by Sue Pethick
“Of course,” she told him. “I understand.”
He gave her a long look and shook his head.
“Let’s get you out of that lab coat and take you home. I think you’ve had enough for one day.”
“Are you sure?”
She didn’t want the others to think she was a slacker.
“Don’t worry about it,” Noah said.
“We’re going out later for burgers and brew,” Dak told her. “You should join us.”
“Yeah,” Uki said. “I want to hear more about this aikido thing.”
Emily gave them a weak smile. She’d been tired when she got to the cannery and the aftereffects from the fall were starting to set in.
“Maybe,” she said. “I’ll let you know.”
* * *
Her new home was about a mile from the cannery, a modest ranch house with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a one-car garage. Tim carried her suitcases in and set them down in the front room.
“Thanks for getting those,” Emily said as she looked around. “So, three bedrooms and four girls. Do you know who I’m sharing with?”
He scratched the back of his head, looking abashed.
“I think the others already called dibs on the bedrooms, but the couch is a pullout. I hear it’s pretty comfortable.”
Emily waited, hoping he would tell her it was a joke, then realized that he was serious. She wasn’t really angry, she supposed, just disappointed. It wasn’t the sort of thing she’d have done in their place, but perhaps they thought she wasn’t going to show up. She could have been there the week before if her mother hadn’t insisted she meet with the colorist who was helping her redecorate Emily’s bedroom. The room was fine as far as Emily was concerned, but at least the project would give her mother something to do other than call and pester her while she was away.
“In that case,” she said, “I think I’ll take the coat closet. That should give me plenty of room for my stuff.”
“Seems fair to me,” he said.
After Tim drove off, Emily took a few minutes to check out the rest of the house. The bedrooms were tiny—barely big enough for their twin beds; she could see why no one wanted to share. The bathrooms, too, were small, but clean and functional. No hair on the floor or soap scum in the bath, nothing clogging up the drains.
Not yet, anyway.
The kitchen was also small—about the size of her bedroom closet at home. Emily thought they might have to cook in shifts to keep from stepping on one another. In the refrigerator, she found milk, eggs, cheese, and an assortment of lunch meat, all of it carefully labeled with one of the other girls’ names. She made a mental note to buy a Sharpie when she was at the store.
There was a noticeable smell of fish in the room that didn’t go away when she closed the refrigerator, and it took a second for Emily to realize that it was coming from her. Having shed the hard hat, boots, and soiled lab coat back at the cannery, she’d thought herself free of fish odor, but it must have seeped into the rest of her clothing, too. She’d been planning to wear the same clothes until bedtime, but now she found she couldn’t wait to get them off. She grabbed a towel from one of her bags and went off to take a shower.
* * *
Her roommates had come home by the time Emily was clean and dressed. Rachel was a junior at the University of Washington and Kimberley and Uki were local girls taking classes at UAS. Rachel and Kim had already laid claim to the bathroom with a tub, they informed her; Emily and Uki would have to settle for showers.
“Fine with me,” Emily said, giving Uki a quick grin. “I’ve always thought taking baths was a waste of time.”
“We told the guys we’d meet them for dinner in half an hour,” Rachel said. “You coming?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe.”
“Come on. Uki told us about your kung fu moves at the cannery. We want to hear how it really went down.”
It was tempting. Emily had eaten nothing since lunch and all she had there was a couple of granola bars she’d tucked into her bags. Nevertheless, she wasn’t crazy about being prodded for more details about her encounter with the dog. She was sure that anything she said would pale in comparison to whatever overblown version of events they’d already heard.
“I’m pretty tired,” she said. “Plus, I promised my mom I’d call. Maybe another time.”
“Suit yourself.”
Kimberley turned and started down the hall.
“Come on, Rach, let’s get out of these clothes before I barf.”
“I’d better jump in the shower, too,” Uki said.
She glanced at Emily’s bags.
“Sorry about the couch.”
