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Just like Beau.
15
BEAU
Iset the timer for the oven and made sure I’d selected broil before grabbing another beer out of the refrigerator. This salmon was going to taste good, but it would’ve tasted better if it had been that one that got away the other day. Damn, I wished I would’ve been able to hold on to that one.
But then, I was feeling like that a lot these days, like maybe I’d let something significant get away from me. Thoughts of Georgia’s beautiful face filled my mind. After cracking open a cold one, I poured about half of it down my throat. I needed to get a handle on my drinking. The last few days, since she’d been gone, I’d been drinking a lot more than usual. Not that I’d gotten plastered or anything, but my, “It’s five o’clock somewhere,” mentality was preventing me from getting a whole lot done other than fishing. I needed to check in on existing properties and make some phone calls about new ones. Instead, most of the time when I was home, I found myself spacing out, looking out at the bay, drinking beer, and thinking of the two women I missed. I couldn’t do anything in the world to get Kaylee back, but Georgia, that was another story.
What if I called her?
I pushed the thought aside. She’d given me her number when she was here because she was planning to stay in the hotel, not for me to use at my leisure. Now that she was back in Seattle and she hadn’t contacted me at all, I should take that as proof that she didn’t want me to call her or text her or anything else. No, it was best to just let her go. Still, her scent continued to linger on the pillow she’d slept on the other night, and I couldn’t bring myself to change the case. Eventually, it would dissipate, and so would my memories of her. I’d go on with my life, and so would she.
But what if I don’t want to?
“You busy?”
Ryan’s voice had me leaping to attention, almost spilling my beer. Ordinarily, I would hear him open up the back door before he said anything, but this evening, my mind was elsewhere. If he’d been a robber or a murderer, I would’ve been in big trouble.
“Sorry,” he said, running a hand through his hair. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”
“No, it’s okay. You’re rather stealthy tonight.” I forced a smile at him.
“I knocked three times.” He arched an eyebrow at me, and I realized I really was out of it. “Something smells good. You catch that big salmon after all?”
I growled at him. “No. Not yet. But its day is coming. This is just a regular-sized salmon.”
“Oh, well, it still smells good,” he noted, going to the fridge for a beer. I had a help-yourself policy that he never failed to take advantage of.
“You wanna stay for dinner?” I asked. “I’ve got enough for two.”
“Sure, thanks.” Ryan took a seat at the island, where we usually ate because it was just easier that way. I hadn’t known he was coming over, but it had been a few days since we’d seen each other, and it shouldn’t have surprised me that he’d come over to check on me. He might not be the brightest bulb in the package, but he had known something was wrong the other day.
I went about making a side of rice pilaf as the fish finished and grabbed us a couple of plates. I let Ryan fix his plate first as he told me some humorous stories about folks who had come into the bait shop recently. I tried to stay interested and sound amused, but I was having a hard time focusing. I just added a word of agreement or a “hmm” here and there.
“And then this giant wolf out in the forest started to get bigger and bigger until it turned into the size of Godzilla,” he said. “Everyone ran screaming.”
“Cool,” I said, sipping my beer and pushing my food around on my plate.
Ryan’s hand clamped down on my wrist. “Dude, did you hear a damn word I just said?”
I went over his remarks again in my mind and realized he had been trying to see if I was listening, and I’d failed miserably. “Godzilla wolf?” I repeated. He nodded. Trying to salvage my response, I shrugged. “Sure. I used to see those all the time when I was a kid. In fact, a buddy of mine got eaten by one. You have to be careful.”
Ryan chuckled and shook his head. “Whatever, man. You weren’t listening a lick.”
“Sorry.” I meant it. I knew he liked to talk about his job, but I just couldn’t stay focused. “What was it you were really saying?”
“It doesn’t matter,” he assured me. “Why don’t you tell me what’s going on with you?”
He knew the truth, that I was having a hard time getting over Georgia leaving, but I really didn’t want to talk about it. So I said something else instead. “I’ve got to plan my trip to check on properties.”
“Oh, yeah!” Excitement grew in his voice. “I love this time of year! Are you going back to Maui?”
I nodded. “Yep. You wanna come?” Most of the time when I went on trips like this during this time of year, Ryan went with me. I split up my visits to different locations depending on various factors. The homes I was getting ready to visit were in prime locations, and Ryan really loved all of them. I was hoping he’d come along because it was always more fun that way, and he was often able to help me with some of the details and less complicated aspects of what needed to be done.
“Dude, I can’t go this time. Not now that I’m working at the bait shop. Donald really needs me.” Ryan didn’t even seem sad. In fact, it seemed like he was glad to be needed at the bait shop.
That was good, I supposed. For him to take such pride in his job and want to be good at it was impressive to me. At the same time, I couldn’t help but remind him, “It’s a bait shop, Ryan. It’ll be here when you get back. You know I’ll pay you, and you’ll get to see some of the most beautiful places in the world.”
