They stared at the sign. Even Kayla seemed at a loss of how to fix the situation.
Julie’s first thought was No wonder the housekeeper was so frantic to find the little boy, she thought he was shark bait. Her second thought was I might be shark bait myself.
“What are we going to do?” Aggie’s question broke their silence.
“Hell if I know.” Kayla looked around, gauging the situation. If there was an obvious action, she would figure it out.
“It’s not that far to shore . . .” Aggie said.
“Except for the sharks,” Julie said.
“Academic, because we can’t leave the boat to drift out to sea at high tide.” Kayla leaned over and lifted two emergency oars from the hull, handed one to Aggie, and motioned her to the opposite side.
“Julie, go forward to take the weight out of the back of the boat.”
Julie moved past them, climbed onto the bow, and hung on for dear life, thinking, Shark bait, shark bait, shark bait.
Kayla and Aggie lowered the oars into the water. “Use it like a gondola pole,” Kayla ordered.
She and Aggie pushed and pushed, but after much grunting and heaving, they were still stuck.
“Okay, you two in the back and I’ll see if I can get the front pointed out to sea.”
Julie scrambled to the back next to Aggie.
Kayla pushed the oar into the sand, trying to dislodge the nose of the boat. After a few seconds she gave up. “Try calling Les and see if he can send us a tow.”
“He and Bjorn are probably still gone, but I’ll try.” Aggie searched in her beach bag for her phone. The call went to voice mail.
“The coast guard?” Julie suggested.
“Too embarrassing,” said Kayla. “I guess we’ll have to call Surf’s Up. Maybe there’s someone there who can help us.”
“CeeJay?” Aggie said. “That little bitch told us to stay near shore in the first place.”
“You think she did it on purpose?” Julie asked. “No, don’t answer that. It’s to pay us back because she thinks I’m moving in on Scatter.”
“She said that? You didn’t tell us that part.”
“I didn’t think it was important. I assured her I had no interest and to get over it.”
“Are you and Scatter . . . ?”
“No.”
“There was that night of kissing,” Aggie reminded her.
Julie held up two fingers. “Two. Exactly two kisses. And besides, I think he and Dee at the community camp are pretty tight.”
“The Scatman is pretty damn popular.”
“Yeah,” said Julie, trying to ignore the niggle of disappointment she felt over that near miss. But it had been all wrong from the get-go.
“Well, I’m calling CeeJay.” Aggie made the call. Mouthed, “No answer.” “CeeJay, we know you’re there. And yes, we’re stuck on the sandbar like you wanted. Ha ha, cute. We’re having lunch. Screw you. There will be repercussions.” Aggie ended the call.
“Aggie,” Kayla and Julie said simultaneously.
“Well, I’ve had it with that little punk. She’s not even eighteen. So she can forget any of the guys hitting on her.”
“What?” Julie asked.
“Yeah. Les told me in strictest confidence. She’s on the run. Abusive father—physically abusive and not just hitting, if you get my meaning. I was feeling a little sorry for her, but really?”
“She’s underage?” Kayla said.
“She has ID and work papers, most probably fake, but everyone here pretty much looks the other way. They give her a little work where they can. She rents an apartment in town with several other girls. So at least she’s not on the streets or anything. You’d think she would be nicer to people.”
“Isn’t that illegal?” Julie asked.
“You would send her back?” Aggie asked.
Julie thought about it. “Nope.”
“We’ll just have to wait for high tide to lift us off,” Kayla said.
“When is that?”
Kayla consulted her watch. “Four hours?” She looked up and shrugged. “There’s an app for that.”
“Oh well,” Aggie said, and reached for the deli bag. “So who’s ready for a sandwich?”
They ate their sandwiches and chips, but went easy on the sodas after Aggie pointed out that no one wanted to have to hang her butt off the side to pee and risk a shark coming up for a bite. That made them laugh. They sunscreened and stretched out to enjoy the wait.
“The next time we get stuck on a sandbar,” Kayla said lazily, “let’s remember to bring cosmos or margaritas to help pass the time.”
Several times they tried to unmoor the boat to no avail. On the third try Julie was in the prow when she saw the little boy standing on the house’s deck.
“Thank you, thank you.” She cupped her hands, called out, “Hola. Estamos atrapados. Um . . . Necesitamos . . .” She groped for the word for “help.” Looked at the others.
“Sorry, French,” Aggie said.
“Latin,” said Kayla.
Julie made a stab. “Necesitamos ayudó?”
The boy stood there.
“Maybe he didn’t hear you.”
“Maybe I asked for avocado.” She cupped her hands again. “Por favor—”
He disappeared.
“Do you think he’ll come back with help?” Aggie asked.
“I don’t know,” Julie said. “Hopefully he’ll tell the housekeeper. She seemed nice enough, but if the owners come out and they accuse us of trespassing, just say we drifted and got stuck.”
Julie was just about to give up hoping for a rescue when she saw a solitary figure walking, not from the house, but from the public beach. Even at a distance with the sun in her eyes, Julie recognized him and groaned. Of course, it would have to be him.
“My hero,” said Aggie, as the three of them watched Scatter stride across the beach.
