“I just thought you might like to know you have a visitor.”
“I know, I’m expecting Val. Tell her I’ll be there in about two minutes, I’m just entering the channel now.”
“Uh, negative, Shoal Survivor. It’s not Valerie.”
“Come back?”
“It’s not Val. This one’s a tall brunette. She’s standing on East Dock right next to your slip waiting for you. And, son, she’s definitely worth looking at.”
A brunette?
“Just thought you might like to know.”
Waiting for me?
“Oh, and one more thing,” Sonny said, “come up to the office when you can. You’ve got a phone message here from EMS.”
EMS?
“Shoal Survivor, you copy?”
“Uh, yeah. Ten-four, Sonny, I got it…all of it.” Jim felt too confused to ask questions. “Thanks for the heads-up. Shoal Survivor back to primary.”
He put the microphone back in its cradle and started the diesel engine. He set the autopilot and ran topsides to drop the sails. Once done he hurried back to the cockpit and regained the helm to make his final turn into the tiny harbor. He cleared the last of the crab pots, motored past the fuel dock, and craned his neck to see East Dock. And sure enough, Sonny was right. A tall brunette stood in a relaxed pose on the wooden planks looking his way. Her hand shot up in an excited wave. Jim’s jaw dropped. His eyes flew open wide.
“Linda Newton.”
He felt his pulse increase.
“Oh, no.”
Linda Newton jumped and waved excitedly, and for the second time in 24 hours Jim felt like heading out to sea and simply sailing away.
“Hello,” Linda called.
“Oh, Jesus,” Jim whispered. “What’s she doing here?”
“Welcome home, sailor!”
“Linda?”
Jim felt shocked. Linda Newton was standing on the dock waiting for him, and his fiancée was due at any moment. What would Valerie think? And this girl…he’d only danced with her one time at some redneck bar he had never been to before and had no intention of ever visiting again, but still, there she stood, waiting for him. Jim offered a hesitant wave as he motored forward and past the end of his dock, not certain what to think, unsure what to say, and absolutely terrified as to what would happen if Valerie Vick happened to show.
“Linda,” he responded, his eyes fixed on his unexpected guest, “I don’t think you should…you can’t be…what are you—”
“Kinda rough out there today, huh?”
Linda’s voice sounded sweet, like a piece of slippery candy. And she looked even better than Jim had remembered. Deep blue eyes. Black flowing hair. Tight fitting sweater and jeans that painted her perfect figure. Jeez, Jim thought. She’s beautiful! He suddenly felt like a thirteen year old kid staring at a high school cheerleader. Linda Newton had his full attention. Obviously he had made an impression, but how had she found him? And why now? And what about…
The post!
Jim had been so entranced by Linda Newton that he forgot all about the submerged wooden post on the left side of the creek, a solid wooden piling famous for cracking hulls. He turned the helm hard to starboard, but too late. The boat lunged. A terrible thud shifted the hull to his right. He pulled the throttle back to reverse the engine and all but fell to the deck as Shoal Survivor leaned and spun around on her nose. There was a deep scraping sound as forward motion stopped. The boat jerked backwards and then obediently pulled away from the submerged piling and backed into deeper water.
Jim stood and gained control of his boat. He heard Linda gasp. He felt like a total fool. His heart raced. His jaw clinched. He gripped the helm with both hands and grimaced, fighting back the need to kick something and shout loud obscenities. He glanced at Linda. Saw her giggle.
“Are you all right?” she said, her hand concealing a grin.
Jim shook his head and tested the helm. “I will be—”Amazingly the mechanism still worked. “When this week is finished.”
Linda giggled again.
Jim pushed the throttle ahead gently, made a hard right turn, careful to avoid the submerged nightmare of wooden posts and planks sitting just beneath the surface of the water, and then aligned the bow of the boat with his slip.
“You looked soaked,” Linda said, placing a hand smartly on her hip.
Jim noticed his hands shaking. “Um…” He pulled back on the throttle and the engine reversed. “Hold on.”
