“Kaegan, this is Sasha. I was wondering what you would be doing Friday night. A girlfriend of mine is in town and I would like her to meet you.”

Kaegan frowned. Why was she calling when she didn’t know him like that? Some women had a lot of nerve. A better question to ask was, how had she gotten his number? Since Farley Johnson was one of the team leaders on his boat, Farley did have his personal number, but Kaegan couldn’t see him sharing it with his sister.

Twenty minutes later Bryce returned, all smiles. Undoubtedly, the smiles were for what she’d seen on her tour of the yacht. “I’ve never seen anything like this before,” she said, her smile widening. “I am so proud of your accomplishments, Kaegan.”

He knew her words were sincere. “And I am proud of yours. You did great on your exam.”

“With your help.”

“Then I can also say that I got all of this,” he said, spreading out his arms wide, “with your help. You, your family and Vashti were always there for me in my early years. You know my history better than anyone, Bryce.”

He’d deliberately mentioned a connection between them that would always be there. “What do you think of the upper deck?” he asked her.

“Oh, I loved it. I could spend a whole day up there while out in the middle of the ocean.”

“So can I and usually I do. That’s normally where I am on Sundays when I’m not doing my volunteer work.”

She lifted an eyebrow when she sat down at the table. “You do volunteer work?”

“Yes.”

“For who?” she asked him.

“One of the soup kitchens in New Orleans.”

“Oh? How did you get involved with something like that?”

He shrugged as he sat down at the table after pulling out his music list. “While in the marines a group of us began volunteering on our days off-base. Rick Astor, one of my team members, gave us the idea. He said while growing up that was the only place he got a decent meal. Rick was killed in Iraq eight years ago, and in his memory, we all agreed to continue what he’d encouraged us to do.”

He didn’t say anything for a minute and then said, “Rick’s story showed me that no matter how bad you think you had it growing up as a child, there is a kid out there somewhere who had it even worse.”

When he heard a knock on the cabin door, he stood. “That’s probably our pizza.”

Over pizza and beer they covered their music lists, satisfied that what they would present to the committee at the next meeting would please everyone, including Laura. He even had sound equipment on the yacht that they used to listen to some of the songs Bryce had selected that he could not recall.

“I can’t believe you don’t remember Prince.”

He shook his head, grinning. “Let’s not get it twisted, Bryce. I remember Prince, but not that particular song.”