There were still just as many foam blocks stacked behind the house as there had been on Sunday. With Mario gone, Ingram no longer a threat for the time being, and now this storm to deal with, Ketch hadn't pressed Len about finishing the job right away. The bedraggled crew of the Minnow had all professed ignorance Sunday night at the boatyard when Len had wandered over and inquired about Mario's whereabouts, and Ketch had done it again when he'd spoken with Len earlier this morning after seeing the Captain. Maybe Mario was out somewhere scoring something or other with his boat, or maybe he'd gotten himself in some kind of trouble and left town in a hurry, who could tell? He was just gone for some indeterminate amount of time, which wasn't all that unusual with transients like him. They'd agreed to leave Mario's kicker truck right where it was; it would be there if he ever came back, and if he never did then the authorities could deal with it sometime later on. Mick's truck wasn't at the boatyard, so Mario must have picked him up somewhere else; which was good, one less thing for them to have to explain.
"Hey, Mister Ketchum! Y'all out back there?" Ketch whipped the frisbee into the water for the dog and walked back up to the driveway. Henry must have heard the dog barking at the flying disk.
"Good morning, Henry. Thanks for coming."
"No problem, sir. Want me to get the mower out?"
"Not just yet. If you don't mind, could you help me with the boat first? I need to get it onto the trailer so I can tow it, and we need to put the cover on it."
"You leavin' town on account of the storm? Mama said we are too, probably tomorrow or the day after."
"Yes, I am. Tomorrow is the day for me." The sooner the better, just in case. Route 12 was the only way off this island by land, and if they were told to evacuate it would soon be choked with barely crawling traffic. And if the road washed out up around Rodanthe, as it occasionally had before even during less severe storms, those on the wrong side of the washout would be stranded.
After letting the dog greet Henry, Ketch put the dog in the house so he wouldn't be underfoot when they moved the boat. It didn't take the two of them long to get the TBD squared away. Ketch got Henry started with the mower and went in the house to pack, giving the dog a new bone to keep him occupied. It was a good thing he bought those bones by the bagful, he thought, and a good thing he'd just bought another one at the Food Lion.
There wasn't much to be done as far as storm-proofing the house went, as it was supposedly built to be hurricane-resistant, so he didn't intend to go to much trouble that way. He'd just leave a couple of windows cracked and brace them to stay that way, so the air pressure gradient between the inside and the outside would hopefully not reach a level where windows would blow out and the roof would try to lift off.
He'd picked up the laundry yesterday, so they didn't have to worry about having enough clean clothes; taking advantage of the laundry service had turned out to be a fortuitous move. Still, he wished they'd had enough energy to do more chores yesterday. But yesterday had been busy enough, he guessed, considering.
They'd slept in until being awakened by the phone. He'd fielded a call from the NRC, telling him they wouldn't start investigating his report on illegal ocean dumping until sometime after the storm had passed - which made sense, as he knew if it landed anywhere around here the Coast Guard and other agencies would have their hands full for a while; and yes, he was to e-mail them his pictures, which he'd done this morning. Then they'd unloaded the truck and rinsed their gear, which they'd neglected to do Sunday night; returned the tanks to the shop, which they'd kept open for a couple of hours until she got tired of hanging around there; eaten some seafood (delicious as always) along with a couple of beers each at the Mad Crabber; and gone home and crashed again, like they had immediately after their showers on Sunday night.
Since returning from Sunday's adventure, they'd tallied more hours sleeping than they had doing everything else; but they seemed to be finally getting back on an even keel today - as evidenced by an exceptionally satisfying encounter at sunrise this morning in the bedroom, which until then hadn't happened since their return. He hadn't at the beginning been at all sure about what he was doing - it had made him feel like the bottom of his stomach was about to drop out at first, when he tried to think much about it - but he guessed he'd just needed to get used to the idea of being an outlaw. He hadn't talked with her much about the whole thing yet, but he didn't really feel like he needed to, not urgently anyway. They'd do that later, after they'd gotten some more distance from it.
