Page 99 of Austen

Hawkeye laughed.“Oh, you cracked into the sea rations.Yum.”

“Any news on Austen?”Declan asked.

Hawkeye frowned.“What about Austen?”

“She’s also lost at sea,” Steinbeck said.

And the way he said it sort of punched Declan.Lost.At sea.Alone.

Because of him.I’m sorry, Austen.

Hawkeye’s smile dimmed.He glanced at Declan, then back at Stein.“Then let’s go find your sister.”

And Declan shot another prayer toward heaven.Because apparently God was listening.

Please.

* * *

She’d been in her ratty pajamas for two long days by the time she was rescued by Alfonzo—Fonzie—Pinder, as he’d introduced himself on the Royal Bahamas Defense Force ship.The twenty-something sailor had seemed to make her his priority after they landed at the small defense post in Bimini, because he’d helped her make a call to Key West from the RBDF administrative office.

Hawkeye hadn’t answered, so she’d called Mo.Thankfully the pilot had been between charter gigs and said yes, he’d fly over and rescue her.

And then maybe she’d never leave Key West again,thank you.

Except, she had nowhere to live, did she?So maybe it was back to Minnesota and...that’s when she shut down, sitting on a vinyl chair in the reception area, staring out into the blue ocean, the endless sky.

Fonzie found her, suggested food, and brought her next door to a tropical hole-in-the-wall café, and bought her bacon-flavored peas and rice and johnnycakes.

She’d never tasted anything so good as she sat in the air-conditioning overlooking the Resorts World Marina and the seaplane base.

Tall whitewashed ceilings, a couple palm fans circulating the air, and the smell of deep-fried conch fritters.And outside, at the long pier down the road, a Virgin cruise ship, with its big red stripe, had pulled up (the island wasn’t so wide that she couldn’t see the seventeen-story ship).Thousands of tourists streamed into the small town, shopping and maybe heading for Resorts World Bimini and its expansive golden-white-sand beach.

She watched jet skiers circle the turquoise waters, and a dive boat came into the dock and unloaded a crew.

She was back in fantasyland, a refugee standing on the outskirts, and it felt almost sacrilegious for the world to keep turning after...

And she lost her appetite, unable to bear the gasp, the terrible swell of reality.

Finally she put her head in her arms, letting herself cry despite being nearly dry.How was she going to tell her parents that Steinbeck had died?

Died.

And Declan?—

“Ma’am.Would you like to talk to one of our local clergy?”Fonzie had come back, sat down on the opposite side of the yellow picnic table.He’d changed into a pair of shorts and a collared shirt and wore a baseball cap.It hadn’t occurred to her until now that maybe he’d been out looking for her all night.

“I don’t...”She wiped her face.“I’ll be okay.What I’d really like is clothes.”

He pointed at her, then snapped his fingers.“C’mon.”

They hopped into a golf cart, and he motored her down the long main drag into Alice Town proper, past pink and turquoise and yellow homes, some on stilts, past rustic beaches, and boatyards with private marinas, a few food stands, and salt-licked office buildings and cafés, and bordering it all, the azure sea.And despite her ordeal at sea...the vastness of it still beckoned.

Run.The urge to just...ignore it all, put it behind her, not think about Stein or Declan, or even Phoenix, just...leave it all behind, swelled inside her.

Except.“Be still.”

Fonzie finally turned into a neighborhood and pulled up to a church shaped like a pyramid in the middle of a cluster of small homes.

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