Finder

Chapter 14

Sometime after eleven Chelsea's Jeep rolled in the driveway. Pope and I were fishing off the dock and drinking a couple beers. I heard the car door open and slam then front door open to the house and get slammed shut as well.

"Someone's pissed." Pope muttered.

Five minutes later the front door opened and a figure walked towards us.

"Chelsea?"

"Yup." She sat down on top of the cooler.

"How was dinner?"

"Ward Cameron was there to announce a new boat safety plan, the Sarah Cameron Initiative. Aaron's going to be driving up and down the coast of South Carolina until September to raise awareness for boat safety during a hurricane. Ward went on and on blaming John for 'killing' his Sarah."

"So he can't go with us?"

"No. He's expected to be down there next Saturday."

"The twentith? That's really quick." Pope commented.

"Yeah, they have their first meeting on Sunday. Town hall or something. Can I get a beer?"

"Help yourself." I said to her.

Pope looked down at his phone, unusual for him. Chelsea finished her beer and grabbed another one.

"What's wrong?"

"Everything." She muttered.

"Guys. Troy Pride Jr., Polestar, 80.233, West, 721. We figured out every part but 721. What if 721 is July twenty-first?"

Chelsea jumped up. "Holy shit. Holy SHIT. HOLY SHIT!" She cheered. Chelsea started dancing around. Not before long she lost her balance and fell into the marina. Pope and I jumped up to grab her. We lifted her up onto the dock and she just looked defeated.

"What happened tonight?"

"Aaron's leaving and Joe got deployed to Germany."

She started messing around with her hair, not before long it was a wet mop hanging down. Most of the time her hair was down around her face. She looked good with it up too. It find her fun pink strands until you saw them all swirled on her head.

"I'm gonna go to bed. We have a few deliveries before we go this week. I was thinking Thursday we leave for Miami. That good with you?" I nodded in agreement.

Chelsea walked up the path to the house and when we heard the door shut Pope bounced. I sat on the dock for a while until I decided I should also go to bed.

We spent the next three days not really speaking. We'd have a few quick snippets at each other, make the other one laugh and then nothing. Pope and I went surfing, helped him and his dad fix their boat, did a few deliveries. Kie was going crazy trying to complete her community service so we barely saw her. Something about how she wasn't gonna do it when she had to go back to school. I forgot that she goes back in mid-August.

Thursday morning at four am Chelsea and Mr. Wright put the last finishing touches to the Trawler. The weather guy said that the next storm to come through was late Saturday so we knew if we wanted to go, to go. Heyward's truck pulled in just as we finished breakfast. Pope and Kie stood waiting for us.

"Have room for two more?" Kie called out.

Chelsea smiled at me, the first time she had smiled since Aaron came to get his stuff and left. Or when Joe came to say good-bye to everyone. I liked when she smiled. It made her face squishy looking.

Another round of good-byes and we were off.

Two days of boating, we were going to dock in Savannah around three or four tomorrow morning. Just to get some solid sleep, something hot to eat and or wait for the unknown.

By noontime the girls had fallen asleep sunbathing on the top deck. Pope was being a master chef in the middle making the two of us some lunch. We had turkey sandwiches and chips. 

Later in the day the girls came down to get food and take over control of the boat. Pope took the bed in the captain's room and I pulled out the couch next to the girls so I could be in their conversation. 

Well me being in their conversation didn't work because I passed the fuck out.