Ten Good Reasons

by Lauren Christopher

  Then Evan gave a low chuckle that seemed to come from deep down within his chest—a laugh she hadn’t had the pleasure of hearing until just now—and wrestled her backward until he pulled the top sheet away. And, for the rest of the night, Lia made sure he had as much fun as he’d ever had with Renece.

  CHAPTER

  Twenty-five

  The morning of the charter had finally arrived.

  Lia’s stomach was a mess.

  After another wonderful night with Evan, where she’d been able to forget about the entire outside world for nearly twelve hours, she’d gone home to feed Missy and change—despite Evan’s assurances that she looked fine the way she was.

  She now stood on the deck of the catamaran in her favorite boating clothes—her white and navy pants and sweater—hoping the rain clouds in the distance would take their time coming in, hoping this seventy-degree weather would last a little longer, and hoping she wouldn’t throw up.

  She glanced down the dock, waiting for the arrivals.

  The Vampiress would be coming. Evan had said he wanted to meet her, but that just made Lia want to throw up even more. She wondered what Elle thought a whale-watching trip would entail, what she would do around J.P. Stevens, and what she would think of the job Lia had already done. . . .

  Lia’s stomach flipped again at the thought of Kyle arriving, and how he’d get along with Evan—if there would be any left-over grudge stares—and if Kyle would see fit to invest in Drew’s boat.

  Then it did an impressive backflip at the idea that Drew was coming aboard, and how he’d get along with Kyle, and if he’d harbor any leftover anger toward Evan.

  And she glanced at Evan and wondered what all of these people would think if they knew she was doing Captain Betancourt. . . .

  “You all right, sunshine?” Douglas asked as he stepped toward the back of the cat. He and Cora were the only ones who seemed happy that Lia and Evan were together. He frowned and gripped her elbow. “Here, sit down. You look like you’re going to pass out. Did you eat breakfast? You can’t be a good seafarer without a hearty breakfast in you.”

  “I’m fine, Douglas, really. I—”

  “Cora?” Doug yelled, twisting toward the galley door. “You got something for breakfast for Lia?”

  “No. I already ate,” Lia lied. “I’ll be fine. I’m just nervous about all our g—”

  “What’s wrong?” Evan barked, flying down the bridge steps as Cora banged the galley door open.

  “I’m fine, everyone.” Lia put her hands up to ward off their approaches. “Let’s just do this. I’m fine.”

  They all looked at her skeptically, but eventually backed off, each going back to their assigned tasks.

  Evan hesitated in the stairwell, although he pretended not to. He looked amazing today. He wore one of the boat’s bright blue logo’d polo shirts that Cora had found somewhere in the back. Lia guessed he was only wearing it to help Drew and make the crew look professional. But he looked damned good. The blue matched his eyes perfectly, and the band around his arms was just tight enough to show off his biceps. The shirt tapered to his waist, where he was wearing khaki Dockers that hugged him in all the right places. He came closer to her now, and hung his hands on his hips.

  “Are you checking me out, Cinderella?”

  Lia smiled and looked away. “Don’t flatter yourself.”

  “I know it’s going to be hard, but you’re going to have to keep your eyes and hands to yourself when Drew gets here.”

  “Worry about yourself.”

  “I already am.”

  “Halloo!” came a voice up on the dock.

  As if they’d conjured him, Drew rolled down toward the plank. “Get Doug!” he yelled.

  Douglas and Evan managed to get Drew out of the wheelchair and into a side seat just as the other passengers started to arrive. They folded his wheelchair and set it next to him. Lia asked Drew if he wanted to do the narration himself—she could stretch the microphone cord around the galley. He glanced up at her to answer, then scowled between her and Evan, looking suspicious. Evan moved farther away from Lia’s hip.

  “No,” Drew finally said. “You can do it. Everyone says you’re good.”

  “Thanks!” Lia couldn’t help the smile that overtook her face. She wondered if he meant Cora or Douglas or Evan, and felt a flush that any of them would say such a thing. Evan glanced at her with a grin and then returned his attention to securing Drew’s wheelchair.

