Frank heard a strange noise and slowly opened his eyes, what was that? It took him another moment to recognize that it was his cell phone.  Shaking his head to try and clear the last of the sleepy grogginess away, the teen reached for his pants and pulled out the small phone.

“Hullo,” he answered through a yawn as he stretched and looked at the time: seven a.m. Sunday morning….Who would be calling him at this hour?

[Frank, I’m so sorry…I know it’s early, but it’s such a beautiful day, I just had to see if you wanted to go out somewhere this morning!] Lily’s voice purred in his ear  [I just couldn’t wait another moment to call you. I hope that’s okay?].

“Sure,” the teen said, instantly awake as he sat up in bed, massaging his head gingerly as he did so.  He felt much better this morning than yesterday that was for sure, but the lump was still tender!  “What do you want to do?”

[Meet me at the marina in an hour – berth #12!]  And then there was a soft click in his ear as Lily hung up.

The marina in an hour?  Yawning again as he got out of bed, Frank knew that didn’t give him much time to get ready and go; but to spend the day with Lily, he was more than up for the challenge!  Five minutes later he was in the shower.

* * *

Lily smiled to herself as she hung up the phone.  She knew it was early, but that was part of her plan.  In order to completely control Frank, she had to make herself his life.  And his life started early….

Already dressed, she went down to the kitchen to grab a bite to eat, surprised to see Davis already there.

Her older brother was not dressed yet, though, and lounged at the table in his robe.

“Morning,” he said, smothering a yawn when he saw his sister.  Lily scowled at him and shook her head as she opened the fridge and took out a yogurt.

“You’re not even dressed,” she commented.  “We’re leaving in half an hour.”

“I’ll be ready,” Davis assured her as he took another bite of his toast.  “You needn’t worry your pretty little head about it.”

“I’m not worried, “she shot back, “just thorough.”

Davis couldn’t argue with her about that.  Lily was a details person, and nothing ever escaped her notice.

“I’ll drop you off at Evan’s first,” Lily reminded him, although the older teen already knew the plan.  “Give us about an hour or two, and then make it good.”

“We always do,” Davis retorted and then got up to leave.  His sister’s voice caught him at the door:

“And remember, Davis, Frank can’t know who you are.”

“Don’t worry, sister,” the teen assured her, “we’ll have our Armani ski masks on…”  And then he was gone upstairs to get ready.

Lily sat down at the table and stirred her yogurt thoughtfully.  As much as she didn’t relish the idea of getting wet, she knew there was nothing quite like a bit of danger to help bring two people closer….

* * *

Frank was already gone by the time Joe got up and went downstairs.

“Where’s Frank?” the blond teen asked.  He hadn’t seen his brother upstairs so he assumed he’d be in the kitchen eating breakfast.

“He just left,” his mother said, as she smiled at him and wished him a good morning.  His father was already sitting at the table, and he looked up from the paper he was reading.

“You’re up early this morning,” Fenton commented, and he was right. It wasn’t even eight o’clock yet – an unheard-of time for the younger boy to be up on a Sunday!

Joe just shrugged but didn’t really say anything.  His slumber had not been blissful once he did get back to sleep, and he had no desire to stay in bed, at all, this morning.

“Oh honey,” his mother said sympathetically, “you’re probably still sore from yesterday.”

“A bit,” the teen admitted, and left it at that.  “Where’d Frank go?”

“He’s spending the day with Lily,” Laura said casually as she traded a quick glance with her husband.  Fenton put his paper away and looked at his son.

Joe paused in mid-drink of a glass of apple juice, and frowned.  “Oh?”

“Yes,” Laura continued, her heart feeling sympathetic towards the younger boy – this had to be hard.  Up until yesterday morning, he and Frank did everything together.  “She called him earlier to see if he wanted to do anything.”

Before anyone could say anything else, the phone rang and Joe, grateful for the distraction, answered it.  “Hardy residence.”

[Holy cow, is that you, Joe? What are you doing up at this hour?] Tony Prito’s voice chirped, annoyingly jovial in Joe’s ear.

