Page 60 of The Words We Lost

“Just tell me what happened!”The urgency in Ingrid’s tone raised the hair on Cece’s neck. “Whatever it is, I’m sure it can be fixed. The Campbells are reasonable people,goodpeople. Maybe if you just talked to them, they would—”

“What have I told you! There areno good people!” Hal barked. “Talking about your problems never fixes anything.”

“And running away does?” Ingrid’s question broke on a sob. “This does?”

A sharp shattering of glass cracked through the forest like a whip, causing Joel to break into a hard sprint toward the boat. Cece didn’t bother to keep up the spy charade now; all she could imagine was Ingrid being hurt by a man three times her size. She ran after Joel until she felt she might vomit, but whatever was going on inside that tugboat was too big for Joel to manage on his own. He needed to besmart, not try to be a hero!

Not caring how loud or obvious her mother’s red jacket was streaking across the dark shore, she pumped her arms and hissed his name over and over. It was only when he stumbled over a piece of driftwood that she caught up with him. Only steps away from the deck, she yanked him back, nearly taking them both to the ground.

“Wait!” she hissed. “Just wait a second—think!”

When he spun to face her, his eyes were too wild, too frenzied, too ready for a fight she was sure he wouldn’t win.

She gripped his arm even harder, shaking him until she saw a glimpse of her level-headed cousin return. “Be smart, Joel. You can’t just barge in there unannounced. You need to assessfirst, plansecond.And then act.” She pointed to the cracked window closest to them as if she were the skilled detective and he was her rookie. She waited for the blazing heat in his eyes tocool before she gestured him toward the window as the argument between Hal and Ingrid escalated.

Joel peered through the gauzy fabric while Cece held her breath as she watched her cousin assess the scene and make a plan she knew he’d execute when the time was right. After a hard exhale, he rotated to face her again. His adrenaline spike seemed to have stabilized, at least for the moment.

He pointed to the chest of his sweatshirt and gestured that he was going in from around the deck and that she was to stay put and watch from here. For once, she didn’t protest. For once, she was too afraid to rebel.

With one last look at her, his eyes communicated everything his silence could not.If things go poorly, you get out of here.This time her nod came slower. When he turned to walk away, she threw both arms around his back, squeezing his middle tight. He twisted quickly to press a hard kiss to the top of her head, the way he’d done since they were toddlers, and then he was gone, the night swallowing him up whole.

She raised up on her tiptoes to peer through the same threadbare curtain Joel had only a minute ago. Her stomach lurched at the sight before her. She barely made it three seconds before she clutched a hand to her mouth to keep from crying out.

Surrounded by broken glass, pots and pans, and a random mix of household items, was Ingrid. Her splotchy cheeks were tear streaked, her knuckles white against a broom handle that remained motionless. It was as if an entire kitchen had been dumped onto that galley floor, and given the empty cabinets behind her friend, she likely wasn’t too far off.

Cece’s gaze roamed the rest of the tight space—wood-paneled walls with brass finishes that reminded her of the vintage photographs her mother kept of the 1960s. Her breath caught when she spotted Captain Hal shuffling into the galley, blathering on about lightening the load so he could pull anchor. He lifted a steel pot off the floor and tossed it off the deck into the night. The clatter was deafening, and much like the sounds she’d heard earlier on her run through the forest. The sight of his disheveled state made her want to squat down, cup her hands over her ears, and pretend this was all just a terrible, terrible nightmare.

How could she have been so wrong about him? Guilt tugged at herconscience over what she’d convinced herself she hadn’t really seen at the staff dinner: Hal, drinking from a silver flask he’d been hiding in her uncle’s sport coat.

“Stop throwing things! We’re not pulling anchor tonight,” Ingrid shouted. “You’d kill us both before we even got out of the harbor. You can’t even hold still for longer than five seconds. Please, just go to bed. You’ve made a big enough mess for me to clean up already.”

Cece could see the faint outline of Joel standing just beyond view of the open galley door. He was on the deck now, feet poised and ready to enter whenever he deemed it right.

“I am acaptain!” Hal’s voice resonated with machismo. “I can sail through any storm, any darkness, any danger! It’s in my blood.” Hal slapped a hand to his chest, which threw his entire body off-balance, causing him to smack into a small table. An open bottle of amber liquid was catapulted to the floor but didn’t break. Neither did the wooden table beneath Hal’s formidable weight.

The captain pointed at Ingrid through narrowed eyes, his hand swaying in the air. “Good daughters don’t speak to their fathers with such—such—vulgarity.”

He bent to right the fallen bottle, which hadn’t seemed to lose much of its contents. Cece gasped when he brought it to his mouth and took a deep swig.

Ingrid’s humorless laugh was sharp and erratic. “And good fathers don’t drink themselves into oblivion every time something goes wrong and then expect their daughters to clean up their mess. Well? Maybe I won’t this time.” She dropped the broom to the floor. “You hear me, Dad? You can clean up your own mess.”

Ingrid crunched over the random glass and debris on the floor, but before she could pass him, Hal set the bottle down and slumped his large shoulder against the cabin wall.

“Elskede, wait, please,” he croaked. “Don’t leave me.”

Ingrid stopped but didn’t turn around.

Hal reached his meaty hand toward his daughter, but she simply stared straight ahead without reaching back. “You’re right. I am a mess. Your motherwas so kind, so patient, so gentle, so pure of heart. I never wanted you to grow up without her love and care” came a weepy baritone Cece hardly recognized. “I never wanted you to be stuck with a brute like me.”

Ingrid wiped her nose with the heel of her palm, refusing to look at her father.

“You are my reason for living. My Elskede. The lighthouse in my dark world. Don’t be mad at me.” A wobbly smile curved Hal’s lips. “I can live anywhere as long as I have you. People’s opinions...” He puffs out atfffpsound. “They don’t matter. You and I together are the only thing that matters.”

It was then Joel made his entrance. His steps were cautious but purposeful. “Evening, Mr. Erikson. Ingrid,” Joel said with such chilling clarity and calm, Cece’s breath seized in her chest.

Hal’s eyes darkened, his words slurring considerably more than a few minutes ago. “What are you doing here?” And then to his daughter, he asked, “Did you invite him, Ingrid?”

But Ingrid stood motionless, her eyes round and unblinking.

---