He decided now that the Captain had definitely been right - he'd been crazy to think about turning her in and giving her up. Life was indeed short, especially at his age; the drums they'd dumped would never again be seen by anyone; and Ingram had plenty of both money and lawyers. So no apologies, after all - rest in peace and let the crooked bastard fend for himself, that's the way it was going to be. Ketch knew now that she was no femme fatale, not really; and though it made him a little wistful to lose that last vestige of his little noir detective fantasy, he was glad of it.
Today was her usual day off, but she'd gone to the shop earlier to make sure everything was shipshape there, and to call the customers who'd signed up for her Open Water class, which was supposed to have started tomorrow and which was now canceled. The shop would remain closed for at least the rest of the week. She'd also wanted to call her mother and her sister, to make sure they'd be okay and find out what their plans were. She was probably at her apartment in Buxton by now, loading her car with important documents and whatever else she needed to save.
He packed a large duffel with the clothing and toiletries he thought he'd need, and set it in the living room by the front door, where his guitar, fireproof file box, dive gear, and the backpack with his laptop and a single photo album in it were already piled. He packed a smaller duffel with a leash, some food, treats, and some toys for the dog and added that to the pile, reminding himself to also toss in the dog's bed and dishes tomorrow morning. As an afterthought he also added the dog's life jacket; you never know. He tried to visualize other things he might have forgotten to pack, and concluded that everything else he owned was either replaceable or relatively unimportant.
Thinking that, since she wasn't back yet, he could help her by packing indisposable sundries of hers that she'd kept here, he opened a suitcase (he was out of duffels) and set it on the bed. But when he started trying to guess what she might consider indisposable, beyond the obvious such as a toothbrush, he realized he was out of his depth. He settled on laying the sundress he'd bought her across the suitcase and called it quits.
He noticed the sound of the mower had ceased, and he heard voices out in the yard. When he got to the front door the dog was already there of course, wagging and begging to be let out. "All done, Mister Ketchum," Henry called up to him. Ketch opened the screen door and let the dog out. The dog went first to Kari, and then to Henry, and then wandered off to patrol the yard and check out Henry's work.
"Henry told me he helped you get the boat ready," Kari said. "He's a handy guy to have around, isn't he? Y'all better give him a good tip!"
"Don't worry, I most certainly will," Ketch said, getting his wallet out. "Here you go, Henry."
"Wow!" Henry exclaimed, glancing quickly at the bills before stuffing them in a pocket. "Thanks, Mister Ketchum!"
"No, thank you, Henry. Come see us when you get back to town."
"Will do, sir." Henry got on his bike. "I have to go, my mama called and said I better get back and start packin'. Bye!"
"Good luck! See you on the other side!" Ketch called as the bike rattled off down the road.
"He really is a great kid," Kari said.
"I know, and I hope we see more of him once everything finally settles down around here - if it ever does, that is." Doing a passable Eugene Levy he added, "What a week I'm having!"
"Splash!" she laughed. "You know, we really do need to watch some movies. Maybe we'll be able to do that some while we're in exile, you think?"
/>
"I knew I was forgetting something! I had the same thought earlier, and I wanted to pack some of my DVDs. I wouldn't mind watching Captain Ron again. Kurt Russell might not agree, but I personally think that's the finest performance of his career. By the way, I reserved us a two-bedroom suite at a Residence Inn in Raleigh. That should be far enough inland, and Adriana says it should take about five hours to get there, not counting pit stops." He'd been pleased to find they'd allow pets there (for an extra fee, of course) and they didn't have to stay at some trashy motel on account of the dog. They'd caravan there tomorrow, Kari's car following his truck with the boat.
"Two bedrooms?" she queried with one eyebrow raised. "You gettin' tired of me already? I knew you would. And who's Adriana, pray tell?"
