Chapter 2

A twenty four hour delay cost me my boat and almost cost me my life. The lawyers, bankers and all had me in a meeting that lasted until midnight on Thursday. I went directly to the boat very tired but with a feeling of accomplishment. It didn't take me long to get to sleep, but I was up by four thirty making ready. The last message of several from Karen was at eleven Thursday night. I had no interest in what she had to say. I planned to drop my iPhone over the side once I crossed into the Gulf. She had left five messages on my phone and a couple with Jennifer, who had been stuck to the story that I was out on Lady Ester, and she didn't know when I'd be back.

Jennifer stayed until the meeting adjourned and then we walked out together. It was a beautiful warm night, perfectly clear, with a soft breeze. When we got to her Honda she folded herself into my arms.

"I'm really going to miss you Tom."

She kissed me.

"I wished I started kissing you a lot sooner!" she said when we came up for air.

"Jen ... you sure do know how to get a guy's attention..."

She looked at me and her eyes glistened.

"Just one guy. Damn ... just when I find the right one ... he has to run off..."

"I'll be back, Jen..."

"I know ... just wish you didn't have to go."

I held her by her shoulders as she started to cry.

I hugged her and kissed her softly then opened her car door.

"See you soon Jen."

"Okay Tom ... I'll be waiting."

As she drove away I stood there with very mixed emotions. I knew I cared about Jennifer, but for years it had been more paternal. She was sexy and smart and was fun to be around. It would be some kind of poetic justice if I got together with Jen — the thing Karen feared. And I really didn't give a hang what anyone else thought either. "Boss marries assistant". I laughed.

I was sure getting ahead of myself. I wasn't even divorced yet and I was walking down the isle with Jennifer. I shook my head and went to my SUV.

So on Friday morning I was up and going with the dawn.

Just after I cleared the Waterway and was about to deep six my phone, it rang.

"Hi Kim ... you're up kinda early ... what's up?"

"Dad, where are you?"

"On board Lady Ester ... just clearing the entrance to the Inter Coastal. Why?"

"I had dinner with mom last night in Atlanta ... she's a wreck ... she says you're not answering her calls and Jen has been less than cooperative about getting hold of you..."

"True ... I've been busy..." I let that hang.

"Dad what's going on between you and mom?"

"Kim, I think you know."

There was a long pause.

"You still there?"

"Yes ... I just didn't know what to do. I love you both, but right now I hate her."

"I think your mother is going to need you to stay close."

"Dad ... what have you done?"

"I'm divorcing her."

"Oh no!" she wailed.

"Kim, why didn't you tell me?"

"I couldn't ... I thought she'd have her little fling and get it out of her system ... and then maybe she'd try to make it up to you..." she sobbed.

"Unfortunately that didn't happen ... she may be in love with the guy..."

"No ... no ... no ... it's not like that ... she only loves you!"

"Not my idea of love, honey."

"Will you talk to her?"

"Maybe when I get back ... but I can't think of much to discuss ... she's done the unforgivable."

"Dad, please don't say that."

"Kim, she's ripped my heart out and it's all too soon to even think about talking to her."

"When will you be home?"

I didn't want to tell her that Venice was no longer my home.

"Maybe in a few months."

"Months?!"

"I've sold the business and I'm going sailing while I'm still young enough to do it."

"Oh no!"

"That was always my dream ... although I always pictured it with your mother. She's replaced me with a younger dream..."

"Dad ... that's not true ... it's only a fling!"

"Did she tell you that?"

"No." she said quietly.

"Listen, honey ... a marriage is based on trust. If there's no trust there's no marriage. How could I ever trust her again?"

"Dad she's so sorry ... she took the first flight out this morning. I dropped her at Hartsfield just five minutes ago."

"Sorry she got caught?"

"I don't think she realizes that you really know..."

"Oh..."

"I told her she needed to tell the truth ... but I think she's going to try to ... actually I don't know what she has planned ... she's just determined not to lose you."

"Kim, honey, she's already lost me."

There was silence on the other end.

"I'm sorry baby ... sorry this had to happen and that you're in the middle."

"But dad can't you come home sooner?"

"No ... I need a long vacation."

"Will you at least hold up the divorce until you get back?"

"Kim, what's done is done. I don't want to sound like a hard ass but I'm not feeling very charitable toward your mother right now."

