Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Lace was on cloud nine, or at least as close to that happy brain-space as possible being back aboard the Water Wrestler instead of lolling about in bed with Vince.
Which was what her wrung-out body had wanted when her alarm had woken her from a sound sleep at stupid-o-clock this morning.
She was still boneless from the previous night, because their fun hadn’t ended in the bathroom.
Nope. Vince had, post initial coitus, ditched condom number one and carried her into the bedroom, where he’d proceeded to don the second prophylactic, then blow her mind. Not once, but two more times; bringing her to more orgasms than she’d probably “self-influenced” in a long freaking while.
Lace, not to be outdone, had reciprocated with an enthusiastic, if not especially professional blow job.
But it must still have hit the spot, because Vince had come with a roar within three minutes of sucking him deep, only to have her up on her knees within a very short time thereafter, fucking her quite thoroughly from behind.
And now? It was hard to concentrate on her fostering classwork without the occasional lapse into fantasy-land.
Lace forced herself to stay focused.
Luckily for her, the morning so far had been a lot more chill than normal.
She’d been sent a few withering glances by Captain Slime-ball, but he hadn’t tried to engage with her. A definite plus. Maybe he’d decided to play nice; accepting her change of day off. Or even better, perhaps he’d simply resolved to ignore her from here on out.
Wouldn’t that be lovely.
Lace went back to reading on her computer until a voice startled her from her concentration.
“How’s things with the new boyfriend?” Ryan asked, coming over to where Lace sat, holding his hand out for a fist-bump.
Lace returned the gesture, then laughed uncomfortably, knowing she was blushing, remembering all the things Vince had done to make her body sing the previous night.
“Good,” she responded. “Great, actually,” she amended. “We had a really…unusual day yesterday.”
“Unusual, as in good?” Zach interjected, coming up behind Ryan.
Lace greeted him with a nod and then began to tease.
“Well, when it involves a helicopter ride from a Night Stalker pilot, then a bunch of hours at a golf course retrieving balls from water hazards…yeah. Unusual can be pretty darned entertaining.”
“A Night Stalker?” Ryan marveled, his face growing excited.
“Do you think I could meet him? I’ve taken a few flying lessons in a fixed wing, and plan on doing more when I can afford it.
I really want to get my pilot’s license, but I’ve always wanted to grab a ride in a helicopter. Maybe I’ll fly one of those someday.”
“You know,” Lace told him, “if you join the service, and they see aptitude, they’ll train and license you on their dime.”
“I’ve thought about it,” Ryan responded enthusiastically, then sighed as his face fell. “But my girlfriend is against it. She wants me local.”
That girlfriend again. The one who was still with Ryan because of the money he was making.
Crap. The young man really needed to rethink that relationship.
Lace, though, proceeded with caution, since he might not like her butting in.
Still, she couldn’t hold her tongue completely.
“There are some things that are better at guaranteeing a more secure future than fishing,” she told him.
Lace knew the stingy captain probably wasn’t paying him that well.
“Maybe if you appealed to her in that way…”
Ryan shook his head. “I don’t think she’s looking that far ahead,” he admitted.
Geeze. The sex must be phenomenal.
But who was she to talk? She was ready to follow Vince around like a puppy dog, if he’d give her some more of his…magic wand.
Lace cleared her throat.
“I’ll, uh, ask if Obi-Wan has time not only to take you up, but I can see if he’ll talk to you about flying opportunities with the various branches of the military,” Lace offered.
“Obi-Wan?” Zach laughed, cutting off whatever Ryan had been about to say. “I like the guy already. Do you think I can grab a helicopter ride, too?”
Lace shrugged. “He’s here on vacation with his wife, but since he didn’t hesitate to take me up, I think the odds are good. Maybe he likes showing off?”
As for showing off… That wasn’t exactly what Obi-Wan had done. It was more like he’d mine-melded with his machine, then flown however his rotor-ized friend dictated.
Ryan and Zach looked excited, elbowing each other.
She’d share some phone numbers, then let the four of them figure it out.
Lace regarded the grinning pair a little closer, thinking that now wasn’t an ideal time for them to get carried away. If Captain Horrid saw them hashing out plans and slacking off, he’d make their day miserable. The man didn’t like there being a distracted focus by anyone on his payroll.
Thank god Lace was a different story.
The jerk didn’t sign her paycheck, so he couldn’t dictate how much time she spent on her computer, which she would be doing during all her down-time today.
She wanted to finish the DHHS course before the Water Wrestler docked this evening, so she could submit her completed hours, and a house inspection could be scheduled as soon as possible.
But that was personal information she wasn’t about to share with the two young men in front of her. Better to get back to speaking of fishing things.
“So, how was the catch yesterday?” she inquired.
“Like always,” Zach answered easily, and Ryan nodded his agreement with a grin.
Excellent. Their attitudes were normal.
Whatever had them acting a little sketchy a few days ago, must have resolved itself. Maybe the captain had temporarily pulled his head out of his ass and was treating them like humans; or at least something that wasn’t complete disdain.
“Well, I’m looking forward to a really fine day, today,” Lace told them, upbeat. “The weather is perfect, the seas are calm, and if the catch cooperates, maybe even our captain will grace us with some non-grumpiness.”
There was foot-shuffling.
“Don’t count on it,” Ryan muttered under his breath.
Damn. There it was again. Back to shady; a veiled reaction from both that there was some underlying…situation, of which she wasn’t a part.
