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
“I don’t think I’ve ever had a girl for a friend—not a really close one like you and Aunt Gert.”
Finn took a long drink from the bottle in his hand. “Well, it ain’t easy at first. Both o’ you gotta agree there ain’t gonna be any wooin’ to it. An’ you both gotta mean it, else one o’ you’s gonna be jealous all the time. But if you both arrive at the same conclusion, why, a woman can make a fine friend. They listen different from men. Plus they smell better and they can cook!”
“I knew you had an angle,” Peyton said with a grin.
“Ha! Always do.” Finn took a quick sip of his beer. “How much you know about readin’ the weather?”
Peyton ran the icy Coke bottle across his forehead to cool off. “Well . . . I know a ring around the moon means rain’s comin’. So do mares’ tails and a buttermilk sky. I know the barometric pressure drops before a tornado or a hurricane. And if it thunders in February, it’ll frost in April.”
Finn nodded. “Red sky at mornin’?”
“Sailor, take warnin’,” Peyton answered.
“You know about the full moons—their names an’ their meanin’s?”
“Just the Flower Moon that Aunt Gert told me about.”
“Well, there’s an even better one comin’ up in June—the Strawberry Moon. That’s how the Indians knew it was time to gather the wild berries. An old sailor I used to run with always said it’s good luck for the Strawberry Moon to rise on your journey.”
“I’ll try to remember that.”
“Peyton, the thing about livin’ on the sea—or by it—is you gotta pay attention to what’s happenin’ around you. Did the air all of a sudden get cool? Did the wind all of a sudden get still? Is the water white-cappin’? It all matters, my friend—’specially for anybody thinkin’ o’ puttin’ hisself at the mercy o’ the elements, if you know what I mean.”
Peyton looked up at the sky and back at Finn. “Would you teach me everything you know, Finn—or at least everything I need to know?”
Finn slapped him on the back. “I’ll getcha ready, alright. Today was just the beginnin’.”
fifteen
Peyton, honey, you need to put down that paintbrush and go clean up!” Aunt Gert stepped into the backyard, a dish towel tossed over her shoulder, and examined the final touches he was putting on the trim of her house. “That looks shipshape!” she said as she handed him a glass of water.
He took a long drink and wiped his sweaty face with the tail of his T-shirt. “The ole girl cleans up might nice, don’t she?”
Aunt Gert playfully slapped at him with the dish towel. “I have got to stop lettin’ you spend so much time with Finn on that boat o’ his. You’re startin’ to talk just like him.”
Peyton laughed and downed some more water. He had spent the past week going out with Finn in the mornings and repainting the bungalow in the afternoons. It was now “a sunnier shade of purple” that Aunt Gert had chosen, trimmed in white.