“Come on, boy. Let’s get you some water.” Spencer had a bowl up here for the dog, but it had all sloshed out onto the deck during the storm.

  Spencer headed down to the galley, satisfied that he knew all he needed to know about the Black Bird for now. Learning that they’d be able to navigate the river all the way into Stuart and actually come within a few hundred yards of Tom and Debbie’s property was a game-changer.

  Their dock wasn’t that far from the channel. Spencer and Kate had borrowed her parents’ paddleboards one afternoon on their last visit and paddled across the river to a sandbar at low tide. Spencer caught a fat redfish off the edge of the temporary island while Kate got a little sun and played fetch with Finn in the ankle-deep water. They had to cross the channel to reach the low-tide sandbar, and it hadn’t taken them more than a few minutes or so of hard paddling to reach the deep cut of water from her parents’ dock. And that was with Finn riding on the nose of his board.

  Spencer noticed two large black trash bags stuffed full and piled in the far corner of the mess deck by the rear door. Nat must have rounded up some cleaning supplies as well, judging by the smell of bleach and lemon. A vast improvement over the stench of stale cigarette smoke and neglect that permeated the space when they first boarded. Spencer wasn’t sure what was more surprising: finding the mess deck and galley this clean or the fact that Nat had found cleaning supplies on board a ship that looked like it hadn’t seen a mop in years.

  Spencer moved to the sink, filling Finn’s bowl from the tap as he surveyed the impossibly clean kitchen. He’d caught a glimpse of the galley before rushing up to the bridge during the storm; there were broken dishes, cups, pots and pans, canned goods, and boxes everywhere. Nat had been busy.

  “No wonder Rob came up to the bridge.” Spencer smiled as he set Finn’s bowl down on the deck with a chuckle.

  The dog lapped at the water immediately, reckless with thirst, making a mess on the freshly cleaned linoleum floor. Spencer regretted not putting an old towel down first like he did on the Hunter for Finn after he and Kate realized there was no such thing as a spill-proof bowl, despite how the boat-worthy dog bowl was advertised.

  Taking a cue from Finn’s little yoga-like routine on the bridge a minute ago, Spencer arched his back and thought about what Kate’s reaction to the Black Bird might be. Certainly better than he initially predicted, thanks to Nat’s efforts. But no amount of cleaning could wash away the feeling of loss. Spencer was done trying to pretend the Black Bird wasn’t the best thing that could have happened to them. He was ready to move on from the tragic event and count himself, Finn, and his new friends lucky, but it felt like he couldn’t without Kate’s blessing. That meant reliving what had happened for her sake, an inconvenience he’d gladly bear just to feel her in his arms again.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  “Spencer, is that you?” Nat called out over the faint hum of the engine.

  A few seconds later, Spencer heard footsteps on the ladder leading up from the lower deck. Suddenly, Lewis popped around the corner, held by two little suntanned hands.

  “Well hello, Lewis. Have you seen Maya?”

  Lewis shook his head as Maya failed to hold back a giggle when Finn ran around the corner and tried to lick her face.

  “Oh good, I was hoping it was you.” Nat stepped into view. “I want to get a look at your arm. We can’t have those getting infected.” She proceeded to grab Spencer’s arm and gently manipulate it so that she could inspect both wounds.

  “It feels okay. A little sore, but no worse than the rest of me.” Spencer looked down at his body, focusing on his skinned knees from the slide to the davit during the storm.

  “They’re healing. I’ll redress them tonight. Or now, maybe.” Nat let go of his arm, satisfied with what she saw.

  “Later. You’ve been busy down here. It looks great. Thanks for doing all this.” Spencer panned the room.

  “Maya was a big help. Weren’t you?” Nat looked at her daughter, who smiled and nodded.

  “Well, thanks, Maya. You did a great job.” Spencer made sure to include her and was glad to see her laughing and playing with Finn, a stark contrast to the last time he’d seen her clinging to the seat at the height of the storm.

  “Wait until you see what we’ve done downstairs,” Nat said. “Wait, did I say that wrong?”