“Very funny. If you didn’t think I’d be up, why’d you call so early?” he retorted, his mood fouled by hearing about Frank spending the day with Lily.

[Well, I figured Frank would be up anyway, and I was going to ask you guys if you wanted to go out on the bay this morning or something.  Weather’s supposed to be nice all day, and it’s been a while since we’ve been out!]

Joe thought that over for a moment.  Tony had a small speedboat, the Napoli, not unlike Frank and Joe’s own boat, The Sleuth, and the boys did enjoy taking their crafts out.

“It has been a while,” the blond teen agreed, and then shrugged, although his friend couldn’t see it.  “Sure, why not?  But it’ll just be me, so can you pick me up?”

[No prob, say in an hour?]

“I’ll be ready,” Joe said, and then hung up and looked at his parents.  “Tony and I are going out on the bay for a bit.”

“Sounds like a marvelous idea,” Laura gushed, and then blushed at her own enthusiasm.  She was just relieved that Joe wasn’t going to spend the day moping around the house.  “Just be careful, okay?”

Joe started to say his usual ‘what can happen?’ but decided to keep his clam shut this time.  After yesterday’s awry trip to the Mortons’ farm, he wasn’t ready to tempt the fates again!

“Son,” Fenton said, equally pleased that Tony had called and Joe was getting out for a while, “I wanted to let you know that I spoke to Chief Collig last night and told him about that wine and beer store, and he’s going to look into it.”

Laura raised her eyebrows as she glanced from her son to her husband, and Fenton gave her a look that told her he’d tell her about it a little later.  He hadn’t had the chance last night.

“Good,” Joe said, sitting back down at the table and picking up a piece of toast.  “One less place for those jerks to buy their stupid beer!”

Fenton nodded and then added, “And I spoke to Mr. Hooper last night about what happened yesterday.”

The teen looked at him, his face paling and his father continued, “He’s very sorry for jumping to the wrong conclusion…and for his behavior towards you.  He’d like to apologize.”  He watched his son carefully.

Joe seemed to consider what he was saying as he picked at his toast without actually eating it.  After a few minutes he shrugged, “It’s okay. He told you he was sorry, that’s enough for me.  Anyway, I gotta go and get a shower or else I’ll never be ready when Tony gets here.”  And then he was gone from the table and up the stairs before either of his parents could say anything.

“He didn’t eat anything,” his mother commented as she looked at his plate, but Fenton was only half listening as he frowned after his son’s hasty retreat. It didn’t sit well that Joe had so casually dismissed Ross’s remorse, and just confirmed for the detective that his son had been more deeply affected by the outburst than he cared to admit.

Sighing, he rose from the table.  “I think I’d better go talk to Joe.”

“Wait, Fenton,” Laura said.  “You want to tell me what’s going on, first?”

Hearing the shower being turned on upstairs, the detective knew he’d have to wait anyway.  So he sat back down and began to tell his wife what had happened between Joe and the Hoopers.

* * *

“Hi Frank!” Lily greeted the teen with a smile and hug.

“Hi!” he said back, wondering how it was possible for her to be even more beautiful than the last time he’d seen her!

“I made us a picnic lunch,” the girl said, looping her arm through his and picking up a wicker basket.

“Sounds good,” Frank commented, and then his eyes lit up as he saw the small sailboat moored at Berth #12.  “You know how to sail?”

“Doesn’t everyone?” Lily teased; her blue eyes lighting up mischievously.  “I thought it would be a nice day to go sailing.  She’s not a big craft, but she’ll be ‘hardy’ enough!”

Frank chuckled at her pun.  “Or at least she will, when I get aboard…” His brown eyes shone with anticipation as he added, “You have no idea how much I love sailing!”

“Well then,” the girl laughed, “what are we waiting for?!”

Within minutes they had their life jackets on, and the picnic basket placed in the middle of the sailboat.  Casting off the moorings, Frank was already feeling the invigoration he got whenever he was sailing; and there was just enough breeze on the bay to ensure their sails would know no slack!

