“As a fuckin’ heart attack.”
The Captain chuffed a bit of a laugh and put in his two cents, “’Bout fuckin’ time,” he said, “Now can we all get back on the same fuckin’ team and get back to what needs doin’?” he asked.
It was Hope’s turn to look positively mutinous for a second bus she was looking over Faith. Her expression softened and she jerked her chin at her sister, “You okay with this, Faith?”
Faith swallowed hard, “Yes,” and it was written all over her that she expected screaming or yelling to start. Hope saw it too, her shoulders dropping; she dropped onto the couch across from us and huffed in a deep breath letting it out slowly.
“As long as you’re safe, and happy, that’s all I want for you,” she told Faith calmly, and she meant it, too.
“I am,” she whispered and sat up slowly.
“Good, now can we please get something to fuckin’ eat and go over this?” Cutter demanded.
“Keep your pants on,” I grumbled.
“Oh fuck him,” Hope waved her hand dismissively, “He’s just hangry, feed him and his attitude ought to improve. It’s been a long fucking day for us, trying to clean up this mess.”
Faith closed her eyes and her shoulders dropped, Hope looked over at her, “Not your fault, Bubbles. If anything, it’s ours for being so damned overprotective. The harder I tried wrapping you up, the more I tried to shelve you to protect you from everything, the more you fought growing up.” Hope lifted one shoulder in an inelegant shrug, “Why should now be any different? Should have changed tactics a long time ago.”
Faith very nearly held her breath, looking from one to the next, to the next, her gaze finally settling back on her sister. We all sort of waited to see what she would say.
“What,” she cleared her throat, “What happened?” she asked and it was as good a change of subject as any, so we took it, at least the Captain did.
“I think I got Marlin off the hook for the most part,” Cutter said and I raised an eyebrow at that, “Faith is another story, there ain’t nothing for it. We gotta go back to NOLA so she can appear; get this mess sorted out in front of a judge.”
Faith visibly wilted and I smoothed my hands up and down her arms, telling her, “Not like you ain’t going without us, Baby Girl. If the Captain says it’s gotta be done, it’s gotta be done, but ain’t no fuckin’ way you’re gonna face any of it without all of us at your back.”
Hope smiled, “What Marlin said.”
“Don’t you worry about a thing, Firefly. We’ve contacted a lawyer out there; a dude Ruth knows. The Voodoo Bastards wouldn’t steer us wrong after the solid we did each other. We’ll ride out tomorrow, get this shit sorted and be home by midweek.”
The Captain looked at each of us in turn and we all sort of slowly nodded, there really weren’t nothing for it. I wanted this all cleared up and in my Baby Girl’s rearview as fast as possible. I sorta couldn’t believe we’d all forgotten about the outstanding charges. It was a call from the police that’d cracked this wide open for Hope in the first place. A bolt from the blue, fuckin’ kismet, a gift from God, whatever the fuck you wanted to call it; that’s what it was.
“Now if y’all don’t mind, I’m fuckin’ hungry. Gimme the goddamn keys to the freezer, you jackass.” I laughed and dug between me and Faith, pulling the keys out of the pocket of my board shorts, and unclipping them from the ring designed to keep them there while I was in the water.
I tossed them to the Captain who swore, “Thank you fuckin’Jesus!You know, a little respect every now and again wouldn’t be misplaced…” he ranted to a soundtrack of both Hope and Faith’s laughter. Yeah, the bastard knew we all respected the shit out of him and then some; otherwise he wouldn’tbethe Captain.
We cooked, we ate; we stripped the Locker down and locked her up. The whole while Faith moved silently, wrestling with whatever demons she had over returning to that godforsaken place. We got theMysteria Avengeunderway. It didn’t take much, there was another thunderhead moving across the water in our direction, the direction back to town, and despite the fact I owned an ultra-modern sport fishing boat, I loved to sail with the next Mariner. Cutter and I hauled anchor and ran canvas, tacking windward. The sails filled pretty quickly, and with the Captain at the helm we were underway pretty quick.
I went to Faith who stood at the starboard bow, the wind sweeping her hair at her back, blowing it in front of her. I went up behind her and let her know I was there with a gentle, “Hey, Baby Girl,” but she still startled. I pulled her back against me in the circle of my arms and just enjoyed the wind and the salt and her warmth tucked against me.
“How you doin’?” I asked her.
“Scared.”
“Yeah, I get that. Anything I can do?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“You tell me if there is?”
“I promise,” she said turning so she could lean on me, her arm snaking around my waist. I held her, and she held onto me and we sailed back to the marina, both of us lost in our own heads.
26
Faith…
We walked along the beach from the marina, towards Cutter’s house. Marlin had asked if I wanted to walk and I had. It felt strange being on solid ground after almost two solid days on the water; I was missing the rolling motion of it. The ground not pitching underfoot was strange.
