“Jade, wait, I have an idea.” I ran to catch up with her.
Chapter 29
Jade
“Jade, wait, I have an idea.” He ran up behind me on the dock as I reached to untie my boat.
“That’s close enough, Mr. Hawthorne. I don’t need to get pushed in today,” I said sarcastically. “What did you need?”
“I was going to offer to have one of my guys take you back, then bring your boat back.” Sawyer offered. “I thought it might help you. You wouldn’t have to come back for the band tonight.”
“Why would you want to help? You hired me, it’s my job,” I barked at him.
I didn’t want to like him. He’d been rude and arrogant since the minute I met him.
Now, all of a sudden, he wants to act like he’s Mr. Nice?
“I’m trying to help.” He shrugged. “I thought we could start over. I think we got off on the wrong foot.”
“Yeah, that’s true. You pushed me off my feet.” I stared at him. “I’ll be back at eleven tonight to pick them up, as agreed. Please make sure they’re ready to go.”
“Are you sure you can’t stay?” He put his hands in his pockets. “Are you leaving because of me?”
“Mr. Hawthorne, people outside of your circle have jobs to do. This is my job.” I untied the rope and jumped on the boat. “There are more important things in life than partying.”
“I think you got me all wrong.” He pushed his sunglasses up. “If you change your mind, you have my number.”
“Eleven on the dot.” I saluted and steered away from the dock.
How dare him. He knows my father is in the hospital, but he thinks my leaving is about him. Probably thinks everything is about him.
My cell rang. “Hey Bobby, what’s up?”
“He’s been asleep since you left. I just wanted to remind you that you don’t have to hurry back,” Bobby answered. “Get a shower, get some good food, then come back,”
“Bobby, I appreciate it, but I feel awful about not being there with Dad. I’ll feel better if I get back to him sooner.” I thanked him and hung up.
The dock lights weren’t on as I pulled into the marina. I hoped desperately that Bobby or Allen had somehow turned them off, but I knew better. I dug into my emergency kit, pulled the flashlight out, and tentatively stepped out onto the dark dock.
Yeah, this is what I killed myself studying for, all those years in school.
The boards creaked under me with each step. All I could think about was falling through like my father had, and no one would even know it happened. A giant kraken could reach up here and drag me away and no one would know, either.
“Jade is that you out there?” a familiar voice called out.
“Hey Allen, what are you doing here? Don’t you have a bar to run?” I felt instant relief to hear another voice, beside the ones in my head threatening all sorts of crazy scenarios. “Stay where you are, the boards are weak out here.”
“I was already out there looking to see if your boat was there. If you stay on the left side, you’ll be okay.” Allen pointed his flashlight to the left side.
“You haven’t answered me yet. What are you doing here?” I asked when I reached him on dry land.
“Couple of the regulars said the marina was dark when they passed by.” Allen stood, not moving.
“And why would this matter enough to bring it up to you?” I pointed toward the office. “Come on, I need to check the breakers.”
“It only came up in casual conversation because a few of them said the lights haven’t been off at this marina in more than fifty years.” Allen pulled the breaker box open. “When I heard them say that, it occurred to me that they were right. I’ve never seen these lights off.”
“Good point. I don’t know why, myself, and I don’t know why the back-up lights didn’t kick on.” I checked each breaker. “These are all on and, at a glance, don’t appear cooked.”