The pickup line at Kimberly’s school was always the most interesting time of Gabe’s day. He was single, and all the available women at the elementary school seemed to know it. As soon as he pulled his Jeep into the school’s pickup line, it was as if there was a spotlight shining down on him. Apparently, women loved men who loved kids. It was true, he loved his niece, but not because it had the potential of getting him laid. And it definitely did. He’d had more than a few single moms dip in his window to say hello and show some cleavage while walking their child down the sidewalk.

He’d be a liar if he said he didn’t like the attention—sometimes—but he wasn’t interested in dating people in Kimberly’s life right now. If he dated, he wanted it to be someone Kimberly had no association with. He didn’t want people coming in and out of her life. She knew these teachers and parents. Therefore, they were all off-limits.

“Hey there, handsome.” Susan Litmore stopped by his window. “Picking up Kimberly?” she asked, as if there were any other child he might be here to get.

“Yep. How are you, Susan?”

“Oh, great. Brian here is making all A’s in school.” She smiled over at her young son, who was maybe eight or nine years old.

“That's great, Brian. Keep up the good work.” Gabe pointed a finger at the child, who responded with a gap-toothed grin.

Susan cackled. The sound was as fake as her platinum hair and—Gabe glanced down for just a millisecond—fake as her double D’s. “I’m going to the music festival on the waterfront this weekend,” she said, sweeping her hair out of her face. “What about you?”

He looked ahead, wishing this damn line would move. All he wanted was to get Kimberly and take her back to the rec center. Kimberly loved to help him out in the afternoons until Lorelai came to get her. “Not sure.”

“Well, maybe I’ll see you there. And if I do, you should sit with us. There’s always a little extra room on my picnic blanket.”

By an act of God, rain started to fall. Gabe noticed the skies had turned dark too. Summer storms often popped up out of nowhere here on the North Carolina coast. Their unpredictability was downright predictable.

Susan’s smile wilted. “Oh my! Hopefully, I’ll see you at the event. Bye,” she said hurriedly. Then she rushed off, dragging her son behind her. Probably worried her gallon of makeup would run onto her designer clothes.

The pickup line started to move forward. A couple of minutes later, Kimberly came running to the side of his vehicle.

“Uncle Gabe!”

One of the teachers helped Kimberly strap in and waved to him before shutting the back door with Kimberly safely inside.

“Hey, munchkin. Did you have a good day?” he asked, following the line of cars ahead of him out of the school’s parking lot.

“Great.” She proceeded to rattle off every detail, starting with the moment she walked into her class to the very end of the day. Then she fell silent.

He glanced in the rearview mirror and saw her bottom lip puckering down. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” she muttered. He only knew what she said because he read her lips over the loud patter of rain suddenly beating against the Jeep’s roof.

“Not nothing. Something. What is it?”

“It’s just…there’s going to be an end-of-year Daddy-and-me picnic at school for Father’s Day. And I’ll be the only one without a daddy.”

His heart ached for his niece. “I’ll go,” he said without hesitation. He had never minded taking on that role in Kimberly’s life.

“You’re not my dad, though,” she said, crossing her arms in front of her. “You’re my uncle, and everyone knows it. It’s not fair.”

He swallowed past the lump tightening his throat. “You’re right. It’s not.” What else could he say? Life was cruel sometimes. Not a lesson a seven-year-old should already be learning. The rest of the ride was quiet except for the steadily progressing drum of rain. The wind was picking up and making the sound deeper as he drove.

He parked in front of the rec center’s office, jumped out, and scooped Kimberly out of the backseat. With a few quick steps, he put her down under the awning.

“That was fun,” she said, wearing a smile again.

He swore that smile of hers could cure any disease. “Yeah. Wanna do it again?” He reached for her, threatening to pull her back into the rain.

Giggling, she slipped past him and ran inside the building.

Jonathan looked up. “Hey, bro. Hey, Kimmie!” He’d worked here for barely a week and already he was on a nickname basis with her.

“Hi, Mr. Jonathan!” She went barreling toward him. “Do you have a snack for me?”

“Of course I do.” Jonathan pulled out a snack-size bag of Goldfish crackers and dangled them in the air like bait. It was child-crack for sure, and Gabe had learned a long time ago that junk food was the key to his niece’s heart.

Gabe hooked a thumb behind him. “I’m going to go make sure everything is tied down. The wind is really picking up out there. Are all the customers back?”

Jonathan looked up, but he was half distracted by Kimberly, who was theatrically trying to catch each fish-shaped cracker with her mouth. “All but one. Some lady took a sailboat out earlier. She’ll probably be heading back soon now that it’s raining.”

Gabe nodded. “Hope so.” He grabbed his raincoat and headed out to secure the kayaks and paddleboards. Looking in each direction, he didn’t see any sailboats still out on the water. His sailboats had bright neon-green sails that could easily be spotted.

Thunder cracked overhead. He’d keep an eye out for the woman and an ear on the forecast. Hopefully this thing would move by fairly quickly.

