Free Sail Away by Lisa Jackson

it’s like a damned hurricane out there.” Kent strode to the windows and stared out at the gloomy night.
    “Well, it’s not quite that bad,” Victor said, though he half-heartedly agreed with the man he’d hoped would become his son-in-law. “But Marnie has this…thing—ambition, if you will…to be her own woman. She tried to resign, but I talked her into taking a leave of absence instead, and she’s off to, quote, ‘find herself.’ Whatever the devil that means.”
    “In the Marnie Lee. ” Kent yanked hard on his tie, and his face became a mask.
    “The boat’s in a little trouble,” Victor admitted. “At least that’s what the man said.”
    “Trouble?” Kent said, alarm flashing in his eyes.
    Victor was touched. Despite anything Marnie said to the contrary, Kent Simms loved her. “Nothing serious, but it could have been.”
    “Wait a minute,” Kent said, his eyes narrowing. “What man are you talking about—someone from the Coast Guard?”
    Victor sighed. “Well, no. I heard it from the Guard, of course, a Captain Spencer, but he was radioed by some man, a passenger Marnie had on board.”
    “ Passenger? This just gets better and better, doesn’t it? So now she’s with some man! Good God, Victor, what’s going on?” Kent finished his drink and wiped the back of his hand over his lips.
    “I don’t know.” Victor tugged thoughtfully on his lower lip. Kent’s worries infected him again. He’d half calmed himself down, but now he felt a rush of concern as Kent poured himself another drink and paced from the windows to the door.
    “I don’t like this, Victor. I don’t like it at all.” He tossed back his second bourbon in two swallows.
    “Neither do I.”
    “She’s been acting crazy lately.” Kent jammed his hand through his hair in frustration. “I wonder who the devil is with her.”
    “I wish I knew.” Swirling his own drink, Victor asked, “Maybe this new independent streak has something to do with why you two broke up.”
    Kent shook his head. “It’s been coming for a long time,” he said, effectively closing the subject. “Do you have any idea where she put into port?”
    “That’s a problem. The boat is anchored off Orcas Island, the westerly side. My guess is that she plans to spend the night camping on the beach or…”
    “Or what?” Then Kent appeared to understand. “You think she may be holed up in Deception Lodge.”
    “Quite possibly.”
    “Then let’s go get her.” Kent strode to the door, eager to charge off and retrieve his lost maiden.
    Victor admired the boy’s spunk, but he motioned him back into the room. “It’s just not that easy. I promised Marnie I wouldn’t interfere.”
    Kent’s mouth went slack with disbelief. “So you’re letting her—and this man —hang out alone in the lodge?”
    “Yes.” Victor drained his glass as he remembered the determination in his daughter’s fine chin. And the man, whoever he was, had had the decency to call the Coast Guard. His curiosity was burning as to the man’s identity. Victor nevertheless decided that this time he had to trust Marnie. Though she hadn’t spoken of a male passenger on the boat, she was entitled to live her own life.
    “You can’t just let Marnie and some guy shack up in Deception Lodge!”
    “I don’t think I’ve got any other choice.”
    “But you’re her father,” Kent protested, his face flushed, his lips thin and hard.
    “That’s the problem.”
     
    The lodge occupied a long stretch of the headlands, three rambling stories of sloping roofs and shingled gables. Most of the windows were still intact, Marnie noted, as she swung the beam of her flashlight over the weathered siding and covered porch. Only a few glass panes had been boarded over. The old structure had once been grand, a unique out-of-the-way retreat for those who spent their summers in the San Juan Islands.
    Now the lodge’s grandeur was little more than a memory. One creaky shutter banged against