“Understood,” Emma, Beth, and I chime in unison.
Gigi shrugs.
“Good. In the event we capsize—”
“Capsize?” Beth says, her soft voice rising in alarm.
Thinking of my girls, I nearly grab my bag and leave.
Captain Nojan raises his palm. “Not to worry. I’ve sailed this route over three dozen times and have never had a vessel capsize.” His gaze flicks to Gigi. “And I don’t plan on starting with this trip.” He lowers his hand. “But in the rare event that we do, it is important for you to stay with the boat and hold on. It is much easier for rescuers to spot aboat than people floating in the water. We also have a life raft mounted to the foredeck in front of the dinghy, which contains emergency communication equipment.”
I scan the deck near the bow, not seeing any kind of raft.
“It’s kept inside what looks like a large white suitcase,” the captain adds.
Then I see it, but it doesn’t make me feel any safer. If we encounter swells big enough to knock down this large vessel that’s been engineered to stay afloat, how would we all survive in an inflatable raft?
“And like I said”—Nojan’s attention travels to Beth—“when we get out of these protected waters to the open ocean, it will get rough. And I don’t want anyone panicking on my boat. So, if any of you—”
“We’ll be fine!” Gigi swipes her arm through the air for emphasis and sways against Emma, nearly losing her balance even though we’re still docked.
The captain narrows his eyes. “There will also be no falling overboard from having too much to drink.”
“Aye, aye, Captain.” Gigi offers him a sloppy salute before breaking into a giggle.
Captain Nojan frowns, looking at the rest of us. “Any questions?”
“Do these life vests come in any other colors?” Gigi asks.
The captain huffs a sigh and looks to the rest of us. “Anyrealquestions?”
The three of us shake our heads.
Nojan nods. “All right, then we’ll be on our way.”
Ten minutes later, we pull away from the marina.
“Look!” Beth nudges my arm when we near the break wall and motions toward a sea lion’s head protruding above the surface.
“Bon voyage,” Gigi calls over the boat’s other side, blowing a kiss to her assistant filming our departure from the dock.
After we leave the marina, Gigi peels off her mesh cover-up and lies out on the foredeck.Brr,I think, seeing goose bumps form on her thighs. Emma excuses herself below deck to call her site superintendent before we lose cell service.
I settle in beside Beth on the padded bench at the top of the companionway as we turn away from the city skyline and sail north through Puget Sound. Captain Nojan stands behind us at the stern, steering the boat with one of the two large leather-wrapped wheels while Adam moves between the two risen sails, following Nojan’s orders to trim and ease their tension. A lump forms in my throat when I spot the roofline of Elliott Bay Hospital downtown, where I nearly killed my last patient. I look away, twisting to take in the shoreline of Bainbridge Island. A ferry blasts its horn as it pulls away from the terminal, heading downtown.
“That’s Kristin Hannah’s house.” Beth points over my shoulder.
My gaze follows the direction of Beth’s finger, and I smooth back the hair that blows loose from my ponytail.
“The two-story one with the boat docked in front of it?”
“That’s the one.”
I place my palm on my head to hold back my hair and take in the large, shingle-sided home with forest-green trim settled on a secluded lot on the corner of the island. “Pretty,” I mumble, wondering what it would be like to be a famous author, waking up to the ocean every morning, probably with a doting husband bringing you coffee.
“I downloaded the first season ofFirefly Lanefor us to watch on the trip,” Beth says, her dark waves blowing wildly around her round face.
“Oh.” I feign a smile. “Great.”
