Free Island Hearts (Jenny's Turn and Stray Lady) by Vanessa Grant Page A

he keeps heading towards me no matter what I do.”
    The large workmanlike fishing vessel loomed up on their port side. It passed behind them and circled to come up alongside on their windward side, keeping pace with them.
    “He’s blocking our wind,” shouted George. “I hope he knows what he’s doing. What does he want?”
    Jenny went back out on deck in time to hear the loudhailer from the fishing boat.
    “ Lady Harriet! Can you turn on your radio?”
    Jenny shook her head and shouted “No!”
    “Wave both arms in the air if you have no radio!”
    Jenny braced herself against a stay to keep from falling on the moving deck. She lifted both arms and waved at the fishing boat.
    “ Lady Harriet! ” boomed the fishing boat, “We’re responding to a Coast Guard report that you are overdue at Masset. Do you want me to tell Coast Guard that you’re okay and on your way into Masset?” Jenny signaled a ‘yes’ and the loudhailer boomed, “Roger! I’ll relay that you are okay! Heading for Masset! I have Julie II calling me on channel sixteen. I’ll relay your status to her as well.”
    And with that the big fishing boat pulled away in a long curve until it was heading east again. Jenny ducked into the cockpit.
    George was smiling as if at a private joke. “Someone seems to have declared us overdue.”
    “Jake, of course.” Jenny made a futile attempt to wipe the rainwater off her face with a wet hand. “He insisted on knowing when we’d be in Masset. Darn the man! He’s had everyone looking for us!”
    “We’d be glad of it if we were in trouble.”
    “I guess. I suppose we should have planned more time to get to Masset.” Her hands were soaking wet. She rubbed them against the damp nylon of her suit.
    George said, “We couldn’t be expected to know the weather would turn so foul. Of course, it wouldn’t have mattered if the radio hadn’t gone kaput.” George spun the wheel. “You could have called someone and said you were okay, and your guardian angel would have relaxed. What’s this about telling Julie we’re all right? Who’s Julie?”
    “You’ve got me. I don’t know what he was talking about. I thought he said he’d notify the Julie II . Another boat, maybe? Jake’s started a terrible fuss over our being just three days late!”
    “Don’t knock it, Jenny. I wish I had someone to worry about me.” George turned away swiftly before Jenny could see her face. “Take the wheel, would you? I’ll make us some coffee.”
    After two years, George still wasn’t over Scott. In two years, would Jenny still be missing Jake? Ever since she’d left Vancouver she had felt as if a part of herself had been torn away. She kept turning to say things to him, tucking away small comments for the next time they were together.
    Ever since she talked to him on the radiophone from Ketchikan, she’d been looking forward to being able to call him again once they arrived in Masset. Somehow she had to find the will to break even that small contact. She couldn’t deny that it made sense to have someone following their progress, someone who could press the panic button if they disappeared, but from now on it would have to be someone else. She had to get Jake right out of her life before she could succeed in forgetting him.
    She was in love with him, but it wasn’t the first time she’d been in love, so she knew it wouldn’t last forever. Once she stopped seeing Jake, stopped talking to him – then, eventually she would stop wanting him, needing him.
    What if they had been lovers? She would be dependent on Jake for her happiness… Then, one day, there would be the moment when she reached for him with need… and found him gone.
    It would happen to Monica one day. Maybe Jake would marry her, but eventually…
    She went back outside, taking the mug of coffee with her, standing in the wind and staring ahead at the Queen Charlotte Islands. Lady Harriet moved carefully as they approached Masset