Shoal Survivor slowed to a puttering crawl. Jim shifted into neutral and the boat inched forward into the slip. He killed the engine. The boat drifted a few more feet and then came to a rest against the rubber dock fenders. He hung his head and sighed, and then glanced at his shirt and pants. Linda was right. He was soaked. He’d been too busy to realize it until that moment.
“Yeah,” he said, glancing up at his unexpected guest. “I guess I am a little wet.”
Linda giggled again. “I’ve never seen a docking quite like that one.”
Jim bit his lip. He wiped his hands on his jeans and then hesitated for a moment. “Uh, Linda?” He shrugged and pointed at a three-quarter inch line coiled like a white snake on the dock. “As long as you’re standing there, would you mind tossing me that line?”
“Of course not.”
Linda picked up the dock line and tossed it to Jim. He caught it and looped it through the starboard deck cleat and then asked for the other. He eyed Linda cautiously, trying to figure her out, his sensors up and scanning, warning him of danger. She tossed him the other line. He tied if off, secured the spring-lines and stern, and then stepped onto the dock.
“Linda, what are you doing here?”
“Oooh, let me see that.” Linda reached up and touched his temple. Jim winced. Her touch felt soft but the lump on the side of his head was as sore as a burning ember. “I was afraid of this,” she said. “They really got you, didn’t they?”
“Linda, I don’t know what you think happened last night but—”
“I was so worried about you. When that fight broke out, and everybody went so crazy, and then, oh, my, when the bartender fired that big gun he keeps behind the bar, and the crowd panicked and ran, and I got pushed outside. I didn’t know what happened to you, Jim, I never—”
“Linda, why are you here?”
Linda pulled back with a surprised expression on her face. “You invited me, silly.”
“I did? I don’t think so. I’m expecting someone else.”
“Doctor Vick?”
Jim smelled trouble. Not only did Linda Newton look terrific, she had drawn so close to him he could smell her perfume despite the heavy breeze that lifted her hair. His warning sensors began to scream. He climbed aboard Shoal Survivor and began laying out the mainsail, awkwardly folding it back and forth lengthwise along the boom. Maybe if I ignore her, he thought…
“Wait,” she called. “I’ll help.”
Linda jumped aboard the boat, stepped to the mast, and then without instruction began to pull against the forward edge of the sail. Jim started to object but then gave in. A little help couldn’t hurt. He pulled in the opposite direction. A large fold in the tough canvas fabric straightened and fell into place. They repeated the process a dozen times until at last the entire sail lay neatly folded atop the boom. Jim tossed her a couple of nylon ties and watched her wrap them around the sail and cinch them down.
“I see you know your way around a sailboat.”
“So,” Linda answered with a grin. “Are you going to marry her?”
“Excuse me?”
“Doctor Vick…are you going to marry her?”
Jim felt speechless. Where had this girl come from? He’d never met anyone so forward, so persistent, and yet so doggoned irresistible. He felt foolish. She had a power about her, an alluring appeal, and he could feel himself slipping, falling into her trap. He gazed at her for a few awkward seconds, absolutely absorbing the wonderfully delicious view, then gave a determined shake of his
head followed by a forceful nod.
Dude, you’ve got to put a stop to this.
“Yes! Yes! Linda, that’s the plan. We’re engaged to be married. Now look, I had no intention of leading you on last night. If I—”
“She’s not wearing a ring.”
Jim had forgotten women noticed such things. Men usually didn’t until it was too late. “Well, we’re not exactly…I mean, not yet, but…”
Jim’s dumb stammering came to a sudden halt. He heard the familiar clomping of wooden clogs against plank. He turned around and saw another female walking down the dock wearing the same red fleece pullover she’d worn the last time she’d come to visit.
Val!
Jim glanced at Linda, then back at Valerie, then jumped off the boat and just stood there. This, he thought, is not going to be good. Valerie hopped once then started to skip down the dock toward him, then stopped suddenly and gazed at the boat. Jim saw her jaw drop. Her face tightened.
“What’s she doing here?”
“Val, this isn’t what it looks like.”
