The 45th Parallel

by Maureen Hands

  “Well, based on the ripples along the water’s surface, I would say it is coming from the north,” Kat said in the best school girl voice she could muster.

  “Very good, you should impress your date,” Patrick said. He continued to run through some basics including the various points of sail while they finished their lunch.

  Once they were done eating, Patrick showed Kat how to hook up the sails so they were ready to be raised when they left the dock.

  “When is the last time you sailed, Kat?”

  “Probably when I was twelve, the last summer I was up here.”

  “I didn’t realize it had been that long.”

  Kat looked out at the water and breathed in the warm air. “Do you ever get a…” Kat paused searching for the right word, “rush from sailing?”

  Patrick looked up at her quizzically. “What do you mean?”

  “Every time I am out on the water, I get a feeling of excitement mixed with a healthy dose of fear.” Kat felt her cheeks flush slightly. It sounded so silly once she said it out loud.

  Patrick noticed her embarrassment. Then he smiled and said, “I think I know what you mean. Going out into the water is one of the few real adventures left in life. It’s just you and the boat against the elements. It’s exciting because every sail is different. The wind and the water are never exactly the same from one day to the next.”

  “That explains the excitement but what about the fear?” Kat said.

  “You would be a fool not to have a healthy respect for large bodies of water. This lake can have a savage temper. There are plenty of shipwrecks to attest to that.”

  “I suppose,” Kat said skeptically. She pictured the dead woman in the gray dress swimming toward her the morning after John’s party.

  “So, are you adjusting to being back in Northport?”

  “Honestly, it is a little strange. I have so many fun memories but they are overshadowed by mom’s suicide.”

  “Your mother’s death had a tremendous effect on all of us. Not only did we lose our aunt, but we lost a piece of our dad when your mom died,” Patrick said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Dad went to see her the day she…jumped. He said she seemed perfectly fine. He blames himself for not recognizing her distressed state of mind, especially since he is a doctor.”

  “He shouldn’t feel that way. We all thought she was back to normal.”

  “Guilt is a powerful force. Some people deal with it in unhealthy ways,” Patrick said.

  “How did your dad deal with it?” Kat asked cautiously.

  “Not very well I’m afraid. Dad had a difficult time accepting your mom’s death, in order to cope, he turned to drugs. Being a doctor, he had a lot of access.

  “I’m so sorry Patrick. I had no idea.”

  Patrick smiled sadly and shrugged. “He was stoned half of our childhood. He would stay straight enough to go to work, but he was unavailable for much else. Mom was so caught up in enabling him, and keeping up appearances, Anna, Helene, and I were frequently left to our own devices. I think we are so close because we only had each other to talk to. My mother wouldn’t allow us to let anyone else in on our little secret.

  “Is your dad all right now?”

  “He finally got help my senior year of high school after struggling with his ghosts for ten years.”

  Kat looked down at her hands, and her eyes welled up with tears. “What a stupid and selfish thing my mother did.”

  “Hey, we will never know what kind of demons your mother was fighting. You can’t hold on to the past, it will pull you down like an anchor.” Patrick put one arm around Kat and squeezed her shoulder.

  Kat smiled and wiped her eyes. “You definitely live in the present Patrick.”

  “I had to stay very optimistic for Anna’s sake. Anna absorbs other people’s emotions.”

  “Yes, she is extremely empathetic.”

  “Being around a depressed drug addict is not good for someone like her. Helene is tough, but she has some trust issues.” Patrick looked out to the lake and seemed absorbed in thought. Then he turned and smiled. “There is a storm moving in this afternoon. The wind is starting to pick up. Let’s put up the large jib.”

  “Are you sure we should put up the big sail?” Kat asked nervously.

  “Definitely,” Patrick replied. His big blue eyes gleamed with excitement as he reached over, grabbed a life jacket, and tossed it to Kat.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Kat managed to survive her sailing lesson with Patrick in one piece. On Sunday morning Kat’s cell phone rang. It was John. She took a deep breath and answered the phone, “Hello.”

  “Kat, it’s John Warren. How was your week?”

  “Fine,” she responded. “Jack has been keeping me busy at Muldoon’s. How was your week?”

  “It was long. Are you working today?”

  “No, I’m off.”

  “Good, would you like to go sailing?”

  “I’d love to.”

  “The Northport Fish Boil is still going on. We could go down there for lunch, and then go out for a sail. My boat is docked at the harbor there.”

  “Since I am a little rusty on sailing, would it be all right if my cousins came along?”

  “That’s fine,” John said slowly. “I always enjoy their company. I’ll be at your Aunt Mary’s around one.”

  “Great, I will see you then,” Kat said relieved. For some reason, the thought of being alone with John on a sailboat made her very uncomfortable.

  As Kat ended the call, she felt butterflies in her stomach at the thought of seeing him. The Northport Fish Boil was an annual event. A fish boil is the Great Lakes version of a clambake. White fish, potatoes, and onions are cooked in salty water and served with coleslaw and bread and butter.

  Kat called Anna and Helene for help. “Okay, it’s been a while. What do I wear for a day of sailing?”

  “We are on our way over,” Anna said.