“A barefoot knight without armor,” said Kayla.
“Oh, he has armor,” Julie said. “Plenty of it.”
He stopped at the edge of the surf and called out. “What seems to be the problem?”
He was too far away for Julie to see his actual expression, but she was certain he was trying not to laugh. Kayla and Aggie looked at her.
“We’re stuck on the sandbar,” Julie called.
“Get out and push,” he called back.
“What about the sharks?”
“What sharks?”
At least she’d gotten his attention. “The ones the sign warns about.”
He started splashing toward them.
“Stop! Go back!” Aggie yelled.
He stopped when he was a few feet from the boat.
Now Julie could see he was grinning. “There’s no shark breeding ground here, is there?”
“Nope, though we do get an occasional sighting.”
“But the signs,” Aggie said.
“Posted to keep nosy tourists away.”
“Nice guy, whoever owns this house,” said Kayla. “Fortunately one of his kids escaped long enough to go get help. They called you?”
He held out both hands. “As you see . . . as they say.”
Aggie snorted a giggle.
Julie was not amused. “Why did he call you?”
“Do you want to get off this sandbar or not?”
“Yes. But we can probably manage. Sorry to have bothered you. Better get back before Ike, Corey, and Ron start handing out free beer.” Julie swung her legs over the side and slid into the water, then threw her full weight against the nose of the boat.
He was laughing outright now. “Chill for a sec, and let’s use a little science. Ladies, out of the boat.”
Kayla dropped a ladder over the side, and she and Aggie climbed down to the water. Without their weight in the boat and with Scatter helping, they managed to push the boat into the rising tide.
“Thanks,” Kayla said, and scrambled back up the ladder to take the helm. Aggie quickly followed, but when Julie started up, he pulled her back into the water.
“Not you. We have to talk.”
Aggie and Kayla shot Julie knowing looks, blatant enough for Scatter to see. Kayla dropped the engine back into position and they roared out into the open sea.
Julie and Scatter stood in the water looking at each other.
“After you,” he said finally, gesturing one hand toward shore.
They were waist-deep in water and the undertow was strong. Julie struggled not to go down, until Scatter slipped his arm around her waist, adding his strength to hers.
“Thanks, but I can manage.”
“The way you’ve managed everything else so far? You’ve been here less than a week and I’ve had to rescue you twice already.”
“Let go!” She pushed at his hand.
He let go suddenly and she was knocked back into the water. She floundered, trying to regain her feet.
He leaned over and hauled her up. “What do you do when there’s no one to save you?”
“I save myself.” She trudged through the surf toward solid sand. “Though I don’t usually need saving.”
“I can believe that,” he said, coming to walk beside her. “Nothing ventured . . .”
“Oh, shut up.” She made it only a few more feet before he spun her around.
“So what are you gonna do now?”
“Me? What do you mean?” Julie looked up at him—sucked in her breath. That flash of recognition again: immediate, visceral, and totally unsettling.
Scatter frowned down at her. “Now what?”
“Nothing . . . it’s just . . . I keep thinking we’ve met before.”
“Christ Almighty.”
“I know, ridiculous, right?”
He walked over to the boulder where she’d been sitting the night of the bonfire. “Sit.”
“So you can stand hulking over me? No thanks.”
“We’ll both sit.” He pushed her down on the rock, sat down beside her. “Why won’t you just leave like Lucky asked? Why can’t you and Louise just leave him alone?”
That stung. “He’s family. I’ve left him alone for six years—he left me alone before that. Now I’m trying to help. And my mother is worried. She’s always felt responsible for him.”
Scatter barked out a laugh so harsh that it made Julie flinch. “Did it ever occur to you that he didn’t need her to do that? He doesn’t need you now. You’re more of a hindrance than a help. Just like your mother. I thought you might grow up to have that spark of the devil Lucky imagined, but you haven’t. God, the two of you are suffocating.”
“How do you know how I’ve grown up? How dare you insult my mother or me. You don’t know anything about us.”
“I’m not insulting her, she did what she thought he needed; it just wasn’t always right.”
“You have no idea, you and your piece of paper from a university. If it was even a real university.”
He bolted to his feet and she thought he might leave. But he turned back to her; his eyes flared, and she got that same jolt of recognition she’d gotten before. The molten anger and hurt. He’s just like a caged animal. Her mother’s words ripped through her from the past.
And a flash of a bleeding, skinny street kid exploded in her mind. Late at night, Julie in her princess pj’s, mud on the kitchen floor, the smell of unwashed body and blood. A sullen, dirty, angry boy, his filthy fingers curved as claws, as he struggled in Lucky’s grasp. Body tense with aggression, or could it have been fear? Her mother told her to go back to bed, but his black eyes cut into her as she backed away.
Like they were doing now.
Julie looked up and saw the man the boy had become.
“So you finally remembered.”
Julie shook her head. But she did remember. Scatter. Scatter. “Scatter. I thought it sounded familiar the other day, but I figured it was a surfer moniker. But it isn’t.” My name’s Scatter ’cause I warn the gang when the cops are coming. “It was your street name.”
Scatter turned slightly, as if he were expecting a blow.
