“Hell, Kate would be runnin’ this place by now. She’d have those nurses hopping every time she said jump.”

“Maybe.” Burke didn’t want to talk about Kate. He didn’t want to compare her to Allison, who was doing her best to shoulder the load that had been so unfairly dumped on her. And he didn’t want to talk about the state of his marriage, not even with Hoagie.

“Allison isn’t Kate,” he said. “She didn’t sign on for any of this crap. But she’s tough in her own way. She’d be here now, but she’s worn herself out looking after me. I sent her home to rest.”

“Well, good for her,” Hoagie said. “I was thinking she’d probably packed her car and cleaned out your bank account by now.”

Burke didn’t reply. He was accustomed to his friend’s blunt way of speaking and he’d long since learned not to let it bother him. But this time Hoagie was pretty much on target. He was describing what Burke had told Allison to do—and coming from somebody else, it sounded damned cold.

“I never thought I’d see you with one of those high maintenance types,” Hoagie continued. “I always hoped that you’d find another woman like Kate. You know, a woman who liked things simple and never put on airs—a woman who could steer a boat and gut a fish like a pro—a woman who didn’t mind getting dirt under her fingernails. Allison’s a looker, and I’ll bet she’s dynamite in bed, but she’s about as useful as a wind-up doll—”

“That’s enough, Hoagie. You’re headed down the wrong road,” Burke said, cutting him off. “Allison may not be another Kate, but I fell in love with her for my own reasons. If you don’t understand those reasons, that’s your problem. I don’t want to hear about it.”

“Well, all right.” Hoagie threw up his hands in a gesture of surrender. “You don’t have to bite my head off.”

A moment of awkward silence hung between the two friends. Then Burke changed the subject. “I’ve been thinking of selling my boat,” he said. “If you know anyone who might be interested—”

“You’d sell your boat? The Lady Brianna?” Hoagie was aghast. “But you love that boat. Kate loved her, too. Think of all the good times we had on her, all the fish we caught—all those great memories.”

“That’s just it,” Burke said. “I put the boat in dry dock after Kate died. Brianna didn’t want to go out in it anymore, without her mother. Neither did I. And Allison’s never shown any interest in boating or fishing. Why pay storage to the marina for a boat that doesn’t get used?”