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and all, onto the marine trolley and set the blocking. Then he started the winch. John watched gloomily as a flood of gray seawater gushed from the hull. Liam stopped the winch halfway up the ramp, removed the floats, and walked around to take a closer look at the ravaged wood.
    â€œDo you think you can fix her?” John asked.
    â€œIt looks like her center board’s broken—it must’ve caught the rocks before it could slide into the trunk.” He shook his head. “I can fix her, John, but I doubt I’ll have her back to you before the season’s over. You’re welcome to take her to a different shop. I won’t charge you for the tow.”
    John nodded. He knew he could probably take her to a different shop and have her back sooner, but that would be an insult to Liam—who’d helped build her—and whose meticulous craftsmanship, like Cooper’s before him, was legendary. “No,” he said. “I’m just glad you can fix her. Maybe Jordy’ll learn something from not having her around.”
    â€œMaybe,” Liam said skeptically. He’d known John for years, and although he was a good guy, his parenting skills were definitely lacking, and as a result, his son suffered. Jordy was notoriously spoiled and irresponsible—supporting Liam’s long-standing theory that nothing good comes from a kid who has access to too much money. But John wasn’t the only one to blame—his wife, Lexi, was a bitch on wheels, as Coop had liked to call any woman he didn’t like, and she walked all over John, spoiled Jordy . . . and was the undeniable source of the bad seed.
    Before he left, John helped Liam un-step and seat the mast. “How much do you think it’ll cost?”
    Liam shook his head. “I don’t know. I’ll have to work up an estimate.”
    John looked glumly at his boat and nodded. “All right, I’ll wait to hear from you,” he said. Then he shook Liam’s hand.
    â€œIf you don’t hear from me by the middle of next week, give me a call.”
    John nodded, and as he walked away, Liam stroked Tuck’s soft ears, and murmured, “He’s got more money than the queen and he’s worried about how much it’s going to cost.”

Chapter 7
    1989
    Â 
    A heavy mist was hanging over Nantucket Sound when Liam swung open the carriage doors and hooked them to the outside wall. He stood on the rail tracks, trying to decide if he should wait before pushing out his runabout. The dock—only thirty feet from where he stood—was barely visible, and even though the Cape’s most popular radio station, Ocean 104, was assuring listeners the mist would burn off by nine, Liam didn’t want the seats to be damp.
    He walked to his truck to get the cooler he’d packed that morning with sandwiches, chips, cookies, Cokes . . . and since Cooper had still been asleep, he’d even managed to sneak two beers into the ice. He set the cooler in the back of the boat, threw two beach towels and a blanket on top of it, and began wiping down the glassy surface, whistling softly, and wondering when Cadie would get there. It suddenly dawned on him that his idea of early might be different from hers and he wished they’d settled on a time instead, but as he slipped the Yacht Ensign into the socket in the stern, he heard a soft voice say, “Hey,” and looked up. Cadie was straddling her bike with a canvas beach bag over her shoulder. She was wearing a wide-brimmed sun hat with a blue ribbon around it and underneath her snow white tank top he could see the strings of a matching blue bikini.
    â€œHey,” he said with a smile.
    â€œI wasn’t sure what you meant by early, so I hope I’m not too early.”
    â€œNot at all.”
    She leaned her bike against the wall. “I like to get going in the morning before anyone else is up so I don’t have to answer too many