Page 16 of Elijah's Hope
About ten minutes later I pulled up to Nick’s place. I couldn’t call it a marina. It was a dock with a single room office on it and there were three slots for boats. One slot was for Zeke’s boat. The other two were rentals.
“We’re going on motor boat?”
“We are. If that’s okay?”
“Absolutely. I grew up around water. Although no water like this. I imagine it’s beautiful.”
“It is,” I answered. “To me. You’ll see. It’s a quiet you can’t imagine.”
“Are we going to fish?” she asked.
“If you want to.”
“Does a cat have a tail? Of course, I shouldn’t say that. There’s this cat back home and his name is Stubby. You can only imagine how he got that name.”
She was still talking about Stubby as I pulled a tackle box out of the back of the truck with two fishing poles and a satchel I had packed to put over my shoulder. Together, we made our way down the short dock to Nick’s office. I already called to make sure one of the boats was available, so he knew I was coming.
“Nick,” I said in greeting as he came out of his office with the keys in hand. He was an older guy, in his fifties. Retired after twenty years in the Army and had wanted to get away from civilization. Which was basically everybody’s reason for being in Hope’s Point, except the Dyson employees. We were here for the money.
“Eli,” he answered.
“This is Shelby. She’s a friend who’s visiting.”
“Miss,” Nick said.
“Hi, Nick. Thank you so much for giving us one of your boats today. I’m so excited. I’m going fishing. You think I’ll catch anything?”
Nick looked at me like he’d just encountered a foreign species. Either people lost most of their social skills after being in Hope’s Point or they never had them. Shelby was like some kind of jabbering fairy princess who had descended into a land of trolls.
Nick shrugged his answer and I figured that was the best he could do.
“We’ll get going and leave you to your day then,” I said.
“Boat’s gassed up. I’ll total what you use today and put it on your bill.”
“Appreciate it, Nick.”
“Bye, Nick,” Shelby added. “You have yourself a great day.”
It wasn’t a big motor boat. About twenty-six feet in length with no cabin below. Just an overhang over the wheel that covered about a third of the boat if the weather kicked up. I loaded her up with our gear and set the knapsack down in the storage place under a bench seat. Then I gave Shelby a hand as she stepped down and I could see from how she held herself it wasn’t her first time on a boat.
The sun was up, and it was as warm as it was ever going to be here, which meant it was a perfect day to be on the water. I was with a beautiful woman who was actually excited about fishing. I couldn’t imagine a better setting for a date. I started the engine and we took off.
* * *
I spent the first part of the morning speeding through the water mostly to show off the control I had over the boat, and partially to make Shelby squeal which she did a lot. After some of that, we slowed down, and I drove her to this small inlet not too far off the coast. Shallow water surrounded some smaller islands which made you think you were alone in a brand-new world.
“I love this spot. I think this might be my favorite place on earth,” I admitted.
We both had our poles in the water, but I wasn’t concerned about catching anything. I didn’t think Shelby was, either. She seemed content to sit, watch the water, the land, the mountains around us. Only giving half-hearted tugs to the line every once in a while.
“That’s a bold statement,” she said. “The whole earth?”
“The whole earth,” I confirmed.
“Have you seen much of it?”
“Enough, I think. I was stationed on an offshore rig off the coast of Bahrain. The sunset over the water there could be beautiful. Once I left the Army, I knocked around Europe for a while. Saw some amazing places. Being in those other places is great but when you’re there, you still have that sense of being an outsider. I like it here. Away from everyone but still in my own country.”
