Chapter 10
Captain Kendra’s Log: Investigate out-of-control weed at the docks
I felt like one of those cranky old ladies who lived in a haunted house and stole balls that kids kicked into her yard.
Wait.
That sounded bad.
Ugh. I couldn’t even wallow right.
As I stood on my houseboat deck, the lukewarm cup of decaf coffee in my hand did little to calm the flurry of emotions inside me.
The bitterness of the cold liquid mirrored the ache in my chest. The houseboat—once a place of comfort—now seemed to mock me.
A few clouds cast a shadow on the deck, matching my crappy mood.
Then, as if on cue, sunlight peeked through the clouds and lit up the love of my life, striding down the dock with an air of effortless charm.
My heart skipped a beat at the sight of him – the one person who never failed to make my world light up with joy.
His presence alone seemed to still the surrounding chaos, drawing my focus entirely to him.
Even from a distance, I marveled at his appearance.
He looked more handsome than ever, wearing a casual golf shirt and shorts.
His dark, slightly tousled hair framed his dark complexion in a way that made my heart flutter.
When his mesmerizing blue eyes met mine, time seemed to stand still.
At that moment, I was again thrust into memories of our last night together and the regret seeping into my pores.
As he drew nearer, my heart swelled, leaving me breathless. This was a moment I had longed for, and as I gazed into his eyes, every emotion I felt for him was magnified.
“Ken!” Jesse shouted, waving his long arm in the air at me.
I raised my hand in a weak return wave. “Barbie!”
“Excuse me, excuse me,” he muttered to the people in front of him on the dock as he made his way toward my boat slip. He hopped over a cooler on wheels, dodged a baby stroller, and stopped to help a little old lady climb painstakingly slow aboard a nearby boat.
Where were all these people coming from? And where were they going? I shook my head. This is what happens when you’re wallowing in self-pity. You miss tourist season.
Jesse was out of breath when he reached the side of my boat. “Captain Kendra. Permission to come aboard?”
My breath left me. I dreamed of the moment when we were actually in the same space at the same time. I thought a million times about what I would say. The pithy remarks. The glorious inside jokes. But on this day, all I could manage was, “‘Sup?” I mentally cringed. “Yeah. Come on.”
He hopped onto the houseboat deck and pulled me into a fierce hug. “I missed you so much, Ken.”
I wrapped my arms around his waist and pulled him closer, breathing in the scent of my old friend. He smelled like… rotten eggs. I sucked in a breath and immediately regretted it as the smell got worse. I untangled from the hug and stepped away.
“It’s good to see you,” I said, scrunching my nose.
He plucked his shirt away from his body. “Sorry about that. I think I stumbled into someone smoking weed.”
Weed didn’t smell like the ass-end of a chicken, but I let it slide.
His smile was slightly more crooked than I remembered, but he still had an adorable dimple on his left cheek. “And it’s good to see you, too!”
I glanced over his shoulder at the dock, searching the scores of people. Were there more than moments ago? “Where is your fiancée?”
His smile dimmed. “She’s back at Demeter House. Resting. It was a long drive for us.”
“Okay. Do you have time to sit? Do you want some coffee? I just made a pot of decaf.” I showed him my cold cup.
“I was hoping you might want to go to lunch and catch up,” Jesse responded. “Just the two of us. My treat.”
I fought back a grin. “Just the two of us? That sounds good. Where do you want to go?”
Jesse wanted to go to The Horny Toad, my brother’s bar, because he hadn’t had a proper hamburger in a minute, his words, not mine. Would I have preferred to catch up with my first love anywhere else? Yes. Did everyone from Pleasure Point show up to watch us talk? Also, yes.
Since Pleasure Point was a former nudist colony trying to rebrand itself as the wedding capital of the Gulf Coast, all of the businesses had euphemistic names. My brother’s bar, The Horny Toad, was no exception.
