Chapter One

Rain pelted the window, the gale coming in from the north with such force that everything past the flag at the end of the dock was a blur of gray. “Day five of the storm that was supposed to last twenty-four hours,” Robbie grumbled, clicking on the link to join the Zoom call. “Hey, Matt. How’s the weather?”

“Sunny.” Matt Ploughy, Robbie’s counterpart in San Diego, did not smile as he delivered the report. He did have the grace to turn the camera angle on his laptop to show off a fountain he was sitting next to. Sunlight sparkled off the cascading water and flowers bloomed in pots around the base of the fountain. Robbie didn’t have enough time to fully soak up the blissful scene before Matt’s mug was back on the screen. “You got the message about needing to install a hundred new servers?”

“Yep. Already contacted Antonio to let him know he’d be working overtime at the DR site.” The disaster recovery site in Phoenix was Antonio’s domain, and he hadn’t been happy to hear about the increase in his workload. Truthfully his plate was full, and Robbie didn’t blame him for griping. “Have you heard anything about when they’re hiring a new IT director?”

“Not a word.” Matt shifted back on his chaise lounge chair. “One of us deserves that job. Everyone acts like it’s the IT director that gets everything done, and we know it’s us doing all the work. But as long as no one hacks a bank and everyone’s terminal can get online, they forget we exist.”

“That’s the beauty of working remote.”

“I guess so.” Matt let out a heavy sigh.

“You doing okay? You’ve seemed kind of off these past couple weeks.”

Matt didn’t answer, only turning his gaze to the fountain. His brow creased and Robbie knew something was wrong. She couldn’t fathom a guess at what could be amiss, though. Matt was married to a doctor, lived in a big house two blocks from a beach, and had a cute Jack Russell terrier named Angel—who regularly made appearances during their Zoom meetings. As she catalogued the details she knew of Matt’s life, she realized it wasn’t enough to get the full picture. She’d simply assumed he was happy. “Should I be worried about you?”

“Nah, I’m fine.”

“I’ve dated way too many women to know that when someone says ‘fine’ they rarely are.”

“I’m a dude, Robbie. It’s different.”

She resisted rolling her eyes but only because she was actually worried. “Talk to me, Matt. What’s going on?”

The weekly Zoom check-ins with Matt were at the behest of an IT director who’d been fired two years ago. At first, she’d hated the meetings, arguing that everything they discussed could be resolved faster in a text. But slowly Matt had become her friend through their virtual connection and after her last breakup, she’d appreciated being able to joke about the hassle of dating women with another computer geek who had turned out to be sensitive and understanding.

“Are you quitting? Because I am royally screwed if we lose you at the San Diego site.”

“No. This job is the only thing I can seem to do right. I honestly like being a network security engineer.” He winked as he added, “Plus, I get you as my friend.”

“I’m honored to be a job perk.” She flipped her middle finger and got him to crack a smile. If the problem wasn’t work, she guessed it was something at home. “Are you in trouble with your wife?”

“How’d you guess?” He let out a long breath. “We’re getting divorced.”

“Oh, shit.”

“Yeah.” He scrubbed his face with one hand then straightened in the chaise lounge. “It’s not really a new thing. We’ve been separated for a while but neither of us moved out. Anyway. I was going to tell you, but I didn’t know what to say.”

“Matt Ploughy.”

He chuckled. “Yes, Robbie Price?”

“We’re supposed to talk to each other when things go wrong. It’s what friends do.”

“Well, now you know.” He looked from the screen to his yard. “The worst part is I’m stuck here. I hate it, but I can’t leave.”

“Why not?”

“I’m broke. Until we sell this house, I’m not going anywhere. And there’s all these things that have to be done before we can get it on the market.” He sighed heavily. “This place was at the top of our budget when we bought and it needed work then.” He moved the camera to show a little cottage off to one side of the patio. “I’ve been staying in the cottage because I can’t stand being around my ex, but I have to see her when I go to the main house. And she’s got this whole list of projects for me to do.”

“Which you aren’t doing because you’re avoiding her.” She’d been through enough breakups to know the avoiding part all too well. “You need to hire someone to do the projects so you can move out.”

“I can’t afford to hire anyone. I’m telling you, I’m not good with money. Devyn and I split our accounts months ago.” He dropped his chin. “Still jealous of me and all this sunshine?”

“I want your weather. I don’t want the rest of your mess.”

“You sure?” He gave a half-smile. “We could trade places easy.”

“You’re probably right. No one would know the difference. Except maybe Antonio.”

