map of Bottomless?”
He kept hitting keys on his laptop, although he did give a
nod.
Peg leaned closer, squinting at the screen. “Are al those
numbers depths? Is Bottomless real y eighteen hundred
feet deep now, there in the middle?” Peg was so
fascinated, she couldn’t stop asking questions. “But
everyone knows the deepest basin has always been four
hundred feet, so does that mean the earthquake real y did
split open the bottom of the lake like they said on the news?
And is there real y an underground saltwater river running
up here al the way from the Gulf of Maine?”
Again nothing, except for a grunt when she impatiently
nudged his shoulder.
Peg sighed and headed toward the bathroom, only to
stop and stare in dismay at the mess. Jeesh, these guys
hadn’t even had the combined brainpower to turn off the
valve at the base of the toilet. Heck, Peter and Jacob knew
enough to shut off the water, and they weren’t even in
school yet. She bent down to reach the valve, glad that she
had enough brains to bring her bridesmaid dress instead of
wearing it this morning.
“We’re going to need more towels,” she heard from
behind her.
Wow, a whole sentence. Peg looked over her shoulder to
find that the guy might be talking to her, but it was her three-
pregnancy-wide backside he was looking at.
She immediately turned to face him. “You guys aren’t
getting any more towels until you round up the ones you’ve
been lugging onto your boats. And here,” she said, thrusting
the plunger toward him. “I’l just leave this with you, since
you must know more than I do about the physics of suction.”
The guy—who appeared to be barely twenty—eyed the
plunger as if he didn’t have a clue what it was.
“Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding me.” Peg pul ed him over to
the toilet. “Okay, watch and learn, because there’s going to
be a pop quiz later.” She shot him a bril iant smile. “And if
you pass, I wil giveyou this fascinating tool, and then you can show al your cabinmates how it works.”
“I haven’t got time to mess around with some toilet,” he
said, turning to leave. “We’re about to launch the
submersible and I’m piloting it today.”
Her heart skipping a beat that she may have just found
Jacob’s scary man, Peg grabbed the back of his shirt and
pul ed him back around. “Then they won’t launch until you
get there, wil they?” She slapped the plunger against his
chest. “Consider this training for when you’re eighteen
hundred feet underwater and your Porta-Potty clogs.” She
pul ed him over to the toilet. “See, I’m real y doing you a
favor.”
The guy actual y shoved the handleof the plunger into the
bowl of clear water—which made Peg suspect it was
probably a washcloth plugging the toilet. “You’re a rather
bossy broad,” he muttered, sloshing water al over the
place.
Peg closed her eyes to count to ten, but only made it to
five. “You try being a single parent without being bossy.”
She grabbed the plunger, turned it around, and slapped it
back in his hand. “That’s the business end.”
He blinked at her. “But it’s too big to fit down the hole,” he
said, utterly sincere as he held it up for her to see.
Real y? Honest to God really? Peg took hold of his hand
and guided the plunger down into the bowl. “Speaking of
children,” she said, keeping her tone neutral, “I bet when
you were a kid you were fascinated by little submarines,
weren’t you? And some nice scientist must have showed
you al around one, and you got so excited that you decided
you were going to drive them when you grew up.” She
stopped plunging to give him another bril iant smile. “And
because of that nice man, now you do.”
The guy straightened, getting a faraway look in his eyes.
“I was eight when my dad took me down to the pier where
they were loading a four-man submersible onto a ship. One
of the crew snuck us onboard and even let me climb inside
it. That is, until Claude caught us.” He shrugged. “But we left
with a snorkel and mask, and the crewman told me to come
back when I got out of col ege.” He smiled, nodding toward
the window. “I’ve been interning with Claude for over a year
now.”
“So if you were to see a little kid admiring your little
submarine out there,” she said conversational y, “would you
show him around and feed his enthusiasm, or would you
scare the bejeezus out of him by threatening to use him for
shark bait?”
The guy’s smile disappeared, replaced by confusion.
“Oh, you must have met Claude,” he said with a shrug. “He
hasn’t got much use for kids. And the submersible has
some pretty expensive equipment and delicate instruments.
Why? You mentioned being a single mom; you want me to
give your kid a tour?” His gaze lowered and then lingered a
tad too long on her chest before he shot her an utterly male
grin. “If you let me take you to dinner tonight, I could give
youan in-depth tour of the equipment.”
Wow; she hadn’t seen that one coming.
“I … um … I don’t date.” Peg swiped the plunger from
him and drove it into the toilet bowl. “Mostly because I can’t
find anyone to babysit my fourkids.”
He took a step back, although Peg didn’t know if it was
because she was splashing water al over the place or
because shehad just scared the bejeezus out of him.
“Four?” he choked out, taking another step back.
“Yup. Al under the age of nine. There, that took care of
that little problem,” she said over the sucking sound of
the toilet unclogging. She set the plunger beside the tank
and washed her hands in the sink, but not seeing any
towels, she wiped them on her pants as she turned to face
him. “Now, if you can find out where al the towels are
hiding, I’l give you an in-depth tour of our laundry facility,”
she said on her way past him. She stopped in the doorway.
“What’s Claude look like, anyway?”
“Hey, you aren’t going to tattle on me, are you? I mean,
jeeze, I was only asking you out to dinner.”
“And I thank you for that.” She shrugged. “I just want to
keep al you guys straight, since you’re going to be here al
summer exploring Spel bound Fal s’s freaky new tourist
attraction. Is Claude the boss of your little operation?”
He nodded, looking relieved—which told Peg that
Claudewas her target.
“He’s fortyish,” Mr. Romeo said, “a good three inches
tal er than me, athletic build, short dark hair.” He shook his
head. “You might want to leave your bossy-mama attitude
at home when you’re around him, though. Not only is
Claude not into kids, but on a good day he barely tolerates
women. And on a bad day I’ve actual y seen him throw them
overboard.”
“Thanks for the heads-up,” Peg said, picking her way
through the cluttered cabin.
“Wait. About Bottomless,” he said, making her stop at
the door. “Have you lived around here long?”
“Al my life.”
“So you were here when the earthquake hit last week?”
“Yup.”
“It must have been pretty scary when those mountains
split apart,” he said, pointing toward the window. He shook
his head as he looked around the cabin. “The fiord the
earthquake created is twelve miles long and over two
thousand feet deep, but after talking to the geologists
staying in cabin seven, none of us can figure out why
nothing was damaged. Hel , we arrived within two days of