"I’ve come to give you your pay for the evening, Dylan," she told him, offering him the five dollars she held. His eyes lit up when he saw how much he had earned; visions of getting rich quick obviously dancing through his head. Then he looked at his mother quizzically.

"I’m not done, yet, mom, there’s still another table left," he told her.

"Your shift is over, Dylan, and it’s almost your bedtime," she said. "Sometimes the work day ends before the work does. Now, say good night to everyone and go get ready for bed. I’ll be up a little later and we’ll discuss your work hours, pay rate, and all those other important details of your new job. Assuming you still want the job, that is." She smiled again, but part of her was wondering if her son only did it because Daniel asked.

"Yeh, mom, this is easy," he said, grinning. "And I sure can use the money. I want to buy a computer, and skates, and ..."

"Well, we’ll talk about all of that later," and she handed him his pay. "Now say good night to Daniel and the others, okay?"

"Sure mom," he said, taking the money happily. He turned to Daniel and said, "Good night, Daniel, and thanks for getting me the job."

"Good night, Dylan. Glad it’s working out for you and your mom," Daniel said.

Dylan then walked out of the kitchen to say good night to the others, and Alex turned to Daniel. "If you can stick around for awhile, I’d like to get your opinion on a problem I’m having with Dylan. You two are getting pretty close," and at his look of concern, quickly added, "which is a good thing, I like it, he obviously likes you and you are good for him. I just think maybe you can give me an insight into something I think is troubling him." She then looked at the bucket with the broken dishes and did a mental inventory.

"Three glasses, two dinner plates, four coffee cups, one coffee saucer - only one saucer?, don’t answer that ... and two desert plates. Hmmm .... seven dollars. Bus the tables again next Friday’s fish fry for an hour and you’ve paid me back. How does that sound?"

"That’s fair, Alex. Look, I’m really sorry about that ..." Daniel started, but was interrupted by Dylan opening the door to the kitchen saying, "Mom, Daniel, come quick," in a very frightened tone. Both came quickly, Alex saying, "What’s wrong, Dylan, are you okay?"

They walked into the main room to see Mark, his sides heaving as he gasped for air, telling Kevin, "You gotta call the Coast Guard. Two fishermen haven’t come back. They’re missing at sea."

Angie watched as the people in Widow’s Walk were galvanized by those words. Kevin immediately headed toward the phone in the entranceway as Alex walked behind her bar, Daniel began to remove his apron, and Boris announced, "Will start making dough for comfort food."

"Don’t bother, Kevin," Alex told him as she pulled Molly’s purse out from under the bar, "it’s out of order and the tech won’t be out until sometime next week." Molly stood and took her purse from Alex, immediately getting her car keys out of it, which she then handed off to Kevin.

"We’ll use your phone Callie," Kevin decided, as Callie handed Angie a spare set of keys from her purse.

"The guest bedroom is the clean one," Callie told Angie, "and be sure to lock the front door or else the wind will blow it open and scatter my papers. Will you be able to find your way back okay?"

A deep, rumbling bellow rattled all the glassware behind Alex even as she handed a notebook to Molly to pass to Callie. "Oh good, the lighthouse is on and blowing the foghorn," Alex said, but was barely heard above the mournful drone.

Angie knew time was of the essence in this, and so she reached into her purse and pulled out her cell phone, even as Nub stated, "I’ll go tell Father Mac." Kevin nodded approval to Nub, who then told Angie, "I’ll walk you over to Callie’s when I get back."

"Sure," Angie told him, and even in the seriousness of the situation they shared a smile. Angie activated her cell phone as Nub left, then handed it to Kevin, saying, "Here, use this."

Kevin took the phone despite his surprise at the offer, and Angie told him, "Just dial the number and then press this button," and showed him which one she meant.

"Thanks, Angie," he said, dialing even as he spoke. The call was answered after the first ring, and he announced, "This is Kevin Mitchell of the Hope Island Police Department. We need a search and rescue operation for two men lost at sea."

After listening intently for a few seconds, he turned to Mark. "They want last known location and descriptions. Do you have this information?"

"Yeh," Mark replied, and Kevin said into the phone, "I’m giving the call over to someone who has that information." He then handed the phone to Mark, who in turn started with names and general description of the two men.

Molly turned to Alex and said, "First shift or second?"

"I’ll take first shift. Why don’t you use one of the spare rooms upstairs and get in some sleep until the crowd starts to arrive?"

"I thought I should finish cleaning up here," Molly said, but another yawn escaped her even as she spoke.

"Go rest, and I’ll clean," Alex ordered. Molly sighed, and said, "Just wake me when you need me." Alex nodded, and Molly turned to Angie. "It was good to meet you, Angie. I’ll see you tomorrow, I assume?"

"Yeh, I’m here until Sunday," Angie told her, and Molly yawned again.

"Okay, I’m going," she announced to the group, and looked to Kevin. He now held the phone again and was listening intently to instructions for his end of the operation, so she just kissed him on the cheek before leaving the room.

"Got it. Alex, are you getting incoming calls here?" Kevin asked.

"No, nothing," she returned.

"We need someone to be at a phone at all times," Kevin stated, looking for volunteers.

"Then hold on to my phone and give it back to me tomorrow," Angie said.

"That’s very generous of you, thank you," Kevin replied. "And this phone number is?"

Angie told him, and he repeated the number back to the contact at the Coast Guard. With the call over, Angie showed him how to disconnect, and also what to do to answer a call.

"I should hold onto that," Daniel said, putting out his hand for the phone. "You’re going to be busy with the crowds."

