Fire Water by Jaye Wells Page A

set,” I said cheerfully.
    For some reason my determination to be in good mood only made him grumpier. “What’s got sunshine coming out of your ass today?”
    I smiled sweetly. “Just looking forward to another day in your company, Cap’n.”
    He frowned and made a disgusted sound before turning to the wheel. For the next half hour, neither of us spoke as he navigated the boat through the river toward the Bessemer Bridge. I wasn’t sure why he’d decided to head that direction since he seemed to prefer spending most of his day in the quieter and cleaner waters upriver. But I didn’t dare ask him with the mood he was in. So I just sat on my bucket and enjoyed the sun on my face.
    Soon the shadow of the Bessemer loomed overhead and we officially reentered the stretch of river along the Cauldron. I rose and went to the side of the boat. Sunlight didn’t improve the look of the tent city. Instead of blending into the gray sky and mud, it stood out like a discarded old boot against the cheery blue sky and yellow light.
    The good news was the motorboat was nowhere to be found. Maybe the potion dealers were off sunning themselves like the lizards they were.
    With a sigh, I turned my back on the tent city and turned to see what Cap’n was doing. I was shocked to see him watching the tents as intently as I had been. For a man who’d refused to intervene the day before, he certainly looked interested in it.
    â€œYour friends are gone.” The words were spoken in a grudging tone, as if he was trying to budget his words to me.
    I shrugged. “They’re out there somewhere.”
    He nodded and turned his eyes back to the river. “Soon they’ll be someone else’s problem.”
    I frowned. “What do you mean?” I walked to the control panel and leaned against it so I could see his face.
    â€œPaperwork went through. Tomorrow’s my last day on the river, too.”
    My brows rose. “That was fast.”
    He glanced out the corner of his eye. “No sense dragging out the inevitable.” For a man who’d just received news he would soon be free to do whatever he wanted, he didn’t sound very optimistic.
    â€œWhy don’t you sound happier?”
    He shrugged but didn’t respond. I let the matter drop because he clearly wasn’t eager to talk about it. So with a sigh, I went back to my bucket. Only five more hours until I could cut loose for the day.
    We didn’t speak much for the next couple of hours. At noon, we docked at a filling station upriver and ate our sandwiches. I sat on the prow of the ship with my legs hanging over the water. He stayed under the covered area, as if he wanted to spend every possible moment he had left behind the wheel.
    The water up in this part of the river was cleaner than farther down the waterway. Under my feet, little fish swam just beneath the surface. I threw in a couple of chunks of bread for them to fight over. I leaned my head back and looked up at a bird circling overhead, waiting for his chance to swoop down and get his own lunch.
    Traffic near this section of the water was lighter, too. During the first fifteen minutes of the lunch break only two boats had floated by, both fishing boats headed farther upriver where the fish weren’t poisonous.
    It wasn’t until I was done with my food and preparing to haul myself toward the back of the boat that the sound of a motor buzzed in my ears. I looked up to see the same speedboat we’d seen the day before zoom past, headed downriver. The driver of the boat was the lanky guy with long hair. His shorter partner wasn’t with him. He sped past without looking in our direction.
    I leaped off the deck and moved as fast as possible along the narrow edges of the boat to reach the back. “Did you see that?” I asked. “It was him.”
    Cap’n had been snoozing. At my raised voice, he fell off the stool.