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“Cool. Hannah, I didn’t get any sleep last night. Would you mind if I nap for a few minutes?”
Mackie dialed around and found a light-music station. By the time Leila was asleep, Mackie was thinking about Lindsay Boxer. It was good to be going back to San Francisco. Richie and Lindsay wouldn’t even be thinking about her.
Surprise. We’re ba-a-ack.
Beside her, Leila stirred.
Between now and San Francisco, she had to deal with the girl.
CHAPTER 34
YUKI STOOD WITH Brady and gangs of lighthearted after-dinner guests who were filling the FinStar’s world-class Ocean Bar to the walls. Inside, the bar was all gold trim and rusty autumn colors. Beyond the curving floor-to-ceiling windows, the night was ink-black, lit only by the foam breaking, leaping around the bow as the glorious ship steamed toward Sitka.
Yuki wore a sexy black dress, her new pale coral necklace, and strappy heels. She nursed her first margarita, hoping to see the aurora borealis, an amazing natural light show that often appeared at night in this part of the world.
Brady looked savagely handsome. He, too, was wearing black: turtleneck, blazer, and trousers. His dark clothes contrasted wonderfully with his flashing blond hair. He held out his hand.
“Come with me, sweetie. Let’s go to the Veranda Deck.”
Back home, Yuki was up at six, organized and overworked, always moving, doing whatever she could to prosecute criminals and put them away.
She felt different with Brady. With him it was okay to show her softer, more vulnerable side, to let him take the lead and take care of her. It was the first time she’d ever trusted a man this way, both emotionally and practically. She trusted him that much. But she didn’t like heights.
Yuki put down her glass and, taking her husband’s hand, said, “Lead the way.”
Together she and Brady climbed the three winding flights of tawny carpeted staircase that coiled below the huge illuminated art work of stars suspended above the staircase. Arriving at the Veranda Lounge, Brady put his hand to the small of her back and steered her through the crowd to the glass right at the front of the ship.
Just then, the room filled with awed murmurs.
There, off the starboard side, Yuki saw a pale aqua feathering in the sky. The color gathered depth and motion, forming a swath of light that ran from east to west, curling back on itself in a loose swirl.
Brady stood behind her and wrapped her in his arms as they watched the effect of atomic particles colliding, discharging energy some sixty miles overhead, creating an ethereal watercolor that bled through the velvet night.
“I must get pictures,” Yuki said.
“That can be arranged,” said her husband.
He took her hand, led her to the door, and made sure she safely cleared the high threshold.
The cold wind on the deck brought tears to Yuki’s eyes, but she shot a dozen pictures, each with her blowing hair across the lens. Then she saw Lyle, their cabin steward, who volunteered to point and shoot.
“How long will this last?” she asked him.
“Maybe hours, or—the way I heard it—it could disappear if you sneeze.”
“Quick,” she said, shoving her camera into his hand.
She and Brady stood with arms around each other, their backs to the blackness below and above, lit now with the magical northern lights.
Yuki thanked Lyle and took back her camera. She turned to Brady, stood on her toes, and pressed her body against him. He pulled her in even closer.
She shouted above the wind, “You should take me to bed.”
“How did we ever get so lucky?” said Brady.
CHAPTER 35
MY DAY STARTED in Jacobi’s big office with its view of the bail-bond storefronts and All Day Parking on Bryant.
