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The roar of a motorboat broke up the fray. Flashes of red enlivened the bushes as they all disappeared, ru
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Patience didn’t disembark. She stood on the deck holding the Venture to the dock with her hands. Her usually well-coiffed hair had come loose and hung in strands accentuating the deep lines etched in her face. One of Carrie’s old sweatshirts rendered her for the first time in A
Tourists, hunched over bourbons and beers, pricked their ears for any sound of adventure. A
“She’s run off,” Patience said. “She was supposed to be busing in the dining room. I was busy with the inventory brought on the Ranger Three and was at the dock. My night manager said Carrie left for supper and never came back. I’ve looked everywhere I can think of. I came to the north shore because that’s where she ran to the last time-Lane Cove, remember? She left this at the apartment. It must’ve been about an hour before I got home.”
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“I wasn’t paying attention,” Patience said and water started in eyes already reddened. “I’ve had so much on my mind this summer. Carrie’s boy troubles were a complication I didn’t have time for. She was sulky but I didn’t think she was depressed. I know she won’t kill herself-she’s too big a baby-but even to leave a note…” Patience’s throat closed with tears and she stopped talking rather than break down.
“What day is it?” A
The unexpected nature of the question startled Patience momentarily from her fears. “Friday.” She waited for an explanation.
“Tattinger’s lieu day,” A
“The first time she ran off it was Jim who told me where she was,” A
“What kind of boy could be so unacceptable?” Patience repeated her question of several weeks before. “A boy pushing forty. I’ll kill her.”
Had she been a mother, A
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“I’m going to kill her for lying and for scaring her mother half to death,” Patience explained. “I’m going to kill Jim Tattinger for the good of the human race.” She shoved the throttle to full and the Venture leapt forward with a speed that took A
The roar ripped the stillness of the evening as the keel ripped the stillness of the water. Habitually watchful for snags and other water hazards, A
“Yes. I’m pretty sure of it. She’s not boy-crazy at all. And it’s not like the seventh-grade boys were lining up to walk her home. Eighth grade was scaring her. They start having dances, dates, all that. God!” Patience exploded. “Barely thirteen. Eight weeks ago she was twelve. I will rip Tattinger in two. It’s not like she’s a Lolita. She’s just a goofy-looking little girl.”
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Finding Carrie and Jim together, the ensuing scene-certainly if the scandal was made public-the fuss and notoriety, might do Carrie more harm than simply waiting for her to return and dealing with it quietly in the morning. Unless Jim was exerting undue pressure, unless she’d been resisting because she’d not felt ready to commit her body to anyone, unless she was pla
“Do you think Carrie A
“How would I know? I’m only her mother,” Patience snapped. The anger momentarily vented, she gave the question due thought. “Carrie seems dull but she’s not stupid and she feels things. She’s never been any good at hiding things either. If she’d been sexually active I think she’d either have gone religious and remorseful or smug and insufferable-depending on how it went. Mostly she’s just been sulky. My guess is no, she’s too scared, too confused. Damn him! She hasn’t even had her first period.”
No fear of pregnancy, A
Silence was drummed deep by the throb of the engine. The Venture carried her cargo of anger and worry forward, the peace of the summer night descending in her wake.
“I know it seems like I stopped caring,” Patience said without looking at A
There was nothing A
“Little girls should never have to pay for love,” A
They found the Gone Fishin‘ anchored in Little Todd Harbor. A white light bobbed dutifully at the stern. Tattinger was taking no chances on this rendezvous getting interrupted for a petty maritime misdemeanor.