“Remember to turtle, girls!”Gail reminded them.
“Say, Captain Handsome!”Shirley called out.
“CAPTAIN HANDSOME!”they all sang in unison with their hands raised.
Normally that name irked me, but a grin crept across my face as I snapped a few photos of them.
“I’ll see if I can wrangle Usain for you ladies before the end of our trip.Sit down, relax, and enjoy the rest of the ride over.”
I filled Patrick in and pointed out his fan club.Attention from little old ladies was like catnip for him.On my way back around I caught Gail in a moment by herself silently staring out onto the horizon, watching the last bit of sun sneak underneath the waterline.
“I’m used to New Hampshire sunsets.This is something else.”
“You’ll have more of these while you’re here,” I promised.“But in all the years I’ve called Rock Island home, I’ve never seen the same one twice.”
Everyone’s seen a sunset, but not everyone’s seen a Florida sunset.
I filled her in on the best of the island, including the lobster roll at Charley’s and the sunset view at Harpoon’s.“Captain Harold runs the inshore fishing charters out here too if you have the yearning to catch a fish or two.He’ll even fillet it up for dinner on the boat.”
Just then, Justin Timberlake’s voice burst through the speakers above us.Ethel’s eyes went wide as she spotted Patrick doing his famous shuffle-shuffle-wiggle toward her to “Can’t Stop the Feeling!”from the front of the boat.He made his way over and bowed to her.
“I heard someone’s in the mood to get down.”He bowed cordially and thrust his hand out.“May I have this dance, madam?”
“Only if you promise not to call memadamagain.”Ethel didn’t miss a beat.
I made my way to the helm to take the wheel as Patrick danced Ethel around in a circle, a smile plastered on her face that lit up the whole boat and had all the other guests cheering and whipping out their phones.Gail took pictures and Shirley danced along, throwing sunshine out of her pocket along with the lyrics.
I’ve known Patrick for twenty years and he’s always had this rare ability to make everyone in the room feel ten feet tall.I looked back to the water and couldn’t help but smile.Today was a good day.
11
SAMANTHA
I walked into the bungalow and found a note on the dining room table.
Installed a booster for the internet.Should take care of (most) of the internet issues.
Network: DockGremlin
Password: Pugglestiltskin
Well.Maybe he wasn’t a total stick-in-the-mud.I looked over at the small black box humming away underneath the desk, highly doubting it would solve all my problems.
One thing thatwouldsolve my problems would be Robby getting his butt down here like he was supposed to, so I tried FaceTiming him again.He picked up on the first ring.
“Why are you standing up?”I asked when his face came into view, the crisp white sheets of a hospital bed missing from frame.
“I’m just stretching my legs.”
“And by that, you mean you’re not listening to their instructions about staying in bed.”
His eyes went wide as he pulled the phone closer to his face.“I don’t understand what they want me to do all day.They won’t let me have my laptop in bed.I can only stare at my phone so longbefore I go cross-eyed.The spreadsheets you’re sending are way too small to look at on a phone screen.I’m going crazy.”
“Well, the longer you stay there, the longer I stay here.So, let’s make a plan that you stay in bed and do what they tell you, and I won’t kill you myself.Deal?”I hung on to the small possibility that if Robby acted like the model patient, we’d still have time to switch places.A couple weeks on Rock Island was better than a month on Rock Island.
“What, not loving the scorching Florida sunshine and barefoot policy?”
“For your information, people do wear shoes here.And, while I’m thoroughly enjoying the Florida sunshine, I’d much rather enjoy my real life in the city.”I missed conversations with people who actually responded.
