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“And there is no way you and I can discuss this now, over the phone?” I asked.
“No,” she said softly. “If I’m right, our meeting will provide all the answers for the both of us.”
I didn’t know I had any questions, until now. Now I need to know what is so damn important.I’m in Florida. I think it would be easier if I came up north.” I still wasn’t going to Rhode Island. “How about meeting me in Boston?”
“We can do that. When would you like to meet?” Abby asked.
She’d piqued my interest, so why delay going? “How about in three days? It’ll give me time to drive there.”
“Drive? Wouldn’t it be easier to fly?” she asked.
“Faster. But I enjoy being on the road. Unless there’s a reason you need me there sooner?” I asked. So far, there’d been no mention of urgency.
“No. That is fine. Please text me on this number when you arrive, and we’ll come out to you. Thanks, Rick. I really appreciate you coming,” she stated.
The question is why?
“No problem. See you in a few days.”
I ended the call, slipped my phone in my back pocket, and headed up the beach towards my Jeep Wrangler. I didn’t have any packing to do, as I had pretty much lived out of my Jeep since returning to the mainland. It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy the comforts of a bed, but it felt empty without Valentina in them.
The last few months I’d been driving around the country and seeing so much of what I’d missed while I was on the aircraft carrier. The county was beautiful, but I hadn’t found one place I wanted to stay longer than a few days.
No place can ever compare to the sight of Valentina’s beautiful, smiling face.
As I got in my Jeep my cell rang again. I pulled it out of my pocket and noticed it was Mario. He had insisted we exchange numbers before I left the ship.
“Hi, Mario. What’s up?” I asked.
“Rick, you’re never going to believe this,” he said, his voice rising with excitement.
“Maybe if you tell me, I might.”
“Betty said yes! I mean, I asked her to marry me, and she said…”
“Yes. Congratulations.” It didn’t surprise me. We couldn’t work together without Mario talking about Betty. They seemed to fit, even if I thought they got engaged very quickly.
“Thanks, Rick. We hope you’ll come to the wedding,” he said.
I wasn’t expecting an invitation. I’m not family and only knew him from the ship. “I’m sure you want to keep it to family only,” I replied.
“We’re getting married on the ship. We can’t get married without you. I mean, we could, but we don’t want to.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Well, that’s not the response I thought I’d get.”
“Sorry. I meant, why not just your family?” I said.
“Betty told me what happened. How you made sure that the misunderstanding did not affect her employment. You didn’t need to do that. You could’ve let them drag her ass into the office and fire her too. But you didn’t. And she…we are very grateful to you for that. Like you said, working on this ship is her dream,” Mario said.
“It was a simple mistake.”
“But you got fired over it. We owe you, Rick,” he stated.
“Mario, I told you before, I wasn’t staying on the ship after. It was a one-and-done contract for me. Losing the job a few days early didn’t really affect me,” I stated.
He laughed. “You’re lying to me or to yourself?”
