Anita broke in: “Are you saying Baxter could’ve drowned?”

“No, no. It never got to that point— It’s no big deal, guys. He just got in the water before I could stop him and the waves got a little … I would’ve reached him just fine, but Alex here was passing by, and he was nice enough to jump in, that’s all.”

“Alex,” said the man named Kent. “Sounds kind of exciting—”

Anita Duke shot him a sharp look, and he shut his mouth.

“It was no really big deal, guys,” Cheryl insisted. “You know wha

t a good swimmer Bax is. It’s just that I had Sage on my hands too, and by the time— Alex helped me and I wanted to thank him, so I asked him to come up so I could give him something.”

“A tip,” said Kent.

Anita said, “Well, that’s certainly the gracious thing to do.” To Kent: “Why don’t you show him our appreciation, honey, and then you can see him off.”

Talking softly, but no mistaking the imperiousness. There’s nothing men despise more than being ordered around by a woman in front of another man. Long-haired Kent smiled and dipped his hand into his trouser pocket, but the anger settled around his eyes and his mouth, and he threw it back at me.