I jerk my head toward Nick’s point of view, hunting for familiar faces. “Which guys?”

“Those.” He points toward a forty-foot Belzona two slips away.

Frankie McAlister notices us staring and pointing. “Bobby!” he shouts. The rest of his party waves and calls my name.

“Yeah,” I tell Nick. “They certainly were.” I’m not in the mood to be polite to the McAlisters and their boatload of friends, but it’s too late for anonymity now, so I wave and make my way to them. “Frank,” I say.

He gestures for me to meet him at the end of the slip, turning and shimmying past his wife, stopping at the stern to say, “Check this out,” as he strokes the chrome details on a gleaming Mercury outboard. “What do you think of this baby?” he asks, oozing pride.

“A fourth engine,” I acknowledge.

“Fourteen hundred horsepower.” He rattles off specs better suited for a cruise ship, and Nick hangs back, introducing himself to Bonnie and the McAlisters’ guests: Lars and Monique Clyborne; some lady named Lisa; Lisa’s husband, Jack; and Luna Parks, who greets Nick like they’re old friends. The ladies throw their heads back and laugh.

When Frank finally takes a breath, I say, “Luna, you look rested. I’m trusting no one disturbed you before ten?” When she stares blankly, I remind her of the red line she instated last night: “No calls before ten?”

“Oh, honey. I wouldn’t dream of calling anyone before ten on a weekend.”

I let it go and say only, “Good rule of thumb.”

“But goodness gracious, aren’t you the lucky ones getting to host this dreamboat.” She winks at Nick. “Wouldn’t I just love to keep you in my pocket.”

Monique says, “Last night was so much fun, Robert.”

“Yeah,” says Lars. “It was a two-aspirin kind of morning.”

I open my mouth to give credit to the Children’s Hospital Fund, but Luna asks, “Is Elizabeth here?”

“No, just the guys today. Jonah’s on his way.”

“Well, isn’t that sweet,” Luna says. “Every man needs guy time sometimes, don’t you think? And we ladies need our girl time. Will you please tell Elizabeth to give us a call? I don’t know why we never see each other. It’s such a shame.”

“She ought to come to one of our Garden Club luncheons,” says Bonnie. “Elizabeth would fit right in.”

“Oh God, not Garden Club,” says Luna. “What she really needs to do is help us reboot our ancient book club. Literature is her thing. Tell her we need her, won’t you, Robert?”

“Sure,” I say.

“Promise?”

“Absolutely. She’ll appreciate the invitation.”

“Do you think so? I never can tell with her.”

“She’ll love it,” I lie. “All right. We need to intercept Jonah before he steals the boat for himself.”