  Spencer tried not to smile at her terminology.

  “Below deck, is that it?” She rolled her eyes. “Come on, we’ll give you the tour. Have you even been down here yet?”

  “Briefly, right before the… I just had a quick look around.” Spencer didn’t want to mention the pirates in front of Maya and spoil the mood.

  Nat glanced back with an appreciative smile as she led the way down the ladder with her daughter. “We’ll give you the tour, then.”

  Spencer would have to be mindful of the girl; he wasn’t used to having kids around and wasn’t sure what Nat considered acceptable conversation around her daughter. The last thing he wanted to do was cause any unnecessary trauma. But the couple could only do so much to shield Maya from the harshness of the world they now lived in. In Spencer’s opinion, it would be best to be honest and open with the kid—sparing her the graphic details, of course—although that wasn’t his call to make. He was sure she’d be all right in the long run, no matter how the couple decided to explain their new life.

  There was a brief moment back at the resort pool, right before he and Maya made their underwater escape from the collapsing building, that had stayed with Spencer. They’d locked eyes while counting down to their dive, and Spencer couldn’t explain it, but he knew then in his heart that Maya was a fighter, willing to do whatever it took to survive. Spencer didn’t know many adults who would blindly follow him into a dark, underwater hole.

  Spencer nearly hit his head on the doorframe as he followed the girls into the forehold of the trawler. Spencer expected organized chaos. He’d seen the loose gear before the storm and afterward had done his best not to think about the resulting mess caused by the boat being tossed about by the twenty-foot seas. But to his astonishment, the forwardmost cargo space was neat and orderly.

  Nat shrugged. “It still needs cleaning. A lot of the boat does down here. But we’ve got a good start on it.”

  “I’ll say.” Spencer spun on his heels, making a complete circle as he took it in.

  Nat had used the netted hammocks to store a lot of things that had otherwise been free to slide about on the deck. And as long as they didn’t need them for sleeping, Spencer thought they should stay that way. Letting things swing with the natural motion of the waves would keep things tidy and out of the way, leaving room for heavier, bulkier items down on the deck where they could be secured.

  “Rob’s pretty good at building things,” Nat added. “He said he could make some shelves and maybe some bins out of those empty pallets to hold this stuff in place long term but wanted to talk to you first.”

  “That sounds great. I’m all for organizing.”

  “No, Finn.” Maya tugged at Finn’s collar as the dog buried his nose in a sack of rice.

  “Come on, Finn. That’s not for you, buddy.” Spencer stepped up and over the high sill of the compartment door, slapping his thigh to let the dog know he was serious.

  “Come on, I’ll show you the rest of the boat.” Nat and Maya scooted past in the narrow passageway while Spencer waited to make sure Finn was following.

  Once Finn was through, Spencer closed the watertight door and rotated the big lever, twisting the dogs down tightly against the rubber gasket.

  “Just as a general rule, it’s a good idea to keep this closed and fully latched unless we’re using the space. And if we drop anchor, which we’ll be doing in Stuart, no one should be in there while that happens. It’s a very dangerous place to be when that chain gets moving, and if… Well, you could get hurt really bad.” Spencer wrapped it up without going into further detail while looking at Maya to make sure she was listening and understood.

  Rob and Maya might be the best parents in the world, but this was a big boat with lots of nooks and crannies for a curious kid Maya’s size and her stuffed friend Lewis to disappear into. Spencer needed to make sure Maya understood that not all places on the boat were meant for her to explore.

  “We can add the door to our list, and we’ve already discussed some of the off-limits places. That’s one of them.” Nat pointed at the recently closed door, then held out her hand and started counting fingers as she waited for Maya to join in.

  “The engine room. The other bedrooms. And get permission to go outside or all the way to the top.” Maya swayed back and forth as she recited the rules that Nat had clearly laid out.

  “Very good.” Nat stopped peeling back fingers and ruffled the girl’s already messy hair. “We’re in here for now unless you want us to move.”

