Chapter Twenty-Two
Coop: I need you to go check out Molly today.
King: Check her out? Did you forget I am happily married?
Coop: No. Check ON Molly.
King: Why do I need to check ON her? Why can’t you?
Coop: Because I have tours today duh.
King: How was I supposed to know that? You’re in a mood today.
Coop: I mean dude. Not duck.
King: Duck?
Coop: Duh. I meant duh.
King: Also, what do you mean by “check on her?” She’s not a child. That’s weird, even for you.
Coop: Ugh. Dude. I’m trying to fly a plane here. Because she was stuck.
King: Please tell me you’re not texting and flying.
King: But also where was she stuck? How was she stuck? When was she stuck? And WHY?
Why didn”tI just send these texts before I decided to get in the plane and fly? This is so against the FAA’s rules and regulations. Yet, here I am. I try to shield my phone from the view of the cabin of the plane as I punch out my next reply.
Coop: Sick. She was suck.
Coop: Sick not stuck or suck.
Coop: Stupid
King: I’m not stupid. You’re stupid, Dr. Seuss.
I swear, I am going to strangle King the next time I see him. I try not to yell out loud, for fear of scaring my passengers, as I continue to discreetly text King while keeping my eye on the horizon.
Coop: Stupid Phone. Ugh. King. Could you please just go check on her?
King: Fine. But I’m bringing the wife so it’s not weird.
Coop: Weird? That word is weird.
Yuck. I still can’t believe my best friend is married. To Georgie of all people. Just the thought of the two of them married, scratch that, ‘happily married’ causes a small pit to form in my stomach.
King: Nope. She’s the best thing I ever did.
Coop: Gross. Just no.
King: Get your head out of the gutter, Coop. I’ll check on your lady friend. Now go fly your dang plane.
Coop: Thanks King. Later bra.
King: Do you even know what a bra is? You and I both know you’ve never seen one. ??
Coop: Who’s got their head in the gutter now?
King: Shut up.
I haven’t heard from Molly yet today, and I am feeling impatient to get back on my phone so I can check my messages. But with how worried some of my passengers looked when I was texting King while flying, I should probably refrain, and keep my phone away from my face, and focus instead. Time to do my thing.
“And to your left, you can see Emerald Isle. Emerald Isle is where all of the sea turtles in the area migrate to lay their eggs. We actually have a sea turtle biologist in Willow Cove right now, and her job is to check out the nesting sites and send data back to her team in Arcadia Bay.” A few people raise their hands like they are in grade school. But it’s not like I can answer them, so I point to my headphones instead.
“Captain of the Cove has partnered with the NOAA for years, so the plane you are riding in right now will be the same plane that helps with their research over the next couple of weeks.” I stop, thinking about Molly and whether or not King has made his way over to her cottage yet.
“We can’t stop at Emerald Isle because it is protected, so wave bye bye to the baby turtles. If you look to your right in a little bit, you will be able to see Cocoa Island, Willow Cove’s number one tourist destination.” I motion with my hand toward the right side of the plane, and we start to turn toward the island.
“Please keep yourselves buckled as we prepare for landing.” I don’t have the energy to make jokes right now. I just want to land the dang plane, and text Molly.
“Bye,have a great time on Cocoa Island.” I help the last person off of the plane, my phone burning a hole in my back pocket. I grab my backpack and my phone and sit down, dangling my feet off the edge of the dock.
I open my phone to see that I have a few missed text messages.
Molly→Coop: Just met King and his wife Georgie. They are so dang cute, but also very all over one another. Super uncomfortable to watch them. ??
King→Coop: Molly’s fine. Also, my wife wants me to tell you that she thinks Molly is adorable and that you should definitely date her.
Coop→King: Georgie, give King back his phone. I have never heard King say the words “adorable” or “date her” in his life.
King→Coop: Fine. But you really should. I like Molly, and I need King’s best friend to marry someone I like too, because otherwise I’m not letting you hang out with him any more than you already do. I have dibs on his time.
