Page 108 of As a Last Resort
The more time I spent away from her, the more I wondered what it would look like if she stayed.Or if I left.I tried to keep my mind focused on the present, knowing her plans to go back to the city were concrete, but my masochistic heart wouldn’t leave it alone.The pendulum swinging gave me whiplash.
What if?
She texted me she’d be another hour.Patrick and I had locked up for the day.He was heading home and I had an hour to kill.If I went home I’d stare at the door and drive myself insane waiting for her, so I headed to Harpoon’s instead.Most of the local captains took a night cap there and while I normally avoided a tipsy tale, a quick fish story would serve as a welcome distraction.
“What’s up, Skipper?”A strong hand squeezed my shoulder and I turned my head to find Robby sliding into the stool next to me at the bar, a fierce sunburn surrounding where his aviators blocked the rays.
“Not much, Sea Legs.You feeling a little less green?”
“It’s Director Sea Legs to you.Got word just a few minutes ago.”He signaled for a beer to the bartender.
My stomach turned over.I didn’t have to ask, but I did anyway.“What do you mean?”
“The job.It’s official.I’m officially celebrating.”
Shit.The promotion.I wondered if Sam knew.She was going to be a wreck now that the promotion was his.I checked my phone but it was a blank screen.
“Funny seeing you here,” he continued, “although it’s the only place I’ve found open for a decent beer on the island so far.”He looked around, eyeing the weathered nautical rope hanging from the ceiling and the battered wooden beams that lined the patio water view.“The water views are nice from some of these places, but I still don’t get why people love it here so much.”
“Depends on your priorities, I guess.”He stared at me, waiting for my answer.“So, the views, yes.The sunsets are pretty spectacular.But there’s something about the way of life down here.It’s easier.It’s like places you read about in books, or see in movies, but it’s all the time.Not just this special place you get to visit.It still has this charm about it, like an undiscovered cove that not many people know about.”
“Yet.Not that many people know about ityet.Once we finish this resort and our marketing team gets moving it’ll be a different story.It’ll top all the travel lists coming up in the next couple years.”
Sam seemed conflicted about the resort lately, like maybe she didn’t want to bring throngs of people here.Or maybe it was the promotion.But every time I brought it up, she would change the subject.
“And you get to single-handedly deliver every one of those tourists flocking in.Aren’t you a lucky bastard.”He grinned, nodding to the bartender for a drink.“What are you going to name her?”
“Name who?”
“The new boat.I was thinkingFerry Godfather.That’d be pretty funny, huh?”
I shook my head, trying to latch on to what he was hinting at.
“You get too much sun, Skipper?Isn’t the captain supposed to name their boat?I thought that was a thing.”He chuckled and took a long swig from the bottle.“I told Samantha it’s not every day you get a multimillion-dollar boat handed to you.I told her I thought you lucked out.”
Lucked out?Multimillion-dollar boat?
I looked over at him.His typical arrogant smirk was dialed down.Like he wasn’t aiming to poke me, just laying it out flat.
“Right, yeah, it’s definitely a thing.Tell me more about this boatI lucked out on.”I kept my voice steady, hoping he wouldn’t catch on that I had no idea what he was talking about.“How big is it again?”
“I don’t speak boat, but it carries five hundred at a time, I think.”
Five hundred.
He shrugged, like that was nothing.“It’ll be a lot different than what you’re used to, but I guess a boat’s a boat, yeah?They’ve all got a steering wheel, and they float.Although I think this one drives itself.Hell, you could just sit in your cockpit and drink a martini, if you wanted.”
“It’s called a wheelhouse.”The motion in the room slowed down around me, the hum of the bar muffled in the background.
“Whatever.I’m just glad you agreed to it.Would’ve been an awkward conversation if you wanted to keep your own ferry in business, know what I mean?”He laughed into the neck of his beer again as he took a sip.
My hand gripped my beer bottle hard enough to send it shattering.“Absolutely.”
“Makes sense that it’s you though, I guess.You still get to be out on the water, just don’t have to deal with all the runaround of owning your own business anymore.Glenn will probably pay you way more than what you make with your boat anyway.I mean, no offense or anything.It’s a win-win.”
He clapped my back and all I saw was red.
“Yeah, sounds like it.”
