Chapter 6
C oast Guard Commander Linc Mercer filled a travel mug with coffee and headed to the dock for another day of searching for the missing men. They’d focused their efforts on the Salt Pond since Billy Weyland’s boat had been found partially sunk there. Linc, his officers, Harbor Master Deacon Taylor and others had warned Billy against riding out the storm on his boat.
But Billy hadn’t listened.
A week later, Linc was fielding almost hourly calls from Billy’s frantic friends and dealing with his brother, Morgan, who’d come to the island to assist in the search and keep the gym open. Linc wished he had something he could tell them other than that they were continuing to search for Billy and his friend Jim Sturgil, who was also missing.
Morgan Weyland had been helping by walking the perimeter of the pond at least twice a day, looking for any sign of either man. Linc appreciated that the man was helping where he could while allowing them to do their jobs. He was also relieved that Morgan wasn’t doing anything risky that would only make their efforts more complicated. He’d also seen Sturgil’s father out every day in his boat for hours, navigating the pond as he looked for his missing son. The whole thing was heartbreaking, and the worst part was that it never should’ve happened.
Dealing with the family members of missing boaters was part of Linc’s job, but one of the more difficult aspects. As was managing the media that had gathered on the island seeking updates on the missing men.
Linc wished he had something to tell them all. He took a call from the admiral in charge of the Southern New England region.
“Good morning, sir.”
“Morning, Commander. I wanted to let you know we’re giving the search until sunset tonight before we call it.”
Linc had been waiting for that directive and had been surprised it hadn’t come sooner. “Yes, sir. I’ll notify the families.”
“Please tell them we’ll continue to search during routine patrols, but we can’t devote the full resources any longer, unfortunately. You know I hate this as much as you do.”
“Yes, sir. I understand. Thank you for the update.”
“Keep me posted on how today unfolds.”
“Will do.”
They said their goodbyes, and Linc continued toward the dock to break the news to the crews that’d spent a full week searching during every minute of daylight—and often well into the evenings on their own time, in their own boats.
“Just heard from the admiral that today is it for the official Coast Guard search.”
“I wondered how much longer we were going to look,” Harbor Master Deacon Taylor said.
He, too, had been missing for a time during the storm before being rescued at sea by Joe Cantrell and his crew on one of the ferries.
“I’ll continue to send out a boat every day for as long as it takes,” Fire Chief Mason Johns said.
“Of course we’ll continue to search during routine patrols,” Linc said.
“Understood,” Mason said. “Let’s get to it.”
Linc captained one of the Coast Guard boats with a crew of three on board to assist. Another boat transported the divers who’d work underwater for a seventh straight day. They were focused on the eastern half of the pond, near where Billy’s boat had been moored.
In truth, he’d expected to find them days ago since the pond was large but somewhat contained, making for a much easier search than would’ve transpired in open ocean. But after more than a week of twelve-hour days, they hadn’t found a trace of either man. They hadn’t even known they were looking for Sturgil until his parents made them aware he was missing.
They’d had the help of numerous agencies and departments, including those who mapped currents and tides to direct them on where to look. He wished that no news was good news, but at this point, he had no hope of finding either man alive.
At lunchtime, they returned to the station to eat and take a short break before resuming the search.
Linc checked his phone for the first time in hours and found a text from his new friend Monique. She was Dara Watson’s sister, and he’d met her when Monique recently came to the island for a visit. They’d kept in touch since she returned home to Boston. Linc had started to look forward to hearing from her because her commentary was always entertaining.
She was newly divorced and figuring out her next chapter.
They’d fallen into a fun, flirty friendship that he greatly enjoyed. Because they were keeping things light, he hadn’t mentioned that he’d spent much of the last week searching for two men who were probably dead.
When are we going to see you back on Gansett? he asked by text while he ate one of the delicious Italian sandwiches Mario’s had sent over to feed the people searching for Billy and Jim.
Not sure yet. Got some things to figure out, but I hope to get back there in the next few weeks.
Keep me posted.
Will do.
Back to work I go.
All work and no play makes Linc a boring guy.
Haha. Right you are.
If you’re up for some time off, come see me. I could show you around Boston.
I might take you up on that.
Offer stands.
Talk soon.
The more he talked to her, the more he wanted to talk to her. He wanted to know what things she needed to figure out and what her life was like. He’d met her when she was on vacation and looking for a good time. What was she like in her real world? And why was it that he’d started to look so forward to their text exchanges?
He took those questions with him as he returned to the boat to continue the search.
As McKenzie went through her morning routine with Jax, she thought about Duke and their conversation from the night before. He was such a nice guy, which was incredibly hard to find these days. She and her friends had withstood every possible dating and relationship disaster, from infidelity and lies, in her case, to the physical and emotional abuse of her friend Talia.
Many of her friends, herself included, had sworn off men forever—with good reason.
“They’re simply not worth the bother,” Rochelle had recently declared after the demise of her second marriage. Two husbands by twenty-six. Rochelle, who’d been McKenzie’s friend since high school, wondered if that was a world record.
