Chapter 79

After a few moments, and a thorough tongue-bath, I nudged him away. “All right, all right, that’s enough.”

He huffed, jumped to the floor, and threw me a look that was so pathetic—You wound me, Daddy—I couldn’t help snorting.

A peep at my watch told me it was not yet six, another hour until sunrise, but there was no use trying to go back to sleep. Instead, I crawled out of the berth and refilled the dogs’ water bowls before stumbling into the head to take care of business. After scarfing down a granola bar, I threw on some clothes and grabbed the headlamp.

“Come on, boys.” They followed me outside, and soon, all three of us were off the boat.

I shivered. It was unusually chilly for this time of year, as though all heat had been used up during the summer with nothing left for late September. The sky was inky black with no trace of the moon or the stars, so I put on the headlamp to light the way.

“Let’s go.” The dogs ran before me, eager to get going, and I followed close behind.