Page 23 of Keel

She nodded. “Yes.”

“So you understand where to go in the water.”

She shrugged. “Kind of.”

“Here, take the wheel, and you can see how easy it is. Don’t worry, I’m not going to step away.”

“Okay, sure. I guess.”

He showed her the basics again, reminding her how to slow down, how to speed up, and how to steer. She took the controls, doing a great job. When a larger ship came around the bend, she handed the controls back to him.

The day was perfect, her company amazing, and he was having a great time. It seemed like Frankie was having fun, too. The few hours they had on the boat passed way too quickly, and they were back on land.

Frankie was all smiles, and he was glad he could give her something to be happy about. On the way back to the condo, he stopped in at a burger joint.

“Let’s get some food.”

“I don’t want you to have to pay for everything. I do have some money.”

“Okay. You can pay, but only for yours. Soon, we’ll work on tracking down and finding out if you have any money left. We’ll figure out how you can get access to it if you do have some money.”

“Thank you. I appreciate that.”

It was good that she wanted to move forward and take back control of her life. It would help her recover and get her life back. He wanted that for her. The thought of her leaving and never seeing her again sat heavily on his chest. It would be wrong to get involved, but he didn’t want to lose connection with her. Maybe she would want to keep in touch. The last thing he wanted was to pressure her into something she would regret later. She had enough of those, and he didn’t want to add to her list of things she was sorry she’d done.

Chapter 13

Frankie rubbed her forehead, feeling the effects of the headache that had just begun. She didn’t remember anything about the money from her parents’ estate or how it was distributed.

She worried Keel would yell at her, but he kept his calm. “I don’t know where to look.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll figure it out. Just think about it, and eventually we’ll get access to your old email, and then you can search for the information.”

“I know Forest remembers the guy. Or maybe he doesn’t.”

“It’s not worth contacting him. We’ll figure it out, eventually.”

“Thank you.”

“Hey, I’m glad I can help.”

“I know Forest took some of my money. I just don’t know how much. Maybe it’s all gone.”

He squeezed her shoulders. “We’ll figure it out. If it’s all gone, you’ll come up with something else.”

She didn’t know how she could come up with anything else. She wasn’t sure she could figure anything out. Her life seemed hopeless, and she hated that.

“Thank you for helping me. I swear, stuff like this makes me want to smash my head against the wall. I think it’s why I let Forest do things for me. It’s just weird that I totally forgot everything about the guy who I’m supposed to contact about the money.”

“It’s not weird. You suffered a terrible tragedy. Our minds get messed up. I know a lot of guys who have PTSD, and they forget huge parts of their lives because of the shit they see. It’s not a judgment on them at all. They just have memory slips.”

She shook her head. “This is important, though. If there is money, it will help me get my shit together.”

“You’ll get your shit together even without any money. You’re doing that now.”

She shook her head. “It’s hard.”

“But it will be worth it.”