Chapter 1

John puttered around the house, slowly without any real direction. The house sat on a hill over looking the Pacific Ocean, a wide expanse of lush green irrigated grass, surrounded by the brown of the sage brush and tumble weed that was normal for the area. John walked from empty room to empty room adjusting a knick knack here a Hummel there. At 43 John was once again alone and totally unprepared for it.

John had made his fortune on the stock market a couple of years ago. He still had not adjusted to having money, he'd scrambled and worked for everything he'd gotten in life. As the money began to pour in and the stock grew, split and grew again, the modest investment turned into a living thing, needing management, constant attention, he'd become obsessed with amassing wealth. Now the thrill of it was gone, the money pulled from the stock market, more than he could ever spend.

He'd played with some of it, bought toys, boats, planes, and real estate. He bought some of the least desirable real-estate and some of the best. The worst became a housing complex, once again doubling his fortune, the best a resort complex he still had ownership in. The contest of money had lost its flavor for him, gone were most of the fancy cars, the gold digging women, the constant battle for favor. Instead it was just John, his wood shop and his house full of his past projects.

His vehicle of favor at the present time was an old chevy pickup truck. It had the parking place of prestige tucked between the Ferrari and the Cadillac. Its silver paint shiny, reflecting the sunlight in silvery blasts that belied its age. He wandered into town occasionally, to quietly pick up food, wood to work with, general supplies. He always paid cash and avoided most contact with the townsfolk as he thought of them. They seemed like nice people, he had the effect of turning nice people into bad people. He thought it was the only respectful thing to do to; leave them alone, and because of it he was something of an enigma to them as well.

He wandered slowly down the long grassy slope to the edge of the cliff leading to his small private marina. As he walked down the dock he chose sailing for today, stopping to release the stern line as he stepped onto the sleek sail boat. The diesel engine belched a cloud of blue smoke and then settled into a deep throated purr as he released the bow line, walked back to the cockpit, put it in gear and smoothly glided out into the open water of the pacific.

The sun was directly overhead, bright, surrounded with a sky a pale shade of blue that faded into the dark blue of the pacific afternoon, and John marveled at the water as it turned into the deep shade as he made his way into deeper water, a color that complimented the sky so well. His world was quiet and peaceful... and lonely. He longed for a partner to share this vision with, this beauty, and chuckled as he wondered; is it really beautiful if there's no one to share it with? Maybe there weren't enough lonely people to make that as popular as the question of a tree falling in the woods, with no one to hear it, does it really make noise?

The sun was touching the horizon, settling over the ocean as John began to pick up the familiar landmarks heading back to the cove and the house. A little farther south than he usually went, blown off course by the gentle wind, or the currents as the water lapped against the sides of the boat, neatly but slowly slicing through the water. The rising and falling of the ocean swell a pleasant sensation.

He heard it before he saw it. A small motor boat, smoking and settling in the water. He aimed for it and rose to pull his sails, starting the diesel engine again, picking up speed. As he neared the small craft, the flames licking the engine compartment flared and John watched as the fire crept up the hull, quickly engulfing the craft. The dichotomy of the crackling fire and hissing water became a general roar of misfortune.

He saw her floating in the water, arms outstretched, suspended by the bright orange life vest and motored slowly over to her. He was afraid to call out to her, afraid that she wouldn't respond. Her head lifted and she began waving at him as he neared her, engine idling, drifting towards her now.

"Oh god! Please help me, Please..." She was sobbing, with her hair over her face, the life vest sliding up on her arms, she looked at risk of sliding out of it and slowly sinking to the depths.

"Grab this!" John thrust a grapple towards her and pulled her to the side of the boat. He leaned over the gunnel and she grasped his outstretched hand tightly. He pulled her up so she could reach the side of the boat with her foot and push up. She leaned over the safety rope railing and promptly fell with a plop on the deck.

"Are you ok? Are you hurt?"

"Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck... I thought I was going to die."

John couldn't help chuckling and repeated his question calmly, "are you hurt, are you burned?"

"No I'm not hurt, well not badly, I got off the boat before the fire got too bad."

"What the hell happened?"

"I don't know... I was just cruising and the motor made a pop, then it started to smoke, when I slowed down the smoke burst into flame. I jumped overboard, I lost everything!"

"Its ok, I live just inshore, we'll go and call someone for you..."

She began to cry again, lowering her head into the life vest once again, her wet stringy hair falling over her face. She sat huddled around herself still sitting on the deck where she landed as John pointed the boat ahead, rounded the corner and pulled into his lagoon, smoothly sliding up against the rubber bumpers reversing the thrust of the engines to settle against the dock, and jumped lithely over the side landing lightly. Quickly wrapping the stern line around a cleat, the slight forward momentum of the boat bringing the rest of the boat square to the dock, John scooped up the bow line and tied it off before the boat began to swing back out, away from the dock again.

John jumped back on board. "It's ok, come with me..." He pulled her to her feet and led her to the boat house, the small apartment he had that was integral to the dock. As he pulled her inside he was almost overwhelmed by the gas fumes, strong enough the make his eyes water.

"Can we call someone? Who should I call for you?"

"There's no one to call."

"I can't call your family? A friend?"

"My family is gone and I don't have friends." And she again began to cry. "God I look frightful."

Her eyes were red, her nose was red, her hair looked like stringy spaghetti pasted to her head, she still had the gasoline soaked life vest on, the dirty off white sundress, flat white flip flops. John had to agree with her, she looked frightful and mournful. He had never seen anyone so sad before in his life, except perhaps when he looked in the mirror each morning, which was why he never did any more. But, as he looked at the bloodshot white of her eyes he noticed that it surrounded a deep shade of brown, speckled by a color that can only be described as gold. Her nose was a small nose, the classic ski slope shape, her cheek bones high and pronounced. Her chin was strong but not overbearingly so, the classic daintiness tapering to a slim neck of regal stature.

"What do you mean, your family's gone? Gone where?"

"Just gone."

"Everybody has friends."

"I don't, it's a long story."

"Ok... well, I at least have to call the coast guard so when they find your burned boat they don't search for you." He turned, thinking to himself that he sounded harsh although he hadn't meant to.

He called the number from a list posted next to the phone and she listened while he talked in boater jargon. She didn't understand a word. She hated boats, and typically disliked boaters. Her soon-to-be-ex was a boater, an asshole, cruel. She wasn't too fond of men in general right now either, and this guy was both, a man and a boater, definitely an asshole. He spent all his money on his boat, probably all of his time too and had to live in this shitty little shack by the sea. How fucking quaint.

"The shower's through there."

"I don't have anything to change in to... Shit I don't have any money, my credit cards, my clothes... Fuck."

John chuckled warmly, "you certainly have a way with words" and smiling, he walked into the bedroom and pulled a pair of athletic shorts with a draw string and a T-shirt out of the dresser and tossed them to her. "There's a towel in the bathroom."

As he left he heard the sound of the shower start and he wandered up the stairs to the top of the cliff and over the long grassy slope.

He was walking back in the apartment as she came out of the shower, her hair wet, but smooth, the tips as they dried, turning golden, the rest a light brown. The oversized T shirt draped over impossibly thin shoulders, her legs long and lean.

"Feeling better?"

"I'm sorry, I never said thank you."

"It was no problem, can I take you somewhere? Where's home?"

"At the bottom of the pacific, I just moved into the boat this afternoon."

"You lived on that boat? It was tiny!"

"I had nowhere else to go. I left my husband this afternoon too."

"I remember, no family, no friends, I'm sorry. Ok, so that tells us where home is... How about a hotel, somewhere you can stay?"

