? By yourself in the dark?” I asked Diego.
“Yes.”
“It doesn’t scare you out here?”
A slow smile spread across his face. “Does the lake scare you at night?”