Sanctuary

He held out a hand and, thinking it was her lucky night, she took it.
    Just drunk enough to make it easy, he thought as he led her farther into the dark. And sober enough to make it ... fun.

PART TWO
    What wound did ever heal but by degrees?
    —Shakespeare

ELEVEN
    F OR the first time in weeks, Jo woke rested and with an appetite. She felt settled, she realized, and very nearly happy. Kate had been right, Jo decided as she gave her hair a quick finger-comb. She’d needed the evening out, the companionship, the music, the night. And a few hours in the company of a man who apparently found her attractive hadn’t hurt a thing. In fact, Jo was beginning to think it wouldn’t hurt a thing to spend a bit more time in Nathan’s company.
    She passed her darkroom on the way downstairs and for once didn’t think of the envelope filled with pictures that she’d hidden deep in a file drawer. For once, she didn’t think of Annabelle.
    Instead she thought of wandering down to the river again and the possibility of bumping into Nathan. Accidentally. Casually. She was getting as bad as Ginny, she decided with a laugh. Plotting ways to make a man notice her. But if it worked for Ginny, maybe it would work for her. What was wrong with a little flirtation with a man who interested her? Excited her.
    There now. She paused on the stairs, curious enough to take stock. It wasn’t so hard to admit that he excited her—the attention paid, the breezy way he would take her hand, the deliberate way his eyes would meet and hold hers. The cool and confident way he’d kissed her. Just moved in, she recalled, sampled, approved, and backed off. As if he’d known there would be ample opportunity for more at a time and place of his choosing.
    It should have infuriated her, she mused. The cocky and blatantly male arrogance of it. And yet she found it appealed to her on the most primitive of levels. She wondered how she would play the game, and if she would show any skill at it.
    She smiled, continued downstairs. She had a feeling she might just surprise Nathan Delaney. And herself.
    “I’d go, Sam, but I have quite a few turnovers here this morning.” Kate glanced over as Jo stepped into the kitchen. Raking a hand through her hair, she sent Jo a distracted smile. “Morning, honey. You’re up early.”
    “So’s everyone, it seems.” Jo glanced at her father as she headed to the coffeepot. He stood by the door, all but leaning out of it. The desire to escape was obvious. “Problem?” Jo asked lightly.
    “Just a little one. We’ve got some campers coming in on the morning ferry, and some going out on the return. I just got a call from a family who’s packed up and ready to go, and there’s no one to check them out.”
    “Ginny’s not at the station?”
    “She doesn’t answer there, or at home. I imagine she overslept.” Kate smiled wanly. “Somewhere. I’m sure the bonfire went on quite late.”
    “It was still going strong when I left, about midnight.” Jo sipped her coffee, frowning as she tried to remember if she’d seen Ginny around before she headed back home.
    “Girl got a decent night’s sleep, in her own bed,” Sam added, “she wouldn’t have any trouble getting herself to work.”
    “Sam, you know very well this isn’t like Ginny. She’s as dependable as the sunrise.” With a worried frown, Kate glanced at the clock. “Maybe she isn’t feeling well.”
    “Hung over, you mean.”
    “As some human beings are occasionally in their lives,” Kate snapped back. “And that’s neither here nor there. The point is, we have people waiting to check out of camp and others coming in. I can’t leave here this morning, and even if I could I don’t know anything about pitching tents or Porta-Johns. You’ll just have to give up a couple of hours of your valuable time and handle it.”
    Sam blinked at her. It was a rare thing for her voice to take on that scathing tone with him. And it seemed he’d been hearing it quite a bit lately. Because he wanted peace more than anything else, he shrugged. “I’ll head over.”
    “Jo will go with you,” Kate said abruptly, which caused them both to stare. “You might need a hand.” She spoke quickly now, her mind made up. If she could force them into each other’s company for a morning, maybe the two of them would hold an actual conversation. “Jo, you can walk over from the campground and check on Ginny. Maybe her phone’s just out, or she’s really not