Contents ( 66)
- Cover
- Books by Valerie Fraser Luesse
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Map of Florida
- one
- two
- three
- four
- five
- six
- seven
- eight
- nine
- ten
- eleven
- twelve
- thirteen
- fourteen
- fifteen
- sixteen
- seventeen
- eighteen
- nineteen
- twenty
- twenty-one
- twenty-two
- twenty-three
- twenty-four
- twenty-five
- twenty-six
- twenty-seven
- twenty-eight
- twenty-nine
- thirty
- thirty-one
- thirty-two
- thirty-three
- thirty-four
- thirty-five
- thirty-six
- thirty-seven
- thirty-eight
- thirty-nine
- forty
- forty-one
- forty-two
- forty-three
- forty-four
- forty-five
- forty-six
- forty-seven
- forty-eight
- forty-nine
- fifty
- fifty-one
- Epilogue
- Keep Reading for a Preview of Valerie Luesse’s Next Book!
- Prologue
- one
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Back Ads
- Back Cover
Peyton helped her climb aboard and then loaded their supplies. He lifted the St. Christopher medal out of his shirt. “Ready?” he said.
Lisa did the same. “Ready.”
After starting the boat, he checked to make sure they weren’t anchored, then untied the Chris-Craft and carefully pulled out of the slip. This boat was bigger than the Madame Queen but a lot smaller than Finn’s fishing boat. Peyton was mindful of traffic, particularly all the small watercraft at this end of the island. Only when he was some distance from the marina and made his way to Hawk Channel did he relax and bring the boat up to cruising speed. He glanced over at Lisa in the passenger seat. She had braided her hair to keep it from blowing wild in the wind, and she was wide-eyed, watching his every move.
“Everything okay?” he shouted over the noise of the motor.
“Everything’s fine!” she shouted back. “I just can’t believe you really know how to do this!”
“Would I lie?” he said, which made her laugh.
They cruised for an hour or so before Lisa broke out the Cokes and handed Peyton a chicken leg. He took a big bite. “Miss Wallace, you’re a wonderful cook!”
“It’s a family recipe,” she said.
“Wally said there’s a public marina in Islamorada. Shouldn’t be more than an hour from here. I’ll pull in so we can stretch our legs.”
When Peyton found the marina, Lisa helped guide him into a slip. They secured the boat and walked to a waterfront café with a big screened porch, where a waitress led them to a table with a cross breeze and a great view of the water.
“I know I keep saying it over and over, but the ocean here is just incredible,” Lisa said.
The waitress brought them water and menus, then came back to take their order and deliver Cokes.
“Think you want to be a boat captain when we graduate?” Lisa asked Peyton.
“Actually, I want to fly.” Peyton told her about the plane rides with his dad and the pilot who gave him the aviators.
“So that’s where you got those glasses. Think you’ll join the Army Air Force?”
He nodded. “Gotta finish college first, but yeah—I think I want to join.”
“What makes you want to fly?”
“I love goin’ fast, but in a plane you get height too. When you take off, you get to watch the ground disappear below, and the higher you climb, the more it feels like you could just reach out and touch the sky. I can’t think of anything I’d rather do than fly. How ’bout you? What do you want to do?”
“Not many options for girls,” Lisa said with a shrug. “We’re supposed to either marry right out of high school or become teachers, nurses, or secretaries first—and then get married.”
“Don’t you want to get married?”
“Of course. I just don’t like that it’s expected, you know?”
“I get that,” Peyton said as he poured a dollop of ketchup onto his fries. “I don’t think you should do anything just because people expect you to. You oughta get to do what makes you happy.”