  She took a deep breath, told her stomach to relax, and began greeting Kyle’s charter guests, who were all dressed up a little more than the average whale-watching guest and whose hair seemed excessively styled for a trip that would involve mist and wind.

  But the guests were nice, and very polite as they seated themselves and struck up conversations about companies they worked for or the latest stocks in Orange County. Lia recognized a few of the guests from the VIP event. Some asked for Evan, remarking how well he had explained the whale bones to them, and Lia pointed him out.

  Elle arrived fifteen minutes into the seating. She donned a Versace blouse underneath a white, fur-lined puffy vest (Lia hoped to God that was fake fur), over white pants and too-high heels, on which she wobbled onto the boat while clutching Douglas’s beefy forearm.

  Lia probably should have mentioned that boat shoes would have been more appropriate. Drew’s eyes practically rolled into the back of his head when he saw the spiked heels the female guests were wearing on his fiberglass deck. But this whole trip was going to have to be thought of as an investment.

  Kyle arrived shortly after Elle, looking cool and collected in cabana-styled clothes. Lia was happy to see he made a bee-line toward Drew, commented on his accident, then sat down with him.

  Kyle’s father arrived not much after that. Lia had no problem identifying him. He looked just like Kyle, fast forward twenty years. He had a beautiful close-cropped haircut, loose-fitting yacht clothes that skimmed his trim frame, and strode with his hand in his pocket the same way Kyle did. The major differences were the gray in his hair and the extra lines around his eyes when he smiled. He greeted Lia with the effortless charm that men of his position were so good at. She let herself watch him for a good five minutes as he made his way through the crowd.

  “So that’s your type, huh?” she heard from behind her.

  She whirled to see Evan. “What? Who?”

  “I guess you’re not going to have too much trouble keeping your eyes off me today.” He smiled to convey the joke, but the smile slipped away too quickly.

  “He’s just . . .” Lia waved her hand to see if any words would fall into the sentence. “He’s the client Elle is going after today.”

  “It’s okay, Cinderella.” The smile made a weak return. “Are we ready to leave?”

  Lia felt silly trying to defend her staring. But protesting too much might be worse.

  “They have the boat the whole day,” she said instead, “so why don’t we let them mingle for a few more minutes? Say fifteen?”

  Evan nodded brusquely. “I’ll be above. Fifteen minutes and I’ll start the motor.”

  Lia almost reached out to stop him, to make sure he knew how handsome she thought he was, but she caught Drew’s hard stare from across the deck and turned away.

  Instead she focused on her job: She chatted with the guests, first the ones from the VIP event then a few others she recognized from the Orange County society pages or various charity events in the area. Kyle came to greet her and join in a conversation she was having with the developer of a new seaside mall. Lia made sure Elle was happy, and sitting near J.P., and that everyone had a comfortable place from which to view the whales. Kyle had ordered several trays of hors d’oeuvres and champagne, and Cora helped uncork and pour.

  So far, the charter seemed to be off to a good start.

  After fifteen minute
s, Lia felt the motor rumble beneath her and took to her microphone.

  “Welcome, everyone!” She went into her routine. “We hope you enjoy your visit today on the Duke. My name is Lia, as some of you know, and I’ll be narrating for you today. We have Captain Evan Betancourt navigating our ship; Coraline Jones offering hors d’oeuvres, champagne, coffee, and soft drinks in the galley; Douglas Kendricks is our deckhand today; and we have a special visit from Captain Drew Betancourt, owner of the Duke, who is sitting up front nursing a motorcycle injury, but who came aboard today to meet all of you and answer any questions you may have. We’re all excited to share the great sea life of the Pacific with you. We’ve been seeing plenty of gray whales, humpbacks, some fin whales, lots of dolphins, and even a few blue whales, which are the largest mammal to ever live on Earth. So take a seat as we jettison out of the jetty, enjoy some champagne and sunshine, keep your eyes peeled on the horizon, and we’ll walk you through our sightings today. . . .”

