Chapter 24: Leaving on Time

Fern's POV

On the second Friday in June I stood on the Port Harlow dock at nine-forty.

I had a printed manifest in my hand.

The sun was already warm on the boards.

The water was bright and flat, and gulls argued on the roof of the bait shop.

I had booked every boat myself.

I had picked the date and paid the crew, and the groceries were stacked in crates at my feet.

This time the booking was in my name, and the name beside it on the form said Corbett.

"Ten names," I said to Teddy. "Count them."

"Ten."

"And you're one of them."

"I'm on the list," Teddy said, with wonder. "On the actual list."

He had a real camera around his neck.

In September he would start a job with a documentary company in Portland.

He had not touched his phone in an hour.

Brittany came down the pier with her husband, and the toddler ran ahead of them.

The little girl had a sun hat on and both fists full of bait-shop candy.

Brittany looked rested.

"Mom sent a card," she said, before I asked. "From Sarasota. I didn't open it."

"That's up to you."

"I know."

She squinted at the water.

"Uncle says the company's numbers are up. The new president is a woman from the Rockland yard who has been there twenty years."

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