“It was a fiasco, Maddie,” I say, turning into my grandparents’ driveway. “I thought it would be tough getting back on the water, but I never dreamed it would impossible.”

“I’m sure it wasn’t that bad,” my friend says, her voice small and thin through my cell’s speaker phone.

“I tangled up the reel line!”

“So what? Whatever that is, I bet it happens all the time.”

“And dropped perfectly good equipment over the side.”

“Your grandfather will buy more.”

“I fell off the boat,” I wail, gripping the steering wheel as the embarrassment from yesterday crashes over me anew. I’ll never forget the look of complete and total irritation on Koa’s face.

“Uh…” Maddie’s voice fades, trying to think of something nice to say. “It could have happened to anyone?”

“Not to Captain Koa Rendell. I don’t think a hurricane could knock him off his feet.”

“Cut yourself some slack. He has a bit more experience than you.”

“Maybe, except that it got worse. As if me tumbling into the ocean wasn’t enough, he dove in after me.”

“He what?”

I pull to a stop in front of the garage and turn off the engine. “I had to be rescued. I’m a grown woman and I had to be fished out of the water. Like a lobster!”

“He came in after you?”

My hand pauses on the door handle. “Yes. So?”

“So, that sounds amazing!”

I stare at the phone lying on the passenger’s seat. “Why?”

Maddison sighs. “From what you tell me, this man is hot.”

“He’s okay,” I mutter.

“Yeah, right. He’s exactly your type. A hunky, plaid-wearing manly-man that broods over everything and—”

“Okay, he’s not bad looking.” I roll my eyes. “So what?”

“So he rescued you. That’s like insanely hot.”

I throw open the door and step out into the sunshine bathing the bright pink azaleas and baby-blue hydrangeas dotting the rolling hill behind my grandparents’ house. “But it’s also insanely embarrassing,” I say, leaning back in for my phone. I place it on the roof of the Volvo and open the back to grab the groceries.

“Why?”

“Because I wanted to impress him, not show him that I’m a bumbling klutz.”

“Ah. Alright, I get that, but do you think he really cares?”

You’re just slowing me down.

I cringe as Koa’s words float up from the surface of my memory. They’re still too raw to bury deep just yet. “Yeah. He cares.”

“Oh…” Maddison’s quiet for a moment. “So what are you going to do?”

I toss the phone on top of the loaf of French bread and sling the two tote bags over my shoulder. “I’m going to quit.”

“What?”

“I’m quitting. I’m not putting myself or Koa through another day like that. He might’ve been a bit testy yesterday, but everything he said was one hundred percent correct.”

“Summer…”

I swing open the screen door and step onto the back porch. “It’s fine. He doesn’t need me slowing him down. He’s got so much riding on his shoulders this season. I’ll just get in the way if I stay on.”

“But what will your grandparents say? This was their idea, right?”

“Yeah…” I drop the bags to the floor as I fiddle with my keys. Letting them down is the one downside in all this. “But I’ll just explain that Koa’s better off without me.” I slip the key in the lock and push open the door. “Koa will back me up. I doubt he’d ever say anything to Gramps about yesterday on his own. He’s not catty. But he’ll agree if I beg hard enough.”

I place the bags on the counter and walk back outside. “I hope we can still hang out after this, though.”

“What? You and Koa?”

“Yeah.” A little smile plays on my lips as I walk to the car to shut the doors. “He’s really nice and very chill. I never thought I’d meet someone so laid-back and real in Portland.”

“Real?”

I frown a little as I try to put words to my thoughts. “He’s genuine. Authentic. You know you’re getting the real thing when you’re with him and not some persona.”

“So he’s comfortable being himself.”

“Exactly,” I say, heading back toward the back porch. “Totally unlike the guys Charlene keeps throwing at me.”

“I’m sure he’ll want to hang out. You two had a good time on your not-a-date date, right?”

I laugh. “That’s one way of putting it, but yes, we did, and I’m sure he’s game for another…” I trail off as the sound of muffled voices reaches me. They’re coming from the front of the house near the study.

“Summer?”

“Sorry, I thought I heard something.”

“Not your grandparents?”

“Gramps is home, but I dropped Gran at her water aerobics course before going shopping. I’m not supposed to pick her up until—” I stop as one of the voices gets louder all of a sudden. “I think it’s two guys.”

“A mystery! Let’s go investigate.”

“No!”

“Yes! Come on…”

“Okay,” I say, reluctantly starting down the hall, “but I’m sure it’s nothing.” One thing becomes clear as I get closer to the end of the hall. The speakers are arguing. “Alright, one is definitely my grandpa,” I whisper into the phone.

“Good. So it’s not an axe murderer.”

“But he’s arguing with the other guy.”

“About what?”

“I don’t know or care.”

“Oh come on!”

“It’s none of my business.”

“You’re not curious?”

I roll my eyes. “You’re a bad influence—” I stop as two more things become clear. The argument is with Koa, and it’s over me.

“…she’s a distraction. I can’t look after her and run a fleet!”

Gramps’s softer, more measured tones cut through Koa’s tirade. “I know what you’re in charge of, and that’s why I’m having her help you.”

“She’s not a help, though, and I’m sorry to be so blunt, but she’s a liability.”

I clutch the phone to my ear as the blood drains from my face. What in the blazes is happening? Koa’s complaining about me to Gramps behind my back?

I inch closer, avoiding the creaky floorboard to the right of the office door.

“…she breaks or loses everything, she’s always in the wrong place, and she has zero knowledge of fishing.”

