In Hot Pursuit (9 page)

Mike, who’d sat
silently watching the de-
fleaing
, looked at Nellie,
and said in an irritated voice, "Why do we have to take a stupid cat with
us anyway? Because of him, Mr. Edenshaw's gonna make us keep Katy tied
up."

"Not if
Katy stops misbehaving," Nellie said. "But you're partly to blame. I
heard you encouraging Katy to chase
Will’s
cat."

"Why do
you call him that? His name's Mr. Edenshaw."

"He asked
me to call him Will, and I asked him to call me by my name too."

"I suppose
you're gonna start calling him those other names, like you called Daddy."

"Honestly
Mike, you're making way too much out of this. We're only going on a short boat
trip with Will because he has a legal right to use a boat that happens to be
our home. But that doesn't make him a candidate for a husband and
step-father."

Nellie knew
there was more to it than that. The truth was, in the short time she’d come to
know Will, he’d started to fill a void in her life. Each time she was with him
she felt a desire to be with him more. And she knew that, in time, Mike would
come to accept him. But the problem lay with Will and he wasn't talking. Even
now, with their relationship so tenuous, she knew she'd feel a void after the
whale study was over, when Will would move on and out of her life. But she
refused to think about that now.

After the
carpet and vinyl installers left, Nellie went aboard to see the change.
Standing in the doorway, she gazed into the salon. With the interior walls
freshly varnished and new carpets replacing the soiled ones, the
Isadora
looked much as she'd remembered
from her childhood. Glancing over her shoulder, she said to Mike, "What do
you think?"

When Mike
refused to reply, Nellie said, "Can't you even try to like the
Isadora
?" She was becoming
increasingly alarmed with Mike's resentful behavior.

Mike pinned her
with defiant eyes. "Is he going to stay in the room with me?"

"You mean
Mr. Edenshaw?"

Mike glared at
her. "Well, is he?"

Nellie drew in
a long breath to try to calm the anxious beating of her heart. "I don't
know, Mike. We haven't talked about that yet."

"If he
does, I'm sleeping outside on deck."

Nellie was
quickly losing patience. Only Mike's threat to run away kept her from lashing
out in anger. "We'll work something out," she said. "Meanwhile,
I need to spread out my material and start cutting out patterns for the
cushions. You can take Katy for a walk if you’d like."

Without
responding, Mike clipped on Katy's leash and left.

Nellie heaved
an extended sigh. Males, she decided, were a very troublesome lot. She would
simply shove the two males in her life out of her mind.

Retrieving a
box of fabric from the locker, she removed a bolt of cloth and unrolled a long
swathe of the blue and tan fabric onto the floor of the salon. Then she took
out the patterns for the dinette cushions, that she'd made newspapers, and
pinned then to the cloth. Reaching for the scissors, she began cutting. After a
while, she glanced up from her cutting, realizing she'd neglected to look at
the newly-carpeted master stateroom. Scurrying through the galley, she stood in
the doorway and glanced around the quarters, pleased with what she saw. During
the past week, she'd finished the dusky-blue curtains, which hung over the
windows around the bow, and she'd covered the cushions on the curved couch
below the windows with the same fabric. A bedspread in muted stripes completed
the ensemble. As she stood gazing at the double-wide bed, Will came up behind,
standing so close his chest brushed her shoulder and his breath whispered
against her temple as he said, "It looks great."

"Thanks,"
Nellie replied. "With everything fresh and clean, maybe Mike will finally
start to think of it as home."

"Speaking
of Mike," Will said, "he went to the store to get some candy."

Nellie turned
and looked at Will, alarmed. "I don't want him wandering off alone."

As she moved
past Will to go after Mike, Will grabbed her arm. "He's not alone,"
he said. "He's with Roy Peters and his grandson, Donnie. The boys wanted
to go to the store and buy candy, and Roy's walking with them."

Nellie shrugged
off Will's arm and planted her hands on her hips, and said, "You should
have checked with me first. I’m his mother!"

"I’m aware
of that," Will said, in a restrained voice. "I thought it would be
okay."

