“That sounds like all hands-on deck, Captain. I’ll see you later.” She blew a kiss and smiled as she ended the call.
I locked my phone and blew out a low breath, regaining my composure before I fully addressed Kiana.
“Sorry to bother you, Captain, but we have a minor issue. Amber wanted me to advise you of the drop in the barometer.” I looked to the sky to see if any of the clouds were dark yet.
“I swear they said ninety degrees with clear skies,” I said as I caught a few gray clouds starting to form.
“Let me double check before you tell the guests anything. We might have to head back in.” I looked at my watch and noticed they had at least an hour and a half left on their rental.
“Shit,” I said to myself as I dropped my head, shaking it in the process.
For cases like this, if the weather cut a trip short, as a courtesy, I would extend a partial refund and try to reschedule, but not a lot of our parties were locals, so the chance of rescheduling never actually happened.
I made my way back upstairs to see Amber monitoring the dashboard, comparing the radar to the barometric pressure. I could tell by her burrowed brows that the weather report lied to me.
“How long do we have until the storm comes?” I asked, taking over the wheel. I hit the anchor, then pulled the throttle down so I could begin to turn us around.
“Not long, but we’re only twenty minutes or so from the dock. We might catch the beginning of it, but I think we’ll miss the real action.”
“Good, angle our bow at a forty-five-degree angle for me. Then let Kiana know to alert the guests to put on life jackets and head inside the salon to stay dry. Meet me back up here so we can bring us in strong.” I made sure to watch Amber’s movements right now. This wasn’t a serious situation that I couldn’t control, but it was enough to shake up the inexperienced first mate. But she was calm, flowing into her role.
I hit the turn, leaning into the waves, using them as an extra push since I reduce the speed. Once I got us steady and headed back, I grabbed the phone so I could communicate over the intercom system that connected through the speakers.
Amber came back and I let her take over as the rain began to pour down with thunder following right behind it. Of course, any person on the water during a storm would tell you this was probably the worst part of it all, but for me, I loved it all. After every storm, the sun always shined.
Almost thirty minutes later, I was tying off the yacht while the ladies began to exit. The rain was still steady as I told my crew to just collect the trash and come back early tomorrow morning for the deep clean. There was no need for us to stay out in this. My mind was already down in the Falls, going to see my woman about her plans.
Chapter
Fifteen
Olive
“Girl, I swear I don’t even know your ass anymore. Why the hell would it take this long for me to catch up to you. It’s been weeks, Olive,” Byrdie stressed as we picked up our order from Just Wings so we could go back to the park and wait on the kids.
“Because you work like I work. Not to mention, these kids, and you have to add your husband into the mix.”
Byrdie waved me off as we walked to my car. Hers was at the park already.
“Naw, I’m not going for that bullshit excuse. None of those things are new to the equation. It’s that new man of yours. You know the one you still haven’t told me about how the first date went. It must’ve been good. I mean, you even got that good dick down glow going on.” She circled her hand around my face and now it was me waving her off as I kissed my teeth. But I avoided her eyes.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. If I’m glowing, it’s because of my new skincare routine that I’m doing.”
“Yeah, Highland’s dick, and honestly, I’m not mad about it at all. If anyone deserves a good man and some bomb ass dick, it’s you. I just don’t like the missing in action behavior I’m receivingand the lack of details on the situation.” She fake pouted. I chuckled as I continued the quick drive across town.
“No, you’re right, and I’ma do better as a best friend. What do you want to know?” I asked as we made it to the park. I should’ve known from Byrdie’s devilish grin and her bugged eyes to match that she wanted even the juicy shit.
“Every fucking thing! What type of question is that?”
I laughed as we got out, with both of us grabbing our food and me getting the cooler out of the backseat that had our drinks and the after-camp snacks for the kids.
“Listen, I’ll tell you but you have to promise not to show your ass out here. Just because we’re not close to the kids, we’re still in a park full of them.” Byrdie kissed her teeth.
“Heffa, shut up and spill the fucking tea.” We picked a table closer to the parking lot. After getting everything placed so we could talk and eat, I began to tell her about the first date with Highland. I started off by telling her about the gift he gave me that I was still in awe about.
“Oh my gosh, you have to show me the gift, it sounds so cute. I love when they do shit that sets them apart from other guys. Like who the hell thinks of making messages in a bottle with real sand and seashells. And he said the girls helped? Now, if that’s not just asking you to be their stepmomma, I don’t know what is.”
“Girl, stop! Not stepmomma. But don’t even get me started on those girls. I swear it’s like having two little best friends now. We even have matching toes to make it complete. Neela stays glued to me whenever I’m around, giving me all the cuddles. And Cece, girl, her little tail asked if me and her daddy go together now.”