McKenzie had to agree with Rochelle’s take. Every woman in her life had a story to tell about being ghosted, deceived, led on, lied to and, in Talia’s case, injured enough to file a police report and go through the motions of having her ex charged with assault. McKenzie’s own father had washed his hands of his three daughters after his wife divorced him. She’d seen him twice in twelve years, and neither time was memorable for the right reasons.
It was exhausting.
It was demoralizing.
It was often devastating.
Hearing that her boyfriend, Eric, had a wife and children had shattered her, especially since she’d discovered a year’s worth of lies three days after finding out she was pregnant. That’d been one hell of a week.
They’d been fighting a lot leading up to that momentous week, so she’d debated whether to even tell him about the baby.
When she’d finally decided to share the news with him, he’d told her he already had a wife and kids, as if that wouldn’t be the most shocking thing he could say after a year together. But then he went and topped himself.
“The baby can’t be mine,” he said. “I had a vasectomy years ago.”
She’d stared at him in disbelief. He knew full well that she hadn’t been with anyone but him. He also knew she was in love with him and hadn’t so much as looked at another man since the day she met him.
“There’s no one else, and you know it,” she’d said, her chin quivering.
“Well, there must be, because I can’t have kids.”
She’d wrapped her arms tight around herself, trying to hold it together until she was alone. “You should go.”
He’d tipped his head and given her the charming smile that had made her knees weak before she found out he was just another scumbag. “Why do we have to ruin a good thing?”
“The good thing was ruined the minute I found out you’ve lied to me about everything.”
“I didn’t lie. I never said I wasn’t married.”
“Please go and don’t come back.”
Stepping toward her, he’d put his hands on her hips and kissed her neck. “Come on, baby. You know I care about you.”
It’d taken every ounce of fortitude she could muster to push him away. “Get. Out. Now .”
“You need to grow up and get with how the real world works, little girl.” He’d put his coat on. “See ya around.”
McKenzie had stood perfectly still as the door slammed shut, as he went down the stairs and as the door to his truck had closed. When the engine had started, she’d dropped to her knees and sobbed.
Many difficult days followed that confrontation, leading up to their son’s birth seven months later. Heartbreak and fear had been her constant companions. Her mother had urged her to end the pregnancy or to give the baby up for adoption.
But a funny thing had happened on the way to the maternity ward… She’d fallen madly in love with the little being moving around inside her. From the first second she’d heard his strong heartbeat, she’d vowed to do whatever it took to make them a family. They didn’t need anyone else.
But then he’d arrived along with a healthy dose of reality. She couldn’t do it alone, after all. She couldn’t work and take care of a baby and pay for daycare and diapers and the endless supplies newborns needed. She couldn’t work if she didn’t sleep, and she’d hardly slept for the first two months.
Her life had quickly become unmanageable, especially after she’d been forced to move back in with her mother because she couldn’t swing rent on top of all the other new expenses.
Once again, her grandmother had thrown her a lifeline.
Two years after her passing, Rosemary’s estate had finally cleared escrow, along with the cabin she’d left to McKenzie, the only family member who’d loved the island and the cabin as much as Rosemary did. Her mother had come home one day with keys that she’d dropped into McKenzie’s lap while she breastfed the baby.
“Taxes and insurance are paid for three years,” her mother had said. “The rest is your problem.”
From that second on, McKenzie’s only goal had been getting the two of them to that cabin. She’d planned to figure out the details after she arrived.
The entire ride from Coventry to Point Judith, she’d listened to her mother tell her she was a fool to take a baby to a remote island with God-knows-what for medical care or jobs or basic supplies.
McKenzie had tuned her out. This was the right move for her and Jax. She’d known it in her heart, until Hurricane Ethel had hit, and she’d been convinced for hours that they were going to die.
After she’d fled the cabin, she’d tried going next door to the home she now knew belonged to Duke, but he hadn’t been home. Thank God Chief Taylor had found her hunkered down by the side of the road, because who knew what would’ve become of them if he hadn’t come along when he did?
So far, her independent adventure to Gansett had been anything but. Two men had come to her rescue, and without them, she would’ve been dead and/or homeless. They both seemed like nice guys, but who ever knew that for certain? They were all nice at first.
She couldn’t stop picturing Duke sitting by the fire cross-stitching for relaxation like an old grandma. She laughed to herself every time she thought of him in all his long-haired, tatted glory pushing a needle through the sampler like it was the most normal thing he could be doing.
Despite his appearance, which gave off a tough, untouchable vibe, there was something so sweet and almost pure about him. It was an odd contrast, and she wasn’t sure which version was the real him. One thing she knew for certain, however, was that he hadn’t had to offer her a free place to live while she figured out her next move with the cabin. He hadn’t had to drive her around or offer to help her navigate insurance claims and reconstruction.
She refused to stick him with the sins other men had committed. So far, he’d been nothing but a good friend to her, and she looked forward to getting to know him better, comforted to know her grandmother had obviously adored him.
Duke took his morning coffee outside to call Mac McCarthy. “Hey, Mac, it’s Duke Sullivan.”