On the sign, a toad rode a bottle of booze, with the words The Horny Toad in neon script across the bottle.
I always felt the sign set a certain expectation of “frat boy chic,” but inside couldn’t be farther from it.
My brother was a neat freak and respected women.
Not only was everything clean inside, but anyone getting out of hand would be sent out the doors, where the Pleasure Principal - our version of a town sheriff - would scoop them up and send them straight to jail.
The nautical-themed decor tied into the island theme without being ridiculous, like Pegleg Pete’s Pirate Extravaganza.
That ship was a hot mess. It was as if someone took every pirate cliché, dumped them into a blender, and poured out the decor and outfits for the pirate ship.
I snort-laughed. My new, modern cell phone - a present from Joy - buzzed with a text.
Man who is not ‘Raff’
Would you be willing to start work tonight?
Me
Not if I have to wear that ridiculous outfit.
*pirate flag emoji*
*not symbol*
Man who is not ‘Raff’
Done. Wear what you want. Or don’t want.
(…)
That sounded bad.
Me
It sounds like you took the sexual harassment training.
Man who is not ‘Raff’
Don’t you mean anti-sexual harassment training?
Me
I said what I said.
“Earth to Kendra?” Jesse waved in front of my face. “What’s got you so giggly?”
I shoved my phone into my pocket. “Nothing. Chatting with someone.”
My longtime friend tilted his head. “A man someone?”
A sour feeling coated my stomach, and I shook my head. Why didn’t I tell him the truth?
Hey Jesse, funny story, last month, when you rocked my world with the worst news possible, I got shitfaced and rage-fucked a stranger in an outdoor shower at the Flamingo Cove Marina.
Now, I can’t ever go back to that town and will likely have to find another way to drive down the highway to avoid all signs pointing to Flamingo Cove.
The fucking was angry and hot and has been lady spank bank material for weeks.
But it might get a little complicated because that man is no longer a stranger and is my new boss.
Did I mention he looked even hotter yesterday than when he was covered with sketchy shower water?
Yeah. Not going there.
I spotted an opening in the restaurant's corner and led us to the weathered wooden table. It wouldn’t be much privacy, but it’d be better than sitting in the middle of the proverbial spotlight. My little brother, attuned to the commotion, swiftly joined us at the table.
“Jesse!” Boots fist-bumped my friend. “Long time, no see! Congratulations on the impending nuptials.”
“I forgot how fast news travels around here,” Jesse chuckled. “What did you do, skywriting?”
“It was on the Pleasure Point Network,” I answered. “Our new television station.”
“We have a television network?” Jesse goggled.
It warmed my heart to hear him say, “We,” as if he already imagined himself fitting right back where he had left. Maybe that would make convincing him to join my charter business easier.
All I could do was nod. My brother saved the day by talking.
Boots handed us menus and lowered his voice. “We have WiFi, too, but we don’t let the visitors know that.” He glanced around the bar, looking for imaginary WiFi pirates as he returned to the kitchen.
Pirates made me snicker.
“What’s gotten into you?” Jesse frowned. “You’ve been weird since we caught up on your boat.”
I shook my head and swallowed down a little bile. “It’s nothing. Let’s eat.”
“And that’s when I got into Bitcoin,” Jesse rambled. “It may become the 21st century’s ‘gold standard.’”
I spent the better part of the last hour listening to Jesse talk about day trading, a brief involvement in multi-level marketing (which is much different than it was in the early days when it was only pyramid schemes), and an investment in a tech startup that had developed a new dating app that was gaining popularity worldwide.
The dating app investment sounded promising, and I wondered if that’s how he met his intended.
“Tell me about Truette,” I prompted. “How did you meet?”
“True is wonderful. She came along exactly when I needed her,” Jesse answered with a smile.
My heart broke a little. Exactly when he needed her. I wondered what it would have been like if I had been there when he needed me.