See this, this is why I don’t like Georgie. All her dang sass, bossing me around like I haven’t known King longer. I almost want to respond, “He was mine first,” but that thought leaves the moment it enters my head. No way am I about to let her take away my man card.
Coop→King: First of all. Marriage isn’t a word in my vocabulary. Second. I don’t really care who you like. Now give the phone back to King.
I forgot to respond to Molly’s message, so I switch back to our chat, a giddy feeling replacing the irritation from Georgie’s texts from moments ago.
Coop→Molly: Yeah, I don’t think King and Georgie are cute. Georgie doesn’t like me very much.
Molly→Coop: I totally cannot see that! She was so sweet!
King’s message comes through before I have a chance to respond, so I switch back over. Frustration taking over as I read his words.
King→Coop: Dude. Harsh. Can you be a little nicer to my wife?
Coop→King: I will when she is nicer to me.
King→Coop: Maybe you should be the bigger person and be “nicer” first.
Nope. I am NOT going to be ‘the nicer person.’ She was mean first. Not only that, but how could he forgive her so quickly after what she did to him all of those years ago? I click back over to Molly’s thread, feeling the need to explain to her why Georgie dislikes me so much.
Coop→Molly: Yeah, well… she might have a good reason for not liking me. Long story short. I helped her fly the coop (pun not intended, but it works) when King proposed to her the first time and I may or may not have been super ungentlemanly toward her when she came back.
Molly→Coop: Well, King’s your best friend. I can totally see why you wouldn’t be. It’s okay. She will like you. It’ll just take time. As far as I can see, everyone likes you Coop.
A warm feeling starts in my chest as I re-read the text from Molly. She isn’t wrong. There are very few people in this world that don’t like Cooper Heyes. Maybe that’s why it bothers me so much that my best friend”s wife doesn’t like me? I click on King’s name, and type out the message, and hit send before I have time to change my mind.
Coop→King: Maybe I should be the “nicer person”. Tell your “wife” I”ll try to be “nicer”.
King→Coop: Why the sudden change of heart?
Coop→King: Move away from your wife so I can tell you this next part.
I look up from my phone and set it down on the dock, taking in the turquoise waters of the ocean and thinking about the words I want to say before picking up my phone again.I don’t do feelings, but Molly makes me feel things, and it freaks me out.
Coop→Molly: Let’s just say that Molly is making me see the “bigger picture.” I don’t know. She has this way about her that makes me want to be nicer…kinder…better.
Molly→Coop… Uh Coop. I think you sent that to the wrong person. But I am flattered.
Oh crap! Stupid King. Stupid phone. Stupid messages. Molly wasn’t supposed to see that. Of all of the…I throw a few curse words under my breath as I click on King”s thread.
Coop→King: I just sent a message to Molly that was supposed to go to you dude. Why? Ugh
King→Coop: Nice one. What did it say?
Coop→King: Oh man. Something about how she makes me see the bigger picture and has this way about her, making me want to be nicer…kinder…better… Dude!
King→Coop: LOL! ??
Coop→King: Not funny bro.
Molly→Coop: You okay Coop? You don’t have to be embarrassed that you were talking about me to someone. Especially if it was something nice. ??
This is so embarrassing. This conversation just needs to be done. See. This is why I don’t do feelings. Because feelings get complicated and mixed up and confusing. I tap on Molly’s name and punch out a message.
Coop→Molly: Yeah…Yeah. Totally fine. No biggie. Glad you”re doing okay. I gotta head out, but I’ll talk to you later.
Molly→Coop: Okay. Bye Coop. ??
King”s text chimes in at the same time as Molly’s, and I open his, trying to forget about the stupid text message mishap I just participated in. If this was a story being told by a bunch of guys years down the road, I would literally be the butt end of that joke. Yay. Now I’m a butt.
King→Coop: It was funny. I’m still laughing. So is Georgie.
Coop→King: You suck. You literally suck.
I shove my phone into my bag and head for my spot. Only, I don’t really feel like snorkeling today. I’m not really sure what I feel like doing, but being alone left to stew about whatever it is I am feeling isn’t it.
