The two boys bumped down the stairs on their behinds, their mother shushing them as Father was having a quiet time on the east porch. They moved through the kitchen and through the mudroom and out onto the porch, making sure to stay an arm’s reach away from their elder.
“Did the boy come again?” the younger of the two asked their father.
“Yes, son, he did. He seemed to be in a hurry today. I hope he will get lucky and land a few fish to take back with him.”
“He’s a sad boy,” their mother said from the doorway. “I’ve watched him. He seems so lost.”
“I’ve seen him with an old man, perhaps his grandfather,” the man observed. “He must be visiting him over at Wolf’s Head. The old man was keen in warning him away from our house, but I think he hasn’t completely convinced the boy to stay away.”
“So there’s still hope for us?” his wife asked.
“Marilee, there’s always hope,” the man said.
“There’s always hope,” the boys echoed their father’s words.
Chapter One
The oar hit the water, sending a drenching pint of water into the boat. Mia shrieked as the cold spray hit her sun-warmed skin. Brian laughed as his mother jumped up and was only saved from toppling in the water by his father’s quick grasp.
“Mia, sit down. You’re rocking the boat,” he said, barely able to contain his laughter. “I thought you said Murphy taught you how to row?”
“He did. I don’t know what went wrong,” Mia said, sitting back down and mentally going through the hard-learned lesson in her head. “Oh, I know,” Mia said as she corrected herself. “I’m supposed to wait until the oar is in the water before pulling back. See,” she said, demonstrating.
The small boat began to glide through the still water. Ted adjusted Brian’s life preserver before easing back and enjoying their ride around Big Bear Lake. They waved at Burt as they passed by the peninsula. He was sitting on the back deck drinking a beer with John Ryan. Mia had borrowed the boat from the sheriff on the promise: if she sunk it, she would replace it. John didn’t have as much confidence in Mia’s ability as she did.
“I expect he’s keeping an eye on us,” Mia said.
“No, on his boat,” Ted said. “Evidently, he doesn’t believe a mechanical genius, a sensitive, and a bouncing baby boy can row a boat around this lake, even on a placid day.”
“We’ll show him.”
“Not if you keep jumping up, Minnie Mermaid,” Ted cautioned.
“Should we tell them how far their voices carry on the water?” Burt asked John.
“Nah, we might hear something interesting,” John said.
“They seem to be getting along better,” Burt said.
“I heard they were going through a rough patch,” John admitted. “Small town gossip is hard to avoid.”
“It’s hard to explain what happened exactly, but the entity that provided the stimulating factor in breaking them apart has been stopped. Although, I worry that the human element will never rest until she has destroyed Mia.”
“I take it, you’re talking about the previous researcher, Beth Bouvier?”
“Yes. I’m surprised you picked up on it.”
“Well, she went after Whitney and nearly ruined the guy’s career in the process. Fortunately, I was able to pull some strings and get him out of harm’s way.”
“John, since we’re talking about Beth, maybe you can help me to figure all of this out.”
“I’m no expert on women. My wife can attest to that.”
“I don’t think anyone is,” Burt admitted. “Beth seemed to me to be a team player. She may have had a bit of a problem with Mike’s girlfriends, but on the whole, she was one of the guys.”
“Go on,” John encouraged before taking another long draw of the icy cold beer.
“She started to fixate on Ted. He was nice to her. He’s nice to everybody, but he probably had a soft spot for a fellow techie. When Mia arrived, Ted was smitten immediately. He kept his distance when she and I were together, but I couldn’t help but see that when Whitney managed to win the fair sensitive, Ted didn’t back off. He put himself more and more in Mia’s way and was there to pick up the pieces when Beth made an end run around Mia and slept with her boyfriend.”
“To be fair to Whitney, he was drunk and feeling jealous of all the attention Mia was getting. Whitney always needs to be the star, top dog, numero uno in any relationship,” John stated. “But enough of Whitney, tell me more about Beth.”
“She really is a sweet person. Kind of mothered us before…”
“Mia,” John filled in.
“I mean, when she started all the jealous stuff, I was going through some bad crap that, I hope, was brought on by the flitch. All I saw was Mia through Beth’s eyes. But even in my altered state, I couldn’t accept her trying to get Mia committed. Thank God, Mia’s parents were never much into parenting.”
“Do you think Beth’s suffering from something paranormal?”
“Mia was able to get her hands on the girl and didn’t sense anything, but Mia herself admits, right now, she’s hardly impartial.”
“Burt, I hate to say this, but I think we may have to lay a little blame on Ted. He should have nipped Beth’s attraction in the bud. He let her fawn over him.”
“As all of us males would,” Burt pointed out.
“But when the signs were there that she considered him her boyfriend, he should have set her straight.”
“That would have been cruel. Ted’s not cruel.”
“Brutal truths are hard to take, but they help us to move on,” John stated. “Did Mia go after Ted knowing of Beth’s attraction?”
“Not sure. Remember, I was