"I don't
care what you thought," Nellie said. "I don't want Mike simply going
off like that without consulting me first."

"I don’t
know why you’re so upset," Will replied. "He's with Roy and his
grandson."

"I'm upset
because any number of things could happen," Nellie said, her voice growing
shrill. "He could be abducted!"

Will looked at
her as if she were deranged. "He's going to a store two blocks away!"

Nellie realized
she was overreacting. It wasn't as if
Will
let Mike go
alone. But she'd been on edge ever since she caught the old man in the
boathouse then learned that the car that followed them had been stolen. She
gave him an contrite smile. "I'm sorry, Will. I should trust you to use
good judgment. I'm sure he'll appreciate your allowing him to go."

"Yeah, I
suppose," Will said.

The look of
uncertainty on Will's face puzzled her. "Is there more to it than what you
just told me?" she asked.

Will's lips
parted as if he were about to say something, then he shrugged, and said,
"That's about it." Before Nellie could press him further, he turned
and left. And Nellie knew then that there was something more to it. As soon as
Mike returned, she'd find out what it was. If Mike would tell her. Things between
them were at an all-time low.

***

Back arched,
ears flat, Zeke stared at Katy, who looked steadily back at him. The tabby
moved in a slow circle, head tucked low, growls reverberating in his chest.
Katy jumped forward. Catching Zeke's high-pitched scream and lightning fast
claws to her nose, Katy yelped and jumped back. Snatching the moment to flee,
Zeke leapt into Will's kayak and darted into the cockpit. Katy landed on the
kayak with a thud, sending several wooden boxes toppling as the small craft
rocked against the bulwarks.

Hearing the
commotion, Will scurried down the ladder from the bridge and rushed over to
protect the sonar equipment stashed in several boxes beneath the kayak. Seeing
Katy shoving her way between the boxes in an effort to get to Zeke, he clapped
his hands loudly. Katy stopped abruptly and stared at him. Will thrust out a
finger. "Out! Back to the dock." Katy lowered her head, dropped her
tail, and jumped to the dock, and Will tied her to a cleat.

He looked
around for Mike, who he knew had untied Katy again. The kid was really testing
him. Ever since the incident about going to the store with Donnie Peterson,
Mike had been even more hostile. But he hadn't exactly let Mike go. Mike had
been pretty determined to do as he damn well pleased. Later, he'd tell Nellie
about their encounter, and about Mike's threat. There was no point worrying her
over something the boy was undoubtedly using as a ploy to keep his mother to
himself...

Nellie rapped
on the window. "What's going on out there?"

"Guess,"
Will replied, provoked.

Nellie joined
him on deck. "Katy and Zeke again?"

"Umm."
Will crouched to unlatch the lids and check the fragile contents.

Nellie peered
down at him as he hovered over the box. "When we're underway tomorrow,
Zeke will have to stand up to Katy because he won't have any place to go,"
Nellie said. "They'll work things out between them. You'll see."

But Will didn't
feel at all confident. "It's not the animals," he said. "It's
Mike. He let the dog loose again. The evidence is over there." He pointed
to where Mike's scraggly stuffed bear peeked out from between two boxes of
groceries.

"Well,
yes, I suppose he did," Nellie said.

Will looked
around. "Where is he now? I don't feel real great about leaving this
equipment unattended."

"Don't
worry," Nellie said. "He's next door having hamburgers with Donnie
since it's our last day here." She looked at the containers in the kayak.
"What's all this anyway?"

"Electronic
equipment," Will said, while examining a recording device to make sure it
wasn't damaged. "It belongs to the Cetacean Communication Society, one of
the organizations funding the project, and I can't afford to replace it if
something happens to it." It was ludicrous thinking he could conduct
scientific research aboard a boat with a kid who despised him. Nellie wasn't
making things easy either, with her big hazel eyes, and generous curves and
passionate kisses. And after her comment that she didn't believe kissing or
anything else had to end in marriage, it was all he could do to keep his hands
off her. He wouldn't once they were underway. Once Mike was be asleep, they'd
have the master stateroom to themselves, and if things progressed as he hoped,
he and Nellie would be in bed together before the week was up. It couldn't come
soon enough for him...