Today isn’t any better.It was late when I got home last night, so I texted Molly to see how she was, in as few words as possible, before heading to bed. And now I am running late for my tour, so I don’t even have time to text her before we take off. I’m not sure I want to either, with how big of an idiot I made of myself yesterday.
I give my little spiel about the islands, which I really should just record and have on repeat with how second nature they are, before landing and helping the passengers off the plane. I shoot a text off to Molly before shoving my phone back into my bag and sticking it back on the plane. I don’t even bother heading to my favorite spot. Instead, I kick off my shoes, pop in my AirPods, and head out for a run on the beach. Hopefully the music drowns out my thoughts, and the exercise makes me too tired to think about Molly.
It doesn’t work.For some reason, all of the songs that I had playing on my playlist from my Apple Watch were ones about feelings, love, girls, and there was that ‘brown-eyed girl’ song as well, which I have no idea how it got there because I have literally never added it to my playlist. I get back to the plane after my one-hour run and down my water and a PBJ, which only makes me think about Molly more. I pull out my phone, and the first thing I notice is the weather alert. I look up at the sky, noticing for the first time the darkening clouds in the distance. This storm wasn’t expected until later tomorrow; the winds must have shifted and the pressure system must have evolved, which means this storm is going to cause potential problems for Molly’s trip to Emerald Isle tomorrow. Dang it.
I click out of the weather app and notice the text from Molly.
Molly: Coop, what the heck is this weather stuff I am seeing on my app? That wasn’t supposed to show up until tomorrow night.
Coop: Yeah. I just saw it. I guess we will need to delay your trip by a day.
The little dots appear and disappear a few times before a message comes in.
Molly: Nah. I think we will be fine. The storm should die down by tomorrow morning.
Coop: I’m not so sure Molly. Sometimes these things can be a bit temperamental.
Molly: It blew in early, so it should be better by then. I say we plan on going.
I click back into the weather app, checking the different elements to the storm. From what I can see, I don’t think that storm will be better by then. Darn woman. She isn’t going to let this go.
Coop: Maybe we should wait it out a day. You aren’t familiar with these storms Molly. Trust me when I say Mother Nature has a mind of her own out here.
Molly: Trust me Coop. I studied these weather patterns for weeks before coming out here. I think we will be just fine. How about this? If it doesn’t look like the storm has died down by tomorrow morning, then we will wait a day. But, if it looks like there are just some clouds and light rain, we go. Deal? Plus, you”re my servant for the next few weeks, right? So that means what the master says, goes. ??
I know she said it as a joke, but it still makes my eyes twitch at the mention of my father and his stupid business proposal.
Coop: Really Molly? You’re going to bring up the servant stuff again?
Molly: Well you are, aren’t you? Or do I need to call your dad again and have him tell you what’s what. ??
She might as well have been poking a bear now, because I can feel the tips of my ears burning. I try to remember she is just joking, but she just took it a little too far.
Coop: I see how it is. Fine. If the weather looks up to par with “The General” then we will go. If not, we stay. Got it?
Molly: Yup. Got it. Wait. Am I “The General?” Does that mean you think I’m bossy?
Coop: If the shoe fits? Gotta go get the plane ready to fly. Bye Molly.
Molly: I’m not sure I like that nickname Coop. Bye “Captain.”
I close the screen and chuck my phone into my bag with a little more force than necessary. She wasn’t trying to be mean, but she hit a nerve. I look up at the sky again, shaking my head at the dark clouds, the wind beginning to pick up speed. Luckily, the tourists are supposed to show up in an hour; otherwise, I would be running all over the island trying to gather them up for an early departure.
I continue to think about Molly’s ultimatum as I ready the plane for flight. As a pilot, and a pretty good one at that, you would think I would know my weather patterns. But no. Molly, the thick-headed, know-it-all woman, thinks she knows better. Well, she will see tomorrow morning that this storm will make it impossible to fly to Emerald Isle. I, for one, cannot wait to see the look on her face when it”s pouring rain. I rub my hands together in anticipation of being right. I am going to win.