North of Nowhere (8 page)

And then it started raining.

Pulling on my hood, I hurried back to the beach. Head down, I squelched across the sand, trying to think of anything that wouldn’t make me feel like curling up in a ball and bursting into tears, when something ran into my ankle.

I shoved my hood back and looked down. It was Mitch! He ran yapping and jumping around my legs.

I bent down to pet him and he flopped straight over onto his back.

“Mitch, you know you’re drenched, don’t you?” I asked as I tickled his tummy.

Mitch rolled back onto his feet. His back was covered in sand; it was glued onto his fur like an extra layer.

“Hey, hi again!”

I looked up to see Peter coming toward me. “Hi,” I replied. “Wow. Nice coat.” I pretended to shade my eyes. He was wearing a bright-yellow waterproof coat, with a fluorescent white stripe across the middle and a “Porthaven Harbor” sticker on the pocket. It looked brand-new.

Peter beamed. “Dad got it for me yesterday. I love it. Almost slept in it last night.”

I laughed. “How come you’re not fishing today?”

“We will be later. It’s going to be sunny this afternoon, apparently.”

Sunny? But Dee said it was due to get worse.
“Are you sure?”

Peter shrugged. “Well, despite my all-weather coat, I’m not a weatherman, so I can’t be totally positive,” he said with a wink. “But look.” He pointed at the horizon. “The clouds are right above us now, but it’s blue over there. And see the flag at the end of the pier? It’s blowing toward us, so the wind’s blowing that blue sky over here. Reckon it’ll be lovely in an hour’s time.”

I stared at him. “Are you serious?”

“About what?”

“Well, you said you’re not a weatherman, but you sound like one to me!”

Peter laughed. His laugh was so warm and friendly, it seeped into my mood and made me relax a bit. “It’s the fishing lessons,” he said. “They’ve been teaching us how to predict the weather. It’s cool. You can tell so much, just from what the clouds look like.”

“Uh-huh,” I said.

Peter laughed again.

“What?”

He shook his head. “You just
uh-huh
’d me in the same way my sister does. I guess I’m the only one who finds this stuff interesting.”

“No, sorry, it’s not that. It
is
interesting.”

Peter raised his eyebrows.

“OK, so it’s not
that
interesting,” I said, laughing. “But I’m just a bit preoccupied and miserable today, so I’m not finding anything particularly interesting.”

“What’s up?”

I looked at him. Normally, I’d just have said that everything was fine, and shrugged it off, especially with someone I barely knew. But there was something about Peter that made me want to talk to him. I didn’t know what it was. I just felt comfortable with him, as though he was a friend I’d known all my life.

“You really want to know?” I asked.

Peter held my gaze. “I haven’t got anything else to do for a couple of hours. Why don’t you tell me your problems?”

And so I did. I told him everything. I told him about all the plans I’d had with my friends this week. I told him about Grandad disappearing, and how none of us were talking about how we really felt because we were all too scared to admit out loud how terrified we were.

And I told him about Dee, and how missing her felt like the last straw. I didn’t tell him that I only knew her because I’d trespassed on her boat, but I told him that her dad’s boat was moored up around the back of the arches.

As soon as he heard this, Peter’s eyes lit up. “Really? I didn’t realize anyone still used that old jetty,” he said. “Can I see it?”

“I don’t see why not. As long as you don’t mind getting wet. The water’s practically up to your knees under the arches.”

Peter shook his head. “I don’t mind that at all. Come on. Show me the boat.”

So Peter picked up Mitch and we trudged back under the arch.

But the boat had gone.

“Wait — it was there! I saw it. I was
on
it!”

“Maybe Dee’s dad has gone back,” Peter said.

“But we’d have seen him, wouldn’t we? We’ve been on the beach the whole time!”

“Maybe there’s another way around here?”

