Summer Secrets - Barbara Freethy [36]
Sean shook his head. "Something else happened. Something to do with Kate and Jeremy, I think."
"Your brother had a relationship with Kate?" Tyler asked, his pulse jumping with this new information.
Sean nodded. "They were going to get married."
Married? The thought stuck in Tyler's throat. Kate was going to get married? Why hadn't that been in any of the news reports?
"After they got back?"
"Yeah, they'd even set a date for a month after the race. My mother had the church booked and the band picked out. I was going to be the best man." Sean let out a long, heartfelt sigh. "And then that damn storm blew everything to bits."
"Why were they racing on separate boats?" Tyler asked. "It seems like Jeremy would have been a nice addition to the Moon Dancer."
"Duncan wouldn't take Jeremy on as crew. He wanted to win the race with just his family. At least, that's what he said. Duncan and Jeremy rubbed each other the wrong way, even though they were a lot alike. I wish he had taken Jeremy onboard. Then he'd still be alive." Sean set down his glass. "I've got to go. I hope you find what you're looking for."
Tyler hoped so, too. He knew one thing for sure, he now had a lot more questions for Kate.
*
Kate tapped her fingernails on the bar and stared moodily into her diet Coke. Times like this she wished she drank. But her father's nasty habit had cured her of that desire years ago. After her mother died, Duncan's drinking had spun out of control, and it had been left to Kate to make sure her sisters got what they needed while Duncan was partying it up or sleeping it off. She'd thought things would get better when they went to sea. It was one of the reasons why she hadn't fought him on going. Leaving her life and her friends had seemed like a small trade-off if they could find their way back to becoming a family again.
For the most part, life at sea was better. Duncan didn't drink as much when they were racing. He'd let loose when they got to port, but on the ocean he'd managed to keep it together, at least most of the time.
Looking back, she realized now how naive she had been. There had been so many dangers that she hadn't seen, hadn't even imagined. The ocean had toyed with them like a cat plays with a mouse, sucking them into a game they couldn't win, but one they couldn't stop playing, either. Not even now.
There was solid ground under her feet, but sometimes she still felt as if she was moving, as if her world was rocking. She'd turned her backyard into a garden worthy of the cover of a magazine just because it made her feel better to dig her hands into the dirt and hold on. She'd planted roses, foxgloves, hollyhocks, and violets, a cornucopia of colors that wouldn't remind her of the endless blue of the sea and the sky. She'd built a trellis for the roses to climb, and she'd planted several fruit trees with roots deep in the ground. She wished she could be there now, feeling those roots between her fingers. She wanted something to hold on to, something strong and unmoving. Her hand curled around the glass in front of her. It was cool and wet, slippery. A shiver ran down her spine, the memory of hands slipping. She'd tried to hold on. She'd tried desperately to hold on.
"Kate? Are you all right?"
"What?" She looked up in confusion to find the bartender, Keith Brenner, staring at her with concern.
"You look like you're about to break that glass." He tipped his head toward her diet Coke.
Her knuckles were white, her fingers leaving prints on the moist glass as she forced herself to let go. "I was thinking about something else."
"Like the guy you're waiting for?"
"Who said it was a guy?"
"It's Saturday night. You're wearing makeup, looking annoyed, checking your watch. Gotta be a guy. Want to tell your friendly bartender about it?" He gave her a warm, inviting smile. "Just think of me as
Dear Abby
."
Kate rolled her eyes. Keith Brenner was one of the local boys she'd grown up with. "You're