she suggested, needing to stretch out the day. "Then if you see one you like, we could take it out for a trial."
"Brilliant," Fox exclaimed, "then we'd not have to pay to rent one."
"While I'm here," she remembered, "I want to return the key to the beach house." She fished it from her purse and laid it on the counter. "I won't need it again."
"I'm keeping mine," Fox said. "The twins want me to meet them there."
"Ah, the twins," she sighed. "I didn't have an opportunity to warn them against propositioning men."
"You won't be around to do it, so I will at my first chance," Santos promised.
"Take off your watch. It'll make the day go faster."
With her bag handy, she slipped her watch into an inner pocket. "Thanks for the tip. I'm doing better today than I did last week."
"Well, nobody's died yet," Fox said.
Santos cuffed him. "You're as sensitive as a boot."
The last thing she needed was a reminder of death. "Please, let's concentrate on sailing."
"That's fine with me," Santos agreed. "If we find a boat I like, let me ask all the questions, and there's no reason I have to buy a boat today. Just look as disinterested as you usually do, Fox."
He shrugged. "That's easy enough."
Santos dried his hands. "Come on, let's go."
They took the elevator to the parking level. As they approached Santos's SUV in the underground garage, Maggie noted his smooth stride. "Your leg's nearly healed now, isn't it?"
"Yes. I could have fought today, but I wasn't sure. It was better to give Rafael a chance, since you're so impressed with him, although I'll never understand why."
"It's the way he dances," she answered, which was only a miniscule part of the truth.
"I'll bet that isn't all," Fox wondered aloud.
"That's enough about him," Santos insisted. "There's a marina not too far from the beach house that should have sailboats for sale. If I don't find one, I'll rent a boat for the afternoon."
Maggie was elated to do anything to keep her mind occupied. "I'd like to learn to sail. I've sailed on lakes in Minnesota with friends, but I wasn't doing the work. I suppose I could take a class."
"You could, but the best way to learn is to sign on to my crew," Santos assured her.
"Aye, aye, Captain."
Inspired, Santos and Fox began making up sea chanteys as they drove down the coast, and while she hadn't expected to spend the afternoon laughing, with their silly words and tunes, she could live in the moment and soak up the fun of the day.
Rafael would have the picadores and banderilleros who usually worked with Santos rather than the men who'd worked with him last Sunday. They had at least seen each other if not spoken, and he assured them at the end of the day they'd receive a bonus to their pay. They went with him to look at the bulls, and he appreciated their advice. He'd been excited last week, eager to show what he could do, but today, his mood was reserved.
The huge Miura bulls were a menacing black and circled each other slowly in the pen, stirring the stink of manure. Bred for courage and strength, they weighed more than one thousand pounds. Their eyes held a vicious gleam. Rafael was certain they regarded him just as closely as he studied them. He understood why Augustin had kept such detailed records of his fights. He would have to buy a journal and keep his own account before the fights in Spain blurred together as the ones in Mexico already had. A journal would also save him from having to rely on arena signs to know where he was.
Jose Arredondo was a picador, who'd ride a padded horse and use his steel-tipped lance to weaken the bull's shoulder muscles. "Watch the one with the bent horn. See how he swings his head? He may come at you from any angle."
"And the others?" Rafael asked.
"None of the others look as dangerous, but we'll see more when they enter the ring."
Nothing could be done if he drew a bull that ignored his cape and charged him. He'd just have to fight it as best he could. He'd fought such a motley assortment of bulls in small towns in Mexico. These beasts were easily twice their size, and the famed Miura bulls were the most dangerous in the ring. The two men fighting with him also observed the bulls with their men. Both were in their early twenties