  Spencer peeked into the stateroom without going in. As far as he was concerned, that was their space and he didn’t need to intrude.

  Nat moved to the next door in the passageway. “There’s a bathroom in there. Or a head, I guess you call it.”

  “That’s right.” Spencer nodded.

  “Then three more staterooms. One of them has four bunk beds and a built-in table with lounge chairs, and the other two are like ours, except for this one, which has a larger bed and a private bath. I thought you and Kate might want this one, so I took the liberty of moving some of your things in. The sheets are clean and so are the towels.” Nat waved her hand through the air like a model introducing a new car.

  “I don’t know what to say. Thank you.” Spencer stepped inside the stateroom, inspecting the space.

  “I’m guessing this was the captain’s quarters. It’s where I found the paperwork that I sent up to the bridge with Rob.”

  “Yeah, thanks for that, too. It was the certificate of registry and some other things that I’ve been looking for.” Spencer shrugged. “But you guys should take the bigger room—or at least let Maya sleep in one of the bunk beds. We might as well take advantage of the space while we have it.”

  “No, we’re fine, and as far as Maya is concerned, I don’t think that’s going to happen anytime soon.” Nat glanced down at the girl, who took a break from rubbing Finn to grab her mother’s leg.

  “No, I want to stay with you and Daddy.” Maya had been listening to their conversation after all.

  “You are, sweety. You are. Did you know this boat has laundry? I didn’t expect that.” Nat turned her attention to Spencer, and Maya went back to lavishing attention on Finn.

  “I figured it would. Probably like new.” He laughed.

  “Yeah, I don’t think it’s seen a lot of use,” Nat agreed.

  Spencer felt bad about suggesting Maya take one of the bunk beds but not as bad as he felt about taking the most luxurious stateroom on the boat. The captain’s quarters on the Black Bird made the space he and Kate slept in on the Hunter look like a shoebox. Spencer couldn’t get over the bed alone, which was a real full-sized mattress. It was odd seeing the comforter and pillows Kate had picked out for them in a new setting. But her decorating style seemed strangely at home among the polished mahogany woodwork that accented the stateroom. Apparently pirating was a very lucrative business.

  Spencer stepped into the private head and was equally impressed with the ample space; it included a compact but full-sized shower. Whoever the pirates had stolen the boat from had put a considerable amount of time and money into the retrofit. It was a shame the former captain and crew hadn’t done a better job of maintaining her, although clear vestiges of the Black Bird’s former glory remained.

  “Don’t feel too bad,” Nat said. “The other bathroom is a lot bigger. Oh, I did it again.”

  “It’s fine, really. The most important things to get straight are port and starboard,” Spencer stated. Left and right were relative, depending on how the person was facing on a boat, but port and starboard never changed, allowing for unquestionable communication in an emergency, and he did think it was important for them to know that.

  When Spencer stepped out of the head, Finn was breaking in the new bed by wriggling around on his back with all four feet kicking furiously at the air. But it was the snorting and sneezing that got Maya giggling at the dog’s antics.

  “Oh, Finn.” Nat shook her head, watching the dog undo her and Maya’s hard work.

  “It’s fine. Only a matter of time, really.” Spencer smiled at the wild-eyed dog and made his way to the far side of the room.

  He took a quick peek out the porthole to check on the darkening sky to their west. Then he noticed the framed picture Nat had placed on the built-in table by the bed. The photograph showed Kate and Spencer standing aboard Restless at her parents’ dock, with Finn sitting between them.

  “That was the weekend we got the Hunter.” Spencer couldn’t help but smile at the memories the photograph triggered.

  The Hunter’s original name when they bought her was Knot My Problem, a corny pun that Tom took full advantage of all weekend. Every time Spencer added something to the list of repairs or upgrades he had planned for the new-to-them sailboat, Tom never failed to chime in with a “knot my problem” quip.

  But Spencer’s good mood was short-lived, and his smile faded like the sun being covered by a cloud. He didn’t remember picking the picture up, yet he found himself holding the frame in his hand as Nat’s hand touched his shoulder.

