“Do you know who it is?” I asked.
“Yes. Liam McKee. He runs a deep-sea fishing rental.”
“He is your competition. Do you owe him money, too?” I said, pushing his arm with my shoulder.
“No.” Hunter laughed. “He is a good man. But he shouldn’t be here. He usually goes back to Ireland until October.”
The boat dropped its speed and slowly came closer, the newly created waves making theNauti Guybob more with excitement. It turned, showing large lettering on its side, making me snort.Feck Orfe.
“Does anyone out here give their boats normal names?” I said, laughing.
“What fun would there be in that?” Hunter raised his hand and waved.
When theFeck Orfecame closer, a tall man in his late fifties (though, with fishermen, it was hard to tell their age) wearing sunglasses came out to the helm, and was followed by a shorter person wearing an orange life jacket.
I shielded the sun with my arm to take a better look, and my heart soared when my eyes landed on Bambi. My vision blurred. Unable to form any word, I slapped my hand over my mouth to smother a sob of relief. Bambi was alive. Someone saved her.
“Bambi.” I gripped Hunter’s forearm. “That’s Bambi.”
“The woman with Liam?”
“Yes.” Warmth radiated all over my skin, and the morning sun had nothing to do with it.
Their boat was now several yards away from us. Bambi’s face broke into a huge smile, matching mine. I could imagine what thoughts went through her mind when she saw us. Hunter and I wore dirty and torn clothes. Hunter’s sleeve had bloodstains from grappling with Tom. His right cheek had a hint of a bruise. I smoothed my short hair on the sides as if that would help my appearance.
“How’s it going, Holden?” Liam McKee called out.
“What are you doing here, McKee?” Hunter shouted.
“I’m just helping my new lady look for her friend,” Liam said, inclining his head to Bambi, listening to her.
“I found you, babe,” Bambi said loudly. That nickname had made me cringe so often when she used it, but now it was the best one anyone had called me by.
The boats came close, and she climbed over the gunwale and jumped from theFeck Orfeto theNauti Guylike a teenager. I moved around Hunter and hugged her petite frame before she could protest. Without hesitation, she threw her arms around me.
“Oh my God,” I choked out through my sob. “I’m so happy to see you. I thought you were dead.”
Easing my iron grip on her, she stepped back and looked over me. I wiped my nose with my forearm and grinned. Bambi appeared healthier than before. Her hair was as short as mine, and she wore small sailboat-dangling earrings instead of her golden hoops.
“You look great.” I squeezed her bony, but warm hands. “And these earrings suit you.”
When she smiled, her face wrinkled with a million lines. I missed those lines. “Liam gave these to me.”
“They’re lovely.”
She glanced over my shoulder at Hunter. “I wouldn’t mind getting a hug from him.” She winked at me, and I snorted a laugh. “Who is he?”
“That’s Hunter. My boyfriend.”
Aww, that felt so good to say it out loud.
Bambi looked me up and down with puzzlement, and her smile faltered. “Babe, you look like shit. What happened to you?”
“It’s a long story.”
Liam climbed on board too and Hunter and I briefly told them what happened to us, starting from the awful storm, the time Hunter and I shared on the island, and about Tom and his crew’s attack. Bambi told us about how the Coast Guard found her two days after the storm, holding on to the unidentified life ring about twenty kilometers from Muri. The life ring that I threw to her. She spent a week at Rarotonga Hospital. By mistake, she told them that she and I were heading to Mangaia when she went overboard, so they conducted a rescue search around that area. After the search was called off, Bambi returned to Australia only to come back here because she realized her oversight. By that time, the Coast Guard didn’t want anything to do with her, so she charmed Liam into helping her.
Bambi apologized for the error she made and also for putting us into a pickle by stealing and selling my navigation system and satellite phone, but more importantly, she wanted to apologize for failing as a captain when she started drinking. She had been sober since that horrible storm. I forgave her.
