Free Water Lily in July by Clare Revell Page B

of your lobsters?”
    Rob chuckled. Frank was partial to lobster. “Sure. Be there when I dock at 6:00 AM and you can have what you want.”
    He finished his meal and headed out into the blistering sunshine. He’d burn to a frazzle in short order out there on the ocean. Taking the shortcut, he passed the cottages on the quay.
    Lydia packed the last case into the car and smiled as he passed. “You off out, Rob?”
    “Yeah, back Saturday. Are you going somewhere nice?”
    “I’m going to stay with Sam and Adam. Sam’s a little under the weather and Adam’s worried she’s over doing things.”
    “Tori does describe her as a workaholic.”
    Lydia closed the boot. “I think it’s more she’s in the family way, myself, but we’ll see. See you in a couple of weeks.”
    “Sure. Say hi to her for me. Have a safe trip.” Rob crossed the road and jogged the short distance to the office. The door stood open, the fan on the desk not doing much other than move hot air around the room. Rob pulled the clipboard from the wall and sifted through it to find his paperwork.
    Travis glanced up. His face red, sweat ran down his neck and soaked into his shirt. “Wanna trade jobs?”
    Rob laughed as he held out the signed sheets. “Nope. I’m off. I’ll be back early Saturday morning most likely.”
    Travis nodded. “OK. Have fun out there.”
    “Always.” Rob headed down the jetty where he’d moored his boat. It didn’t take him long to cast off and head out of the harbor. He smiled as he made the open sea. He hadn’t seen it this calm in a long time, which made a nice change from the normally choppy exit from the bay.
    The sky was a perfect blue as he passed the lighthouse, with just a few clouds high above. There was no sign of a storm whatsoever.
    Angus must just be letting the anniversary get to him.
    He checked the screens and then headed to the lobster pots. He needed to finish putting them out.
    ~*~
    Just before lunch, Kaylie returned to the radio room.
    Lucas sat there, face buried in a book, coffee mug in hand, paying no attention whatsoever to the displays in front of him. She took her shifts in charge really seriously, as did Angus. Why couldn’t Lucas do the same?
    “Did you sleep at all?” He glanced at her and then at the clock. “It’s only been five hours, barely lunchtime.”
    “Can’t sleep. I thought you were watching this.”
    “I am.”
    She leaned over the radar screen, scowling. “The storm is bigger.”
    “Met Office says it’ll miss us. We may get the trailing edge of it, but nothing more than a force two gale, if that.”
    She tapped the screen and shook her head. “Something doesn’t feel right.”
    “You’ve worked with Angus for too long.”
    She scrunched her nose at him and jogged up the stairs to the lantern room. She grabbed the binoculars from the nail by the door, headed out to the gallery and scanned the horizon.
    “Believe me now, do you, lassie?”
    Kaylie jumped. “Oh, Angus, you scared me.”
    “I told ye the place was haunted. Especially this time o’year.”
    “I don’t believe in ghosts.” She turned back to the horizon, refocused the binoculars and frowned.
    Angus stopped his teasing. “What?”
    Kaylie handed him the binoculars. “Take a look for yourself.”
    Angus scanned the entire horizon. “Cloud line.”
    “Yeah. So much for this storm missing us.” She turned to head back inside.
    Angus caught her arm. “What did ye say?”
    “I picked it up on the radar this morning, but the Met Office hadn’t issued an advisory and Lucas said to leave it twelve hours. Well it’s been less than five and look at it.” She headed to the radio room.
    Pulling out all the charts, she spread them on the table.
    Lucas raised an eyebrow. “What are you doing?”
    “How far would you say the horizon was on a clear day like today?”
    “Between forty and sixty miles maybe. Why?”
    “You can see the leading edge of the storm.” She picked up the radio. “I need