Page 10 of Let It Snow

“Are we headed right for it?” he asked.

“No.” Accessing her brain from its fog, she said, “Maybe. We’re headed northeast. I think. That storm cloud is coming in from the east. Fast. It’s going to ram right into us.”

She thought of Dane, of how he didn’t say good-bye. Not really. He hadn’t so much as touched her. No bone-melting hug. No soul-melting kiss. She longed for his touch, for him to reach out and tug at a strand of her hair, or to run his fingers through her locks. She took a deep breath. She longed for him to lean in and press his face into her hair and breath deep. She loved how he appreciated the scent of her hair. She never told him that. Never told him she used a special shampoo and that she had it shipped from Australia, that she did it for him because he loved it.

There would be a lot of things she wouldn’t tell him now. Every one of them crowded into her mind at that moment. But as the boat rolled over a swell and she held tight to the rail, she realized this was not the time to dwell on regrets about Dane.

There would be plenty of time for that later—like the rest of her life.

“I’m going to have a chat with the captain of this boat. Coming with me?” The snowfall thickened and a gust of wind moved her.

Pedro shook his head. “I think I’ll stay here at the railing.”

She wasn’t surprised. He didn’t look too well. A rolling deck had that effect on a lot of people. She wasn’t one of them. She had an iron stomach. Dane had an iron stomach too. She blinked away the thought with a last glance at the dark swirl of weather and the increasing swells lining up against their boat. “I’ll be back. Don’t go anywhere.”

Dane stood watch over Vendi’s shoulder while he spoke into his headset. Dane took pleasure in being obnoxious, in spreading his pain, handing it out like coal. There was a small decorated Christmas tree sitting on an old map table. If he didn’t watch himself, he might say something like “bah, humbug” out loud. The only thing stopping him was his refusal to become a complete cliché.

That and a growing awareness of the well-honed danger meter going off inside him like a nuclear siren.

Downing his coffee, he listened to the nearly unintelligible weather-speak and resisted the tug of Cap’s sphere of reason attempting to pull him in as the man stood stalwartly and silent by his side.

Vendi spoke into his headset. “I’ll have the MARS report for you as soon as the WSR-88D is operational again. Until then I won’t know the SWR, the SWV and SWW and so my analysis will mean shit.” He paused. “Pardon my language, sir. I can use the old S-band radar as back up. I’ll get right on it. Until then, the most I can give you is a SELS confirmation and a severe weather potential statement with an SMW at this time.” He looked up and took a long glance out his window, squinting into the distance. “No, we’re not ready for the SAME alert, but it looks bad. Unofficially, sir, damn bad.” He signed off, tore off his headset and turned around.

“Get the hell out of my space and let me do my job.”

“Not until you translate what you just said to your commander.”

“That was NOAA. This is a marine weather observation reporting station for them. Remember?”

“Tell me what you said.” Dane’s voice went a decibel lower but his heart rate kicked up a notch. Cap put a hand on his arm.

Vendi paused. Dane had been through some rescues and apprehensions with Vendi. They’d worked together well. But he didn’t kid himself. They were rivals of a sort. The sort where two alphas have their eye on the same woman and that woman is in the possession of one of them. Tony Vendi had always coveted Shana’s attention. He was worthy enough, but no way in hell Dane would ever concede to him. Not even now. Now Dane had to out-alpha the man or hope to hell Vendi’s sense of duty was higher than Dane’s sense of anything. Maybe Vendi was the better man.

“I said our equipment went out so we can’t technically confirm the weather like we normally would, but it looks like at least a short-term severe weather situation and I recommended an SMW—special marine warning.”

“Short term. So the ferry should be okay if they get through the squall.”

“Something like that—now if you’ll excuse me, I need to see if I can get a SAWRS report—”

“That’s aviation,” Cap said.

Vendi nodded. “It might help us.”

“Help do what? Send out warnings? What about the ferry that’s already out there—if things turn for the worse? If it turns out to be a blizzard and not a squall? What are you prepared to do then?” Dane asked the question he’d been burying from the moment he left his beach shack. What the hell was he going to do about it if Shana ran into trouble?

Chapter 6

Shana scrambled up the exposed metal stairs and thought it odd that she waltzed right into the bridge of the ferry without anyone giving her notice. She stood inside the door a moment and watched two men looking anxiously at their control panels and fiddling with what looked like SAT phones. There was one empty captain’s chair raised up and on a swivel. Banks of metal cabinets holding gadgets, monitors, and dials lined the front wall under the bank of windows. The room looked disturbingly like an amateur version of the Starship Enterprise bridge, if it had been built on a low budget and made in the 40s. A wave hit and the groaning of old iron parts and things clattering that probably shouldn’t be clattering alarmed her. The spray of ocean water prodded her to let go of her grip on the open door and jolted her into the room. The door slammed shut behind her of its own accord. The two men looked up at her.

“Excuse me—”

Both men tried to speak at the same time. The captain took over. “What are you doing in here? I mean, you should be down below, inside the cabin with the other passengers.”

The second in command said, “This is Captain Strong and I’m Andy, his copilot. Is something wrong?” He was older and a series of worry lines ran across his forehead like streams. His boss looked more panicked than worried, but she figured they had cause.

“Of course there’s something wrong. I can see the storm like everyone else and it looks big—”

“Don’t be concerned. This is a sturdy ship,” the captain said. “We’re in a squall. It’ll pass quickly. We’ve been in touch with the coast guard.”