  The wind blew back her hair as they picked up speed through the jetty. She glanced at the stairway that led to Evan and knew how good he must look right now. She wanted to join him—it occurred to her that this might be their last tour together, if she had to work tomorrow and he was leaving Wednesday—but knew she should stay down here.

  Once they got past the jetty, Lia began her speech about the sea lions that lounged on the buoys. After that, they saw a small pod of common dolphins and she went into her description. Drew glanced over his shoulder and gave her a thumbs-up.

  Out on the ocean, Lia encouraged the guests to enjoy more hors d’oeuvres and champagne, and to be sure to visit the viewing pods down below. She answered questions about the whale teeth, then heard Evan’s code clicks from above. Without needing to ask, she could see the slick he must be gunning toward and stood to identify the whale. She could see it was a fin whale. . . . Another female, there with her calf. Lia launched into an explanation of all she knew.

  After a wonderful afternoon spotting two more fins and three grays, plus two small pods of dolphins, Lia sat back and took a deep sigh. A few rain clouds were rolling in now, but they would be heading back any minute and would beat them. Kyle had mingled appropriately but had spent the majority of the trip laughing with Drew. Elle looked confident, with a champagne flute in her hand and the wind blowing her shiny bob in a strangely perfect way, standing there laughing with J.P. And the guests were all oohing and aahing at the pods, at the whales, at the dolphins, and complimenting Drew on a fabulous boat.

  Everything was going so well.

  But after a while, Lia realized they still hadn’t turned around.

  She glanced at Drew to see if he’d noticed, but he was engrossed in his conversation with Kyle. She looked for Douglas, but he was in the galley, helping Cora keep up with the champagne. Finally, she ventured up to the bridge.

  “Aren’t we turning soon?” she asked Evan.

  “I saw her.” Evan was staring through his binoculars into the distance north.

  “Who?”

  “The baby. She’s caught.”

  “Evan, we can’t go find the baby right now. We have to get everyone back.”

  “She’s not far.”

  “But what will we do once we get there? We don’t have time to disentangle her. The rain is coming in, and J.P. has a plane to catch.” Lia stepped forward, her hand going toward the controls for some reason. A panic began rising in her chest.

  “It’ll only take a minute.” Evan’s hand kept hers from the controls. His other lifted the binoculars again. He seemed to be in the same trance he was in earlier.

  “But what will we do when we get there?” The panic was playing out in her voice now, which she could feel slipping into squeak status.

  “I’ll radio it in. Tell Drew.”

  As she made her way down the narrow stairs, she could hear Evan sending out his coordinates to fellow captains. She didn’t know why she was heading down to tell Drew. What was he going to do about it? But she made her way through the clusters of passengers—they were still drinking champagne but beginning to shiver now with the coming clouds. She slid into the bench beside Kyle and Drew.

  “Evan thinks he spotted the baby whale,” she said, low.

  “Hey, beautiful. What baby whale?” Kyle asked.

  Drew frowned at Kyle—perhaps at the endearment—then turned back to Lia. “He’s not going back for her, is he?”

  “He seems to be.”

  “We don’t have time for that. Have him radio it in. We’ve got passengers who need to get back. Don’t you need to get back, Kyle? Or your father? You guys have a plane to catch, right?”

  “Yeah, but what’s this about a baby whale?”

  “They get caught in commercial fishing nets sometimes. Ev found the famous whale Valentine dead in a net the other day, but the baby was missing. We wondered if she was caught, too.”

  Kyle’s eyes grew round. “I’ve heard of Valentine. Damn, let’s go find the baby.”

  “But your father has a—”

  “It’s okay. We can reschedule.” Kyle strained to look over the rail in the direction they were heading.

  The boat picked up a speed Lia wasn’t used to. Even some of the other passengers seemed to notice, as they gripped the side rails and eyed the rain clouds they were zooming toward.

  “Tell him to turn around,” Drew said. “I feel bad about the whale, but this has to be a business decision.”