"What's
all this for?" Nellie asked, peering down at the equipment surrounding
him.

From his
crouched position, Will said, while pointing, "This is a hydrophone, and
those are amplifiers and headphones, and that's a synthesizer... all for
communicating with the animals."

"How do
you communicate with a whale?" Nellie asked.

Will stood, and
while scanning his equipment, replied, "We start by creating a shared
space with them and building mutual trust."

"How do
you do that?" Nellie asked.

"We watch
for spontaneous reactions to touch," Will said. He brushed his knuckle
across her cheek. "Scientists have proved that touch has a profound effect
on the well-being of all creatures. Whales, dogs, cats..." He smiled.
"A beautiful woman...
" He
trailed his
finger along the line of her lips then curved his finger beneath her chin and
lifted. When he kissed her, Nellie returned the kiss with a passion that
surprised her. And when Will's hands moved over the swells of her breasts and
down to press her intimately against
him,
she didn't
try to stop him.

It was crazy,
irrational, bizarre, but in two weeks she'd fallen in love with Will. She had
no idea what lay ahead for them, nor did she want to analyze what was
happening. All she knew was, in Will's arms she felt whole. A little niggling
voice reminded her that Will had no intention of marrying, but she dismissed
it, knowing he only needed time to realize a wife and son would fill a void in
his solitary existence. She also believed he was slowly coming to that
realization. At least about her. It would take a little more time for Mike to
come around and accept Will, but that would happen too. "Things are going
to work out," she whispered against his parted lips.

Will relaxed
his hold and looked at her warily. "I'm not sure what you mean by things
working out," he said, "but you have to understand there can be no
promises beyond the assurance of a one-to-one relationship while it
lasts."

"Is that
all you want? A casual sexual relationship and nothing more?" Nellie
asked.

"I don't
consider any relationship casual," Will said. "But I think we can
have a good relationship and a satisfying sex life without commitment, like you
said."

"Then
obviously you read your own meaning into what I said," Nellie snapped. "I
said kissing doesn't necessarily have to end in marriage."

"You said
kissing,
or anything else
, just to
clarify things," Will fired back. "But you can't deny you're lonely
for adult companionship. Intimacy."

Nellie clutched
her elbows. Why was he doing this, forcing her to admit the deep lonely void
left by Richard's death? Tears misted her eyes.

"I'm sorry
if I seem insensitive," Will said, "but there's nothing wrong with
two consenting adults having sex as long as they care about each other. And I
do care about you. All I think about is you and how much I want to be with
you."

"And I'm
faced with the challenge of raising a son, and I want someone to share the
experience with, to help round out my life, not a quick roll in a bunk bed
while at sea," Nellie said. "And in spite of what you might have
gathered from our passionate encounter, I have no intention of getting involved
in an intimate relationship outside of marriage."

Will dropped
his hands to his sides, and said, "Look, let's just forget this happened.
We've both jumped to some pretty heavy conclusions."

Humiliated by
her seemingly uncontrollable responses to Will's kisses, Nellie gave a shrug of
indifference, and said, "Sure, okay. Meanwhile we'd better put the
groceries away." She turned from Will and hopped to the dock and grabbed a
bag of groceries.

As they stashed
the canned food in the cabinets in the galley, neither talking, neither
touching, Nellie tried to put things in perspective. Before meeting Will she'd
never considered her own needs. But she had to admit, in the short time she'd
known him, his presence in her life had become important. She'd started to feel
responses long forgotten, like the warmth that crept over her when he smiled at
her, and the tingles that radiated throughout her body when he kissed the back
of her neck, and the deep sensual feeling he aroused when he covered her mouth
with his in a long, sustained kiss. Maybe she'd misread those feelings as love.
Maybe what she felt for Will was more sexual than emotional. After all, she’d
had a satisfying sex life with Richard, and she missed the closeness they'd
shared...

"We
haven't discussed where we're going to sleep," Will said. "I assume
I'll be in the master stateroom and you'll be with Mike in the double
bunks."