Page 44 of Marlin's Faith

His grey eyes slid from mine, off to the side and he pushed to his feet, “Because I have it too, where do you think I got the valium? Take it or don’t. I’m just trying to help,” he went around to the back of the boat and left me staring at the pill in my hand. Finally, I took it. Popping it into my mouth and swallowing it down before I could change my mind about it.

Nothing was like Marlin; a sweet man, who had done everything to help me and nothing to hurt me. I stared at the wristband around my wrist and closed my eyes, hoping that the pill would at least stop my heart from speeding like it was. I bit my lower lip and stood, finding Nothing and smiling a little sadly.

“Thank you.”

He looked me over and nodded, “No problem.”

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“We call it The Locker, but it’s not exactly, there’s this thing we built, out in the water. A place to stay a day or two at a time when the shit gets too deep, like now, and we need to take cover or just get the fuck out of dodge for a few days.”

“What, just out in the middle of the ocean?”

“Not exactly. It’s inside swimming distance of one of the Key islands if you’re ballsy enough. You and Marlin will be good there until the Captain can come out. He needs time to deal with the cops and for the shit storm to die down.”

“This is all my fault,” I said and gripped the railing, letting the wind carry my hair into my face, hiding my shame for the moment.

Nothing nodded, “Pretty much,” he agreed and I felt it like a needle prick to my heart, “But it doesn’t make a difference if it were you, or Hope, or Hossler or one of the other girls attached to the club. The result would have been the same. Hell, if we’d seen it and it was just another Spring break girl, he still would’ve got his ass beat. We don’t like that shit in our town. Period.”

I looked at him, and his dark hair, just long enough to fall into his eyes, did. He didn’t bother to push it back he just bowed his head and spoke honestly, “Truth is, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Marlin move that fast. The prick deserved to have his ass beat, sure, but because it was you? That son of a bitch got off light, because after everything you’ve been through, that fucker deserved to die.”

He left me then, standing there open mouthed and robbed of speech, as the wind buffeted me and the sleek sport fishing boat cut through the waters turned blue with their depth. We bounced through the small waves for a while, and eventually reached a structure, set out from a small and seemingly abandoned little island.

It was square in nature and mostly wood, with at least two stories to it. The top had a platform on it, and stairs leading up one side. The platform looked like it was for viewing the stars, and underneath it, open on one side looking out over the water, was a seating area. Backed benches were set in a horseshoe shape around a low square table, the seating area decorated with patio furniture cushions in oranges and yellows.

Marlin made the jump from the boat to the floating structure, “Looks like we had some partiers,” he called back then added, “Locks are in place! Johnny, help me clean up before Faith comes aboard.”

It was Nothing who made the leap across to the floating box, and disappeared behind one of the sides of it, there were a couple of nooks to either side of the ground floor, one held a small kitchen the other a showerhead and what looked like a small, boxy toilet. I sat on the edge of the boat and watched the men with fascination for a moment as they moved around this thing, then with a little apprehension when I realized that we would belivingon it for a day; maybe two.

I picked myself up and gathered the long skirt of my maxi dress and made the unassisted leap from the side of the boat to the lower most platform of the Locker, which I had no idea why they would even call it that.

Marlin appeared almost immediately, “Whoa, hey, you shouldn’t be over here just yet, there were people out here and they left some needles and shit behind.”

I looked up at him and nodded, biting my lip between my teeth, “I thought I could help, if I’m going to be staying here too.”

He looked me over, appraising and finally nodded, “Let Johnny hand you some of the bags and gear and put ‘em down here.”

I turned back and Johnny was reaching out, plastic grocery bags laden with things presumably from Marlin’s fridge or freezer in them. I reached out and so it went until I had a neat pile of things around my feet. It was a flurry of activity and it felt good to be a part of it rather than just a sidelined observer.

All too soon, black garbage bags were being passed back to Johnny and Nothing made the leap back across onto theScarlett Ann. Farewells were given and I watched them go, sighing softly to myself. I suppose it was time to face the music.

I turned and Marlin was looking at me, I waited for him to say something, but he just stood there, bags in his hands looking me over for the longest time.

“Hungry?” he asked finally and I was surprised to find that I was. I nodded mutely and he jerked his head to the side.

“Come help me put this shit away and I’ll fix us some dinner.”

I nodded and picked up a bag with food in it and followed him to the side with a small kitchenette.

“Stay here, I need to get the generator running to power the fridge and freezer.” He left me after unlocking the padlock and letting the hasp loose on the freezer then the fridge in the narrow space and soon the rhythmic grinding sound of a generator running filled the quiet.

“It’s old, but it’ll cool off quick,” he said returning around the back of the wall.

I nodded again and he sighed, “I’m mad at you Faith, but it ain’t nothing that’ll last. Let’s eat, we’ll talk and get it figured out.”

I sniffed, eyes welling and nodded when all I really wanted to do was drop what was in my hands and hug him. I felt grateful that he wasn’t giving up on me and I would give anything in that moment to say or do the thing that would erase the hurt, but I knew there wasn’t anything I could do. I’d opened the box and let it out into the world and once it was out, there was no putting it back in.

A gentle touch to the side of my face that I didn’t see coming through the curtain of my hair left me flinching. It didn’t go away though, Marlin’s roughened thumb so gently, so softly grazed my bottom lip as he tipped my face up to look me in the eyes.

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