Lily enjoyed the excitement she saw on Frank’s face, it made him even more handsome, if possible!  And of course she knew he loved sailing; she knew everything about him….

* * *

“Joe,” Fenton caught his son just as the teen was coming back downstairs.  Freshly showered, he was dressed in jeans and a warm sweater, in expectation of the slight chill that always accompanied autumn on Barmet Bay.  “Can we talk for a minute?”

The teen shrugged.  “Sure, but Tony is going to be here any minute.”

“That’s okay,” Fenton assured him, “this shouldn’t’ take long.”  He gestured for his son to sit down in the living room with him.  Laura was outside in the garden assessing the damage after the torrential thundershowers of the prior day; and to give Fenton and Joe some time to talk, alone.  She was upset to find out about what had happened, especially Ross’s behavior, and the detective had wondered, wryly, if the senior Hooper knew how lucky he was that Laura hadn’t been home at the time!

A tigress, the petite blond could be, when her sons were involved….

“What’s up?” the teen asked as soon as his father had sat down across from him.

Fenton cut to the chase, knowing they didn’t have much time. “You need to let Mr. Hooper apologize to you himself.  Not through me or anyone else.”

Joe frowned but didn’t say anything, and his father continued, “If not, this isn’t going to be resolved, and you’ll always feel apprehensive around him.  Is that what you want?”

The teen shook his head and then looked down at his hands as they fiddled in his lap.  His voice was quiet:  “No.”

“I know he gave you a bad scare, son,” Fenton said gently, and waited for Joe to look back up at him before he continued, “which is why you have to let him make an apology to you. You deserve to hear him say how sorry he really is.”

“I just don’t know if I can see him again,” Joe finally admitted.  “I-it’s…” he faltered, not able to put into words how sick he felt whenever he thought about Ross Hooper right now.

“You won’t have to do it alone,” Fenton told him, “I’ll go with you.  Or your brother if you’d prefer….“

The teen seemed to give this some thought, and then he nodded slowly and nervously licked his lips.  “Okay…with you.  I’ll go with you.”

The detective gave a relieved sigh and nodded.  “We’ll go after supper.  I’ll call Ross and let him know we’re coming.”

The sound of a car horn outside the door interrupted their talk, and Joe stood up and gave his father a brief smile.  “Thanks, Dad.”  And then he hurried out the door.

“Be safe son,” the detective muttered as he stood up, walked to the door and then watched Tony Prito’s jeep pull away from the curb.  He wondered how old his kids had to be before he’d stopped worrying every time they left the house….

* * *

“So where’s Frank?” Tony asked as they pulled away from the house.

“With Lily,” Joe scowled and looked out the window.  “Can we not talk about it? I’m trying to have a good time.”

“Sorry,” Tony said, surprised by the hostility he heard in Joe’s voice.  “I take it you don’t like Ms. Getty?”

“Understatement,” Joe huffed, and then sighed and looked at his Italian friend.  “I can’t help it.  I just have a bad feeling about her and Frank.”

“Did you tell Frank about it?” Tony pressed, not failing to notice the irony that they were still talking about Frank and Lily.

“Yeah,” Joe admitted, “he thinks I’m just jealous.”

“Are you?” Tony wondered, surprising himself to actually hear the words come out of his mouth.

“Logically, how can I be?” Joe asked.  “They only went out last night and again today. That’s not long enough for me to be jealous!  Give it until at least Tuesday!”

Tony laughed, as he shook his head.  “True.  But you’re not ‘Mr. Logic-Man’, now are you?”

“Nope,” Joe said, and then flashed the other boy a smile.  “That used to Frank’s job!”

And they both chimed in together, “Until he met Lily!!”

* * *

Davis Getty maneuvered the large speed boat away from its berth. He grinned as he looked across at Evan. This was going to be fun.  The dark-haired teen loved speed, and that was one thing this boat had…speed.

