Page 97 of As a Last Resort
He narrowed his eyes on me.“Why are you needling me?”
“I’m not needling you, I’m just asking the question in different ways until you actually answer.I don’t understand what’s so scary about taking over the fishing charter business.”
He exhaled.He took a second to respond.“The shuttle business is a need that I fill.It’s where I fit right now.”
“You can’t do both?”I asked.
“How would I do both?”
I’d already thought through all the different options he could take if plans were approved on a fast track, the best one hiring a captain to run Scuttle’s Ferry back and forth for the next eighteen months while the resort was being built.Austin could focus on building his fishing charter and by the time the resort opened, the charter business could be huge.He’d have no need to run the ferry anymore.
“Captain Harold’s got the fishing thing covered.”
“Sounds to me like he’s teed you up to take over easily.”
“Nothing’s that easy, trust me.”He huffed and turned away, like he was ready for the conversation to switch.
“He literally said,the moment my nephew wants the business, it’s his.Explain to me how that’s not easy?”
“Family’s not ever that easy.You know that.It’s not a guaranteed thing.”
Well, nothing was guaranteed.Out of all people I’d assumed he’d know that, but it sounded as perfectly set up as it could possibly be.And if he took over, he wouldn’t be forced out and left without a job.Or a company.“So you’d give up your dream of owning a fishing business because you don’t want to fail at taking over an already wildly successful business?”
“That’s not what I said, Sam.”
“Not in those words, but what could be the real reason?That just sounds like an excuse not to follow a dream.”
He leaned against the side of the boat and crossed his arms, the playful smile wiped from his face.“Wow.Okay.What about you?I’m sure your dream job isn’t sitting in a high-rise working a ninety-hour-a-week job for the rest of your life with a human resources time bomb and what sounds like a dead-end promotion wise?”
I flinched.The look on his face immediately fell.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for that to come out so harsh.”
“No, no.I mean you’re totally right.I thought for a long time that’s exactly what my dream job looked like.Climbing to the top floor of some cushy building where my corner office and secretary sat waiting.Turns out I’m not qualified for that after all.”
“I don’t think qualifications are the deciding factor in your position,” he countered.
I looked out onto the horizon again.It was starting to turn dark and the water looked like black oil pooling around the orphan tree limbs.
“What would you want to do, if you could do anything?No restrictions,” he asked.He was giving me an olive branch, trying toerase the last twenty minutes.But an image of the huge passenger craft on the water bulldozing his ferry popped in my mind.
“I have absolutely no idea anymore.”
The last rays of sunlight drained from the sky and the temperature immediately dropped.We were quiet as he turned back toward the marina.The moon reflected off the water on the way back in the most peaceful way—while everything inside me churned like a squall at sea.
I bolted the minute we got to the dock, leaving Austin to his normal cleanup duties.I physically felt the weight of the last few days on my shoulders.I was tired of feeling so many different emotions in such a short timeframe with my mom.So tired of fighting with Glenn for my ideas to be heard.Heavy from the new guilt that had been put on my plate from this morning and the call.
Guilt for what that call meant, not only for Austin, but the entire town.
30
AUSTIN
I walked into the house holding my breath.There was a chance she decided to go back to her house since her mom wasn’t there, but I know she felt uncomfortable there alone.
There was a note on the kitchen counter.
I’m sorry for being a jerk.
