Sand Sharks

He laughed at my unintended pun and held out his hand. “No hard feelings?”

“No hard feelings.”

We shook on it and Blackstone said, “Good. This conference is weird enough without that. First Pete Jeffreys and now Judge Fitzhume.”

“That’s right. You’re over there near the Triad. Did you know Jeffreys?”

“We were at a new-judges school together, but I can’t say we were friends or anything. I thought he was rather lightweight and, not to speak ill of the dead or anything, a little bent.”

“Yeah, that does seem to be the consensus, doesn’t it?”

“Fitzhume, on the other hand—you were there, weren’t you? When someone ran him down?”

I nodded.

“Is he going to be okay?”

I told him what the surgeon had said and while we talked we ambled back across the wide expanse of sand, winding up at the lifeguard stand and the steps where I’d left my shoes.

“Well…” I said as I sat down on a step to put them on.

“You’re not going in, are you?”

“It’s getting late and our first session’s at eight-thirty, remember?”

“It’s not that late,” he argued as he sat down beside me. “And just look at that moon.”

He leaned back on his elbows and turned his face up to the sky. “Do you ever get dizzy when you look up like this and the clouds are moving so fast over the face of the moon?”

Amused, I followed his example and yes, it was disorienting the way light and shadow came together and broke apart until it seemed as if it were the moon that was racing across the dark star-studded blue and not the clouds. So absorbed by that beauty was I that before I knew what was happening, Will Blackstone had slipped an arm around me and kissed me gently on the cheek.

“Hey!” I jerked away indignantly and sprang to my feet.

“I’m sorry,” he said with a boyish grin. “You looked so beautiful with the moon in your eyes and on your hair that I couldn’t resist. Please, can’t we start over again?”

“No, Will, I’m—”

“You said no hard feelings, but I still have feelings for you. And whether or not you admit it now, you had feelings for me last spring. You didn’t come home with me just to see my pottery collection.”

“That was then, this is now. Besides, I’m married.”

It was as if he didn’t hear me. I stepped back when he stood up, but he put his arms around me. His breath was hot against my face as he tried to kiss me and I caught a whiff of whiskey.

“Are you crazy?” I cried, trying to pull away. “Let me go! Now!”

“Don’t be like that, Deborah, honey.” His arms tightened around me. “You know you like me. You were the one came on to me first, remember?”

His arms were starting to remind me of octopus tentacles. No matter how I struggled, as soon as I got one hand free, another arm seemed to grab me there and hold me fast. Just as I was ready to put a knee in his groin or bite his nose, a large dark shape landed on his back and the three of us went sprawling. Blackwood jumped up with his fists flailing, then I heard an oompf as he took a punch in the stomach and another to his eye.

He collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath, and Allen Stancil said, “Want me to go ahead and kill ’im for you, darlin’?”

“No, that’s okay,” I told him.

Blackstone groaned and fumbled for his cell phone. “I’m calling 911, you asshole. You don’t know it, but you just assaulted a judge.”

“And what were you doing?” Allen asked ominously. “Didn’t you hear this judge say no?”

He grabbed the phone and started to throw it in the ocean, then paused and offered it to me. “Less’n you want to call the police yourself, darlin’?”

Testosterone was so thick in the air I almost choked on it.

“Could you both just calm down?” I took the phone and handed it back to Blackstone. “I’m sorry if we got our signals crossed last year, Will, but get over it. Chalk it up to experience and let’s both act like professionals and forget that tonight ever happened, okay?”

“My nose is bleeding,” he muttered sulkily.

I had no tissues on me and looked at Allen. He hesitated, then pulled a small packet from his pocket and held it out to Blackstone with an odd look on his face.

“What the hell is that?” Blackstone asked suspiciously.

“It’s—um—uh—a diaper wipe.” Allen sounded embarrassed. “But it’ll take care of blood, too.”

“A diaper wipe? ” Blackstone sneered. He clearly wanted to refuse, but a fresh trickle of blood snaked down his lip. He grabbed the packet, tore it open, shook out the moist towelette, and held it to his nose.

“Look, Will,” I said, but he waved me off before I could continue to make nice.