Her eyes began to redden again and a solitary tear ran down her cheek. "I don't know what to tell you, I lost everything, my wallet, credit cards, my money, my clothes, everything. I can't go back there and I have no idea how to replace what I've lost..."

"You'll stay here then... I mean if you want to. I'll spot you some money if you need, for a while, something to get you back on your feet, but you're welcome to stay here for a while if you want."

"Where will you stay, there's only one bedroom."

"Its ok, I'll stay..." he was reticent to show her the other house, to show her he had wealth, and wasn't quite sure why. "... I have somewhere else I can stay."

"I can't force you out of your house."

"It's ok, really, relax and I'll be back in the morning. We'll see about trying to put your life back together."

Laurie watched him walk out the door with confusion and some degree of wonder. The way her day had gone the guy would walk back in the door and beat her up. Her husband had finally pushed things too far and when the bruises had healed she left. Their friends were his friends and she really didn't know where to go. She took what clothes she could pack in a suit case and went down and took his beloved boat. That would really get to him, the bastard.

She had cruised for a couple of hours, working her way up the coast, staying far enough off shore to avoid the rocks but close enough to see the coast. There had to be somewhere she could park the damned thing, at least long enough to figure out what she was going to do. Then it had started to smoke and make that noise. She had shut it down looking the long way to the shore, looking all around with no-one in sight. She heard the whump! As the engine compartment caught fire, she watched in disbelief as the flames started licking out of the engine compartment and spread with alarming speed. She took to the life vest and jumped overboard. The whoosh still came as a surprise every time her mind played it through and the fire spread over the entire topside of the boat. She figured she owed this guy her life and wondered what he'd want in return.

John woke up early as was his custom, watching the sun rise over the hills. He made coffee and pulled his ratty shorts on, a T-shirt his normal uniform for working around the house. He pondered the woman in the boat house and wondered what she'd look like today.

He knocked on the front door and heard her rattling around.

"Hi!" she was much perkier this morning. Gone was the despair of the catastrophe of yesterday.

"Feeling better? I brought you coffee, if you drink it that is... I have Orange Juice too if you want it." He held up the blue plastic bag and a travel cup for her inspection and approval. He was shocked when he looked at her. She had fine features, the lines of her face crisp, and fair. Her hair dry, and pulled back behind her ears, had turned a shade of gold he had never seen before and with her hair pulled back he could see her eyes had cleared, those dark brown, gold flecked eyes. He tried not to but couldn't help letting his eyes slowly run down her chin, once again feeling that the stature of her neck was regal, long, head held high, tapering into the shoulders, so thin looking, the rest of her dwarfed by the over sized T-shirt. Even just risen from bed she was the most astounding looking woman John had ever met.

He wondered how she'd fucked up that bad to be willing to take a boat. He also wondered how her ex could've been willing to let her go. Perhaps she was wanted for something, god he had no idea who this woman was. Perhaps she was a screamer, high maintenance, dumber than a brick post or any one of the reasons he had found dating so distasteful.

"Thank you... I really don't know how to thank you..." She lowered her head and looked through her hair at him. She was shyly defiant, demure and confident at the same time. His heart fluttered, his knees weakened and he felt a connection with this woman, an overwhelming desire to protect her from what ever it was that was pursuing her, perhaps haunting her was a better choice of words.

"You don't have to thank me... I'm just glad I could help. You know, you can stay here for a while. No one really uses this place, except me... occasionally I mean. I don't live here, I just hang out here every once in a while."

"Fighting with the wife?" she asked just this side of bitchy.

"No wife."

"The girl friend then?"

"No girl friend. Is that ok?" the sarcasm dripping from his voice. How could she be so angelic and such a bitch at the same time.

"What do you want from me?"

"Jesus! What the hell is wrong with you? I'm just trying to be nice, I don't want a fucking thing from you! Just let me know when you leave so I can lock the fucking place up. Number's by the phone, says 'John'" and he stormed out of the door muttering... "no good deed goes un-fucking-punished."