  Helene had a pair of white jeans, a light blue cotton sweater, and a windbreaker for Kat to wear. A cold front had moved in and the forecast called for a high of sixty-eight degrees with scattered showers.

  “How does John feel about us crashing your date?” Anna asked.

  “He seems fine with it.”

  “I’ve never known John to really pursue anyone. The ladies are usually calling him. You seem to have caught his eye, Kat,” Anna said.

  “When did you meet John?” Kat asked.

  “We met him when Patrick and I were seniors in high school. We all just clicked right away. He is like an older brother to us. When we started college in Chicago, he was starting his second year of law school. Our lives just seemed to intertwine.

  “I’m not sure why he is interested in me if he has all these other women chasing him.”

  Helene took Kat’s shoulders and turned them toward the mirror. “Because you are beautiful inside and out, and because you have the ability to see things other people do not.”

  “I’m not sure why hallucinating would be an attractive trait,” Kat said. There was a knock on the front door and they went downstairs. John was standing at the door wearing jeans and a dark blue, long sleeved shirt. His hair was tousled from the wind. A sexy smile spread across his face as his eyes focused on Kat.

  “Are you ladies ready? Patrick and I have loaded up the boat. He is down at the fish boil.” John held open the front door as they filed through. Anna and Helene bounded down the front steps and headed down toward the park. John grabbed Kat’s hand, pulled her close, and kissed her softly on the mouth. Kat could smell the musky, woodsy smell of his cologne. His touch and smell made her slightly dizzy.

  “The wind today will make for an exciting sail. Hopefully the rain will hold off,” John said as he turned and began pulling her along toward the marina.

  “I’m glad my cousins are coming. As I said, I’m a little rusty,” Kat said, a little breathless from his kiss.

  John glanced at Kat out
of the corner of his eye and said, “It will come back to you quickly.”

  As they got down to the park by the marina, Kat could see several tents set up. In the smaller tents were items from local artists. In the large tent was the main attraction, the fish. Kat’s cousins were standing in the food line already and waved John and Kat over.

  “We will grab the food. Why don’t you two go find a table?” Patrick suggested.

  “We will be right over here,” John said as he led Kat over to the tables. They found one with six chairs and sat down. Kat looked up to see Trish approaching their table. She didn’t look like the same person Kat had met at John’s party. She had dark circles under her eyes and her face was drawn and pale.

  “Are you coming by again tonight?” Trish asked when she reached their table. Trish seemed to be oblivious of Kat’s presence.

  “Again?” John said in a startled voice. “Trish, I’m not coming over and I’ve been in Chicago the past week.”

  Trish looked completely confused. “Oh…then who…” she turned away from the table slowly and walked back to a group of women and sat down.

  “What was that all about?” Kat asked.

  “I don’t know. She doesn’t look very well. Can you excuse me a moment, I’m going to go see if she is all right.”

  “Sure,” Kat said. She watched him go to Trish and talk to her for a couple minutes. When he left her table, Trish stared off toward the lake with a vacant expression.

  “Is she all right?” Kat asked when John came back to the table.

  “I told her she should go back to Chicago and stay there until she feels better. She said she is going back the day after tomorrow.”

  “Is there something going on between you and Trish?” Kat asked when John returned. The bluntness of her question surprised her. Maybe I have been hanging out with Helene too much.

  John tilted his head and studied Kat for a moment, and then said, “There is nothing going on between us, at least, not in my mind.”

  Kat looked past John to see Anna, Helene, and Patrick coming over with steaming bowls of fish and vegetables with rolls and butter on the side.

  “This is the perfect lunch for a cool Michigan day,” Anna said as she sat down. The smell of the warm food made Kat’s stomach growl.

  A woman from another table spotted John, waved, and called out his name. She was about fifty, heavy set with short, bleached blonde hair, and a lot of makeup. She looked familiar to Kat but she could not place her. John looked up and waved back to her. Now the woman had the green light. She snatched up her purse and marched straight over to their table.

  “John, I have been trying to get in touch with you. I have a counteroffer for the Crowley farm from the trustee of the estate. I think the conditions are very reasonable,” the woman blurted out.

  “Monica, this is Kat, Anna, Patrick, and Helene,” John said. Kat now realized why the woman looked so familiar. Monica Harding’s face was on real-estate signs all over the area.

  “It’s nice to meet all of you.” Monica smiled like she was posing for a billboard. “Please pardon my interruption, but this guy is hard to catch,” she said as she tilted her head toward John.

  “You can forward it to Martine. We will go through it tomorrow,” John said. Kat got the distinct feeling John was trying to get rid of Monica, but she was not taking the hint.

  “I’ll call you first thing tomorrow morning to set up a time to meet with you. I think we should go over it in person.” It was clear Monica was not taking “no” for an answer.

  “I am here this next week. Martine can set something up,” John said with a hint of impatience in his voice.

  “Well…enjoy your day,” Monica said as she hurried off to her next potential sale.

  “I didn’t know you were trying to buy the Crowley property,” Patrick said.

  “I would like the land to start another vineyard. Crowley donated the development rights to the GLCG and they want to preserve it as farmland. There are about seventeen acres of land. Once the vines mature, we could produce another thirty-five to forty thousand bottles of wine.”