“Jim, Linda Newton is standing on your boat!”
“I know, but, Val I didn’t invite her. She just…”
Valerie assumed a defensive cat-like position—hands on hips, head cocked to one side.
“Valerie,” Jim stammered. “Listen. She was here, on the dock, when I got here. I swear. She jumped onto the boat without even asking.”
“Well you don’t seem to be too eager get her off!”
“She was helping me fold the sail. Look, Val, you’ve got to believe me, this is not what it looks like.”
“How come you never returned my phone calls? I tried calling you a dozen times!”
“My cell phone was stolen.”
“Stolen?”
“I got robbed last night!”
“What?”
“On my way back from Police Headquarters. They took my wallet. My watch. My clothes.”
“Robbed? Jim, I don’t believe you.”
Jim saw Valerie’s eyes shift. He heard footsteps on the dock behind him and turned. Linda Newton walked up the dock and stood beside him.
“Hello Valerie. What are you doing here?”
“I was about to ask you the same question, Linda.”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
“You know Jim and I are seeing each other.”
“Well apparently he doesn’t. He told me you were leaving him.”
“Hold on,” Jim said trying to interrupt. “That’s not what I—”
“Whether I leave or stay has nothing to do with you, Linda.”
“No,” Linda said with a smirk, “but Jim does. And last night he made it pretty clear that you were out of the picture.”
“Whoa! Hold it!” Jim turned to Valerie. “Val, nothing happened last night.”
“Then what’s she talking about?”
“We ran into each other, that’s all.”
“Ran into to each other?”
“At a bar down on Shell Street. I stopped on my way back from meeting Rico. But, Val, it was only a dance, I swear. A half dance.”
“It was more than that, Jim. You know it was. It was wonderful the way you held me. And when you kissed me…”
“You kissed her?”
“No! I mean, Val, it’s not like that!”
Valerie turned and stormed back down the dock. Jim felt his shoulders drop in defeat. He thought about running after her but realized it would do no good. She would never believe him. All evidence pointed toward a conviction. He was guilty as charged and all the begging in the world was not going to change Valerie’s mind. He watched her walk across the marina lawn, get into her car, and drive away. Then he turned around and faced Linda Newton.
“I hope you realize you just ruined my life.”
Linda didn’t respond. Jim gazed at her for a moment then climbed back aboard Shoal Survivor, descended the companionway steps, and pulled the hatch behind him. It had been such a long day already.
Chapter 20
Sonny Cay stripped to his long johns and propped his legs over the scorching kerosene heater in the corner of the harbormaster’s office. After three longs hours on the docks repairing a broken water line, he could barely feel his extremities, but that was about to change. He felt the warmth of the heater creep down his ankles, slowly restoring the blood flow to his feet and turning the dull lifeless skin to a warm toasty pink. He wiggled his toes eagerly, willing them back to life, relishing the heat and its wonderful narcotic effect. He closed his eyes, hung his head and was just about to slip away when he heard footsteps on the building’s wooden porch. The front door jingled and swung open.
“Sonny? You here?”
Sonny felt a cold draft hit his face. It slapped him awake like the loud squelch of the VHF radio. “Close that door, son, it’s freezing.”
“Oh, there you are,” Jim said. “What are you doing in the corner?”
“I was trying to take a nap.”
“It’s forty-five degrees, Sonny. It’s not exactly snowing.”
“Listen, you, when you’re as old as I am, you’ll understand.”
Sonny waited for a typically witty Jim Stockbridge response, but it never came. Jim closed the door and began pacing in tight circles about the room, uncharacteristic confusion in his eyes. Sonny lowered his feet and sat upright. “What’s wrong, son?”
“I need to talk.”
“I should think. Any man crazy enough to have two women on his boat at the same time needs to talk to somebody…preferably a psychiatrist.”
“You saw that?”
“Everybody within a quarter mile of the docks saw it. Valerie marched out of here like a hot hen. What happened?”
“Oh, man, it’s a long story.”
“Tangled love affairs usually are.”