“Oh, what does it matter anyway?” I said, turning to head back through the arch. “The point is, Dee’s not coming. And all I’ve got to look forward to today is moping around with Mom and Gran at the pub, all of us jumping a mile in the air every time the door opens in case it’s Grandad, and all of us pretending we’re not disappointed every time it isn’t.”

I suddenly realized what a downer I was. We were back on the beach now. Peter put Mitch down and he immediately scampered off to chase some seagulls.

“Sorry,” I said. “I’d better get going. Enjoy your fishing trip. See you later.”

“Yeah, see you,” Peter replied. “I hope your day gets better.” Then he called Mitch back, and they walked off in the opposite direction.

As they went off, I realized I had another thing to be miserable about. Now that the boat had gone, I wouldn’t get to reply to Dee’s last note. How rude would that look? Dee would probably decide not to bother being my friend at all, now.

I dragged myself back to the pub and desperately tried — and dismally failed — to imagine anything good happening today.

The morning dragged so much that a couple of times I even checked my watch against the clock in the kitchen, to make sure it was still working. It was almost lunchtime and I was wiping down the tables in the pub. Mom and Gran were out back. The front door burst open.

My heart did the same leap in the air it had done every time someone came in — followed by the same sinking to the ground it did every time it wasn’t Grandad.

It was Peter. “It’s back!” he said breathlessly.

“What is?”

“The boat. The one behind the arches. I went back to the harbor to find out what time the fishing trip was, and it’s been canceled — the boss is sick. Apparently he had some bad oysters last night and can’t leave his house — or probably his bathroom, more like!”

“So you’re not going out?”

Peter’s eyes did that twinkly thing. “Well, not officially. But I have an idea.”

“What?”

He tapped his nose conspiratorially. “Meet me down at the harbor, and I’ll tell you. But you’ve got to be up for an adventure.”

Before I had time to answer, he was gone.

Gran came into the lounge a second later. “Was there someone here?” she asked. I could see the hope in her eyes. She was trying to hide it, but it was there, clouded with anxiety and fear.

“It was a friend of mine,” I said. “We’re just going to go out for a little while. Is that OK?”

The glimmer of hope in Gran’s eyes dissolved into a dark veil of sadness. I wanted to reach out to her. I wanted to tell her that I cared, that I was here, that I understood. But I didn’t know how to. We simply didn’t have a common language. It wasn’t her fault, or mine. We’d just never ever had anything in common. Until this week.

“Gran — he’ll be back,” I said. “I’m sure he will. And until then, Mom and I aren’t going anywhere. Grandad is just as important to us as he is to you, and we’re going to be with you till he comes back. We’ll look after you.”

The words came out in a rush, and I felt silly as soon as I’d uttered them. I knew Gran. She’d think I was an idiot for suggesting that I could look after her — for even thinking that she’d
want
me to!

But she looked me in the eyes. Then she came over to me and touched my arm. “You’re a good girl,” she said softly. “You always have been. And you’re very precious to us both. You know that, don’t you?”

“I . . . I . . .” I’d
probably
known it. She’d never said it before, not like that — so how could I have known for sure? But I did now, and I wanted her to know I cared too. I leaned forward and put my arms awkwardly around her waist.

For a moment, she stiffened. Then I felt her relax. She put her arms around me, too, and patted my back. “All right, come on, now,” she said after a moment. “Let’s get on with the day. You go and see your friend. Have a nice time. Don’t stay out too long, all right?”

“I won’t,” I said. And then I grabbed my coat and went out to join Peter and find out about his mystery plan.

“Peter, you’re talking about theft!”

“It’s not theft. I’m not going to
keep
it. We’re just going to use it to fetch Dee. And it’s her boat anyway!”

“It’s her
dad’s
boat.”

“Same difference.”

We were sitting on the boat, bobbing gently up and down. I bit my lip while I thought about it. Peter’s plan was that we should take the boat and go to fetch Dee. He reckoned if it was only two miles to Luffsands, we could easily get there, pick her up, and be back here again within an hour or two. And the weather seemed to have turned out nice after all, so there was no real reason why she couldn’t come with us.

