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
Bonnie bit into the MoonPie and wiped some stray chocolate off her mouth. “That’s good,” she said as she chewed.
“How ’bout you, Jasper—what do you think?” Peyton said.
Jasper only nodded, his cheeks puffy with all the MoonPie he had stuffed into his mouth.
Peyton looked out at the water, which was slightly choppy now. “Feels like the wind is picking up a little bit,” he said to Lisa as a cloud passed over the sun.
“You’re right,” she said. “It’s getting cooler too.”
Peyton could see the sky growing darker as the children finished their snack. “Bonnie,” he said, “I need you to take Jasper down below. Let Lisa put both of your life jackets on since it’s a little stormy today. Can you do that?”
“Sure,” Bonnie said, tugging at her brother’s hand till he followed her.
Peyton hurried to the captain’s seat, raised the anchor, and started the boat, traveling slowly through shallower water till he reached a suitable depth to open the throttle and let the Skidaddle fly.
Now clouds had completely blocked the sun, and the water was white-capping. As Lisa joined him at the helm, the storm moved in quickly, its winds growing stronger, with daunting waves beginning to form.
“I think you oughta go down below,” he said to Lisa.
“No,” she said. “I’m staying with you—unless I’m in your way.”
“You could never be in my way,” Peyton said. “How about grabbing a couple o’ life jackets for us.”
They had just fastened their jackets when Peyton saw a wave coming at them. He throttled back and aimed the bow of the Skidaddle into it, approaching on a diagonal as Finn had taught him. The boat rode up the wall of water and smoothly down the other side.
“Ha! How ’bout that!” he said to Lisa, who had covered her face with her hands.
When she looked up and realized they had cleared the wave, she jumped out of her seat, clapped her hands together, and threw her arms around Peyton. “We didn’t die!” she exclaimed.
“Not yet anyway.” Peyton pointed to another wave coming at them, smaller than the first but still formidable. He fought hard to remember every scrap of instruction Finn had given him and again rode a diagonal path to the crest of the wave, then glided down the other side.
Lisa braced herself as they pitched in the waves, climbing and descending one after another. Now and again, a big one would spray them both, leaving them soaked with salt water.
“Oh my gosh, Peyton, look!”
He immediately saw it, an enormous wall of water that was cresting just a few yards away. Peyton had a sudden vision of Will and the number 10 car barely missing a wave half this size. He knew he’d never be able to ride it to the crest. His only hope was to outrun it. He pulled the throttle back and, like a surfer inside the curl, ripped through the water with the wave rising overhead. He gave the Skidaddle all the power it had, shooting through a tube that seemed like miles and miles of blue water. Peyton could feel the spray from the wave crashing just behind them as the boat broke out of it.