Page 28 of The Billionaire's Teacher

“Dad.”

I waited, listening to his barely controlled ragged breathing on the other end of the call. I closed my eyes. The beautiful blue of the ocean wasn’t enough to distract me from the headache brewing behind my eyes.

“Fine. I guess you made your choice.”

I wanted to ask what choice he thought I’d made, but I was also pretty sure I didn’t actually want to know. “I’m sorry to have to say no.”

“You don’t have to. You’re choosing to.”

“You’re right. I love you.”

“Pfft. Sell it to someone who’s buying.”

The call ended. I imagined on the other end of things, Dad was raving about missing the old days when he could slam down a phone and get a satisfactory jangle of the bell in the handset. That was a rant I’d heard plenty as a child. Dad was a champion at hanging up on people.

I’d only been on the receiving end since cell phones were invented, but Mom had stories. One where he’d smashed a handset down so hard it had shattered.

Dad and anger were good friends.

I drew in a deep breath and let it out as slowly as I could. I got the anger thing from him. It had consumed me in high school and some of college. Until I’d met Noah and Cody and been dragged into their circle.

And then dragged to Jesus’s feet.

I could only be grateful that He’d pursued me when I’d wanted nothing more than to run the other way. Was He chasing Dad? Or Mom and the General? It didn’t seem like it most days. But then, I wasn’t sure it had been visible to others when I’d been on the receiving end. So I’d just keep praying and trying to be an example. What else was there to do?

I couldn’t have said how long I was sitting there, half-praying, half-feeling sorry for myself when the engine rumbled to life. I opened my eyes and watched as we moved away from the dock. And then I remembered the storms and the concern of the pastor and the reason we’d hurried away from the café before Sunshine had a chance to finish her food.

I pushed to my feet and crossed the top deck to the ladder leading down. I was getting better at descending quickly without falling the last few feet. That had to be a good thing, right?

Sunny sat at the helm.

“What’s the verdict?” I slid past the dining table and came up beside her.

“I had to alter our plans. You’ll still end up with the same number of dive contacts, so I’m really hoping you won’t mind.”

“I don’t. Especially if the alternative is trying to ride out a hurricane in this thing. It’s a great boat, but I’m not sure that’s an experience I’m excited about.” I didn’t really want to ride out a hurricane in any kind of boat. Or ship. Or on land, if I was perfectly frank. In Old Town, we would, occasionally, get the outer arms of hurricanes as they whipped up the East Coast. That level of rain and wind was more than plenty for me.

“Smart man.” She checked her displays and adjusted the controls. “We’ll shift to the west side of the islands as we head south. It means cutting out some of the spots that jut out to the east.”

I nodded as I tried to pull up a mental picture of the map of the region. There weren’t many islands that we’d be missing with this change. At least not if I was recalling properly. “Seems reasonable.”

She glanced over her shoulder at me and flashed a grin. “I’m glad you think so. I’m getting a little pressure to choose a marina and hunker down until we know what’s going on.”

I winced. I didn’t really want to do that. On the other hand… “If that’s the safest thing to do, we should do it. I can always reschedule and we can pick up where we left off.”

Sunny shook her head. “I don’t think it’s warranted. Not yet. We might get to that point in the next seventy-two hours. I’m keeping an eye on things.”

“Okay. I trust you.” And I did. She was the expert here, so I definitely wasn’t going to try to second guess her.

“Thanks. If you start to get seasick, let me know. We’re probably going to be hitting some water that’s got some teeth to it.”

“Good times.”

She laughed, clearly picking up on the dread in my tone. “Like I said, let me know. I’ll do what I can to keep us calm.”

I watched as she made some adjustments on the controls, then swiveled the chair to look directly at me. “Tell me about Cody.”

“Cody?” I frowned. Why was she asking about him?

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