“It’s fine,” Emily said. “Don’t worry about it.”
When the other three were finally behind closed doors, Emily took out her phone and called home. She’d had a long, exhausting day, and the thought of being stuck there with nothing to eat but a couple of granola bars was making her homesick. As the phone started to ring, she took a seat on the couch and tucked her feet underneath her. Tim was right; it was pretty comfortable.
“Hey, Mom, it’s me.”
“Emmy! Sweetheart, how are you?”
“I’m fine,” she said, swallowing the lump in her throat. She hadn’t expected to feel so emotional.
“How was the flight? No turbulence? I heard there was a storm over the valley.”
“No, it was really smooth,” Emily said. “We got out of Sea-Tac a bit late, but we landed right on time.”
“Yes, I got your text. I’m just surprised it took so long to hear from you. Is everything all right?”
“Sorry about that,” she said. “I was at work.”
“Work? But you just got there. Can’t they give you a chance to catch your breath?”
“It’s okay, Mom. I didn’t mind. Besides, I could hardly say no. The other interns have been here for a week already.”
“Oh. Well, I suppose that’s my fault, isn’t it?”
Emily sighed. Why did her mother always turn things around so that she was the victim?
“I didn’t say that.”
“No, but you didn’t have to. You were upset that I asked you to stay and now you’re blaming me because Ava couldn’t meet with us sooner.”
“I wasn’t blaming you, just telling you why I didn’t think it was a good idea to try and beg off work.”
“If you say so.”
“I do say so.”
She felt her heart racing and tried to calm down. Why did she always let her mother get to her?
“Have you talked to Carter since you got in?” her mother asked.
Emily felt a stab of guilt. She hadn’t even thought to call him.
“Not yet,” she said.
“I saw him this afternoon. He said to say hi.”
“I thought he was on call at the hospital this week.”
“He is,” her mother said. “I had to take Uncle Danny over there for some tests.”
Since her father’s death, Emily’s uncle had been the closest thing she had to a father. The thought that there might be something wrong with him was like having a rug pulled out from under her.
“What kind of tests?”
“Oh, you know: routine stuff. When you get to be our ages, they give you tests for everything. Have you met the other girls yet? Are they nice?”
Emily glanced down the hallway. All of the other doors were closed.
“Yeah, they’re okay.”
“Not a very enthusiastic endorsement.”
“I just met them so it’s hard to tell, but yes. They’re okay. They seem nice.”
Aside from hogging up all the bedrooms.
“You know,” her mother said, “you’re lucky to have a beau like Carter. He’s been very open-minded about this little junket of yours.”
“What junket? I’m not on vacation. I’ve got a job.”
“An internship isn’t a job, sweetheart.”
Emily felt her temp
er flash.
“It’s work, okay? And if I do it well, it’ll help me get a job near Carter. I thought that would make you happy.”
“Emmy, have you eaten dinner?”
The sudden change of subject pulled her up short.
“What? No, not yet. Why?”
“I thought not. You always get cranky when you’re hungry.”
Emily gritted her teeth.
“I’m not cranky. I just had a tough day: up early, stuck in a plane for hours, then falling on my face at the—”
“What? You fell? Are you hurt?”
She shook her head. Why had she thought that calling her mother was a good idea?
“No. I’m fine, Mom. Honestly.”
“I’ll catch a plane. I can be there in the morning—”
“Calm down. I’m okay, all right? A dog ran into the cannery and knocked me down. It was no big deal.”
“What was a dog doing in the cannery? Isn’t that where they do the . . . things with the fish? Oh God, I’ll never buy another can of tuna.”
Uki stepped out of the bathroom and gave her a curious look. Emily pointed at the phone and mouthed the word mother. Uki nodded and walked into her bedroom.
“Mom, stop it,” she hissed. “The dog didn’t get into the fish; no one got hurt; everything is fine.”
“Well . . . if you’re sure.”
