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I hated as happening between us

A Navy career was not conducive to goodbut strain The divorce rate was sky-high, and not just with enlisted Misery stretched all the way up the ranks The closer you got to retirereater the chance of a split But my self-inflicted screwup had only poured salt onto that potential wound A friend of mine liked to say that once you leave the ht, because returning cae Truth was not a one-way street, and it really did take two to tango For Pa between us Many years would pass before we both learned the whole story, eventually ending our e first as bitter eneenuinely hoped Pam and I weren’t finished

Stephanie told ht at seven Last evening I found a nearby motel and took her advice, the sa weekend A truly enjoyable three days for us We’d played, talked, and there’d even been sex

Good times

Laid back, free-spirited, artsy, quirky, scenic, you name it, Key West definitely shifted left of center Pirates once made it the wealthiest place in Florida, at a time when Miami remained an uninhabited swa islands Its tropical clily continuous happy hour People came to fish, escape, carouse, and rejuvenate Nonconforion Hell, it even seceded fro itself the Conch Republic, then promptly surrendered to the United States and requested a n aid

You had to like that spunk

I was told to find one boat a the charters that called the historic harbor home Today not thatcanopy of gray sky, which looked ugly and threatening A steady breeze swept in fro a tide of wared A stor

I found the boat, the Isla Marie, at the end of a dock, a forty-footer with a wide stern, twin inboards, and an enclosed upper bridge A sheltered rear deck offered sun protection for any fisherht stays

A ed onto its rear deck

Short, stout, square-shouldered, thick-necked His tanned skin contrasted with thin, silvery hair He was potbellied, dressed in khaki shorts, a dark Key West T-shirt, and a battered ball cap Around his neck hung a gold doubloon on a chain Just as with Stephanie Nelle, I knew the look

More law enforcement

“Trying to fit in?” I asked the guy from the dock

“I’m retired What do I care?”

Good point “You Captain Nemo?”

The guy sue”

Stephanie had told me to use the code name

“And you are?” he asked

“Cotton Malone”

Which sounded like a code name in and of itself

“Where’d you get a name like Cotton?”

“It’s a long story”

He flashed ood ’Cause we have a long trip Hop aboard”

“Where we going?”

He pointed a finger out toward open ocean

“Seventy miles that way”

We stood in the enclosed bridge, the Isla Marie fighting hard against a stiff headwind, the beat of the engines steady under my feet The farther e cruised, the worse the rain becaht foah the churning water

“Nobody will be fishing today,” my host said

“Haven’t you forgotten so?”

No name had yet been offered At the docks I’d understood Loose lips sink ships But ere long gone from Key West

“Jim Jansen, once with the FBI”

“Noith the Justice Department?”

“Hell, no I was asked to help Stephanie out A favor Like you, I’m told”

The entire boat shifted like a seesaw Thank God I wasn’t prone to seasickness, otherwise I’d be tasting ood pair of sea legs, too