  Spencer fought the urge to cry tears of frustration as a roller coaster of emotions swept over him. Their boat was gone, and realistically, he had no idea if he’d ever see Kate again. He’d done his best not to think that way since the beginning of their journey, but the picture in his hands and the foreign environment was a reminder of what he’d lost and what he stood to lose. Seeing the image of Kate smiling back at him was bittersweet. No matter what Spencer found in Stuart, he couldn’t help but think days like those were gone forever.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Spencer set the picture down and dried his eyes as discreetly as he could before turning to face Nat. He suddenly felt like he needed some fresh air, and although he hadn’t accomplished anything while below deck, Nat and Maya had. Spencer couldn’t remember what he’d planned to do down here, but seeing that things were in order well beyond his expectations made him feel like it couldn’t have been that important.

  “I think I’m going to head topside and enjoy the fresh air while it lasts.” Spencer slid past Nat toward the door. “You guys should do the same. You’ve already done more than enough.”

  Nat shuffled her feet. “Sounds like we’re getting close to Stuart.”

  “With any luck, we’ll be at the inlet around seven, give or take.” Spencer stopped at the door.

  “That’s good.” Nat encouraged Maya to follow her out of the stateroom, her eyes betraying her true feelings.

  “We won’t be there long, no longer than it takes to grab Kate and her parents and get out. You have my word on that. And you guys can stay aboard. Rob too. In fact, I’d prefer it. Someone needs to keep an eye on the boat. But we can go over all that later.” That was Spencer’s way of watering down the truth about needing Rob and Nat to stay aboard and be ready to fight if necessary to ward off anyone interested in taking the vessel for themselves.

  “Do you think it’s going to be anything like Marathon? Can you see anything yet?” Nat asked with bated breath.

  “I’m not sure what to expect, honestly. I wouldn’t count on much. I hope I’m wrong about that. I can’t see land yet, but if the color of the sky to our west is any indication…” Spencer checked his watch. He’d already said more than he meant to in front of Maya and finished with a shrug and a raised brow.

  Nat ran a hand through her dark brown hair and let out a deep breath through pursed lips. “Everything is going to work out. I know it will.”

  Spencer nodded at Nat and shot Maya a smile. “Thanks again for all the hard work. I think Kate’s gonna like it if—when—she sees the place.”

  Spencer turned to leave but heard Nat call out behind him, “When, Spencer. It’s when.”

  But Spencer didn’t answer. He didn’t want to think about it anymore. And now that he was out in the passageway, his desperation for fresh air had vanished. He also remembered that he’d wanted to take a look around the engine room to make sure things were in order after the beating the Black Bird had taken. And now that he wasn’t in a hurry like the last time he’d been below deck, he could take a few extra minutes to see if he could locate the engineer’s log or its equivalent.

  Spencer scooted along the passageway toward the stern of the boat, the vibrations and steady clacking of the diesel growing in intensity as he neared the capsule-shaped, watertight door that opened into the engine room.

  “Go play with Maya for a minute, Finn. Trust me, boy, you don’t want any part of what’s in here.” Spencer held his hand out and directed Finn back toward the girls with an extended finger.

  Finn looked disappointed, but only for a second. Then he resumed panting and trotted off in the opposite direction. Spencer lifted the lever-style handle upward, freeing the dogs, then pushed the heavy steel door open with his hip and felt a blast of hot air hit his face. The overwhelming sound of the running engine split the dull air, and Spencer moved inside the space, swiftly closing the door behind him. He made for the workbench and located a pair of earmuffs swinging from an overhead beam. He took the time to clean them with his T-shirt before slipping them on.

  Now that he’d reduced the deafening roar of the 450-horsepower Caterpillar to a dull rumble that he could feel throughout his entire body, he was ready to see if he could find what he was looking for while attempting to educate himself about the Black Bird’s inner workings. Spencer could already feel the beads of sweat forming on his forehead and happened to catch a glimpse of a thermometer mounted to the bulkhead among a handful of spare drive belts.