Romance on the Edge 01 - Hooked

up and running—if fixing it was even possible—they were down to one skiff fishing four set net sites. No wonder she and Peter were so tired.
    The tender lowered the crane with the cabled scale for the first brailer. Sonya steadied the scale while Peter ran the ropes through the corner ears of the brailer bag, and then secured them to the hook on the digital scale. Sonya waited for Peter to step back, and then signaled for the tender to pull up the heavy brailer full of fish.
    Slowly the hydraulic crane raised the brailer, then it suddenly swung wide. Straight for Peter standing in the bow.
    “Look out!” Sonya screamed, watching in horror as the brailer hit Peter. He tumbled overboard into the cold, angry water. Sonya rushed to the edge of the skiff, screaming his name. There was no sign of him in the dark, murky water. “Peter!”
    Vaguely, she heard orders yelled from the Time Bandit above her. Noise rushed like a waterfall in her ears, an alarm sounded, and everything around her slowed. Please God, she prayed, she couldn’t lose another loved one to this damned ocean
    Sonya blinked, seeing flames of the past licking the Mystic as she burned into the ocean. Sasha’s screams pierced the night as she struggled in the water. The silence. Frigid, thick water swept her mother, as she bobbed face down on the surface, away from Sonya’s grasping reach.
    Peter suddenly surfaced, sputtering, breaking the death-hold of the past Sonya had sunk into.
    “Damn, this water is cold,” he said.
    Sonya choked as tears ran unchecked down her face. She stretched over the edge and tried to reach Peter with her hands, but he was too far. The river current swept him farther as each second ticked away. “Hold on, Peter.”
    “Onto what?” he asked, fighting his rain gear to tread water.
    “Get your chest waders off,” yelled one of the guys on the tender. If Peter didn’t get them off now, they’d fill up with water and drag him down to his grave.
    “T-trying,” Peter said, pulling at the snaps on his rain jacket. Then his head dipped under the water again.
    “Peter!” Oh, God . She was going to lose him too. As though sound were being filtered through a long tunnel, she heard commotion going on above her as the crew on the Time Bandit scrambled to help. An inflatable ring landed on the surface of the water where Peter had gone under. Sonya whimpered and ripped off her rain jacket, struggling to unsnap the hooks of her own chest waders, ready to jump in after him.
    He finally resurfaced.
    “Damn, that w-wasn’t easy,” he tried to joke. Sonya sobbed and snatched the boat hook, reaching it out into the water for Peter to grab on to. It wasn’t long enough.
    “I gotcha, Peter,” Aidan hollered, appearing from out of nowhere with Lana. He maneuvered his skiff next to Peter. Sonya shook with relief as Aidan pulled Peter into his boat with Lana’s help. “Got him, Sonya.”
    “Peter?” Sonya hollered, not able to control the shrill tone of her voice. She needed to see him, hold him, know for herself that he was okay.
    With Aidan’s help, Peter stood, soaking wet and shaking. “I’m f-fine, S-Sonya. J-just c-c-cold.”
    “Sonya, you finish up there,” Aidan called. “I’ll get him safely back to camp and warmed up.” Aidan was already stripping Peter out of his wet outer clothes and giving him the ones off his back. “Don’t worry, Sonya. I’ll get him back safe. He’ll be fine and have one hell of a great story to tell.”
    Still, she stood at the rail of her skiff not able to look away from her shivering brother.
    “Sonya!” She jerked at Aidan’s tone and tore her eyes from Peter to meet Aidan’s.
    “Take care of business, and then join us at camp.” He paused, his eyes boring into hers. “Can you do that?”
    She glanced at the three remaining brailers full of fish in the bottom of her skiff and then to the men on deck of the tender, waiting for her to give the signal to lower the crane. She stared back at Peter shivering in Aidan’s jacket, with Lana’s arms wrapped around him. He needed to get warm, and she was holding everyone up.
    “Y-yes. I can do that.” Her voice gained strength. “Get him back to camp.”
    “Yes, ma’am.” Aidan gave her a proud smile and a salute. Peter sent her a wobbly grin and a thumbs up signal.
    Sonya’s heart pounded so hard in her chest, that for a moment it was the only sound she heard. Then she straightened her shoulders and motioned for the boom