Page 54 of The Wild Beneath

“On your own?” She looks back at him. “That’s way too dangerous to do by yourself, and weather reporting’s still down.”

“I’ll watch the barometer gauges like a hawk.”

Annie frowns. “Did you check the tug seams for leaks?”

“Took it out in rougher water last night. Seams were good.”

“You were back in town last night and you didn’t come see me?”

He grimaces.

She shakes her head. “So do you have a manual deck pump or just the hydraulic?”

“I wanted to see you,” he says.

“God, Evan.” She gazes upward.

“We were working so late. I couldn’t get away.”

“Manual or hydraulic?” Her eyebrows arch. “Your pumps.”

“I’ve got a manual, too.”

“Extra diesel?”

Evan picks up a stray screw. “Jerry cans.”

“Oil’s fine?”

“Do you want to write me a checklist?” He looks up again, meeting her eyes.

“There’s no one to deckhand for you?”

Evan shakes his head. “They’ve got enough to do here. Plus... none of those loggers has any experience on the water. I’d be babysitting them.”

“You’ll be awake for two days straight.”

“It’s a short run, Annie. There and back in under a week.”

Annie nearly offers to go with him. She opens her mouth to say it, but nothing comes out as she tries to envision herself on the tug. Leaving Walker and his hum behind. She prefers Evan to stay here where she can see him. She doesn’t want him up at camp, or on the tug, awake for god knows how many hours.

She wants him to erase the distance he’s made between them.

“I’ll be okay, Annie.”

“Why have you stayed away?”

He sits on the cockpit bench. “I don’t know if my dad’s thinking straight. He won’t stop.”

“He’s not the only thing that matters, Ev.”

“Of course he isn’t.”

“I wasn’t with my parents—­because I was with you.”

He takes a big breath.

“Tell me I made the right choice,” she says.