"I understand."

"But I'll be in touch. Let Lisa know will you?"

"Sure."

"Well it's time to set the sails so I'll say goodbye for now."

"I love you dad."

"I love you Kim ... see you in not too long."

"I hope so ... bye dad."

My phone beeped letting me know I had a call waiting. It was from Karen. I ignored it and turned the phone off. I had things to do, which did not include wasting time talking to my soon to be ex-wife.

The Lady Ester is a forty three foot Northwind Deck Saloon Cruiser. She has a beam of fourteen feet and a draft of six and a half feet. She has a raised center cockpit and the visibility is excellent from there. She's all fiberglass construction with fiberglass masts. Her interior is teak and she sails like a dream. Built in Spain she costs more than most houses.

Growing up on coastal Florida, I learned to sail as a kid on tiny craft that could hardly be trusted past the breakwater, but I was hooked. When I finally had some money, I bought a used sail boat. Over the years I continued to trade up. Then three years ago I found Lady Ester. It was gently used and it was the boat I always wanted. I never regretted it. I think even Karen enjoyed the boat, at least in the beginning, but somehow she never had, or made the time to join me on something I loved. It wasn't like the accommodations were Spartan. It had hot water showers, two heads, a generator that kept all the electronics going and she was smooth in the water and easy for one person to handle with power winches and everything that made for comfortable and safe open ocean cruising.

Karen was an experienced sailor, having grown up around sail boats, and she could crew the Ester alone if necessary. I thought we were the ideal crew since we were both experienced. But Karen lacked the passion I had. I was shocked one time at a social gathering when I overheard her call Ester, "Tom's Mistress".

If Ester was my mistress then she was the only mistress I ever had, but I guessed now she would be my only companion. I tried very hard to spend as much time with Karen, and never denied her my company at the round of social activities she attended because they were "important" but our leisure time was more and more taken up with her drive to be more successful. As I was able to put more in the hands of my subordinates, she worked more. Of course her involvement with Alex explained a lot. I wondered how long that had been going on and whether there had been others. That thought really stung.

The sunrise behind me blood red, reminded me of the old sailor's adage, "Red sky in morning, sailors take warning". I shrugged it off. The seas were relatively clam and there was a strong wind from aft which hustled me along.

The feeling was wonderful and my spirits lifted as I sailed away from land. The Ester seemed like a living thing as we raced into the Gulf. The only sounds were the wind in the rigging and the swish of the water as we moved along. I was elated and saddened at the same time; elated to finally be free, free of all those responsibilities that I had begun to dread. Maybe Karen had done me a favor. Where would I have been five years or ten years from now? Still at my desk, or dead from a heart attack, never having the time to do the things I had the money to do. Maybe I only needed a long vacation. I was glad to have cut my ties, but saddened to have no one to share this adventure with.

For some reason I kept my iPhone. I tucked it away in the side cargo pocket of my shorts. Maybe I felt it was my connection to Kim.

I sailed all day on a track that would take me the most direct route across the Gulf of Mexico toward my destination a thousand miles and maybe five or six days away at Corpus Christi Texas. I was in no rush and figured I could put in there for a few days and top everything off before heading south along the east coast of Mexico.

I kept my eyes on the clouds to the south and kept an ear on the weather radio. Late Friday night I set the auto pilot and stretched out under the stars. I always wore a life jacket and a tether while at sea, especially when sailing alone.

After a bit of restless sleep, I went down into the cabin to the large bed. I looked at it and remembered how Karen and I had christened this boat. We had been gone for a week and made love every day and night. What happened to those people?

I didn't sleep much better down below. I just couldn't turn my brain off. Karen was constantly intruding in my thoughts. I knew I had done the right thing. I wouldn't, couldn't stay married to a woman who betrayed me. But why had she done it? Was I so much of an inadequate husband? Maybe someday I'd finally ask her. Right now the pain was too raw to do anything but escape.

A couple of times in the night I got up to reset the sails, the winds had come up from the southeast.

I awoke Saturday morning to gray skies and higher seas. I made coffee and picked up the Weather Channel on my satellite feed. I was surprised to see the storm that had been predicted to turn south and make landfall in the Yucatan was now much stronger and heading north. I was right in its path.

I was in exactly in the wrong spot. I was too far from Florida to turn back and not close enough to the southern US to out run it.