Inner Harbor
Page 16

"Hold it, you idiot. No jumping. No jumping," he repeated, but Foolish's forward motion proved too much for all of them. He was already up, already had his paws planted just under Sybill's br**sts. She staggered a bit, seeing only big, sharp teeth bared in what she took for fierceness rather than a sloppy doggie grin.
"Nice dog," she managed in a stutter. "Good dog."
"Stupid dog," Phillip corrected and hauled Foolish down by the collar.
"No manners. Sit. Sorry," he said to Sybill when the dog obligingly plopped down and offered his paw. "He's Foolish."
"Well, he's enthusiastic."
"No, Foolish is his name--and his personality. He'll stay like that until you shake his paw."
"Oh. Hmm." Gingerly she took the paw with two fingers.
"He won't bite." Phillip angled his head, noting there was a good deal more distress than irritation in her eyes. "Sorry--are you afraid of dogs?"
"I… maybe a little--of large, strange dogs."
"He's strange, all right. The other one's Simon, and he's considerably more polite." Phillip scratched Simon's ears as the dog sat calmly studying Sybill. "He's Ethan's. The idiot belongs to Seth."
"I see." Seth had a dog, was all she could think as Foolish offered his paw yet again, eyeing her with what appeared abject adoration. "I don't know very much about dogs, I'm afraid."
"These are Chesapeake Bay retrievers--or Foolish mostly is. We're not sure what else he is. Seth, call off your dog before he slobbers all over the lady's shoes."
Sybill lifted her head quickly and saw the boy just inside the doorway. The sun was streaming at his back, and it cast his face into shadows. She saw only a tall, slightly built boy carrying a large brown bag and wearing a black-and-orange ball cap.
"He doesn't slobber much. Hey, Foolish!"
Instantly, both dogs scrambled to their feet and raced across the room. Seth waded through them, carrying the bag to a makeshift table fashioned from a sheet of plywood laid over two sawhorses.
"I don't know why I have to always go up for lunch and stuff," he complained.
"Because we're bigger than you," Cam told him and dived into the bag.
"You get me the cold-cut sub loaded?"
"Yeah, yeah."
"Where's my change?"
Seth pulled a liter of Pepsi out of the bag, cracked the top and guzzled straight from the bottle. Then he grinned. "What change?"
"Look, you little thief, I've got at least two bucks coming back."
"Don't know what you're talking about. You must've forgotten to add on the carrying charges again."
Cam made a grab for him, and Seth danced agilely away, hooting with laughter.
"Brotherly love," Phillip said easily. "That's why I make sure I only give the kid the right change. You never see a nickel back otherwise. Want some lunch?"
"No, I…" She couldn't take her eyes off Seth, knew she had to. He was talking with Ethan now, making wide, exaggerated gestures with his free hand while his dog took quick, playful leaps at his fingers. "I had something already. But you go ahead."
"A drink, then. Did you get my water, kid?"
"Yeah, fancy water. Waste of money. Man, Crawford's was packed."
Crawford's. With a sensation she couldn't quite define, Sybill realized they might have been in the store at the same time. Might have walked right by each other. She would have passed him on the street without a clue.
Seth glanced from Phillip to Sybill, studied her with mild interest.
"You buying a boat?"
"No." He didn't recognize her, she thought. Of course he wouldn't. He'd been hardly more than a baby the only time they'd seen each other. There was no stunned familial awareness in his eyes, any more than there would have been in hers. But she knew. "I'm just looking around."
"That's cool." He went back to the bag and pulled out his own sandwich.
"Ah…" Talk to him, she ordered herself. Say something. Anything.
"Phillip was just showing me your drawings. They're wonderful."
"They're okay." He jerked a shoulder, but she thought she saw a faint flush of pleasure on his cheeks. "I could do better, but they're always rushing me."
Casually--she hoped it was casually--she crossed to him. She could see him clearly now. His eyes were blue, but a deeper, darker blue than hers or her sister's. His hair was a darker blond than the little boy's in the picture she carried. He'd been nearly a towhead at four, and now his hair was a richer blond and very straight.
The mouth, she thought. Wasn't there some resemblance around the mouth and chin?
"Is that what you want to be?" She needed to keep him talking. "An artist?"
"Maybe, but that's mostly for kicks." He took a huge bite of his sandwich, then talked through it. "We're boatbuilders."
His hands were far from clean, she noted, and his face wasn't much better. She imagined such niceties as washing up before meals went by the wayside in a household of males. "Maybe you'll go into design work."
"Seth, this is Dr. Sybill Griffin." Phillip offered Sybill a plastic cup of bubbling water over ice. "She writes books."
"Like stories?"
"Not exactly," she told him. "Like observations. Right now I'm spending some time in the area, observing."
He wiped his mouth with a swipe from the back of his hand. The hand Foolish had enthusiastically licked, before and after, Sybill noted with an inward wince.
"You going to do a book about boats?" he asked her.
"No, about people. People who live in small towns, and right now people who live in small towns by the water. How do you like it--living here, I mean?"
"I like it okay. Living in the city sucks." He picked up the soft drink bottle, glugged again. "People who live there are nuts." He grinned.
"Like Phil."
"You're a peasant, Seth. I worry about you."
With a snort, Seth bit into his sandwich again. "I'm going out on the dock. We got some ducks hanging out."
He bounced out, dogs trailing behind him.