“Wow,” she said.
Slowly he turned to look at her. “Wow?” He blew out a laugh. “I’ve been waiting all week for you to figure it out, and now that you finally have, I get a wow?”
“What do you want, fanfare? The cancan? Fireworks? I’m still processing.”
He looked down at her. “Cancan sounds good.”
“You’re really that kid?”
“Yep.”
She smiled. “You got taller.”
“So did you.”
“Why didn’t you just tell me up front? Why did you try to keep me away from Lucky?”
“Because I didn’t know what Lucky would want. At first we didn’t know where he was, or if he would bring trouble with him when he did return.”
“But he’s back now.”
“Yeah, he is. We’re pretty sure things are about to come to a head.”
“Are Les and Bjorn part of Lucky’s posse, too?”
“We’re all in this together.”
“I figured as much. Well, Aggie refuses to leave Les. Kayla agrees. You guys aren’t the only ones who love my uncle. So you can count us in, too.”
He let out an exasperated sigh. “You’re not understanding this. Just stay out of it. I have to get back to work.”
“Which one?”
“I left Corey in charge of the taps while I came after you. I need to get back.”
“Okay, but I expect you to come clean about everything since you sneaked out of our house, taking a whole peach pie as I recall.”
He smiled.
“And you didn’t even leave a note.”
“I was screwed up, okay?”
“I guessed that much.” She looked down at the sand. “I missed you.”
When he didn’t say anything she glanced up at him.
He was just looking back at her.
She swallowed. “Anyway. You never told me who lives in this house.”
He shrugged, obviously relieved to have the subject changed. “I do.”
“No way.”
“I don’t own it. I’m just house-sitting for a guy we helped out last year.”
“And are those your kids or his?” She nodded to where the boy and a girl stood at the edge of the dunes.
He let out an audible sigh. “Mine, for the moment. They’re staying with me.” He lifted his chin and they ran forward to stand behind him, peering out at Julie.
“Es bonita,” the boy whispered into Alex’s ear.
“Yes, she is, and she speaks Spanish, remember?”
The boy nodded and broke into a quick smile that was gone almost as quickly as it had appeared. He pressed closer to Alex’s back. The little girl was younger, smaller, and, if possible, thinner.
“Oh my—” Julie blurted out with a bolt of understanding. “They’re the ‘contraband’ I saw Lucky delivering the first night we were here.”
“Contraband,” he echoed like it was a bad taste in his mouth.
“I thought they were bootlegged liquor.”
“It would’ve been easier for everyone if you’d left it at that.”
“We just stopped to say hello. Then I thought you were ripping Lucky off. That’s why I stayed.”
“So you could protect him against me and Marie and two kids?”
“I didn’t know they were kids.”
From the corner of her eye, Julie saw the housekeeper standing on the path between the dunes.
“Is she their mother?”
“Rosie? She’s their aunt. She’s taking care of them until their mother is out of the hospital. She takes care of the rest of us full-time.”
“But why sneak them here in the middle of the night?”
“It’s a long story, and the less you know the better. Lucky had to extract them from some bad people. They’ll be looking for them.”
“What about the police?”
“Out of their expertise.”
“So you’re just going to wait until these guys show up and what?” Her blood seized up. “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral?”
“Not if we can prevent it. But Lucky doesn’t need you as a distraction.”
She stood to face him. “Well, I won’t be a distraction, but I’m not leaving.” She smiled down at the kids. “Como se llaman?”
“Pablo,” the boy said.
The girl buried her head behind Scatter’s leg. “Cecilia,” he said for her.
Julie knelt down. “Seremos amigos, okay?” Julie said. “Friends?”
She saw Aggie and Kayla hurrying across the rivulet toward them.
“I’m being rescued,” Julie said.
Aggie and Kayla slashed through the water, then slowed, hesitating, probably not wanting to interrupt anything.
Julie called them over. “I think we all deserve an explanation.”
For a second Scatter looked like he might bolt. It was an expression Julie remembered all too well.
And one day he had.
“Why did you run away?”
“What?”
“You ran away after all Lucky and my mom did for you.”
“Can we discuss this later?”
Aggie and Kayla had stopped on the sand.
“Permission to come aboard, Captain,” Kayla said.
Scatter looked down at the kids, then back to her friends. He nodded and they slowly moved closer.
“Hi,” Aggie said when she saw the two children. Kayla gave Julie a questioning look.
“The loot I thought was contraband.”
“You’re smuggling children?” Aggie blurted out, frowning at Scatter. “Does Les know?”
“Yes. Everyone knows and now you do, too. But please, don’t give them away. They’re in danger.”
Julie’s attention snapped back to Scatter. It was the first time he had ever sounded like a caring human being. He actually cared.
“We would never give them away,” Julie said. “I’ll clue them in. Tell Lucky we’re still here. And ready to help.”
She wiggled her fingers at the children. The girl bent two fingers back at her and hid her face.
Julie joined her two friends. And they turned back toward the public beach.
“Just so you know,” Scatter called out. “I went to a real university. My degree is on my office wall.”
Julie smiled, before turning back. “Good to know, you can tell me all about it over a drink tonight.”