“Yes. I’m sure.”
Emily saw the doors at the end of the hallway open and Kimberley and Rachel stepped out. They’d changed their clothes and pulled their hair up in matching ponytails. She could smell their perfume from across the room.
“Look, I have to go,” she said. “Don’t worry, okay? I’ll call you tomorrow.”
The two girls were checking their phones as she hung up. Uki came out of her room, tucking her shirttail into her Levi’s.
“You sure you won’t join us?” Rachel said. “There’s plenty of room in the car.”
Emily’s stomach growled—an unhappy marriage of hunger and frustration—and suddenly the thought of eating granola bars while stewing over the conversation with her mother was unbearable. Maybe being interrogated about her tangle with the dog wouldn’t be so bad.
“Sounds good,” she said. “Let me get my sweater.”
CHAPTER 4
The sun was low in the sky by the time Sam and Bear showed up at Kallik’s house. When he’d left the cannery that afternoon, Sam had taken his dog for a long walk, trying to cool down and decide what to do about work. First, Travis had given him grief about Kallik, then Crompton had come down on him about Bear; it was like being in a dysfunctional family with those two. He was tired of being second-guessed by guys who’d never hauled fish for a living and sick of working hard while somebody else took most of the profit. It was time to take charge of his future, and the only way to do that was with a ship of his own.
He’d been working on his plan for a while now, but so far, the dream had remained out of reach. The perfect ship would be gone before he could bid on it, or the price would be too high, or the seller too flaky. Interest rates that had held steady for years were suddenly going up, too, making any money he borrowed that much harder to pay back. Some days, it felt as if the whole universe were against him.
Marilyn answered the door when Sam knocked, her baby bump proudly displayed under a fitted T-shirt. Pregnancy suited her, he thought, filling out her thin face and making her cheeks glow. Kallik was thrilled, but Sam wasn’t sure he’d have had the guts to try again after so many disappointments. Then again, maybe he’d feel braver if he were in their position. Kallik and Marilyn were both pure Tlingit—the First Nation of Ketchikan. For them, a baby represented more than just family, it meant the survival of their people. Sam just hoped that this time, the two of them would get the happy ending they deserved.
She leaned against the doorjamb and lifted an eyebrow.
“Well, if it isn’t Sandy Sam and his shaggy companion. What brings you two here on this fine evening?”
He grinned.
“Any chance we could steal your husband away for a little while?”
“Didn’t you already steal him away this morning?” she said, her eyes twinkling with mischief. “You and that boat are as bad as a mistress.”
“No way,” Kallik said, stepping up behind her. “I’d be home a lot more often if I only had a mistress to take care of.”
He gave her a squeeze and looked at Sam.
“What’s up, Skipper?”
“Got time to talk? Over a drink, maybe?”
“Ah, that sounds like a serious talk,” Kallik said. “Let me get a jacket.”
As her husband walked off, Marilyn reached out and gave Bear a snuggle. Sam had noticed that his dog was less boisterous around her since the pregnancy. Newfoundlands were especially attuned to human vulnerability; he wondered if Marilyn’s condition was drawing out the dog’s protective nature.
“Try not to bring my husband home too late,” she said, patting her belly. “Me and Junior don’t sleep well without him.”
“Don’t worry,” Sam told her. “I’ll keep an eye on the time.”
Kallik returned and gave Marilyn a kiss on the cheek.
“Don’t wait up for me, baby. This might take a while.”
The two men headed down to the Sourdough, a place where locals could hang out, have a drink, and play pool without being hassled. They ordered their beers at the bar and took them to a table in back while Bear wandered off to visit some of the regulars. Sam pointed to the pictures of famous shipwrecks on the wall.
“Kind of makes you humble, doesn’t it?”
Kallik nodded. “Being humble is the only way to stay alive on the water. You start thinking you’re the one in charge, it’s over, man.”