“It was lucky,” Jesse continued. “I recently moved out of the house. The ex and I signed the paperwork the week previous. I got a sweet apartment nearby. ‘Divorce Housing’ is what the guys call it.”
“The guys?”
“The other divorced guys who move there.” Jesse smiled and snatched two fries from my plate.
“It’s a great place. They have a concierge to pick up dry cleaning and laundry.
Grocery delivery. And it’s adults-only, so the pool can get a little wild.
Well, not on Sunday afternoons. That’s when the kids visit their dads. ”
“Sounds,” I searched for the right word. “Wild.”
Jesse’s lopsided grin expanded. “It is. A week after I moved in, I went to one of the monthly parties and met True. She was staying there temporarily while exterminators fumigated her house. We struck up a conversation, and wouldn’t you know it?
She was staying in the apartment right below mine! It was a sign!”
“A sign it could have blown up in your face,” I countered. “Haven’t you heard, don’t shit where you sleep?”
He blew me a raspberry. “Naw. It was fate. She was there. I was there. We were both single.”
“How convenient,” I deadpanned.
Jesse snapped his fingers. “Exactly. Convenient.”
Thank God Boots took this opportunity to bring us the check. “Here’s the bill. You can pay me when you’re ready.” My brother raised an eyebrow at me before turning to serve another table.
I was too busy glaring at my brother to notice Jesse stopped talking. “What? Sorry, I missed what you said.”
Jesse patted his pockets, and his face turned red.
“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” I asked.
He gave me a pained smile. “Well, this is embarrassing. It seems I left my wallet next door at the bed and breakfast. I’ll walk over there and get it.” He stood from the table.
I pushed back in my chair and stood, smiling at my longtime friend. “That’s all? That’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Don’t worry about it.” I pulled my non-maxed-out credit card out of the back pocket of my phone and prayed it would go through. “I’ll get this.”
“Are you sure? I hate to inconvenience you,” Jesse hesitated.
“Don’t worry about it,” I repeated. “It’s fine.” I waved Boots over and handed him the bill and my card without looking at either one.
Jesse sighed heavily and leaned back in the captain’s chair at the table. “What are your plans for the rest of the afternoon? You want to meet True?”
My phone buzzed with a text.
Man who is not ‘Raff’
*picture of the rebuilt shower at the Flamingo Cove Marina*
Look. Workers managed to remove evidence of your Hulk strength in the shower.
I covered my mouth with my hand and laughed.
I probably should have felt more embarrassed about breaking the shower, but I didn’t.
It felt strangely empowering. I had the strongest urge to stand up with my fists on my waist in a superwoman pose.
Even with my newfound superpowers, the last thing I wanted to endure was meeting the woman engaged to my true love.
“Can’t. I have to work,” I said, glad for the excuse. “She sounds like a wonderful woman. Can’t wait to meet her.”
“You have a charter? I didn’t see your charter boat in the marina.”
My stomach dropped. With all the talk about Bitcoin and divorced housing, I forgot to mention that my boat burned. “No, it’s another job. I’m helping out on Pegleg Pete’s Pirate Extravaganza. A pirate-themed dinner cruise.”
“That big ship at the end of the dock? I saw that. Everyone was in costume.” Jesse frowned. “You don’t have to be the pirate, do you?”
I came close to telling him the ship already had a certified pirate but instead said, “No. I’m the Captain. And we set sail in a few hours for dinner. Need to get ready.”
“Well, okay then. I’m glad you could meet for lunch and catch up.” Jesse smiled. “Can I walk you back to your golf cart?”
Another whiff of sulfur wafted my way, threatening the hamburger in my stomach. “I’m good. You’re closer to the bed and breakfast here. Tell Mom and Dad I said hello.”
Jesse went in for another hug as we exited the bar, but I held up a hand for a high-five instead. “See you later, bro.”
I turned toward my golf cart, mentally slapping myself. Bro? What in the world was wrong with me?