"Yeh, and people will think the phone belongs to the police department and want to make calls on it," Kevin agreed, handing the phone over to Daniel. Then, to Angie, Kevin said, "You send us the bill when you get it, and we’ll pay for these calls." Angie just nodded, having no intent of doing such, but not wanting to debate the issue.

"Let’s move out, people," Kevin announced, even as Nub returned, only slightly breathless, to say, "Father Mac is just waiting for you to pick him up."

"Good, Nub," Kevin said, taking the lead as he, Daniel, and Callie made their exit.

"Ready, Angie?" Nub asked.

Angie looked to the one table that still had dirty dishes stacked on them. "I thought I should help Alex finish cleaning up here," she said, covering a yawn that followed her words.

"You go on, Angie," Alex told her. "Cleaning up will give me something to do besides worry while we wait," was her explanation. "Besides, you’ve had a long day and jet lag as well. I’ll be fine." Then, as an afterthought, she said to Nub, "Are you going to tell Brian, Nub?"

"I’ll go see if he knows after I walk Angie to Callie’s," Nub said. "But he probably knows already, he stays very involved."

"Yes, he does," Alex admitted. "Good night, Angie, it was good to meet you. See you tomorrow?" Angie nodded agreement, and turned to Nub to indicate she was ready to leave.

As they walked toward the exit, Angie heard Dylan call to his mother, "Mom, don’t let Angie go back to New York, please!" Angie wanted to turn around, but Nub shook his head as she started to go back, and Angie knew she would have to leave this between mother and son and not interfere.

She did stop outside the doorway in the hall, and hear Alex tell her son, "She’s just going back to Callie’s to get some sleep. Now let’s get you in bed to do the same, shall we?"

"If she goes back to New York bad men will hurt her, mom, you gotta make her stay here."

"She lives in New York," was the last that Angie heard. Sighing, she looked to Nub and they left Widow’s Walk.

As they walked, the foghorn blew again, and Angie could tell that a deep fog was moving in from the sea.

"So, what part of New York are you from?" Nub asked her, once the horn was temporarily silent.

"New York City," she replied.

"But you weren’t born there," Nub continued.

"No, I was born in Cuba. My dad and I immigrated when I was young."

"Thought so. I’m pretty good with accents. But when I first met Daniel I thought he was from New York, and he said he was from California."

The horn blew again; when it was down to only echoes, Angie commented, "Maybe Daniel was born in New York and moved to California later. People usually say where they live, not where they were born, when they say where they’re from."

"Did you know Daniel before?" Nub asked her. She turned to him in surprise. "No, what makes you ask that?"

He answered after the horn blew again. "He seemed very surprised to see you, so he had to have known you to be surprised to see you."

Angie thought back to the introduction; her back had been to Nub, so he wouldn’t have seen her reaction. Nub would have had a good look at Daniel’s reaction, though, even before she was near the table. It didn’t occur to her to question his statement; already she knew Nub was too honest a man for any form of deceit.

"Are you famous?" Nub asked her. "Brian says you’re an actress trying to get away from the adoring fans."

Now why would Brian say such a thing, Angie wondered, but out loud she just said, "No, I’m not famous. But I was in the news about a year ago ..." and again those memories flooded her with fear and sorrow, even as the foghorn bleated for the island’s current pain.

She looked around, but the fog was now rolling in and she didn’t recognize any of her surroundings. Nub didn’t seem bothered by it, though. "One more block, Angie," he told her from beside her. "That way," and he pointed which way they had to turn, though she could barely see his hand.

"Maybe Daniel saw you then," Nub said, continuing their earlier subject. "That would explain it."

"Yeh, it would," Angie agreed, "it was on national news."

"Did it involve bad men?" Nub asked, and Angie remembered Dylan’s call to Alex.

"Yeh, it did."

"So that has to be it. Daniel must have told Dylan about it, and Dylan is worried for you. I think Dylan likes you, too, Angie." And Nub smiled at her, looking a little embarrassed, but not as much as he had earlier in the day.

"And we’re here, now, Angie," he then announced, just as the horn blew again.

When it quieted, Angie said, "Thank you for walking me home, Nub, I would never have found my way in the fog."

"Will you go to the swing dance with me tomorrow night, Angie?" Nub asked hurriedly, as if afraid he wouldn’t be able to say the words if he didn’t push them out quickly.

Angie almost said no, and that must have been in her eyes to prompt Nub to add, "I know you’re going home to New York and I’ll never see you again, but that’s okay. I just want some happy memories of your time here. Don’t you want happy memories of your visit?"

"Yeh, Nub, I do, and I would love to go to the dance with you," she found herself saying. The foghorn blowing sounded like a bleat of approval, a reminder to enjoy life while you still have the chance. Nub smiled at her, and again removed his knit watch cap as he bowed his head to her.

"I’ll pick you up around 7 PM tomorrow night," he told her. "If that’s okay?"

"That’s fine, Nub," she said.

"We’ll be walking, you don’t mind, do you? Because if you do ..."

"I like walking, Nub," she told him.

"Well, I’d better be going," he told her, though he obviously didn’t want to leave. Angie took the keys Callie gave her out of a pocket.

"Good night, Nub," she told him even as the foghorn blew again. He smiled and waved, then turned and walked away quickly, putting his cap back on as he did.

She watched him for as far as the fog let her see his shape, then unlocked Callie’s door and walked into the house. Remembering what Callie had said, she was certain to lock it. Then, with another yawn and a shake of her head, grabbed her suitcase and backpack and went looking for the spare bedroom.

The first one she opened was filled with stacks of papers, computer printouts, and notepads. The second was fairly empty, and so Angie figured she had the right room and quickly got ready for bed.