She gave a little moan in her sleep and gave a sharp intake of breath. She settled again and breathed quietly. A short while later her hands gripped my wrists hard as she tossed her head. Her body went rigid and she gave a strangled cry followed by ‘No! No! Please tell me no!’

I felt hot tears land on my chest and deeply worried, I gently shook her.

“Elise. Elise!”

She woke up with a start crying her eyes out.

“Elise, what is it. What’s happening?”

She twisted her body to lie face down on me and held onto my shoulders as she sobbed. My arms went around and held her, stroking her hair.

“It was horrible. I had a horrible dream that seemed so real. Oh Ger! I’m scared.”

“Elise, it was a dream. Dreams are not real. Some are pleasant and others are nightmares. Nobody really knows why we have both but they happen. You want to talk about it?”

Her sobs slowed and she wiped her eyes and sniffled.

“I was in the bar with Sean and it was before we opened. We were restocking when there was a knock at the door.

Sean said somebody is keen today.

I said leave it, they can come back later when we open.

Whoever it was knocked harder.

I’m going to tell them to have a walk around the block said Sean.

Sean went to the door and opened it. I could see the uniform and knew it was Eddy from the shape.

Hi Eddy, what can we do for you?

Can I come in, Elise?

You need to ask?

He took his hat off and fidgeted with it.

There’s no easy way to tell you this, Elise. Ger was heading back from the airport and was in a collision with a semi. It appears the driver had a heart attack and his rig veered over the road and hit Ger’s car.

I felt the blood drain from my face instantly.

He’s OK isn’t he? Tell me he’s OK, Eddy. Please!

I’m sorry, Elise. They had to cut him out of the wreck. He’s in the ER right now. I’m so sorry.

That is when I screamed out in my dream and you woke me.

It was so real. I’m still shaking from it. Ger, I thought that I was going to lose you in my dream.”

“It was a horrible dream, Elise, just that. I’m right here with you and we are both OK. Just a horrible dream.”

“What if it isn’t? What if it is a premonition?”

“Elise, it is just a bad dream. It will fade in time.”

“Ger it felt real. I don’t know what I would do if I lost you. You are everything to me, everything.”

“As you are to me, Elise. Now try and forget about it. Have something to eat and take your mind off it. You’ll feel better.”

I hugged her and got up from underneath her to get the coolbox.

Returning, I opened it to see what we had left, not much by the look of it until I saw a separator under the Quiche, chicken fricassee and two more bagels we still had. I took the food out and lifted the separator to find a note written on top of one of the containers. ‘Hungry work, boating!’ The ‘boating’ was underscored a few times and there was an ‘S’ under that. Trust Shirley to think ahead! I lifted a lid to find a meat stew with green beans and potatoes. A label on the other container said ‘five minutes in the microwave’. Next to them was some bacon and eggs, breakfast taken care of too.

“Do you want to dine in style?”

“What do you mean?”

“Hot food at a table?

“Where?”

“Here silly! Give me a minute.”

I went into the cabin with the stew from the cool box and put one in the built-in microwave and set the timer.

Back up again to collect the mugs and wine.

“Would you like to join me below?

Quick as a flash, Elise said, “I think we have done enough joining below already!”

“Down below before I make you walk the plank!”

Elise had brightened up a bit and went into the cabin.

“Wow! It’s a hotel suite! Its even got a real bedroom!”

I poured more wine and got cutlery from a drawer below the microwave and placed it on the table.

“A real home from home isn’t it?”

“A bit on the small side, yes, but there are people with much bigger boats that live in them. Hooked up to electricity, water and sewage in some of the docks”

“Small side? You must be joking!”

The microwave dinged and I took out the container and peeled off the lid, putting it in front of Elise.

“That smells fabulous, what about you?”

“It can only hold one at a time.” I said putting mine in and setting the timer.

“Mmmm! That’s not beef, what is it?”

“Lamb. Makes for better stews,”

“So juicy! You would never know it was cooked in a microwave.”

“It is just finished off in the microwave as it was not quite fully cooked. Shirley is a great cook and prepares a lot of food for boaters.”

A couple of minutes and it dinged to say mine was ready. I tore into it realizing I was really hungry. Before long we both had finished and I cleared away. Pouring more wine I asked Elise how she felt now.

“A lot better but still a bit shook up yet. I need to pee. Do I have to pee in the lake?”

“There is a toilet on the right at the bedroom.”

“I’ll be back.” She said trying to imitate Arnie.

I waited for her to return and went there myself. Looking in the mirror as I washed my hands I could see that I had caught a fair bit of sun on me.

“Wait here and I’ll tidy up the deck. I put the empty containers in the trash and put the empty bottles in their spaces in the cool box. I took it back to the rear deck and plugged it in. The sun was making a beautiful sunset streaking the sky with color. I called Elise up to see it. She came up to my side and we put our arms around each other to watch it for a while. She shivered a little.

“Are you feeling cold?”

“Well I am standing here in a thong and a sports top, what do you think?”

“OK, problem solved.”

I went into the cabin and got a sweatshirt that I had left before. I sniffed it to find that it had been washed recently. Shirley, always looking ahead.

Elise held her arms up as I pulled over her head and it swamped her. She rolled the sleeves up and looked around for her shorts. Pulling them on when she found them. I pulled my polo shirt on at the same time.

I went to the cockpit and switched on the bow and stern lights.