  “That place gives me the willies,” Helene said.

  “What will you do with the house…and the barn?” Kat asked. John leaned back and put his arm around the back of Kat’s chair and looked at her intently. As Kat looked back into John’s eyes she felt exposed, as if he could read her every thought. She quickly looked down at her food.

  “Maybe Greg can move in and fix it up after he finishes his current house. I haven’t seen the inside of the house yet. I’m not sure what kind of condition it’s in,” John said as he stroked the back of Kat’s hair. His touch sent quivers to Kat’s stomach which quickly traveled down to lower regions.

  “He does like to disappear in the vines quite a bit,” Patrick said. “I think he is having Bacchanalian Orgies in the vineyard after hours.”

  “What kind of orgy?” Helene asked.

  “You know, Bacchanalia…the ancient Roman festival to honor Bacchus, the god of wine,” Patrick said.

  “Patrick, you are full of useless tidbits of information,” Anna said.

  Patrick smiled, looked out toward the Bay and said, “I think we better head out soon or we will be sailing in the rain.”

  They finished their lunch and walked down to the dock to John’s boat.

  Although the marina was full, Kat knew, without looking at the make or model, which boat was John’s. It was beautiful. The dark blue hull and white deck popped against the gray sky. It had classic lines and appeared to be meticulously maintained. There was a wheel in the back of the cockpit. Kat had never been on a sailboat large enough to have a wheel.

  John hopped on the boat and helped Anna, Helene, and Kat on. Patrick handed John two coolers which he carried down into the main cabin.

  “Can I come down?” Kat asked.

  “Of course,” John said as he held a hand out to help her through the companionway down into the main cabin.

  “Wow, this would be a great boat for an overnight,” Kat said. The salon’s dinette table was large enough to host six for dinner. The dark blue leather cushions on the salon benches complimented the varnished wood throughout the cabin. There were two staterooms and one head as well as a kitchen.

  “My parents did quite a few overnight trips on this boat.” A sad smile crossed John’s lips. “I can feel their presence most when I am sailing.”

  “What is the name of the boat?” Kat asked.

  “Legalease.”

  “I am assuming your father named the boat?”

  “He did.” John crossed his arms across his chest and watched Kat closely as she looked around. “Did your cousins tell you about my parents?”

  “Patrick told me they were lost in a sailing accident.”

  “Have you ever heard of Beaver Island?

  “Yes, actually Aunt Mary recently told me my mother’s side of the family immigrated to Beaver Island in the 1800s. I guess that’s how we ended up in northern Michigan.”

  “They were on a weekend trip to Beaver Island when they disappeared. Legalease was found floating in Lake Michigan with no one on board.”

  “That must be awful, not knowing for certain what happened to them.”

  “Yes…it does make it difficult to move on,” he said. John studied Kat a moment longer. She got the distinct feeling that he was waiting for something. Then he said, “I thought we would sail down to Omena unless you had another destination in mind.”

  “No, that sounds great.”

  “Patrick said he gave you a quick sailing lesson. I’m glad to see you survived. Just for future reference, the two of us could easily handle this boat,” John said, a little smile touching his lips.

  Kat felt her face grow warm. “My technical skills are weak, I have not sailed in years, and I’ve never sailed a boat this large. I didn’t think the extra hands would hurt.”

  “Sailing requires technical skill and instinct. Your technical skills wil
l come back quickly. Your instinct is already there, if you allow it to guide you,” John said as he moved a little closer to Kat and leaned his hand on the counter next to her. He reached out and brushed his fingers down Kat’s arm. “Maybe after today’s sail, you will feel more comfortable coming out alone with me.”

  “I hope so,” Kat said as she stared, mesmerized, into his deep blue eyes.

  “Hey guys, are we going to sail or sit in the harbor all day?” Patrick called down.

  John smiled and motioned to the companionway. “After you.” Kat went back up into the cockpit with John following behind.

  John started the engine and Patrick untied the dock lines. As they motored out of the harbor, Kat sat in the cockpit next to Anna and stared out at the lake. Her heart began to beat faster. She wondered if there would ever be a time when she didn’t feel that rush from sailing.

  “Earth to Kat,” Helene said.

  “Oh, sorry, did you say something?”

  “John asked if you wanted to take the wheel.”

  Kat looked over at John standing at the helm. He motioned Kat over with his hand.

  “I hope you have good insurance,” Kat said as she moved over toward him.

  John laughed and stepped to the side so Kat could take the helm. He raised the main and the jib and cut the engine. With the engine noise gone, all that could be heard was the sound of the waves washing up against the hull of the boat as it cut through the water, and the wind blowing through the sails.

  “We are going to head east out of Northport Bay into Grand Traverse Bay, then South along the coast line to Omena Bay. Right now, the wind is out of the north, so we’ll stay on a port tack until we pass the point, then we can bear away from the wind and head south,” John said.

  “All right, I think I remember enough sailing terms to follow your directions,” Kat said.

  “I want you to try something for me,” John said. “I want you to try to sail with your eyes closed.”