Opening the throttle, he made a quick arc in the channel and then headed away from the marina – he had a sailing boat to catch!

* * *

“Heads, Napoli; tails, The Sleuth,” Tony said as he flipped a quarter.

“Tails,” Joe grinned, “Looks like I’m driving!”

“Oh brother,” Tony teased, already falling into step beside his blond friend, “and I left my motion sickness meds at home!”

“Hey it was a 50/50 chance of us taking my boat!” Joe feigned indignity, although deep down he was very pleased to have won the coin toss this time.  He hadn’t had The Sleuth out in a while!

Tony grinned.  “Yeah, but I had a loaded quarter!”  He took off running towards the Hardy’s boathouse.

“Too bad you forget which side was loaded!” Joe yelled, already in pursuit; this was going to be a great day!

* * *

Frank was on cloud nine.  He couldn’t believe this whole weekend, it just kept getting better and better.

Lily smiled at him but then he saw her smile turn to a look of concern as she saw something over his shoulder.  Turning around, Frank gasped, “What the hell is he doing?”

Roaring straight towards their small craft, was a powerful speedboat!

“HEY!” Frank yelled, trying to wave the other craft off, “LOOK OUT!”

At the very last moment the speedboat swerved around the sailboat, creating a huge wake as it went. The sailboat tossed on the angry waves as Frank and Lily fought to keep the water from swamping them!

“Morons,” he muttered, and then his eyes widened as he saw the speedboat turn around to make another charge!

“He’s crazy!” Lily cried; her face white with fear.

“HANG ON!” Frank yelled to her as the speedboat once again veered away at the very last minute, but this time the small sailboat couldn’t compensate for the wake and the teens felt her rolling over!

With a surge of adrenaline, the Hardy boy threw his weight against the other side of the sailboat, desperately trying to keep it from capsizing!!  Following his lead, Lily did the same thing and they managed to right the boat before she completely rolled.

Immediately Frank’s head whipped around, looking to see where the speedboat was now.  His heart pounded as he watched the boat swing around again, in a wide arc, and come roaring back towards them!

“HE’S TRYING TO KILL US!” Lily screamed as the other boat closed in on them at a horrifying speed. But this time, at the very last minute, a second speedboat cut across its bow, forcing the bigger boat to veer away!

It was The Sleuth!!

* * *

“What is that guy trying to do?” Tony asked as he stood beside Joe and they watched a speedboat playing chicken with a small sailboat.  “It looks like he’s trying to tip them!”

“Not if I have anything to say about it!”  With a grim determination on his face that matched his tone, Joe opened the throttle of his boat all the way, and raced to intercept them.

Tony held tight and prayed.  Joe was a very good pilot; it wasn’t him the olive skinned youth was worried about – but this other guy?  Well, Tony had no idea about him at all!

* * *

Davis swore as The Sleuth cut him off.  He recognized the teen at the wheel right away.

“Hardy,” he growled, and then cursing loudly, he turned his boat and raced away.  Although both he and Evan were wearing ski masks, he didn’t want to take the chance of Joe or Tony recognizing them anyway!

The Sleuth started in pursuit but it was quickly made obvious that the other craft was more powerful, and easily pulled away from them. Scowling fiercely, Joe smoothly turned his boat around and cruised back towards the sailboat.  He powered down so that his wake wouldn’t be upsetting to the other craft.

But when he got a good look at who they had just saved, the teen just rolled his eyes, even as he heard his brother shout, “WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG?”

And then he saw Lily and he had to grin.  Soaked from head to toe, her black hair was plastered against her pale face in the most unflattering way.  He shook his head and called out to his brother, “Toss me a bow line, we’ll tow you in.”

Frank did so, and then as he caught his brother’s eye, he said, his tone genuine and heart-felt, “Little brother, you are a sight for sore eyes.”

As Lily scowled behind him, Joe couldn’t help but quip, “Nah…not me.  I’ll save that privilege for your girlfriend!”  And then he turned away before he could hear either of their responses.