Message in a Bottle - Nicholas Sparks [36]
His father hadn’t found everything, though. In a small box that sat in his end table, he kept a few things that he couldn’t bear to part with—the valentine cards he’d once given her, her wedding ring, and other things that people wouldn’t understand. Late at night he liked to hold them in his hands, and even though his father sometimes commented that he seemed to be doing better, he would lie there thinking that no, he wasn’t. To him, nothing would ever be the same again.
Garrett Blake went to the marina with a few minutes to spare so he could get Happenstance ready. He removed the sail cover, unlocked the cabin, and generally checked everything out.
His father had called just as he was stepping out the door on the way to the docks, and Garrett found himself remembering the conversation.
“Would you like to come for supper?” he’d asked.
Garrett had replied that he couldn’t. “I’m going sailing with someone tonight.”
His father had stayed quiet for a moment. Then: “With a woman?”
Garrett explained briefly how he and Theresa met.
“You sound like you’re a little nervous about your date,” his father remarked.
“No, Dad, I’m not nervous. And it’s not a date. Like I said, we’re just going sailing. She said she’d never gone before.”
“Is she pretty?”
“What does that matter?”
“It doesn’t. But it still sounds like a date to me.”
“It’s not a date.”
“If you say so.”
Garrett saw her walking up the dock a little after seven, dressed in shorts and a red sleeveless shirt, carrying a small picnic basket in one hand and a sweatshirt and light jacket in the other. She didn’t look as nervous as he felt, nor did her expression betray what she was thinking as she approached him. When she waved, he felt some familiar pangs of guilt and quickly waved back before he finished untying the lines. He was mumbling to himself and doing his best to clear his mind when she reached the boat.
“Hi,” she said easily. “I hope you haven’t been waiting long.”
He took off the gloves he was wearing as he spoke. “Oh, hi. And no—I haven’t been waiting long at all. I came out here a little early to get her ready.”
“Did you finish everything you needed?”
He glanced around to make sure. “Yeah, I think so. Can I help you up?”
He set aside the gloves and extended his arm. Theresa handed him her things, and he set them on one of the seats that ran along the deck. When he took her hands to pull her up, she felt the calluses on his palms. After she was safely aboard, he motioned toward the wheel, taking a small step backward.
“Are you ready to head out?”
“Whenever you are.”
“Then go ahead and take a seat. I’m going to get us out onto the water. Do you want anything to drink before we get going? I have some soda in the refrigerator.”
She shook her head. “No thanks. I’m fine right now.”
She looked around the boat before finding a seat in the corner. She watched as he turned a key and the sound of an engine hummed to life. Then, stepping away from the wheel, he released the two lines that held the boat in place. Slowly Happenstance began to back out of its slip. A little surprised, Theresa said, “I didn’t know there was an engine.”
He turned and answered over his shoulder, speaking loudly enough so that she could hear him. “It’s a small one—just enough power to get us in and out of the slip. We put a new one in when we rebuilt her.”
Happenstance cleared the slip, then the marina. Once it was safely in the open water of the Intracoastal Waterway, Garrett turned into the wind and cut the engine. After putting on his gloves, he raised the sails quickly. Happenstance heeled to the breeze, and in one quick motion, Garrett was next to Theresa, leaning