“But what about her dad? What if he comes back and sees the boat’s not here?” I asked.

“He won’t. The auction’s going on now. He’s not going to leave till it’s finished, is he? We can be there and back before he even comes down here again.”

Peter had a point. The annual winter fair might have been a bit of a letdown, but the auction that went with it was rocking. We could hear the crowd shouting and bartering from the harbor.

“Are you absolutely sure you know how to drive this boat?”

“Positive!” Peter said. “The skipper said I’m the best he’s ever seen. A complete natural. I picked it up on the first day and he’s been letting me drive every day since then. He even left me in charge yesterday while he went to the back to help the others straighten out their lines. I’m totally comfortable with it. I might as well have been born doing it.”

The excitement in Peter’s eyes was infectious, but I still couldn’t go along with it.

“It feels wrong,” I said, a little more uncertainly.

“I know,” he said. “I understand. And, believe me, this isn’t the kind of thing I would normally suggest. But Dee being stuck over there, miserable as anything, and you over here, equally miserable, feels just as wrong.”

He had a point. How much harm could it really do? Dee’s dad would never know, and we would absolutely make Dee’s day. Her week. Once we’d cheered her up, she could make up with her dad and everyone would be happy again. We might, in fact, be doing the whole family a favor!

“We’d have to leave some money on the boat to cover fuel,” I said.

“Of course we will!” Peter said. Then he grinned. “You mean, we’re doing it?”

Were we? Could we,
really
? Despite my reservations, I couldn’t help feeling a spark of excitement catch light inside me. I was going to meet my new friend. I felt as if I knew her already, and we hadn’t even met yet! “What will Dee say to her dad to explain how she got here?” I asked.

Peter rubbed his chin. There was something about the way he did it that felt familiar to me, but I couldn’t think why. It was weird; I’d honestly never felt so comfortable with a boy.

“Got it!” he exclaimed, grinning. “She can tell him that one of the other fishermen picked her up. They’ll all have come in by now for the auction.”

“Doesn’t sound all that convincing to me, but I guess she might have some ideas. And if we can’t think of anything, she doesn’t even have to come back with us. I’ll still have met her. That’s the main thing.”

“Exactly!” Peter said. “Look!” He pointed at the water. “It’s totally calm. The weather’s cleared up and so has the sea. Dee’s dad was wrong about a storm. He’ll probably be really pleased that she managed to get a lift across.”

I hesitated before replying, and Peter leaped on my indecision. “I bet he even keeps the key in the same place as all the others,” he said. He got up and lifted the mattress on his seat. There was a lid on the top of the bench, which he lifted as well. He felt around, then pulled out a cork ball with a key on the end of it.

“Ta-da!” he said, smiling broadly.

I couldn’t help smiling back. His excitement was growing on me. Maybe he was right. Maybe we
could
do this.

“Mia — this could be your
only
chance to meet Dee,” he said firmly.

I didn’t need to be told that. That was the biggest thought in my mind. And he was right. What was the worst thing that could happen? Maybe Dee
would
have an argument with her dad about it, but the chances were they’d get to make up sooner, not later.

And the thought of her face when we turned up at Luffsands — I couldn’t wait! Without letting myself think about it anymore, I nodded at Peter. “OK,” I said. “Let’s do it.”

We slowly pulled away from the jetty, the boat gliding on the glassy water. It was so calm. The weathermen really
were
useless! Dee’s dad had gotten it totally wrong.

We came gently around into the bay. Peter was in the wheelhouse, focusing ahead, and every now and then glancing at the compass. The wind was gentle on my face as I leaned back against the side of the boat and closed my eyes. It was blissful. I’d never felt so at peace, so relaxed, so excited, so —

“AMELIA!”

In a nanosecond I was upright in my seat, eyes wide-open.