Well, directness had always been her strength, so she might as well go for it. She’d become, if not actually friends with the pair, at least more than a nameless associate.
“Is there something you’re not telling me, Ryan? Zach?”
Ryan grabbed Zach’s arm and began pulling him away.
“Nope. Not a thing, Lace,” he said, sending his friend a look that said otherwise.
Zach gave a terse wave, and the two disappeared around a bulkhead.
Yup. Damned strange.
Lace decided not to let it bother her as she settled back in under the small Bimini tarp she’d set up that would keep a good deal of the sun from hitting her directly.
She opened her computer and took up where she left off.
Lace had earlier completed several heartbreaking chapters that outlined how to detect, understand, and respond to the emotional traumas that many foster children experienced.
To say that she’d had tears in her eyes, was an understatement.
These kids… These poor kids. The things a lot of them had seen at such a tender age, defied description.
And to think, Inez was dealing with cancer on top of all that.
Help is on the way, she sent winging across the waves, hoping a little of her optimism would make its way into Inez’s head.
Lace clicked a new heading, and moved on to some dryer material; the legal and ethical responsibilities of foster parenting. After reading the first few paragraphs, Lace settled in relaxedly. So far it all seemed like common-sense stuff.
Once she’d skimmed and understood everything, she snuck a peak ahead for what she’d see next when she wasn’t busy, noting that the final section was on the importance of having a support network.
That would be the easiest of all.
Lace couldn’t ask for a better back-up partner than Vince. And of course, the entire Sothard clan would lend the kind of helping hands that Lace hadn’t enjoyed in an extremely long time.
Excitement gripped her.
This whole thing—becoming a foster parent with Vince—was growing more real in her mind by the minute.
She could actually picture herself—post cancer-treatments of course—with Vince and a child, playing in the back yard, fishing, camping, and just hanging out like a family over the dinner table.
Those were the things she’d missed down to her very core after her grandparents had passed.
Inez popped into Lace’s mind’s eye.
Even though Lace had tried not to let herself get too eager over the girl who’d already stolen parts of her heart, it was always Inez starring as the small cherub in her visions.
But what if it didn’t work out?
Lace shook away the negativity.
Vince had said his mother had some kind of connections that would grease the wheels to make it possible for the little girl to foster with them.
Lace was really putting all her hopes in the woman’s magic, which meant she was probably jumping the gun and setting herself up for disappointment, but dreaming was something that had always gotten Lace through the worst of times.
She wasn’t about to stop, now.
Oh.
There was one other part to her imaginings.
A baby.
But that was a completely different aspiration, and one that might or might not be attainable.
She’d read up.
Nothing was ever certain after the treatments Lace would undergo, but for an otherwise healthy woman of her age, the chance of getting her periods back and becoming pregnant to carry a healthy baby to term were somewhere around sixty-five percent.
Not great odds, but not terrible, either.
Having talked it all over with Bobbie—prior to starting chemo and before even an inkling of there being a Vince in her life—her friend had urged her to bank some eggs, just in case. Which Lace had done.
And if she knew anything about her bestie, Bobbie wouldn’t hesitate to offer to carry Lace’s child after she was finished incubating her own, if Lace was unable to do so.
Especially…
Nope. She wasn’t going to think about Vince being the father of a biological child right now. Her focus was, and should be on Inez.
Whatever else followed, would simply be icing on the cake.
“Heiger!” the evil voice she hated hearing, barked loudly from somewhere forward.
Lace closed her laptop.
Having nearly finished her current chapter, she sighed. She would have liked a few more minutes to complete the questions, but if the day went as planned, she’d be back at it on the trip home, having all the coursework submitted by the time they docked.
She rose to her feet.
“Yes, Captain,” she responded with a strident shout, while hurrying toward the wheelhouse where he stood at the helm.
He barely glanced at her as she entered.
“Change of plan today. We’re headed to Tillie’s Bank. Word’s out there’s a big school feeding there. I thought you’d want to let your bosses know,” he clipped.
Lace bit back a moan. Tillie’s was farther south than their normal stomping grounds, so it meant a longer day, but still…
Wow.
It was actually pretty nice of the asshole; giving her a heads up.
Lace blinked, unsure of how to respond for a moment before finding her tongue. “Uh, thanks. I’ll let them know.”
True to form, the prick didn’t turn around or address her any further, which Lace took as permission to skedaddle back to her previous position.
She opened her computer and typed off a quick missive to her office, outlining the change of location for today’s data.
They’d get it fairly quickly.
With the advent of the new technology that Starlink afforded, lagging upload times from the old, traditional VSATs, or traditional satellites they’d always used at sea, no longer made speed and reliability an issue.
It was just too bad she wasn’t allowed to use the technology for personal stuff.
She would have loved being able to check in with Vince during the day.
Lace pressed send, and within a few minutes received a response.
Understood. Proceed as usual.
Short. To the point. But that’s how Lace liked it. Her bosses trusted her to do her job, and knew she didn’t need any micromanagement.
But since this trip to their new destination would now take a little longer…
Yup.
Lace opened up her computer and got back to it.
Four hours later, Lace was doubting the captain’s competence.
Why had they made this trip to Tillie’s Bank? Where had the man gotten his intel? There were no huge schools of tuna here, and no other fishermen were nearby, which meant no one else had “gotten the word”.
All in all, it would probably turn out to be a very boring day, but for some reason, the captain still seemed upbeat.
Very odd.