“Pull up the woman’s contact information?” Gabe said when he was back inside. He pulled his rain jacket off and placed it on a hook by the door. “I want to try to call her back in.”

Jonathan’s expression was deadpan. “I didn’t get her cell phone number. Just her name.”

Gabe growled low in his throat. This wasn’t the first time Jonathan had neglected the basics of the job. “Okay. Well, what’s her name?” Maybe her contact information was already in the system.

Jonathan’s brows furrowed. “It was a real sweet name. Let’s see.” He scratched his chin.

“You didn’t make her fill out the waiver?” Gabe asked, biting his words. “You just put a woman on a boat without getting any of her contact information?”

“Dude. I’m sorry. Am I fired?”

“NOOOOO! Don’t fire Mr. Jonathan!” Kimberly held out both arms and jumped in front of Jonathan as if she were protecting him from a bullet.

Gabe rubbed his forehead. He’d never fired anyone in his life, but thoughts of being sued for every penny he had flashed in the forefront of his mind. This guy was a family friend, but he was also a liability. “No, you’re not fired.” Yet. “But next time, write the info down and have them fill out the waiver. I could call the woman right now if I had her number. I could tell her to head back in. Who knows how far out she got. Maybe the storm hasn’t even reached her yet.”

“Yeah. Okay, boss.” Jonathan gave a thumbs-up and returned to playing with Kimberly.

Gabe turned back to the window. The skies seemed to have grown darker in a matter of seconds, reducing visibility. A front was supposed to be moving in later tonight, but it looked like it had arrived early to the party. In his work with the Coast Guard, Gabe had done some search and rescues following afternoons that started out exactly like this one. Hopefully, that wouldn’t be the case this afternoon.

The front entrance opened, and Lorelai walked in. She closed her umbrella and placed it against the wall. Despite the umbrella, she was soaking wet.

“Mommy!” Kimberly dashed across the room.

“Hey, sis. You’re earlier than usual. Did you get off early because of the storm?”

Lorelai’s brows knit together. “I’m worried about Jillian.”

He stepped closer. He knew Lorelai’s friend Jillian had been staying over for the last couple of days. She was going through a divorce and had taken time off from her job. Lorelai had also mentioned she’d been acting out of sorts lately. “She okay?” he asked.

His sister shrugged. “You tell me. Is she back yet?”

It was Gabe’s turn to frown. “Back from where?”

“Oh yeah.” Jonathan held up a finger. “Jillian. That was the woman’s name.”

Gabe glanced over his shoulder at his new employee. “Jillian Maready is the one on the water right now? You let a woman on the edge of a nervous breakdown take out one of my sailboats by herself?”

Jonathan’s face went sheet white. Gabe guessed he was going to ask if he was fired again. “She didn’t look crazy,” Jonathan said. “She looked pretty nice. And she said she had experience.”

“Maybe when she was fifteen,” Gabe ground out, turning back to Lorelai. “You knew Jillian was going to take a boat out?”

“Yeah. She texted me about it earlier. What’s wrong with that? She does have experience. But now it’s storming, and I’m worried about her. She's not answering her cell phone.”

“How long has she been out there?” Gabe asked Jonathan.

“Maybe an hour. She got here a little earlier than she was scheduled for. So maybe an hour and a half.”

Gabe cursed. Then he apologized to Lorelai. He hated cursing in front of Kimberly. Crossing the room, he grabbed his raincoat and pulled it back on. “I’ll go get her,” he said. “Don’t worry.”

The water was rocking the boat so forcefully that Jillian had to white-knuckle the side. She had experience with sailing, but it had been a long time. When the water had been smooth, she’d thought she was actually doing pretty well, even though she had no sense of direction. That had surprised her too. She’d navigated these waters as a teenager without any problem. Now she had no clue where she was.

Turning and looking in all directions, she couldn’t see anything or remember which way led back to the rec center. Thunder rumbled overhead, and rain pelted her bare skin. She should’ve listened to the old woman at the bookstore. If she had, she’d be warm and dry and reading one of the books she’d purchased right now instead of drenched and shivering.

“Okay, Jillian. Just think.” All she needed to do was turn the boat around and retrace her path. Except the wind was so strong right now that the sails were actually working against her, collecting its force and pushing her forward at a speed much faster than she was comfortable with. The visibility out here was poor. For all she knew, she could be sailing at record speeds right toward a rocky shore.

She reached for her cell phone for the third time already and checked for a signal. None. Another wave hit her tiny boat, and she screamed as she nearly fell over the side. There had been a Blushing Bay resident last summer, she remembered, who had fallen overboard and was never found out here on these waters. Chris Watson. He’d been an experienced fisherman who worked with one of the Sawyer brothers at the Sawyer Seafood Company. Jillian was frustrated with her life right now, but she still wanted to keep it.

