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A breeze blew over her while she waited to board the train. She looked off toward the water and her heart broke. This place had been her idea. She wanted to be in Seaport, and yet when life turned hard, she ran.
The conductor yelled, “All aboard,” and brought Caroline out of her reverie. She smiled in his direction and took a step.
dune
Dune checked his phone for a message from Caroline and then pocketed it when he didn’t see one. The ball was in her court. He didn’t chase. He had gone to her place, called her, and now he waited. If she wanted to talk to him and tell him what’s going on, she would. And if she didn’t . . . well, then he’d have to live the rest of his life wondering what happened in the span of an hour. Dune couldn’t fathom the possibilities and feared someone may have said something to her. While he was well liked, he also had a couple of enemies. No one made it through life without pissing a few people off.
He took the garbage off the boat and went to get the hose. A guest had lost his cookies once they got out into the open water, and instead of throwing up over the side—as Dune had suggested—the passenger let go in front of him, which sent others scattering. It was never fun when someone got sick, but it was worse when Dune or the others had to clean it up. He hosed the deck and then took the squeegee mop and pushed the excess water to the stern, where there was an opening. This was a rinse and repeat job for him.
A thundering sound caught his attention. He looked toward the dock and found Speed barreling down the ramp and onto the dock. It wasn’t uncommon for Speed to do this, but there was something in his expression that alarmed Dune. He let go of the sprayer and rushed toward the dock to meet his friend.
“What’s wrong?” Dune asked right before he and Speed collided. Dune let out an oof as he caught Speed, who keeled over to catch his breath.
He held up his finger, asking for a moment. Dune waited and began growing impatient. Something was clearly wrong, otherwise why would Speed rush down the ramp the way he did? And why was he out of breath?
Speed finally righted himself and took a deep breath. “Caroline—”
“What about her?” Dune snapped.
“She’s at the station.” Speed pointed in the direction of the train station. “She’s leaving.” He heaved in another gulp of air. “Lots of nonsense coming out of her mouth about how she’s the laughingstock and we should all be happy or some shit. Honestly, I’m pretty confused.”
Dune processed what Speed said, and then it hit him like a ton of bricks. At first, confusion, and then the hurt, set in. Dune covered his heart as the excruciating pain became unbearable. The thought of Caroline leaving Seaport without saying goodbye tore him up. But the fact that she planned to leave because she thought people would be laughing at her angered him.
“She got on the train?” he asked Speed.
He nodded. “Yeah . . . I mean I think so.”
“What do you mean, you think so?”
Speed looked off as if he was in thought. “I saw her there, reading the board and she just went off on me. I had no idea what she was even talking about. I’ve never seen her so pissed off before, but she was there, and then she got into the ticket line.”
“Did she have her suitcase?”
“Yeah, and she was dressed like she was that first day we met her.”
“Fuck,” Dune muttered. He pinched the bridge of his nose and swore under his breath. “What else did she say?”
All color drained from Speed’s face. Dune groaned. “Spit it out.”
“She called herself your flavor of the month. I tried to tell her she was wrong, but she wouldn’t listen.”
Dune pulled his phone from his pocket and looked at the train schedule. He had no idea if one had already come and gone or not, and he didn’t have time to figure it out. “You’re covering for me,” he told Speed as he hopped back onto the boat. It took Speed a second to understand and then he sprang into action and helped Dune pull the ropes from the cleats.
The speed limit and no wake zone killed Dune. He wanted to speed his way to the train station but couldn’t risk getting in trouble. A ticket and a fine, while in a company boat, would not be good for him or his company.
Dune trolled through the water until he rounded the bend and then opened the throttle. He could only do this for a couple of minutes before he had to slow down again. Thankfully, the station had a dock, which was for the water taxi. Dune parked, tied down and left his motor running. Almost everyone would know it was his boat and they wouldn’t do much unless he kept it there all day.
