Free Love Shadows by Catherine Lanigan Page A

wrong?”
    “Tell Captain Red I can swim.”
    “But that’s what you’re here for...to learn how to do it right.”
    Timmy’s face was filled with fear. “He’ll make me wear water wings like the little kids.”
    “Timmy,” Annie said, “you are a little kid.”
    Timmy pointed to the non-swimmers’ group, which consisted of several four-year-olds and one three-year-old still wearing pull-up diapers. “Nah-uh,” he said. “ Those are little kids.”
    Luke took Timmy’s hand. “I’ll talk to Red and see what I can do.”
    “Thanks, Dad,” Timmy replied with visible relief.
    Annie waved to one of her friends from school. “Dad, I see Madison! This is going to be a great summer!”
    “I’ll be back at four-thirty to get you guys,” Luke said as Annie took off running toward her friend without a second glance back at him.
    The marina office was surrounded by a wide, covered porch and from the roofline Red had installed navy blue canvas awnings to shield both the building and large groups of people from the summer sun. Beneath the awning, a few parents sat in rows of folding canvas chairs for this morning’s orientation. Luke noticed that two more families arrived late, just as he had, which helped to assuage his guilt somewhat.
    Luke realized that the number of children was quickly climbing to three dozen. He spotted two young men, whom he guessed to be sixteen or seventeen, wearing matching white bathing trunks and fluorescent-orange lifeguard sweatshirts. They had the requisite warning whistle on nylon twine around their necks, and they were both deeply tanned, though it was only early June.
    Each lifeguard took one of the groups and ushered them toward a newly raked section of beach where they would give the kids instructions.
    Red’s wife, Julie, sat at a picnic table registering the families, taking money and handing out information packets.
    Two fathers came up to Red and began bombarding him with questions. Luke looked at his watch. He needed to help Timmy, but he also needed to get to work.
    The sound of a woman’s voice calling sculling commands grew louder. Luke looked up and saw that the sculling quad was quickly rowing toward shore. Red looked up at the same moment.
    “Hey, Luke!” Red shouted over the heads of the fathers, who were talking to each other and to Red at the same time. “Do me a favor?”
    “Sure,” Luke replied.
    Red reached in his jeans pocket, pulled out a set of keys and tossed them at Luke. “Heads up.”
    Luke snatched the keys.
    “The ladies are coming in from their row. Would you unlock the boathouse for me and help them put the boat up? I’ve got my hands full here.”
    “No problem,” Luke said. “Then I need a favor. Timmy wants to be with the big kids.”
    Red smiled. “I gotcha. Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it. Tell him to join his sister. I’ll talk to Jason, their instructor.”
    “Great.” Luke looked down at Timmy. “You’re all set. Go over there with Annie.”
    Timmy’s smile filled his face. “Thanks, Dad.” Timmy sauntered off as if he’d just won a sweepstakes.
    Luke arrived at the boathouse as the female sculling team rowed up on shore. He instantly recognized Sarah as she expertly lifted her oars and got out of the boat. She was wearing a navy blue swimsuit with white banding, navy lake shoes and a white sweatshirt that she’d tied around her shoulders. Her blond hair was tied up on top of her head, but the wind had blown errant locks around her face and neck. As she walked toward him, the morning sun caught in her windblown hair, creating a halo around her face. It was the first time Luke had actually looked at her. He realized she was pretty.
    * * *
    “H I , L UKE ,” S ARAH said with a tentative smile. If she understood anything about him, it was that he was a tinderbox of anger. She didn’t want to do or say anything to set him off. Treading softly was the way to go with temperamental people, her mother had told her. What