“It’s not a tangled—look, Sonny, I don’t even know this girl. Her name’s Linda Newton. She’s a nurse in the ER. She’s made eyes with me a couple of times, but I’d never even really talked to her before last night.”
“What happened last night?”
“Idiot me. I stopped by this bar on the way home from a meeting. I never should have gone in that place. She came out of nowhere. Climbed all over me.”
“Oh, Lord, and you fell for it?”
“What was I supposed to do, Sonny? You saw her, she’s gorgeous!”
“So is Valerie.”
“I know, Sonny, but this girl. She just kept coming at me.”
Sonny noticed a lemon-sized knot on the side of Jim’s head. “And where’d you get that?”
Jim rolled his eyes and massaged the lump. “This is another story.”
Sonny stood up and pulled on his trousers. “Trouble sure has a way of following you doesn’t it, son?”
“I think my life’s beginning to fall apart.”
“All right, that’s it. Sit down. Start talking. From the beginning, and don’t skip any of it. What happened?”
Jim went on to explain the wild events of his night, wandering into a biker bar called Fat Jack’s and meeting a girl named Linda. And smelling her sweet perfume. And suddenly getting caught in the music, and her hands, and a close slow dance that drove him over the edge.
“Oh my,” Sonny said. “Did you do anything else with her, son?”
“You mean…”
Sonny nodded.
“I think I might have kissed her.”
Sonny’s eyebrows shot up. “You kissed her?”
“Well, Sonny, she was like a piece of candy. Her lips. I couldn’t resist her. I pushed away, I tried to leave, I really did, but before I could even turn around these bikers were on me. Five of them. Greasy brawlers. I did pretty well too, until one of them grabbed a cue stick. Next thing I know I’m waking up in the mud with my head spinning and this blasted knot on my head.” Jim stopped and massaged the goose egg. Sonny watched him closely, waited for him to continue. “I felt really dizzy. Nauseated. I could barely walk. Then the strangest thing
happened to me.”
“Stranger still?”
Jim described Jonas Edwards, the abandoned movie theater on 7th, and the way he felt when he woke up beneath the marquis. “He left this paper bag beside me…had a flannel shirt inside, a pair of tennis shoes, and a handwritten note telling me to come inside the theater. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t have any money. They’d taken my clothes, my wallet, everything. So I went in. I found him preaching to a bunch of people. He had ‘em all worked up in a frenzy, shouting ‘amen,’ and stuff like that.”
“And then?”
“Well…” Jim hesitated. He paced about the floor a couple of times and then stopped in front of the large bay window overlooking the marina. When he spoke again his voice sounded higher somehow. Broken. “This was the weirdest part of all, Sonny. He started talking about Sid.”
“Sid?” Sonny felt his brow furl up. “He knew Sid?”
“Talked about how Sid used to witness to the gangs down there, and about what a strong Christian he was. I’ll never forget it, Sonny, it was like he was talking to me. He said, ‘Sid Drake did it, and he looked right at me and said, ‘what will you do?’”
“So what did you do?”
“I slid down in my seat.”
“He found you anyway, didn’t he?”
“After the service. He came and sat beside me. When I told him who I was he got all excited and started crying. I didn’t know what was going on, but then he told me how he and Sid had been praying for me for a long time, and how it was all part of God’s plan, and before I knew it, we were praying. And it was so real, I mean, Sonny, I’ve never felt anything like that before.”
“What’d you pray?”
“I don’t know, we prayed.”
“Son, did you ask Jesus Christ into your heart?”
“I mean Sid and I talked a lot about salvation, Sonny. He used to preach at me all the time, but it never really meant anything to me…until now.”
Sonny walked over, placed his hand on Jim’s shoulder, and gazed into his eyes.
“Son, look at me. Sid and Jonas aren’t the only ones who have been praying for you.”
“What am I supposed to do now? He’s expecting me at his revival tonight. Can you believe that?” Jim turned and gazed out the window. “He gave me a Bible. He wants me to come tell other people what happened to me.”
Tested by Fire - He sought revenge ... He found forgiveness (Medic 7 Series - Book 1) Page 12