She sank onto the couch and put her head in her hands. "Why did I do that? He hasn't asked for a thing, he's been a perfect gentleman and I treat him like that mouth busting shitheel I'm trying to get away from." She looked out the window to see him step over the combing of the large motor yacht. He yanked open the engine hatch and walked down into the engineering space, stooping over and being swallowed up by the darkness.

"Ow shit!" he jumped and bumped his head as she appeared in the door to the engine compartment.

"I'm sorry." She held her hand to her mouth trying not to laugh and trying to show concern. John smiled at her when he saw the twinkle in her eye.

"It's ok. Not your fault" He bent back down to the pump that was disassembled on the floor rubbing his head. He pushed the retainer ring back in and began to bolt it back to the side of the boat, pulling the small hoses back up to it, fastening them in place. His tone was clipped, distant, wary but his heart skipped a beat when he looked at her.

"I mean, I'm sorry for being a bitch earlier... You wouldn't understand. Can we start over again? Hi. I'm Laurie, thank you for saving me, and thank you for... well for everything. John right?"

"Nice to meet ya Laurie. Yeah John." John looked at her with the wariness of an injured cat. For the first time, Laurie saw the vulnerability in John's eyes, the hurt. Everyone has a hidden story. "Ya running to something or away?"

"What do you mean? Am I running?"

"Well, everything you have burns in a boat, you almost drown, and there's no-one you want to call. Sounds like you're running away from something or someone to me."

"I don't really want to talk about it."

"You know I could help you. If it's legal we can deal with it."

"I don't really want to talk about it." She heard the anger in her voice, unintended but uncontrollable at the same time.

"You know..." John looked away from those eyes. They made him feel different than ever before. He paused, looked down at the pump, "... You know you're awfully hard to help."

"I'm really not a bitch, its just that... I just can't talk about it..." John looked at her and saw the tear fall from her cheek.

"Its ok, are you wanted? Cops looking for you?"

She laughed through her tears, "no! nothing like that. Well maybe, I'm hiding from my husband."

The disappointment at hearing she was married was almost a physical blow, his brow furrowed and his mood instantly soured again.

"Why the fuck would you hide from your husband?"

"He hits me. He hurt me and I couldn't take it anymore. I took his boat and ran. I was going to find somewhere to hide for a while and then, find a lawyer. I guess maybe the cops will be looking for the boat, and probably me too now that I think about it."

She interpreted his scowl as disbelief. "Really, I waited until the bruises faded, and then I ran. He thinks he owns me, like a dog... Shit, I knew you wouldn't understand."

"I understand why you ran, I can't understand why he would hit you."

"He's mean, he'd get drunk and then he'd hit me, for not getting his beer fast enough, or not knowing what he wanted for dinner when he got home and fixing the wrong thing. We've been married for two years and he just doesn't like me anymore." It was the most she'd said in one continuous stream since he'd known her. The tone of her voice carried a lifetime of pain. His heart reached out for this angelic creature in a way and with an intensity that he didn't understand.

"Laurie, its ok... you don't have to... you don't have to say anymore if you don't want to." He brushed past her and opened the door to the salon. He reached for her hand and pulled her into the air conditioning. "Shhh... come sit... let me get you something to drink." He pulled a Pepsi from the fridge.

"What's your boss going to say when he finds me. Will I get you in trouble too?"

John laughed. "Not to worry Laurie. I'm in good with the boss."

"John, you're being so nice and I was such a bitch. Why? It scares me."

"Why would me being nice scare you?"

"I'm just so used to it being different I guess."

"I like you, I mean so far, you seem nice" he chuckled, "I mean... for the most part. I want to help."

"I don't even know you. What do you want from me?"

"You could turn the bitch thing off for a couple of days but other than that nothing."

"Who are you? Where do you live? How can you arrange all this?"

