As he said it, the boat lurched sideways and I heard a hundred things that weren’t tied down go flying. Myself almost included.
‘Shit.’ Jim grabbed the bulkhead with one hand, my arm with the other. ‘I need to get us back nearer shore, find somewhere to ride this storm out.’
‘Have you heard anything from Dylan on theGolden Pearl?’
He shook his head. ‘Damn wind took out our VHF antenna. Can’t radio anyone. We’re all alone out here.’
I pulled myself out of the sleeping bag, not easy when I was being tipped from side to side, and sat up on the side of the bunk, trying to find my balance. ‘OK. Do we need to strap everything down on deck?’
‘Already done that about an hour ago, before the wind jumped up. Snow’s falling thick and fast too. Can’t see your hand in front of your face out there.’
I tried to squash down the nerves I felt, channeling the adrenaline rush I was getting instead. ‘Let’s get out of here then.’
We held each other’s stare, unspoken between us the understanding that it was just us against Mother Nature right now. We needed to pull together as a team in order to survive.
‘That’s the plan,’ he said. ‘Come on.’
In the wheelhouse I froze, unable to reconcile what it was I was seeing. Water? Snow? Both? The windows were awash with white spray. The boat tipped with a loud creaking sound, throwing us together against the wall.
‘You weren’t wrong when you said they undersold it!’ I yelled.
‘We’ll deal with them later,’ he shouted back, reaching for the throttle. In the darkness, the green of the radar glowed brightly. I braced myself, watching him work the boat through the giant swell. The bow pointing to the sky at an impossible angle before we’d breach the crest and plummet down the other side, like some awful ride at a theme park. My stomach hit my boots every time, and I considered myself a pretty seasoned sailor. That’s how I knew this was bad. White-knuckled, I held on to the back of the co-pilot’s seat and willed Jim to get us home safely. If anyone could, I knew it was him.
‘Shit,’ Jim swore, and the look in his eyes struck fear into my heart.
‘What’s wrong?’
‘We’ve got a problem.’
39
MAE
I didn’t know what to do. Who to call. Should I call the police? The National Coast Guard? He promised me he’d be OK. I had to trust him.
All I could do was watch the storm rage and think of Jonah. I replayed every minute of our time together since I’d moved to Pine Harbor, in my head. And that gave me an idea. To do the only thing I could do.
‘Widow’s light, my ass,’ I muttered, turning every single light in the cottage on full. It wasn’t enough. Even with the solar lights on outside, it wasn’t enough. I went through the cupboards and found the emergency torch and a camping lantern, along with some candles.
I dragged the table up against the front window and aimed the torch and the lantern out to sea. The candles, I lit and placed in a vase I found in the kitchen cabinet. I sat with it in front of me and I watched the sea and I waited for Jonah to come home to me.
40
JONAH
‘A buoy line must be tangled in the prop,’ Jim yelled. ‘The boat’s heavy. Dragging. If that jams us up we’ll lose all our maneuverability. In this weather you know what that means.’
I nodded. If we couldn’t steer the boat in these waves it wouldn’t be long until they overpowered us. And if we rolled, it was game over in this weather.
‘You can’t shake it off?’
He shook his head. ‘I don’t want to risk wrapping it on there even further.’
I stared outside the window, knowing there was only one thing we could do.
‘I’ll cut it,’ I shouted.
‘No.’ He shook his head. ‘I’ll do it. She’s my boat.’
