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someone else. Apparently, he said she was ‘too reserved,’ although that might be Denise’s euphemism.”
    Understatement, more like. Lindsay probably still covers her eyes in movies when people kiss.
    I say, “Oh, so you’re basing your opinion of Ty on Lindsay’s two-week relationship?”
    She inhales, her hands rest on the wheel as if it were a lectern or pulpit. “Nothing I’ve seen makes me think any differently.”
    Ty came to the door the first time we went out. After that, he said to watch for him and just come out to the car.He never comes in if they’re home. I say, “You don’t even know Ty.
He’d
do anything for me.”
    I can see Mom wringing her hands on the wheel. Her voice is tight when she says, “Oh, I know Ty. I know him from that going-away party he threw for you at our house.”
    I say, “It was just a little party.”
    â€œWe arrived home to police cars, Lib. We had to hire a drywall crew, and if that was the worst of it, then I’d be happy.” Her voice starts to break. “You were so out of it.”
    I hardly remember that party. I change the subject. “You yanked me from all my friends. They’ll ditch me, and you like the idea that I won’t have any friends, any
distractions
.” I turn so that she’s looking at my back.
    After a long time she says, “I just want us to be together, Lib.”
    â€œYou should have thought of that five years ago when you left Dad.”
    Her voice softens and she says, “Lib, I really need for us to get along. I feel like I hardly know you anymore.”
    I get to my feet. “It isn’t going to happen. Get used to that.” I reach down to unsnap my tether. “I’m going to bed.”

FIVE
    I’ M NOT SURE WHAT WAKES ME . Through my cabin window I can see that it is just dawn, still Mom’s watch. Weather must be changing; a thin line of red indicates the rising sun. Mom has throttled up the engine, and the sound rattles the inside of the boat. Duncan won’t be happy about her revving the engine. I close my eyes. Then, over the din of the engine, I hear my mother’s voice on the two-way vhf radio at the chart table. She must be using the handheld radio in the cockpit.
    â€œMayday, mayday, mayday.”
    My feet find the cold floor of my cabin. I toss on my sailing jacket over my pajamas and bolt from the cabin.Duncan’s door is still closed, and I bang on it as I scramble up the companionway steps.
    There’s a thudding crunch on one side of the hull that almost shakes me off the steps. Then another. Duncan’s door crashes open and he emerges, his hair all rucked up and his eyes still doped with sleep. I can hear another boat engine. Duncan pushes past me on the steps.
    Over his head I see a flare streak low. Mom’s fired a distress flare. She’s screaming for Duncan.
    â€œGet below!” Duncan shoves me down the steps.
    I follow him back up. At the top of the steps he stops, and I peer out into the cockpit from under his elbow. I can see a dhow, an open wooden boat motoring alongside, thudding into our hull. The three men in the boat are shouting at my mother. Ski masks cover their faces. From the edge of the sun, another boat hurtles toward us.
    I sense the gunfire more than hear it. It’s like the sound is inside my head, and I swear I can feel my eardrums vibrate as if they are making the sound. I duck my head lower into the companionway. Duncan is yelling at Mom, “Those are warning shots. Cut the engine. They won’t hurt us if we cooperate.”
    I push up onto the last step so I’m standing beside Duncan. Mom’s eyes are crazed with fear. Maybe she doesn’t hear him over the sound of the engines. Maybe she’s hearing Jimmy’s voice in her head. She levels a flare right at the oncoming boat. I lose her for a moment in the smoke of the flare. The flare rockets