"Adriana? That's what I named the voice on the Google GPS I use on my phone. She needed a name." He shrugged. "I just wanted to make sure we had enough space, that's all. I don't like to be cramped."
"Uh huh, okay, if you say so. Hey, you said you talked to Don, right? Where's he goin'?"
"He has family on the Pasquotank River, I think that's what he said, off Albemarle Sound up by Elizabeth City. He'll stay with them, and they have a place he can dock the boat. He's sailing in the morning, and if he gets tired he says he'll stop over around Kitty Hawk. He'll call us when he gets there."
"It's too bad he has to sail alone. I wish we could go with him. What about his truck? Does he have somebody to drive it for him?"
"No. His condo in Hatteras has carport parking, so he's just going to leave it there. He says the Minnow is worth a lot more than the truck, so he'll chance the truck. It'll be safer there than at the boatyard, at least. Len will pick him up there at first light and drop him off at the boatyard on his way out to Tar Heel."
"I hope that works out for him. Course the storm might not even hit us directly here anyway. Guess we'll see. Well!" she said, looking suddenly tired again. "I got everythin' else done, now I guess I should go pack some of my stuff from here."
"I already started doing that for you," Ketch said as they all went back inside the house, keeping a straight face. "You'll see."
He went to where his DVDs were stored, she went to the bedroom, and the dog settled in front of the wood stove for a nap. As he fanned through the cases and started making some selections, he heard an exclamation from the bedroom. "Yeah, that's some packin' job you did there," she laughed.
It didn't take her long to finish packing, and he had the DVDs he wanted. He added them to his backpack, then carried her suitcase out from the bedroom. "I think we have everything now," he said, waving at the pile by the front door. "I'll load it all in my truck in the morning and we'll take off. Why don't we go out for an early dinner, and then make it an early night? I don't have much food left here. I needed to go shopping again to begin with, plus I threw out the perishables this morning."
"Okay, and a shower and nap before? I could go for that."
They ended up in the pub at the Froggy Dog again. What the heck, Ketch had thought, it's her favorite place - and that's where they'd gone on their first official date as well, he remembered. It seemed like that was such a long time ago, but in reality it was just shy of a week. How could so much have happened in such a short time? He wouldn't have believed it was possible if it hadn't happened to him. It was unnatural for things to happen to folks constantly, one right after another, in his opinion; there should always be at least some time between major events. Someone should speak to someone about that.
While they enjoyed another fine meal, along with another bottle of fine wine, Ketch decided to broach an idea that had occurred to him just this morning. Well, he guessed he'd daydreamed about it a few days ago as well, and dismissed it at that time; and then a couple of days ago he'd wondered if he'd ever be able to stand the sight of her again; and now he'd come full circle, and this time he intended to stay there.
"I was thinking about something," he said.
"Should I alert the media?" she innocently asked.
"No, seriously. I know you've had a hard time making a go of it with the shop, and I'd like to do more to help. I'd like to become your partner."
"Really? That's an interestin' idea. How would that work?"
"Well, I'd buy into the business - I don't know how much money that would take, we'd work that out - and I'd get more involved in the daily operations, help more with the classes, help out in the shop, and so on. I'd take a cut of the profits - I don't know how much of a cut, it would depend on whether I was a full partner or something less, we'd work that out, too - but you'd get a cash infusion to expand and advertise more, which would mean more revenue and more profit..."
"I don't know about that, I'm not feelin' as confidant about that as you are," she started to interrupt.
"Now hang on, hear me out. You'd also have fewer expenses, because you'd get to use my boat, and you'd get free web programming, not to mention no hoodlums extorting money from you..." He faltered for a second, then soldiered on. "And you wouldn't have to pay rent anymore, because I'm asking you to move in with me permanently." He went on before she could object. "You've been camping out with me already every day for the past week, and we're about to do it again in Raleigh. It's not like we wouldn't have any practice at it." She didn't respond immediately, so he tried to backtrack and save face with a little humor. "But I know, what we've been doing hasn't been quite the same as dealing with you throwing out all my stuff to make room for your shoe collection, your furniture, and so on. And we haven't been together that long, so maybe it's too soon to be thinking like that."