  “No!” Kyle interrupted. “I’m your client, so your business decision is now full speed ahead.” He had a giddy look on his face, leaning in toward the wind. “I’ll tell him.”

  “Kyle!” Drew reached for him as Kyle whirled toward the bridge stairs, but he missed. He looked back at Lia, his own panic starting to show on his face. “We can’t do this. Have you ever seen a disentanglement?”

  “Just the other day when—”

  “But she was dead.”

  “Yes.”

  “When they’re alive, and fighting, they can be dangerous, even the babies. We can’t do this with a tour boat, for God’s sake. Go tell Evan. I’m still the captain of this boat. And I say turn it around. Send Douglas over here.”

  Lia ran into Douglas coming the other way. “Drew wants you.”

  “Where the hell are we going?”

  “Evan spotted Valentine’s baby. She’s caught.”

  Douglas glanced up toward Evan, then at the horizon. “It’s too dangerous with a tour aboard.”

  “That’s what Drew says. He needs you to convince Evan.”

  “But the whale might die.” Douglas dropped his head.

  “Drew doesn’t want to take a chance with the guests.”

  “No good way out of this one, sunshine. I’ll talk to Drew.” He pushed behind her.

  Lia headed back up the stairs and pushed herself into the tiny space between Evan and Kyle, who were both leaning into the wind, sharing the binoculars, like they were best buddies all of a sudden.

  “We can save her!” Kyle said, turning toward Lia, joy and excitement splashed across his face.

  Lia ignored him. “Evan, Drew says we have to go back.”

  “No! We can save her,” Kyle insisted.

  “Hold on, cowboy,” Evan said, looking through the binoculars. “It’s not that easy. They sometimes fight. Lia’s right. They don’t always understand what’s going on. Did Drew really say that?” He turned toward her.

  “Yes.”

  Evan looked disappointed, to be sure. He took one more look at the whale, who was so close now she was visible with the naked eye. She was about twenty feet long and had the mottled gray and white bumpy back typical of the humpback. Her back was arched and still at the surface, much like the dead whale they’d seen the other day, only this one had a strange, screaming sound coming from her blowhole.

  “Why is she
making that sound?” Lia asked.

  “She’s trying to breathe. She’s afraid to dive back down. The nets catch other animals and start weighing them down, and they can’t easily break to the surface anymore. So when they do, they sometimes stay. She’s scared. But she’s worn out. Did Drew really say to turn around?”

  Lia nodded.

  Evan reached out and pulled the wheel. The pain across his face was palpable.

  “If this is about my dad, and his time, don’t worry,” Kyle said. “I’ll take care of it. What can I do right now?”

  “You know, we need to radio in all the details we gather,” Evan said. “The rescue teams have trouble if they don’t know many details. Go down into the pod and take a look at where she’s tangled. See if it’s her tail, or her pectoral fins.” Evan tapped his arm to show Kyle where the pectorals were.

  When Lia got to the bottom deck again, Drew had scooted to the edge of the bench seat so he could see the whale himself. He and Douglas were both watching her. When Lia approached, Drew turned.

  “She’s dying,” he said. “Ev’s right. We have to help her. Did he radio it in?”

  Lia nodded, her breath gone a little from the stairs.

  “Lia, what’s happening?” Elle came toward her, bouncing from rail to rail on the rocking boat. The water was becoming choppier as the clouds came in.

  “There’s a whale. Caught.” Lia gazed at the helpless animal, gripping a rail herself. She took a deep breath and prepared to get her microphone.

  “But we’re going back, right?” Elle peered at the whale, the corners of her mouth dropped into disdain.

  “We’ll be just a minute. We’re going to radio it in.” Lia headed toward the stairs.

  “But we need to get back,” Elle said in her familiar screech. “I’m feeling . . .” She gripped the side rail. She was looking decidedly greenish. The boat rocked more fervently under the dark clouds.

  “Here, come sit down.” Lia steered Elle toward the front of the boat, but she resisted when she saw J.P. coming the other way. Elle forced herself to stand straighter.