"Anyone ever tell you not to look a gift horse in the mouth?" His smile was warm and gentle and Laurie came to the conclusion that this was a nice guy with something to hide. There was a standoff tenor to John and she wondered what it was. She figured it wasn't something illegal or anything like that, but she could tell he'd been hurt. He was wary but warm if that made sense. She had an instinctive draw to this guy, like she'd never had to anyone before. She didn't understand it but it scared her and she found herself in a mental tug of war.

"Want to go down to the beach? You look like some relaxation would do you good. Or we could try this thing out if you want..."

"Uhhh, I'll pass on the boat thing if you don't mind... The beach sounds... nice, but I'm really not ready to do the crowd thing yet. Where?"

"Its just down the walk, its private, you want to go?" and John pointed to a small expanse of white sand out of the window. The waves broke on an off shore reef or sand bar, giving way to gentle lapping swells that dissolved into the crisp white sand. The sand gave way to beach grass which ended at the bottom of a cliff. A set of wooden stairs wound their way up the side of the cliff and disappeared into a landing at the top of the cliff. Laurie had never seen anything so beautiful, the seclusion, the serenity, a lush green oasis.

Laurie's eyes began to tear again. "I don't have anything... I mean all my clothes, my swim suit, everything..."

"Come on then, let's go buy you some clothes then we'll go to the beach, it'll be fun, I promise."

"I don't... I don't have any money."

"I told ya, I'll spot you some. When you're back on your feet you can pay me back." John saw a new joy on Laurie's face, for the first time, he saw hope. She was almost crushingly beautiful with the new warmth that colored her cheeks.

"You'll really let me stay here for awhile? Till I get a job and a place of my own? I'll be quiet, I promise, you won't even know I'm here.

"Laurie, the place is yours as long as you want."

"I can't stay here for free, we'll work out a payment arrangement?"

John smiled. "We'll work something out... We'll talk about it later. Now let's go get you a suit before it's too late to go and relax."

Laurie rode quietly in John's old pickup. He stopped at an expensive swimsuit store in the small one street town. Laurie wandered through the store pulling swim suits down and looking at them, when she looked at the tag her eyes widened.

"John! These are too expensive. They want three hundred bucks for that suit."

"Do you like it? Then buy it. They owe me some favors, I worked on their boat. Don't worry about it." The lie came easily to him and he made arrangements to pay for whatever she bought while she was in the fitting room.

When they left the shop John pulled her into an expensive lady's clothing store.

"let me guess, they owe you a favor too?"

"Yeah, just get what you want and we'll work something out later. Really, don't worry about it. This is the only way they'll ever be able to pay me back so everyone's happy. They repay a debt and you're happy, so I'm happy."

John sat on the beach chair in the sun reading his book. A beer rested on the cooler between his and the empty chair. He looked up as he heard the other chair creak, Laurie settled back into the chair. John was again stunned at the feeling this woman generated in him. His heart racing, he felt like a twelve year old in the company of a beauty queen.

Laurie had selected a yellow two piece suit which suited her, and complimented the gold hair that flowed over her shoulders. John's gaze traveled across her face, his face a slight frown when he realized he couldn't see her eyes in the sunglasses he had helped her pick out. His gaze traveled over her confident chin, down her thin neck, to the swell of her breast and he averted his eyes. He couldn't even begin to think about her in that way. She'd been through so much and he knew she couldn't be ready for someone like him. He had no idea what her body was like and was afraid he'd get caught looking. She'd been covered up with the oversized T shirt, and now he couldn't bring himself to look.

"whatchya readin'?"

"Just a novel, mindless fodder but it's pretty good, entertaining I mean. Want a beer?"

"I'd love one!" she smiled as he pulled another beer and a coolie cup out of the cooler.

"So tell me the Laurie story..."

"You know more about me than I do about you, why don't you tell me the John story?" her tone while friendly was still slightly combative. The dichotomy was not lost on John as he laughed.