"Well, there's that," she finally said, with a hint of a smile. "Though I feel like we've lived about a year in the last week or so. Really, it seems like we've been together forever already. But there's also the other thing, which we hadn't talked about all that much yet."
"I assume you mean what happened on Sunday," he said, "and the things that happened before that, right? Well, that's a done deal as far as I'm concerned. There's no going back anyway, after what we did on Sunday, and I've obviously forgiven you or we wouldn't be here right now."
"I guess," she said. "But are you really sure? Are you sure you won't change your mind and think less of me and hold it against me, down the road?"
"I won't hold it against you until we get home," he said, reprising one of her own jests. That got a broader smile. "Look, I know what you mean, and we can talk about it all you like, whenever you like. I know you might need to from time to time, and who knows, I might, too. But I want you to be clear on this - I see you as nothing more than a victim of circumstances, plain and simple, and I don't see my mind ever changing on that."
"Huh. Well, thank you for that. Really, it does make me feel better." She finished off the wine and said, "Let's go home. We can think on it all some more this week while we're away. But I have to warn you, your idea's awful temptin'. You might be sorry you brought it up, you might never be able to get rid of me!"
When they got back to the house, they decided to take the dog for a walk. They stopped by the boatyard, but the Captain was already gone for the day. When it was time to go to bed, Ketch went out to the living room to take one last look at the pile by the door. The dog's dishes were there now, and he'd add the dog bed in the morning. Had he forgotten anything important? He didn't think so, but there was something nagging at the back of his mind that held him there nonetheless.
Finally, he opened the door, went down the steps, and removed the life preserver from the nail it had been hanging on since shortly after he'd moved into the house. He carried it inside, deposited it on the pile, and went to bed.
~ ~ ~
20. He'd asked too much and loved too much, and he'd worn it all out.
This was the first Outer Banks hurricane Ketch had ever experienced in person, despite all the time he'd spent vacationing in Avon over the years, and despite having lived there full-time for the last three. More than forty hurricanes had assaulted this coast over the past hundr
ed years, with on occasion more than one in a given year and several in one particular year, and they'd never gone without one for more than a few years in a row. So they'd been lucky so far during his tenure, but now he supposed they were probably due.
Hurricane Ernesto had made landfall at Cape Lookout, the southernmost extent of the Banks, on Saturday night, the fourth of their stay in Raleigh, and the city of Beaufort had been severely pummeled by Ernesto's punishing winds and storm surge. Born of a tropical wave off the coast of Africa, Ernesto had skirted the eastern Caribbean as a category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale and then shifted northward, inflicting some damage most notably on Puerto Rico.
It had grown in strength to a category 3 storm over the warm waters of the Bahamas, and had weakened to a category 2, but still with sustained winds of over a hundred miles per hour, by the time it slammed into the North Carolina coast. It quickly weakened further as it tracked north through eastern North Carolina and into Virginia before turning east into the Atlantic off the coast of Virginia, departing as a marginal category 1 storm.
Winds of tropical storm force had extended over a hundred miles out from the center of the storm, and Ketch and Kari had weathered those winds in Raleigh, along with the occasional hurricane-force gust and copious rainfall. They and the dog hadn't been able to go outside very often since Saturday and Ketch thought the dog especially was developing a serious case of cabin fever, but they were pretty much okay otherwise.
The Residence Inn had lost some roof tiles and there were branches down, but they still had power, and there'd been no flooding and no leaks in their suite. They'd done some shopping locally upon their arrival, and the staff had also made sure there was food and water available right at the Inn, so they hadn't had to venture out into the storm for staples.
Port Starbird (Storm Ketchum Adventures) Page 23
