Harrison almost had to jog to catch her. The weather had turned again—a bit of sleet was coming down.
He caught up to Amy on the top step. “Get me out of here,” she said.
“You bet.” He put his hand under her elbow and guided her down the first flight of stairs, across the deck, and down another flight to the boat dock. The water taxi was already puttering toward them, decked out in Christmas lights and a red-nosed reindeer on top of the canopy over the driver.
It wasn’t much of a boat, Harrison realized. It didn’t look large enough to take more than four passengers. He noticed another couple was already on the boat as it pulled to the dock. They were wearing coats with hoods and buried under blankets. The driver stepped out from the canopy. She was a buxom woman with grease-stained pants and an insulated vest over her T-shirt. “Hello!” she called. “I’m Sandy. Come on board!”
For some reason, Amy did not step gingerly onto the boat as Harrison would have done. She leaped, and made the thing toss from side to side. Sandy didn’t seem to mind—she handed Amy a tartan blanket. “Gets a little nippy crossing the lake. The blanket is cleaner than it looks. I wash them every Sunday.”
Harrison tried not to grimace as he took the blanket she offered him.
They took seats across from the couple and spread their blankets on their laps and zipped up their coats. It was already a little nippy and they weren’t moving.
“You going to the café?” the woman in the couple asked.
Harrison nodded. “How’d you guess?”
“Only place to go,” the lady said. “Not much happening around here.”
“Not true,” her companion said. “The Christmas boat parade is happening in a couple of days.”
“Well, besides that,” the woman said.
“Okay, friends, grab on to your seats,” Sandy said as she pulled away from the dock. She suddenly revved the boat so hard that the bow lifted out of the water and slammed down again. Harrison grabbed the railing behind them. Amy grabbed his arm. Sandy sped along, swerving one way, then the other. The woman across from them laughed. “She’s always messing around!” she said cheerfully.
Amy put a hand to her belly. Harrison asked, “You okay?”
“Umm…sort of?”
Sandy swerved suddenly to miss some flotsam, and then sped up again.
“Oh,” Amy whimpered.
The engine suddenly caught off, and the boat began to bob side to side.
“That damn intake valve,” Sandy said. “Hang tight, friends. This will only take a minute.” She walked between them to the motor, then bent over the stern in a way that made Harrison fear they’d be doing a water rescue. In the meantime, the boat continued to bob side to side, and the sleet, if he wasn’t mistaken, was turning to tiny little flakes of snow. Amy looked pale.
“What’s the matter?” Harrison asked.
“I think I’m a little seasick.”
“Put your head between your knees,” the man offered.
Amy did so immediately, wrapping an arm around each leg and holding on tight. Alarmed, Harrison grabbed her hair. “Does this happen a lot?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t been on a boat in twenty years.”
“There’s a bucket by the captain’s chair,” Sandy offered, her voice coming up from the lake.
No one had time to fetch the bucket, however—Amy vomited. “Ohmy God!” the woman cried, lifting her feet. “Do something!” she shouted at Harrison.
“What do I do?” Harrison asked frantically as Amy heaved again.
“Don’t sweat it,” Sandy announced, rising up and rubbing her hands on her pants. “I’ll hose it down.” She walked back through them and to the captain’s chair, started the engine, floored it, and they were off.
By the time they reached the other side of the lake, Amy was almost hyperventilating. Harrison helped her off the boat, noticing that the couple who had been so friendly when they’d gotten on the boat was cutting a wide berth around them now.
He put Amy on a bench where she continued to take big gulps of air. Harrison paid the driver. “Is there another way back?”
