The Clinic Swore the Baby Was His, So He Stayed When It Wasn't novel · Chapter 20 of 24

Chapter 20: First Ship

The first ship of the season came through the canal at ten past four on the afternoon of the twenty-fifth of March.

I raised the span for her myself.

She was a laker, red-hulled and rust-streaked from the winter lay-up, and the whole Lakewalk was lined with people holding thermoses.

I stood at the window of the control house with my hand on the lever and the lake light in my face.

Below me, the long bow slid into the channel, and the captain's whistle rang out, the old salute.

I answered it with the horn, a deep note that shook the floor under my boots.

On the pier, among the tourists, a tall man in a mayor's good wool coat took off his cap and held it over his heart.

He could not know I was looking, and he was looking anyway.

My phone buzzed on the console.

The text said, "Mind your wake, Bridge."

I smiled at the screen and kept smiling until the stern had cleared the span.

That evening he drove me up to Enger Tower.

The stone tower stood at the top of the hill above the city, dark and shut, and the lot below it was empty.

He parked the truck facing the view and cut the engine.

The whole harbor lay below us in the dusk.

I could see the canal and the span, the long arm of Park Point, and the black bay beyond.

The red hull of the laker was still moving slowly out under the first stars.

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