“Same friend who owns the boat.” He shared a smile.
“Do they have a house here?” She didn’t see one, but she couldn’t see above the sloped dunes.
“Nope. He wants to keep it natural.” Connor set the cooler down in the sand. “He’s a great guy, kind of eccentric. He could sell the land for a fortune—he’s had offers—but he’s not interested.”
“How do you know him?”
“Through the marina—he’s a customer.”
Someone had laid a sitting log on the beach close to the base of the dunes. There was a fire pit nearby and evidence of a recent fire.
Maddy spread the picnic blanket in front of the log while Connor opened the cooler and began pulling out the food. There were sandwiches, thick with meat and fillings and wrapped in plastic, a quart of creamy-looking coleslaw, a small tray filled with strawberries and cheese cubes, and last, a perfectly round miniature cheesecake.
“Save room for dessert,” he said.
“Do you actually think we’re going to be able to eat all this?”
“I plan on giving it my best effort.” He lowered himself in the sand, using the log for a backrest.
Maddy did the same, leaving plenty of space between them. After a quick blessing he offered her her choice of sandwich.
She took the ham and left the turkey club for him. “I know better than to come between a man and his bacon.”
“I knew you were a smart woman.”
Maddy took a bite of the sandwich and groaned in approval. It was from Harvey’s Deli and slathered with their famous homemade sauce.
“They know how to make a sandwich, right?”
“It’s delicious.” She took a bite of coleslaw and reveled in the tangy/spicy flavor. “I can see my dilemma right now will be trying to leave room for dessert.”
“That’s the only kind of dilemma you should have on a day like this.”
“I enjoyed the sail, even if I slept through most of it. It’s like a different world out there. It felt natural to leave behind my worries. I used to kayak, of course, but it’s not quite the same. Maybe because I never went too far from shore.”
“That’s exactly how I feel out on the water, more so even on a sailboat when I’m working with the wind and sea. I’m disconnected from life when I’m out there. From the fast, everyday pace of the world.” He gave her a wry grin. “Not to overly romanticize it.”
“No, I get what you’re saying. Well, except the at-one-with-wind-and-sea thing. All the adjustments you make to the sails—it seems like a full-time job.”
“It’s not for everyone, but I enjoy the challenge.”
She took another bite of her sandwich and watched a piper scuttling across the beach. Water lapped the shores rhythmically, washing up only several feet.
“So,” she said after washing down a bite with a sip of water, “how’d you come to own a marina? Is that what you always wanted to do?”
“Actually, I wanted to be a wide receiver in the NFL.” He shrugged. “But those dreams were shot when I couldn’t even get a football scholarship. I went to community college for a semester, then I overheard my uncle talking about a friend who needed dockhands at his marina. It sounded like a dream after sitting in the classroom.
“I could tell my parents weren’t too happy about it, but they wisely let me chart my own course. Ray hired me, and I moved to Seahaven—this dingy little garage apartment. I liked working outside. And though much of the work was the same every day, it was different enough to keep it interesting.
“Dockhands came and went, and before I knew it, I was Ray’s longest-standing employee. I sort of became his right-hand man. Then as he started getting older he wanted more time off, and he made me manager. He was about my dad’s age, but he was really different. Kind of gruff. Hardly ever let loose a compliment, but when he did, it mattered, you know?”
Maddy smiled at him.
“I kind of felt bad for him. His wife had died years before, and they didn’t have kids. I think he thought of me as a son.”
There was a long pause before he continued. “One morning he didn’t show up to work. He’d had a heart attack, apparently in the middle of the night.”
“Oh no.” Maddy winced. “I’m so sorry.”
