Page 9 of Lover from the Waves

“I know, Breck. I just wanted to catch you before you left for the day. I’m sure it could have waited until this evening, but… I came to ask a favor.”

Breckett turned away only long enough to toss the rope into the nearby boat. “Anything, Kat. What do you need?”

She took in a deep breath. There was no sense in skirting around it, was there? “I need a boat.”

His brows fell low again. “What for?”

“Sailing.”

He shook his head. “Obviously for sailing, Kat. You wanting to take the grandkids out for an afternoon or something?”

“No, though I’m sure they’d enjoy it.” She raised a hand and swept her hair back, but the wind just blew strands of it back into her face as soon as she lowered her arm. “No, this is for me. I want to take it out. Alone.”

Breckett turned toward her fully and drew in a deep breath that swelled his barrel chest. “You have too much to drink last night, Kathryn?”

“Did I have…” Kat’s brow furrowed before she narrowed her eyes at him and crossed her arms over her chest. “And just what are you implying, Breckett Sinclair?”

He crossed his arms, too. “Just that you must be out of your damned mind. You’re not going out there alone. No.”

“And how many times haveyougone out there alone?”

Breckett grunted, shook his head, and spun toward the far end of the dock. As he started walking toward the kraken, he said over his shoulder. “I go out there every day. When was the last time you were even on a boat?”

Kathryn dropped her arms and followed him, needing to move her legs twice as fast as Breckett’s to keep up. “That doesn’t mean I forgot how to sail.”

“No, Kat. I can’t allow it.”

“Colin helped build half these boats with his own hands, and I rode with him on every one he made. I know what I’m doing.”

Breckett slowed to a stop, tension stiffening his shoulders, and tilted his head back with a sigh. “It’s too dangerous.”

Kat stopped behind him. “It’s the dry season, Breck. That’s the safest time to sail.”

He turned to face her again. “Where are you sailing to? And why now, after all this time?”

Kathryn drew in a lungful of briny air. “I miss it.”

He raised his big, rough hands, palms turned up. “So I’ll take you in a few days, when we’re not fishing. All day if you want.”

She shook her head. “I’ll be gone for more than a day.”

Breckett’s expression darkened. “What do you mean you’ll be gone for more than a day?”

“I need to go away for a little while. I want to explore what’s out there.” She searched her oldest friend’s face. “I need to find…meagain.”

If Breckett had frowned any deeper in that moment, Kat swore it would’ve swallowed up the entirety of his bushy beard. “So going out on a boat for the first time in almost twenty years isn’t dangerous enough? What’re you going to do, Kat? Camp out there on your own? You know what it’s like in the wilds.”

“I do know, and that’s precisely what I plan to do.”

“You don’t—”

“I grew up out there, Breckett,” she said. “I started hunting in that jungle almost as soon as I could walk. I’ll bring a rifle, and I’ll be careful, but this is something I need to do.”

He shook his head again, bringing up a hand to tug at his beard. “And what do I tell your kids?”

“Nothing. I’ll tell them I love them and that I’ll see them when I get back.”

“If you don’t come back, that’s on me for letting you go.”

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