“You’re there to help her. I thought I made that clear.”

“I don’t have the time.”

“Well, I’m asking you to make the time.”

“How? I’m already pulling crazy hours to make our quota, and you know most of our customers want double their orders during the summer.” Quick footfalls tread against the floorboards as someone starts to pace. My guess is on blabbermouth Koa. “It’s impossible to do my job and coach your granddaughter. She’s a nuisance, and one of these days, she’s going to…to sink the boat!”

“That’s enough,” Gramps says calmly. “I’ve heard you out, so now it’s my turn. Here, take seat.” I hear a heavy thud and picture Koa dramatically flinging himself into an armchair. “I understand what you’re saying, and I know you’re under a lot of stress, but Summer stays.” He cuts Koa off as he begins to argue. “No. That’s my decision. She’s your first mate this season, end of story.”

I furrow my brow in the ensuing silence. I may be livid at Koa for trash-talking me to my own grandfather, but it doesn’t change the fact that everything he said is the truth. I’m a mess out there, so why is Gramps digging in his heels?

I lean forward as the voices pick up again. “You’ll just have to make do,” Gramps replies. “You may not see it now, but Summer will be invaluable to you.”

“I doubt it,” Koa grumbles. “She’s hopeless.”

Heat rises up my neck and pools in my cheeks. I know I’m not perfect, but Koa didn’t have to be rude.

“She already fell off the boat,” he continues. “What’s next? Setting it on fire?”

I frown. Okay, that’s pushing it.

“Alright now, son—”

I hear the creak of the chair as Koa gets up. “Just don’t blame it on me when we lose money this season. Your granddaughter is a walking disaster.”

OH NO HE DIDN’T. I spin on my heels and storm back down the hallway toward the kitchen, passing the forgotten groceries as I head for the back porch. In seconds I’m out the door, down the steps. I let out a heavy breath once I’ve reached the garden.

The nerve! How dare Koa talk about me like that to my own grandfather! I was only trying to help. I never said I was perfect, or even competent at fishing, so why is he being a complete asshole?

I kick a knotty weed with my toe as I pace the grass. He’s got another thing coming if he thinks I’m just going to lie down and take it like a—

“Summer?”

I stop as my best friend’s voice reaches me. I glance down and realize that I never severed the call with Maddison. The call’s still on speaker phone, which means…

“Oh my God,” I moan, clicking the speaker button and bringing the phone to my ear. “Did you hear everything?”

Maddison hesitates. “Kinda.”

I throw my head back and let out an explosive breath. “Of course you did. Of course! Now everyone knows what a total failure I am.”

“That’s not true!”

“You heard him. I’m a nuisance, a klutz!”

“Okay.”

I scowl into the phone. “What do you mean, okay?”

“So you’re a klutz. Big deal. You didn’t kill anyone.”

“Not from lack of trying, apparently.”

“Oh stop it. From what I could tell, they were talking about a novice sailor who just wants to help her grandparents.”

I stop pacing as her words sink in. She’s right—if you took away all the mistakes and blunders.

“Is that a reason to quit?” she asks. “Because if there’s one thing I know about Summer Rae, it’s that she doesn’t quit.”

I duck my head and glare at my feet. Darn it, she’s right.

“And that’s why you’re not going to quit.”

“I’m not?”

“No! You’re going to use the humiliation and anger and embarrassment you feel right now—”

“Wow, thanks,” I grumble.

“—to learn. And you’re going to wipe that smug look off that boy’s face.”

I raise my eyebrows. “When did you become badass?”

She scoffs. “When I heard my best friend being talked about like she was some ten-year-old girl.”

I laugh, despite how crummy I feel. Maddison always knows how to cheer me up even when I want to ball up and cry. “I needed that.”

“So, are you game?”

“For what?”

“Learning about sailing or fishing or whatever you’ve gotten yourself into?”

I turn my head at the sound of the front door slamming shut. I guess Koa’s left after he realized he’s getting nowhere with Gramps. I remember what Gramps said. He stood by me, promising Koa that I’d be “invaluable to him this season.”

Well, I don’t know about invaluable, but I sure as hell didn’t want to be known as a helpless damsel in distress all summer. And I definitely didn’t want to let my grandfather down. Not when he needed me.

“Summer? You still with me?”

“I’m with you, and I’m in.” I march over to the screen door, yank it open, and stride across the cool porch to the kitchen door. “And I’m going to kick Koa’s ass this summer.”

“That’s my girl.”

“No one calls me ‘useless’ and gets away with it.”

“Damn straight.”

“I’ve gotta go. I have some things to see about…”

“Go get ’em!” Maddison says happily before clicking off.

I place my phone on the kitchen island and head for Gramps’s study. I don’t even knock. Gramps jumps out of his chair as I barge in.

“Summer! When do you get back?” he asks. He glances out the front window, probably checking to make sure Koa’s gone.

“For a while now,” I say, coming to a stop in the middle of the room.

“Do you, uh, need something?”

I give him a small smile. “Yes.” I look around his study, taking in the wall-to-wall bookshelves filled to the brim with books. My eyes stop on the section closest to the desk. “I need those.”

He follows my gaze over his shoulder. “You need what?”

I nod to the shelf overflowing with nautical books. “I need everything you have on lobsters and fishing.”

He stares at me like I’ve grown a second head.

“And sailing,” I add.

Gramps frowns. “Why now?”

I give him a grim smile. “Because I’m a first mate…captain.”