“And he wouldn’t say a word.” Matt paused. “Wait. No one would know. Why didn’t we think of this earlier?”

They looked at each other for a moment, neither saying anything, and Robbie knew Matt was seriously considering the idea. “We’d get caught if anyone put in a request for a hands-on at one of the locations.” Which happened fairly often.

“Not if we traded badges. We don’t look that different.”

She squinted at him. “We look completely different.”

“You’ve told me people mistake you for a guy all the time. How tall are you?”

“Five-nine.”

His eyes lit up. “So am I.”

“And aside from both being white and having brown hair, no one would mistake us.”

This cooled his enthusiasm for a moment, but then he said, “We could switch teams.”

“Switch teams? I’m not pretending to be straight. How would that even help?”

Matt laughed. “I meant baseball teams. We don’t need to look exactly alike. Only close enough for no one to pay attention. You wear my Padres hat. I wear your Mariners gear.”

Could it work? They did have similar haircuts and their builds weren’t that different. She shook her head, surprised she was even considering the idea.

“You know you want a month in San Diego. I’d do anything to get away from Devyn. Hell, I’ll even buy your plane ticket.”

“I thought you were broke.”

“I’ve got frequent flier miles.”

She eyed the backdrop on Matt’s screen—the idyllic yard with trees already leafed out and flowers blooming. Then she glanced at the water droplets racing down the glass two feet from her screen. The constant rain had her in a funk she couldn’t seem to break out of, but it wasn’t only the weather. For months she’d had the sense that nothing new or exciting was on the horizon. Maybe she needed a change of scenery.

“I have always wanted to check out San Diego.”

Matt beamed back at her. “Yes!”

“I didn’t say I’d do it. I’m thinking.” She tapped the edge of her laptop. “What if we get caught?”

“I’ll take the blame. Worst case, they fire me. But we both know that’s not happening. We don’t have a boss right now.”

“Someone’s signing our checks.” He was right, though. They didn’t have a supervisor who’d be paying attention until a new IT director was hired.

“They’ll keep signing those checks. I’m telling you, no one will know if we switch. And now’s the best time to do something like this. We’ve got two weeks downtime ahead of those servers.” He’d brightened as the plan unfolded and was talking fast like he did whenever he landed on a fix to a network problem. “It’s perfect.”

“Unless someone at one of the sites figures out we’re not who we say we are. The police could get involved. We’re dealing with bank security systems.”

“No one’s calling the police. Have you ever had a conversation with anyone at one of your sites—a conversation that wasn’t about a network problem? All they want is for us to get in, fix the issue, and get out.”

Maybe the idea of someone calling the police was a stretch. She turned the plan over in her head and then remembered all the things she did at the marina helping her uncle. “What am I thinking? I can’t leave. There’s too much I do around here.”

“But that’s why this is perfect. You give me your chore list and I give you mine. I get a houseboat in the rain all by myself, and you get loads of sunshine and my ex-wife.”

“Great. Just what I need.”

He laughed at her sarcasm. “You might like her.”

“I like being free to do my own thing.”

“I remember those days. Vaguely.” Matt exhaled. “I wish I could walk away and let Devyn deal with everything. I’m so done—with this house and with her. But I don’t have money even for a security deposit on a rental. And someone has to take care of Angel.”

“You wouldn’t take your dog?”

“Angel loves Devyn. He’s really her dog.”

“I’m sure he loves you too.”

“He likes me all right. He loves her.” He looked past the screen and presumably at said dog. “I’m the one who’s around, you know. Kind of like how things were with me and Devyn when we first got together.”

The admission was so sad and honest she didn’t know what to say in response.

“I can’t figure out if we were ever really in love,” he continued. “Mostly I remember being blown away by how beautiful and smart she was.”

Robbie had seen Matt’s wife pass through in the background of a few of their Zoom meetings and had admittedly lost her own train of thought. Beautiful was an understatement.

“Now it’s gotten so bad we avoid being in the same room.” Matt shifted out of the screen for a moment and then cleared his throat. “Have you ever wished you’d never met someone?”

“That bad, huh?”

He nodded, and when he took a deep breath, it was clear he was fighting to hold in his emotions. She wished she could give him a hug. “All right. You’re pathetic enough that I’m considering this.”

Matt sat up straighter. “For real?”

“It’s the middle of March and I haven’t seen a sunny day since Thanksgiving.” Only day after day of gray.

“You need a vacation here.” Matt turned the camera to give her a view of his yard. Aside from the fountain and the patio area, there was a fire pit, a hot tub, and a barbeque. Two big trees already dotted with flowers and more flowers in pots spaced around the yard made it look like a spring paradise. As the camera panned, the back side of a tan-colored stucco house with a bank of windows came into focus.