“Hi, Duke. How’s it going?”
“Hanging in there. Getting back to normal. How about you?”
“Same. Still on cleanup and eyeing some rebuilds.”
“That’s why I’m calling. Remember Rosemary Enders, my next-door neighbor who passed a few years back?”
“Of course. She was a good friend of my parents’.”
“Ah, that’s right. She thought the world of them.”
“And vice versa. We all loved her.”
“I did, too. She was a good friend to me. Her granddaughter had come out to stay at Rosemary’s cabin before the storm and is staying in my garage apartment since the place collapsed.”
“Is she the one Blaine rescued?”
“That’s her.”
“Heard she had a baby with her, too.”
“Yes, little Jax. Thankfully, Blaine came upon them before they got hurt, but she’s in a bind with the cabin being destroyed. I know you’re probably slammed after the storm, but if you guys could fit her in over the next little while, I’d sure appreciate it.”
“I’ll see what we can do to get out there as soon as possible.”
“She’s fine at my place for as long as she needs a roof over her head, but I’m sure she’d like to get back to her own space before too long.”
“Of course. I’ve put her on the list and will prioritize it since she’s Rosemary’s granddaughter and a single mom.”
“That’s very good of you.”
“I married a single mom. I know how challenging it is, even when her home isn’t knocked down by a storm.”
“I remember when you and Maddie crashed into each other on Ocean Road.”
“And the rest was history,” Mac said with a chuckle. “I’ll be back in touch soon.”
“You’re the best. Thank you.”
As he ended the call, he saw McKenzie come down the stairs to the yard, carrying Jax and a full backpack.
He jumped up to relieve her of the bag. “Where you headed?”
“Into town. Tiffany hired me to work at her store. I figured she might need some extra help right away, with her ex-husband missing and all of that.”
“I’m sure she’d appreciate the offer. How are you getting to town?”
“I was going to walk.”
“That’s a long walk carrying a baby.”
“I can do it.”
“Or I could give you a ride.”
“You’ve already done so much for us. I don’t want to be a pain.”
“You’re not a pain. I need to run by the studio anyway. We’re closed today, but it’s the dreaded paperwork day.”
“As long as you’d be going in, I’d appreciate the ride. Let me just go get his car seat.”
“Want me to hold him for you while you do that?”
She gave him an uncertain look that passed as quickly as it’d come. “Sure. Thanks.”
He took the sturdy little guy from her and held him carefully while she dashed for the stairs to fetch the seat.
“Hey there. I’m Duke. What’s your story?”
The baby studied him intently. “Gagagaga.”
“You don’t say? What do you think of the island so far?” Duke walked over to give the baby a closer look at his rosebushes, which had exploded with late-summer color. “That one’s red, and then there’s pink, peach, yellow and white. And they smell good, too, don’t they?”
“Yayayaya.”
“You like the roses, huh? The ladies love them—most of the time. I’ve met a few who don’t like them, but that’s rare. You’re usually safe with roses.”
“Are you giving him life advice?”
Duke turned to her, smiling. “It’s never too soon for such things.”
“I suppose that’s true.”
When she reached for the baby, he handed him over, sorry that he hadn’t gotten to tell him about the puffy, blue hydrangeas. Maybe another time.
“Your garden is gorgeous.”
“Also thanks to Rosemary. She helped me plant it all and taught me how to care for it.”
“I used to help her in her garden at home. I knew the names of all the plants and bushes by the time I was ten.”
“Took me a while longer, but I eventually got the hang of it.”
“It looks amazing. She’d be proud.”
“I hope so.”
She bit her lip and glanced in the direction of her demolished cabin. “I should go over there and deal with that, but it’s been more than a week, and I still can’t bear to look.”
“It’s not going anywhere. It’ll be there when you’re ready to deal with it. I called Mac McCarthy this morning.”
“Oh wow. Thank you so much.”
“He said he’d come by to take a look.”
“I really appreciate your help with that. I’ve never had to deal with contractors before.”
“Mac is awesome. He reminded me that your grandmother was close to his folks and that he married a single mom, so he’s partial to them.”
“That’s nice of him.”
“You’ll be in good hands with him working on the cabin. Try not to worry.”
She already felt better about the daunting task, and again, it was all thanks to Duke. He seemed to step in and help with whatever she needed. How easy would it be to come to rely on someone like him? Too easy.
“Ready to go?”
“Whenever you are.”
“Let me just run inside to grab my wallet and keys. The truck is unlocked if you want to get him settled.”
“Thanks.”
He moved quickly, eager to get back to them and to talk to her some more. Last night’s conversation had been… unexpected, to say the least. He’d been surprised by how much she’d told him about her baby’s father and her life before she came to the island.
“Knock it off,” he said. “She’s Rosemary’s granddaughter, and she’s way too young for you. She’s got enough going on without you bugging her.”
Her situation had made her vulnerable, and there was no way he would take advantage of that. If he found her fucking gorgeous and interesting as all hell, well, that didn’t mean he had to do anything about it.