Sam stared at the bottle in his hand. It had taken hours to work up the courage to share his plan with Kallik, and now that they were face-to-face, he was having a hard time getting started. Getting the engineer’s buy-in was crucial for his plan to work; if the answer was no, he’d be done before he even got started. He took a second to scan the room before laying out his proposition. The last thing he wanted was for word to get back to the ship’s co-owners and crew. Finding the right ship might still take time, no matter how eager he was, and neither one of them could afford to lose his job.
“I’ve decided to buy my own ship,” he said. “Not someday—now. As soon as I can get my hands on one.”
Kallik took another sip of beer.
“You have the money?”
Sam shrugged. It was a fair, if uncomfortable, question.
“Not all of it,” he said. “Not in cash, anyway, but rates are still low and my credit’s good. I can borrow the rest and pay it back with the extra I’ll be making as owner.”
The engineer was making condensation patterns on the table with his bottle.
“I don’t know, man. Debt’s like a weight around your neck, always pulling you down. You have a bad season, miss a few payments, you lose everything.”
Sam clenched his teeth in frustration. He hadn’t gone there to hear what he already knew; he was looking for support.
“Then again,” Kallik continued, “most people who borrow do okay, and you’ve got other resources. I suppose you’d be fine.”
“That’s right,” Sam said, relieved.
“You’re still gonna need a crew, though, and the season’s already started. Most guys out there have a ship by now.”
“I’m not worried about finding a crew; there are always guys on the dock looking for work. The hard part will be finding an engineer.”
Their eyes met.
“Will you do it?” Sam said. “If I find a ship, will you join me?”
Kallik took a deep breath and shook his head.
“I can’t, man. I’d love to, you know that, but with the baby—”
“Come on. Travis and Jack have been giving you crap for months. You don’t like working for them any more than I do.”
The engineer nodd
ed, then fixed Sam with a hard stare.
“Let me ask you something. You been talking about getting your own ship for as long as I’ve known you. What’s the hurry all of a sudden?”
Sam looked down the row of tables and saw his dog padding toward them. Everyone Bear passed smiled or said hello or gave him a pat on the back. It had been that way on the ship, too. The crew liked having him around—Oscar even said that having a Newfoundland onboard was good luck. Why were Jack and Travis so anxious to get rid of him?
“You know they’ve been after me about having Bear onboard.”
“I thought you guys worked that out.”
“I thought so, too—at least temporarily—but then Bear got spooked and ran into the cannery this afternoon. He knocked some girl down.”
“Aw, crap.”
“I thought it would be okay. I mean, it didn’t look like she was hurt, but that NOAA inspector showed up and started yelling at us to get out. Just my luck, Jack Crompton was standing right there on the dock.”
Kallik shook his head.
“The guy went off on me like a bomb. Said Bear was a liability he couldn’t afford. Told me not to bring him on the ship anymore.”
“What are you going to do?”
Sam finished his beer and set the bottle aside. For the next few days, at least, it would be a moot point. After that day’s poor harvest, the regional administrator had declared all fish in the area uncatchable in hopes of staying within the allowable ocean harvest goals for the season. Once that restriction was lifted, though, he’d be back on the water—without Bear.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I admit I haven’t been looking that hard for a sitter, but it isn’t easy to find someone with enough room for Bear. He can’t just sit in a little cage all day. He needs to stretch his legs or he’ll go crazy.”
“What about Tiffany? She’s got a place of her own now, doesn’t she?”
“It wouldn’t work,” he said. “Too many issues.”
Sam had actually considered asking his ex-girlfriend if she could take the dog, just for a while, but had decided against it. Tiffany and Bear still got along and the place where she was living had a decent-sized yard, but her drug habit had only gotten worse since the two of them broke up, and the guy she was living with was bad news. If Sam left Bear with them, he’d never be able to concentrate on running the ship. He couldn’t afford to risk everyone’s lives just so his dog could have a place to stay.
