The sailboat teetered with the passing of a wave runner by the docks. Wes eyed the catamaran and hoped he didn’t spend his time hanging over the side while the other men sailed. He enjoyed the ocean and boats, but his stomach always protested the movement.
“Permission to come aboard?” Wes remembered that little tidbit of sailor etiquette from his days living on the bay in San Francisco.
A man with shaggy, sun-bleached hair poked his head up from the engine bay. “Welcome. Yes, come aboard. I’m just checking things out. Dustin will be here in a minute with the cooler, and we’ll head out.”
Wes dropped the waterproof bag he’d bought yesterday onto the bench in the cockpit and offered his hand to Trevor. “Nice to meet you.”
Trevor wiped his hands on a rag hanging from his torn and stained shorts. “Nice to meet you, too. I’ve heard a lot about you. It’s good to put a face with the name.”
“Don’t believe everything they tell you.” Wes could only imagine their concern about him.
“All good. They’re a protective bunch, but once you’re part of their group, there’s no escaping again.” Trevor closed the engine bay then stood and stretched. “Don’t worry. It’s a great group to be a part of. Just don’t go to Friendship Beach without permission.”
“Friendship Beach?”
Trevor pointed to an outcropping of mangroves and a rocky lagoon. “Over there. It’s sacred land that only the girls are allowed on unless you receive a special invitation to join them.”
Wes shook his head. “Seriously? There are Friendster contracts and sacred grounds?” He chuckled. “They had an interesting childhood.”
“I think living in a small beachside town, you need friends to survive.” A man with curly dark hair and broad shoulders marched down the dock carrying a cooler and passed it to Trevor, who secured it with a bungee cord at the back.
“Hi, I’m Dustin Hawk. Trace’s other half.”
They exchanged the obligatory firm man handshakes. Trevor revved the engine, and Dustin cast off the lines, tossing them to Wes.
The river was calm, but the fumes of the engine stirred his queasiness, or maybe it was remanents of the sympathetic nausea he’d been having along with Kat. He forced himself to study the horizon and sat out front watching the eclectic styles and sizes of the waterfront homes. Every few feet, another canal jetted off into the river.
He missed Kat already, but she wanted space and he needed time to think. How could he be there for her when they lost the baby? Everything he’d read indicated a high-risk pregnancy. If she did manage to get through the first trimester, then maybe there would be something to talk about, but for now, all he could do was be there for her.
Once they reached the ocean, the engine cut out, so he returned to the cockpit to help.
“You want to hoist the main?” Trevor asked.
Wes looked to the lines. “Why not? I know just enough to be dangerous, so you might want to guide me.”
Trevor talked him through all the steps of sailing, from unzipping the stack pack and hooking the main halyard to the sail, to hoisting the main line and securing it with the clutch. It wasn’t until the third time they tacked that Wes realized he wasn’t seasick and found himself enjoying the ocean air and the busyness that sailing provided.
“You’re a natural,” Trevor shouted when Wes completed his first tack on his own.
“You’re an excellent teacher. I heard you came here from Seattle to start this business. How do you feel about your decision?”
“Feel about it?” He tilted his hat up, scratched his head, and then lowered it once more. “My life began when I moved to Summer Island. I might have made money and been seen as a successful man, but true success I realized comes from happiness, and I’ve found that with Jewels.”
“What about you?” He turned to Dustin, who was setting out fish trolling lines off the back of the boat.
“I concur with Trevor. Although, I had a tougher time adjusting at first, but once I did, I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else in the world. Of course, Trace keeps me more challenged than the hotel does on a daily basis.”
Wes thought about their words and how he longed for peace in his heart the way Trevor and Dustin appeared to have found it in their lives. The waves hit the bow of the boat, splashing over and draining through the trampolines. Only one of the new pieces of terminology he’d picked up in the last hour or so. “How did you figure out what your passion was? I mean, I know I want to start a charity or something of that nature, but I have no idea what or where or how.”
Trevor maneuvered the boat around a rogue crab trap. The sails fluttered in protest, but a minute later they were back on track and the boat glided through the water on nothing but wind power.
Wes loved the feeling of sailing. The freedom of relying on Mother Nature more than an engine.
Trevor shot Dustin a sideways knowing look. “I pushed Dustin into working on the hotel, but in the end, I think he likes it.”
“Yep, perfect for me. I get to meet new people while I live in a town where I know everyone.” Dustin pointed. “There, that island.”
Wes watched Trevor turn the helm, and without being told, Wes went to work tacking. “What’s over there?”
“That’s the spot where I hope to bring Trace to propose. We’ll be working on a preservation project there this week. Since she’s been an ocean activist since she could swim, I thought it would be a great place to ask her to marry me.”
“Sounds like a good idea.” Wes’s heart fell to the pit of his stomach. How many times had he come up with what he thought would be the perfect proposal, only to have it thwarted or to have Kat say no?
“Jewels tells me that Kat really loves you and she wants to marry you, but she’s scared because of the baby.”
“I told her I wouldn’t leave her.”
“Yes, but she doesn’t want to trap you either.” Trevor shrugged. “So I’ve been told.”
Even if she did manage to carry the baby full-term, they could hire someone to look after it while they traveled. Did their lives really have to be turned upside down because of them having a baby? Other people he knew traveled all the time despite their children. A good nanny could give them freedom.
Dustin reeled in the lines and then went on deck while Wes lowered the main. Trevor handled the helm. They made a good three-man team.
“I’ve heard you two have shared some amazing trips together,” Dustin said while showing Wes how to secure the bridle to the anchor line.
“Yes, we have.” Wes felt Trevor backing the engine until the anchor secured. “And I hope to make more.”
“Sometimes you don’t have to go far when you live in a place like this.” Dustin patted his shoulder on the way by.
The rest of the afternoon, they fished off the beach, cooked hotdogs over a bonfire, and swam in the ocean. His memories kept slipping back to the private island and then to the rooftop deck this morning. When the sun drifted down in the sky, he itched to get back to Kat. He missed her and wanted more than anything to make new memories with her. Maybe Dustin was right and they didn’t have to travel the world to live like they had on that magical island.
They could do both, live on the island with the child and then travel while the nanny watched him or her. But Wes still had no clue what he’d do if he stayed. There weren’t many epic opportunities for major philanthropic work. What purpose would he have here beyond driving Kat crazy?
This was all pointless, considering they hadn’t even seen the specialist. The problem was that Kat appeared to be warming to the idea of having a child, but Wes didn’t connect to the possibility. How could he when the statistics were not in their favor? Besides, he’d never make a good father.