Summer Secrets - Barbara Freethy [77]
"And she's all mine," Duncan wailed.
"All mine," the other man harmonized in an off-key, drunken voice.
Duncan stopped abruptly when he saw Tyler on his boat. "Well, now, who's come to visit but my favorite reporter. Pete, have you met Taylor?"
"Tyler," he corrected.
Duncan pointed to him. "That's right, Tyler. I remember. I bet you think I'm drunk, don't you? Now, Pete here, he's drunk, aren't you, Pete?"
The other man could have been forty or sixty, it was impossible to tell, but he was definitely not sober.
"Pete is my neighbor," Duncan said, dragging Pete down the dock toward the boat next to his. "Help me get him onboard, would you?"
Tyler hopped onto the dock and helped get Pete onto his boat and down the stairs to a cabin very similar to Duncan's. Tyler couldn't help wondering how many good old boys were living on sailboats in the harbor.
"You okay, Pete?" Duncan asked. Pete rolled over on his bunk with a snore. "He's okay."
"What about you?" Tyler asked as he followed Duncan back up the stairs. He was relieved to see that Duncan walked a straight line fairly easily.
"I'm just dandy," Duncan said, hopping off the boat with a spry step. "I ran into Pete on my way back from a meeting. Couldn't let him wander down here on his own. He's a sad case these days. Lost his wife a few months back and hasn't been the same since."
"I guess you know how that feels."
"That I do, son, that I do," Duncan said with a sigh. "When my Nora died, she about took me with her. I didn't think I could bear to see the sun come up without her by my side."
Tyler was touched by the depth of emotion in Duncan's voice. He sounded very much like a man who had loved his wife deeply -- a faithful, loving husband. But had Nora been a faithful, loving wife? "What was she like?" he asked. "Your wife, Nora."
Duncan lifted his face to the sun. "Close your eyes," he said.
"What?"
"Close your eyes," Duncan repeated.
Tyler hesitated, then closed his eyes, wondering what was supposed to happen.
"Feel the heat on your face?" Duncan asked.
Now that he mentioned it, yes. "Sure." There was a warmth on his skin, a light behind his lids, the scent of summer in his nostrils. His senses were heightened with his eyes closed.
"That's what she did for me," Duncan murmured. "She made me feel everything more intensely than I'd ever felt it before."
Tyler opened his eyes and saw Duncan wipe a tear from his cheek, a dramatic, emotional gesture for a crusty, tough, old man but a seemingly genuine one. Apparently there was more to the man than he'd first realized. Maybe that's why Kate stuck by him the way she did.
"You coming aboard?" Duncan asked as he climbed onto his boat.
"I would like to speak to you."
"I don't have much time. I've got a race to plan. Things are finally turning around for me."
Tyler could see that. Duncan looked like a different man today, a light in his eyes, an energy in his step. "Have your daughters changed their minds about racing with you?"
"Not yet, but they will. Kate is the stubborn one. Where she goes, the other girls follow. But she'll change her mind. When push comes to shove, she always chooses family."
Duncan sounded confident. Based on past experience? Or just a hopeful wish?
"Why did you sell your boat in the first place?" Tyler asked.
"I needed the cash. And I wanted to make sure the girls had money to live on."
Tyler nodded. "I'd love to see what it's like to sail around the islands. I was wondering if you could take me out sometime."
"You know anything about sailing?"
"Not a damn thing."
Duncan laughed. "No bullshit, huh? I like that. But I can't let you race with me, too much at stake."
"I understand."
"I can take you out on this boat, though. Maybe tomorrow. Come by the Oyster Bar later and we'll talk."
"Great. I'll look forward to it." As Tyler got off the boat, he saw Kate and Caroline