“Sure,” he said. “I’ll take her in.”
“Her,” Elliott repeated. “Right. Sea lingo.”
Elliott had bought the boat to try to prove to himself that he wasn’t a workaholic, but now he looked troubled by the idea of learning how to have fun.
“It’ll be great,” Max said as enthusiastically as he could, considering that he was looking out at waves instead of solid ground. One careless move and the ocean would happily suck both brothers into its dark maw. Max was exhausted from constantly guarding against the danger.
Six weeks on dry land had sounded like pure heaven after three months on the southern Mediterranean searching for treasure. Max had the perfect damn life…and he hated it. Not that he was ungracious enough to let anyone else know that.
He glanced back to Elliott, who was starting to gather up their gear. Elliott was supposed to be learning, and Max knew he should call his brother over and guide him through docking, but he told himself it would be better to wait for nicer weather. Then again, if Elliott rocked the boat into a piling with enough force, the boat would need repairs and they could abandon this so-called vacation.
A wave swelled beneath them, throwing Max into the wheel as if in punishment for his fantasy. “All right,” he muttered into the wind before waving his brother over. “Come on. I’ll guide you through it. You shouldn’t take her out in crud like this, but you never know what’s going to blow in unexpectedly.”
He talked Elliott through the danger of the narrow breakwater and into the marginally calmer waters of the tiny harbor. Five minutes later, his jaw and hands ached from tension, but the boat was safely tied in at one of the slips.
“Good work,” he said to Elliott, instead of blurting out what he really wanted to say. Why couldn’t you take up golf like all the other high-level guys at the CDC?
Elliott jumped onto the dock and Max handed the bags up to him so they could start the walk to their cabin. “How’d you find this place?”
Elliott shrugged. “Somebody on one of the boating sites recommended it.”
“Looks nice.” Max jumped up and they walked in silence for a while before he took another look at his brother’s tight shoulders. “Elliott…” he started, wondering if he should mention the ex-wife. What the hell. “You’re not doing all this just because of Rebecca, are you?”
Though Max had worried about offending him, Elliott didn’t even look surprised, much less offended. “She was right.”
“Aw, screw her,” Max muttered. “You’re a great guy. You know how many women would kill to marry a guy like you? You’re totally stable. You’re hardworking and honest and—”
“I’m not plugged in, I work too damn much and I’m boring as hell.”
“That’s bullshit.”
“It’s not bullshit.”
Max scowled, shifting the duffel bag to his other shoulder. “You love your job.”
“Yeah, I love my job, but it can’t be everything. I always worked too much, but after the last flu crisis… I wasn’t even surprised when she left, man. She’d given me enough warning.”
Thinking of Rebecca, with her shiny black hair and bright blue eyes, Max shook his head. He’d first met her at his brother’s wedding rehearsal, and his initial impression had been positive. She was lively, a real firecracker, only slightly overwhelmed by the stress of pulling off a perfect wedding.
Six months later, Max had returned from another long stint on the water and found that her liveliness had shifted toward restlessness and impatience with Elliott. Her hostile remarks about Elliott working on weekends had been interspersed with pointed observations about Max’s work. Travel and excitement and weeks in exotic locations. She’d oohed and aahed until Max had been uncomfortable enough to leave early.
The truth was that life on the sea was utter boredom punctuated by moments of alarm. The tanned skin and windswept hair threw people off. But Rebecca hadn’t been interested in explanations. She’d only been needling her husband. Max hadn’t been surprised by the news that she’d left the day after their first anniversary. Apparently, Elliott hadn’t been, either.
Max cleared his throat. “You’re not trying to get her back, are you?”
Elliott surprised him by laughing. “Give me some credit. I know we weren’t right for each other. I just don’t want to make the same mistake again.”
“You dating somebody?”
“Would I be spending a week at the beach with you if I were?”
“Hell, you’ve already admitted to being bad with women. Wasn’t sure it would occur to you to bring a girl.”
“Bite me,” Elliott muttered.
“Again, better with a girl.”
The punch to his shoulder hurt like a bitch. Despite spending sixty hours a week behind a desk, Elliott wasn’t exactly a weakling, and they’d had plenty of practice whaling on each other as kids. Just as he had when they were young, Max laughed like it hadn’t hurt and pushed his younger brother hard enough to make him stumble.