As the storm calmed down for just a moment, she pulled the sails down so she would at least stop advancing forward at such a quick pace. Then she searched the compartments for a life vest. Finding one, she put it on quickly and moved to the center of the boat to wait out the storm. If she could survive the next hour, she’d probably be fine.

Hopefully.

She closed her eyes and took deep breaths, looking for the calm place her therapist back home had always coached her to find. Ironically, Blushing Bay had been her calm place in the therapist’s office.

She wasn’t sure how long she held on, breathing and floating up prayers, when she heard a horn honking at her. Blinking through the rain, Jillian opened her eyes and struggled to see lights. The sky was black as night now, even though it couldn’t have been any later than six or seven p.m.

The lights were coming toward her. She was being rescued! In an hour’s time, she’d be back at Lorelai’s house and maybe having a tea party with Kimberly. Yes. That sounded wonderful. A steaming cup of hot tea and a chatty seven-year-old.

“Over here!” she screamed. The motor boat was moving slow due to the choppy waters, but definitely heading in her direction. “Over here!” She stood and waved her arms in the air excitedly. She wasn’t going to die today and that was maybe the best news of her life.

Then lightning ripped open the dark sky, and a wave capsized her tiny sailboat, tossing her into the ice-cold water below.

Shit.

Gabe reached for a life preserver and ran to the stern of his boat to toss it to Jillian. That meant abandoning his steering wheel, which left his own boat to rock wildly in the currents. He should’ve taken one of his cousins with him. Jack, Noah, or Sam would’ve been available. He’d been in a hurry to get to Jillian, though. He’d underestimated the size of the storm from shore. He’d moved through one storm cell already to get here, and it appeared they were in the direct line of several more.

Turning on his flashlight, he shined it over the water where Jillian had fallen in. He didn’t see her, which struck terror inside him. “Jillian!” he called, hoping like hell she could swim. Had she been wearing a life vest? Jonathan was new at the rec center and might not have offered her one. “Jillian!”

Her pale skin popped up on the surface of the water, and one arm flailed wildly at him.

Gabe exhaled. “Jillian!” he called out to her. “Grab the life preserver!”

She reached for it and missed. Then she dunked under a wave and popped back up a few seconds later. Gabe cursed under his breath. She reached out again and grabbed hold of the floatation device this time. Pulling the rope it was attached to, he reeled her toward his boat. He wasn’t one to get seasick, but with these choppy currents, even he was feeling slightly nauseated at the moment. And unfortunately, the storm didn’t seem to have any end in sight.

When Jillian reached the side of his boat, he let go of the rope in order to grab her by the arms and pull her over the side. In one quick yank, he had her on the floor of the boat. The scant sundress she was wearing underneath her vest clung to her body like a second skin. He didn’t see any sign of injury, which was a positive. At least no outward injuries. But she’d been out here in the soaking rain for over an hour. She was wet and shivering uncontrollably. Even though it was summer, rainwater was freezing. Hypothermia would start setting in if he didn’t get her warm soon.

“You okay?” he asked, crouching down next to her, yelling to be heard above the roar of the ocean and the storm.

Her gaze flitted up to meet his. “Yeah,” she said through chattering teeth. “I think so. I’ll be a lot better when you get me back to the mainland.”

Gabe frowned. That was a lot easier said than done. He had come this far with the wind at his back and a lot of close calls. Protocol said to stay put and wait it out. But there was no shelter on his boat, and he needed to get Jillian warm sooner than later.

He wrapped his arm around her to keep her warm. “We can’t go back to the mainland just yet. It’s too far away.” And we might not make it.

She turned to look at him with wide eyes.

“We can’t stay here either. Bear Island is about a quarter mile up. We should try to take shelter there after the next storm cell passes and before the next one begins. It’s the safest plan.”

She hesitated, then nodded. “Okay.”

Returning to the steering wheel, Gabe put the boat back in gear, moving slow and steady. He was careful to hit each wave just right so that neither of them went flying forward. It took the good part of ten minutes to make it to the island. He’d driven the boat here many times before to go fishing on his own. It was a good spot and usually landed him a cooler full of flounder and red drum. He drove the boat almost to the sandy shore and threw the anchor in. After cutting off the motor, he directed his attention to Jillian, who had her knees curled up to her chest.

“I have a tent on the boat. It’s part of my just-in-case kit. I also have matches, some nonperishable food, and a jug of water. That’ll last us until tomorrow morning.”

“Tomorrow morning?” Now she looked up.

Gabe reached for her hand. “It’s dark, and it’s already pretty late. It will be safest to wait until sunrise.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“’Fraid not, sweetheart,” he said, pulling her to stand.

“What about a search party?” she called through the rain.

He hadn’t radioed in because this wasn’t an emergency situation yet. And asking crews to come out right now would be putting their lives in unnecessary risk. He was trained to survive in conditions like this. Jonathan and Lorelei knew where they were. As long as he and Jillian were smart, they’d be fine. “I am the search party,” he said. “Now let’s get moving.”