Page 64 of Sea La Vie
“Good afternoon.” He sticks out his hand for Tate, and he gives it a curt shake. Archer joins us, nervously fiddling with the zipper of his rain jacket. I can only imagine how he feels rightnow, no doubt experiencing déjà vu from losing his wife years earlier. “I just got off the phone with my men. They are calling off the search for the time being until this storm dies down.”
“What?” Tate cries. “You can’t give up like that. You have to find her.”
“We’re not giving up,” he explains. “Just pausing things to keep our men safe. If they don’t stay safe, there’s no chance of her coming home either. We’ll send them back out the second it dies down. I promise.”
Archer is chewing his lip, staring at the ground. He shoves his hands into his pockets and rocks back on his heels.
“Can I do anything for you while you wait?” the Coast Guardsman asks.
No one says anything for a moment, until Archer clears his throat. “Just bring her home safely, okay?” His voice cracks, and it’s so soft, it’s almost a whisper. Then, he turns around and walks out the door.
The Coast Guardsman lowers his head, then walks back over to his table. Tate begins to furiously pace the length of the counter, running his hands through his hair. Unsure of what to do, and needing to keep my hands busy, I refill all their mugs and eavesdrop for any information I can get. They quiet when I near the table, their talk becoming hushed whispers.
The bell above the door rings, and another Coast Guardsman comes rushing in. Puddles form around his boots, water dripping steadily off his rain jacket. “Chief,” he says, his voice a steady calm that’s a stark contrast to how I feel. The Chief moves to stand and he rushes over to him. Tate and I both follow, and he glances at us hesitantly. “It’s okay. They can stay,” the chief says.
“You may want to sit for this,” he says and pulls a chair out for both of us. I sit, while Tate remains rooted in place, his face an ashen gray. “They found her boat,” he says.
“They did?” I say, relief washing over.
“They did,” he confirms. “But she’s not on it.”
28
Lainey
I’m a sobbing heap on the floor as the boat tosses and turns, the ocean taking out its anger and wrath on my family’s tiny fishing vessel. Midge is curled up in my arms, fast asleep despite the choppy conditions. The wind howls, blocking out the noise of her quiet snores and my hiccuping sobs.
It’s hard to tell how far I’ve drifted since last being able to check my location. I’m probably miles and miles from shore, lost at sea. The thought makes me cry even harder. I manage to stand and hobble over to the cabinet, surveying its contents. There’s a can of SpaghettiOs, a jug of water, and a stale loaf of bread with a half eaten jar of peanut butter beside it.
At least I had options.
I hobble back over to the GPS and radio, trying again for any sort of signal. Nothing.
I have no idea what time it is. The sky is still dark from the storms, and I wonder if it’s getting late. The thought of being lost at sea is unsettling, but the thought of being lost at sea at night makes my stomach churn even worse.
The boat begins to settle longer between each toss and turn, and a glance up at the sky shows that the dark gray clouds are beginning to lighten slightly. When the rain lets up enough to see, I stumble to the back of the boat and survey the engine. I manage to pop the cover off, and smoke envelops me. Coughs and gags sputter from my mouth, and I quickly pull my shirt over my nose. When the smoke clears, I notice my problem.
Whether or not I can fix it though, I’m unsure.
I hobble back into the cabin, grab a tool kit, and get to work.
What feels like hours have passed, and I’ve had no luck with the motor turning over. I’ve been hard at work, only stopping to take a short break to dump some of the SpaghettiOs out for Midge, who happily licked them up. Blood crusts around my busted knuckles, and my ankle is throbbing enough for me to have dark spots floating in my line of vision.
The rain has lessened to a steady drizzle, and the wrath of the ocean has settled into small rocks, causing a powerful yawn to overtake me. The sky is getting darker every second, and I’m afraid my fear of getting lost at sea at night is going to come true.
I sink back against the side of the boat, my head hanging in my hands. My hair is plastered to my face, my clothes are soaked, my skin is chafed, and every part of my body hurts.
I wanted to make this business last so badly, to carry my mom’s legacy and make my dad proud, and I’ve done the one thing that could possibly hurt him most. I can only imagine what he’s feeling right now, going through every same emotion he did when I was a kid and we lost our mom. I’ve failed him. I’ve failed my entire family and Tate.
Tate tried to make me promise I wouldn’t do this anymore, and while I didn’t exactly agree to it, I didn’tnotagree, either. He wasn’t trying to control me, he only wanted to keep me safe. He was acting so strangely when I left his house the other morning that I figured if he could keep secrets, so could I. Or, not necessarily secrets, but it’s not like we had made anything official between us. We didn’t need to know every detail of each other’s day. We weren’t even dating for heaven’s sakes. Although, I realize now that this was a pretty big detail to withhold considering he did just tell me he loved me.
Thunder booms in the distance and I grimace. Not another storm. Its boom is steady, growing louder and louder, and I wonder if it’s ever going to end.
“Laaaiiinnneeeyyyyy! Lainey, are you there? Can you hear me?”
I scramble to my feet and Midge joins me, the voice waking her up. Her barks echo across the water, and finally I see the outline of a boat through the fog settling on the surface of the water. As it nears, I realize I recognize the bright red paint.A-Fish-Ionado.
“Paul?” I yell back. “Is that you?” My arms wave wildly over my head, my heartbeat beating erratically and threatening to jump out of my chest. “Over here!”
