Page 94 of As a Last Resort
“We’ve caught more fish in an hour than my whole charter yesterday.”
Shirley waltzed over the side of the boat and leaned over a bit to loud-whisper to me.“He says I’m the good luck charm.”
“I might hire her full time just to have her prance around the boat all morning calling to these fish.I’m telling you, they come to her.”
“They can’t help but hear her voice decibel.You know, kinda like dogs.”Gail rolled her eyes and got a close-up picture of Ethel and her mackerel.These ladies were a riot.
I helped Sam onto his boat and introduced her to everyone.Captain took a peek over at our boat and noticed the haul we got for the morning.
“Now, don’t you be talking about your count in front of my guests.You’ll make ’em jealous.No one can hold a candle to this guy and his captaining skills.”
“She’s got seven notches on her belt already this morning and it has nothing to do with me,” I countered.
He lowered his voice to Sam but I could still hear.“Don’t let him hoodwink you.He’s the best fishing captain you’ll meet in this channel, let alone this coast.”
All three ladies were huddled up in a group staring at Sam and whispering, no doubt sizing up Sam’s future wife score.
“The best?Coming from you that’s saying a lot.”
“I’ll never leave the water for good, but the moment my nephew wants to chase his real dream, the fishing business is all his.Always has been.”
Her eyes flicked to me filled with questions.I hadn’t told her Captain Harold was my uncle, but if I drew her a family tree of the island, it’d take a while.
The sound of shuffling feet snagged my attention as Robby’s green face poked around from the back of the boat.He saw me and straightened his back a bit.
“Looking a little green in the gills there, sailor.”
“Aaron, good to see you didn’t sink your dinghy.”Robby swayed just a bit, fighting to steady himself.
“It’s Austin.”
“Yeah, for sure.”He walked toward Sam on wobbly legs.“Ready to catch some big fish, Leigh?”
“Are you sure you’re okay?You look a little queasy.”
“I’m great.Just need a little sunshine.”He held in a burp and grabbed the side rail.“Much better now that you’re here.”
I gritted my teeth as Shirley and the ladies started whispering.
Ethel’s voice rang out over the others.“Well, I for one love a good pissing contest.”
29
SAMANTHA
I loved watching Austin.The way he interacted with his little fan club made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.It came to him so effortlessly, like he was born to show people the magic of the water.But the more I watched it, the less I loved it.Because then I remembered that his business would eventually tank because of my company.He seemed like such a natural helping them out.Maybe if I could convince him to follow his dream of starting a fishing charter, it could work out?Maybe it’d be a blessing in disguise, forcing him to follow his childhood ambition.He was clearly gifted at it.And he had Harold’s business ripe and ready to be handed to him from the sound of it.
Austin and Robby had been at it all day, locked in an unspoken battle of who could outfish the other, as if the size of their catches could somehow dictate the winner of life.And the peanut gallery was making for quite the entertaining trio, cheering every time they hooked a fish like it was the final Hail Mary of the Super Bowl.
Austin held the record at forty inches—a beast of a snook he reeled in earlier with steady precision and a smirk that made me roll my eyes but my stomach swan dive.But Robby had a monster on the line, and the tension on the boat was so thick it could’ve been cut with a fishing knife.
“Aaron, you got the tape measure out yet?”Robby grunted through clenched teeth, the back of his breezy buttoned-up white linen shirt soaked through as he wrestled with the rod.
Austin’s jaw flexed but played it cool, even though I could see him throwing Robby overboard in his mind as it played across his face.“Sure thing, Robert,” he said evenly, not glancing at Robby as he coiled the line of his own rod.“And don’t let go of that reel, or you’ll lose him.”
Shirley had her phone out, narrating the story as it happened.“And this, ladies,” she sang for the video as she crept in for a close-up of Robby’s arm, “is what it looks like when someone who works out reels in a fish.”She zoomed in on his biceps while Robby flexed, making Gail laugh and Ethel cover her mouth and giggle.
The rod in Robby’s hands bent almost in half as the fish fought back.
