Romance on the Edge 01 - Hooked

Yet he still returned to put up with the same old shit. He was only biding his time. It couldn’t be long now. The smoking, the drinking, and the cranky attitude had to be wearing on the old man. Earl would kick the bucket soon.
    If someone didn’t help him into a grave first.
    Lana dropped onto the grass next to him. “Spying on her isn’t going to help your cause.” His cousin’s breezy attitude, all smile and teeth, rubbed at his already nasty mood.
    Aidan refocused the binoculars back to the deck of the Double Dippin’ , catching Sonya throwing her head back with a laugh he wished he could hear. He felt a pang in his chest.
    “Go away, brat,” he said to Lana. He thought he’d lost her down at the docks. Guess she was more observant than he’d given her credit for. She’d been shadowing him all morning, and had just proved she was damn hard to lose.
    “No wonder Sonya gave you the boot. Do you talk to all women that way?”
    “You’re not a woman.”
    “Last I looked I was.”
    “What are you doing here, Lana? I’m sure you could’ve found something better to do than bug me.” He’d come here to be alone and chart his next course while he did a little reconnaissance work. At least, that sounded better than wasting his afternoon playing Peeping Tom.
    “Nope. Been looking forward to bugging you all year.” She picked a long blade of grass and twirled it between her thumb and forefinger.
    He bit back a mean retort. He shouldn’t take his anger and frustration out on Lana. She was a sweet kid. What had he learned in his anger management class? Think before you react. “How’s your mom?”
    Lana scrunched up her pretty face. “Same. Off to Brazil looking for her next affair.”
    “We sure got the bottom of the barrel when it came to parents, didn’t we?”
    When Lana’s parents divorced, the courts had given Roland summer visitation, and Lana’s mother had happily shipped her off to Alaska every summer after she’d turned thirteen. Aidan had lost his mother to the bottle, followed by the grave, when he was ten.
    Lana nodded her head in the direction of the bay. “You see anything interesting out there?”
    “Take a look for yourself.” He handed her the binoculars and rolled onto his back, letting the stingy rays of the sun—playing chase with the gray clouds—warm his face.
    She gazed though the binoculars in the direction of the Double Dippin’ . “Peter sure looks different this summer.”
    Aidan chuckled. “Yeah, he got his man on over the winter.” Aidan had a thought and turned his head to get a better look at Lana. “You aren’t thinking of…”
    “What? No. He’s just sweet on me and it’s—” she shrugged her thin shoulders “—you know…nice.”
    Aidan figured he wasn’t the only one wanting to be a part of the Savonski clan. The Savonskis seemed to get along, as though they truly liked each other. Aidan hadn’t heard Nikolai say anything derogatory to Margaret or anyone else at their camp. There was never any drinking, smoking, or yelling coming from across the creek. The Harte camp did enough of that for the whole beach. Instead, there was laughter, music, and fresh-baked cookies. He wanted to be a part of that. He’d almost been, last summer. To coin Lana’s turn of phrase, Sonya and been sweet on him. Then he’d gone and ruined it. With one frustrated swing, he’d thrown it all away.
    Now, he was after getting it all back.

    What the hell was she doing?
    Garrett refocused the dial on the binoculars. He’d seen the Miss Julie II intentionally ram Sonya. It was like bumper cars on water out here. The boats were too close and the fishing area too small for this many fishermen. Someone was going to get hurt, and he had a sinking feeling that “someone” captained the Double Dippin’ .
    “You want to run interference?” Judd asked, his binoculars pointing in the same direction, obviously catching what Garrett had.
    “Let’s head over there and see if our presence reminds people of their manners.” Garrett tightened his fingers over the binoculars as Sonya gave another captain a hand gesture. At least this time she did it with a smile. She hadn’t been kidding when she’d told him she didn’t play well with others.
    Judd hollered at Skip to power the boat toward the skirmish.
    Garrett shook his head in disbelief as the Double Dippin’ laid her net right in front of the Albatross , effectively corking them off.
    “Did you see that?” Judd