Page 83 of The Sailor

“Come on, let’s get you out of here,” Zach told Marit.

He stood, and his knees screamed in protest. Not just because of the position he’d been in on the ground, but because of the hours he’d spent standing on the boat deck as they’d searched for her, and the climb up the hill.

“I’ll stay here with pecker head to make sure he doesn’t go anywhere,” Linc said.

“Appreciate it,” Zach told his brother.

“Wait, we need to call for help, don’t we? Like the police? Lucas has the key to his boat in his pocket. And he did something to his radio so it doesn’t work, and he disabled his GPS system.”

“Rogers is waiting at the shore. He’s called everyone.”

“Everyone?” Marit asked.

“I think you’re going to be very surprised by how many people were looking for you,” Zach told her, as they slowly headed down the steep hill.

When they reached the shore, amazingly, the sun had come back out. It was almost eerie, but very appropriate all the same.

“You found her! You okay, girl?” Rogers called out from his boat.

Marit smiled at him. “I am. Thank you so much for knowing where to look.”

“I’m old, not dumb,” he told her.

“No, you aren’t. And I owe you. Huge.”

The older man harrumphed. And Zach was forced to come to terms with the fact that the neighbor he loved to hate had once again done the Young family a huge favor. The first was when he’d noticed Evelyn Young and Britt being kidnapped by Camden, their former employee, and was smart enough to call Chad.

And now this.

It might be extremely painful, as Rogers was prickly as hell and truly an asshole—one who was still after his mother’s land—but Zach vowed to be friendlier toward him from here on out. It was the least he could do after he’d literally saved not only Marit’s life, but Zach’s as well. Because without Marit . . .

He didn’t finish the thought. There was no need. She was here. Alive. And in his arms once more.

“Look!” Marit exclaimed, pointing toward the tip of the island, causing Zach to glance in that direction.

Boats. At least a dozen. And they were coming toward them at an extremely high rate of speed. They were lobster boats. Each and every one of them. They’d obviously come to the island as fast as they could, as soon as Rogers had given them coordinates. And they’d beaten both the Coast Guard and the police boats, to boot.

Marit looked up at Zach in awe. “It’s the Wave Rider. And the Shell Seeker, Northern Tide, Maine Event . . . and even the Crustacean Queen!”

“It is,” Zach agreed. “They’ve all been looking for you since they found out you were missing this morning.”

The incredulous look she gave him both broke his heart and filled him with joy. But mostly the latter. She was finally realizing that not everyone felt about her the way Pearson did.

“I can’t believe they were looking for me and not fishing,” she said, her voice full of wonder.

Zach hugged her from behind, bending to rest his chin on her shoulder. “They were all appalled that Pearson did what he did. They respect you, Marit. They know how hard you work and have no issues with you lobstering right alongside them.”

She craned her neck to look at him without pulling out of his embrace. “I had no idea. I thought everyone just tolerated me. Were maybe even waiting for me to fail.”

“They don’t. They weren’t,” Zach said simply.

“I’m going to cry,” she whispered.

“Don’t,” Zach teased. “Tough-ass lobsterwomen like you don’t cry.”

She chuckled. “Yeah,” she agreed.

“For the record? I’m so proud of you. I want to hear the entire story about what happened, because I have no doubt Pearson expected a meek and terrified girl that he’d enjoy bullying a little more before leaving you to die. But instead, he got a strong-as-hell woman who refused to go down without a fight.”