It could be a perfect vacation… “Let me talk to my uncle.”

The Zoom session ended with Matt promising again to take the fall if they got caught. She stared at the blue screen for a long moment after the view of Matt’s backyard disappeared. The chance of anyone noticing they’d switched places was slim. But not zero. Still, she wanted to help Matt, and when she eyed the pouring rain, a month of sunshine seemed worth a little risk.

She checked the time and decided half past eleven qualified for a lunch break, then went to get her rain gear, still damp from an earlier trip outside. She’d had to go out before dawn to make sure the other houseboats at the dock were still chained securely. Every so often a chain slipped in a storm and a house blew far enough from the dock to snap a utility line. Since the rocking at her house had wakened her from a deep sleep, she’d forced herself out of bed to check everyone’s connections.

The downpour hadn’t let up and the wind whipped at her jacket the moment she stepped outside. She hurried from her house to the next slip over, giving her uncle’s door a perfunctory knock before barging in. “It’s me,” she called out, quickly shucking her rain gear. “I’m breaking early for lunch. What are we eating?”

“Chili.” Uncle Bruce appeared in the hallway. “And it’s vegan, so we’ll probably starve.”

She chuckled. Her uncle was a retired chef and had taken the orders to cut cholesterol out of his diet hard. He waved her to the kitchen, saying, “You’ll have to try it and tell me if it needs anything. Other than actual flavor.”

His houseboat was slightly bigger than hers—two bedrooms instead of one—but it was still a short distance from the door to the kitchen. He lifted the lid on the soup pot, dipped in the wooden spoon, and held it out for her to taste.

She blew on it and her stomach rumbled impatiently. Before it cooled, she took a bite and then fanned her tongue. “It’s good. Did you use a new type of cumin?”

He shook his head, narrowing his eyes as he studied her. “Guess again.”

“Chocolate?” He’d been known to add stranger things to his chili, including anchovies.

A smile spread across his face. “Cocoa powder and a bit of yesterday’s stale coffee.”

“Gross.” She scrunched her nose. “Let’s eat.”

He laughed. “I knew we were related.”

As Uncle Bruce dished their meal into their usual blue ceramic bowls, she got their silverware and set out napkins. They didn’t share all their meals, but they regularly ate lunch together. She worried about leaving him for a month—although she’d left him alone nearly that long when she’d gone to Europe last summer. Instead of wanting a break from the rain, that time she’d wanted a break from thinking about her ex-girlfriend.

Once they’d settled into their seats, he asked, “Did you find any sexy hackers this morning?”

“Struck out again.” She’d explained her job rarely involved personally thwarting would-be hackers, but he was convinced she’d one day meet her match online. “I do have news, though. Or a question, I guess.”

As soon as she opened her mouth to mention the month away, her conviction slipped. A month might be too long, especially if Matt didn’t keep his side of the bargain.

“Well?” He’d loaded up chili on his spoon but waited for her before taking the bite. “This chili won’t taste better lukewarm. And you’re not getting any younger.”

She rolled her eyes. Uncle Bruce, she decided, could handle bossing Matt around. “If I had someone lined up to do my chores, how would you feel if I went to San Diego for a month?” She might hate living at Matt’s house. His ex-wife might be awful. But she felt a zing of excitement as she voiced the idea aloud.

“San Diego? Why would you ever go there? And in spring of all times? I doubt they’ll even have rain. You’ll have nothing but sunshine.”

“That is the risk.” She grinned.

“God, a month in San Diego sounds amazing. How’d you swing that?”

“Matt, my friend from work, asked if I’d want to swap places for a while. He’s going through a divorce and wants out of his house.”

“How old, and is he handsome?”

She laughed. “I think he’s in his forties. Sadly straight.”

“Everyone has their faults. What about the handsome part?”

She shrugged. “Not my type but he’s handsome enough.”

“Sold.” Uncle Bruce slapped the table. “When’s this happening?”

“You really think I should do it?”

“Definitely. You get a vacation in San Diego, I get a handsome replacement for my lunch date.”

“Matt has no idea what he’s in for.” Then again, neither did she. At least her uncle could cook. She didn’t know what to expect with Matt’s ex, though she doubted there’d be shared meals. Probably the woman wouldn’t want anything to do with her.

But all she had to do was keep to the cottage and finish Matt’s to-do list. In her free time, she could take walks on the beach with a cute dog. And she’d have all the sunshine she wanted. It really sounded like a perfect vacation.