Could'a been a reward, he acknowledged, for the years he'd spent in hell already. Or it could'a been a nod from the feller upstairs over them lives he'd saved getting into all that trouble.
Andy perched on the side wall of the boat and blinked into the sunlight. Maybe it wasn't any of those things, though. Maybe it was just dumb luck, and the payback he'd gotten for pouring his heart into fatherhood.
He exhaled contentedly. Turned out a damn good kid, after all that. It irked him a little that he'd gotten taken out of the ship job. Being Dar's little bit of trouble inside there had been a good thing, and now, them women could be getting up to all kinds of no good without anyone to keep an eye on them.
Not a good thing. Andrew sighed. He hated half-finished missions.
The cell phone clipped to the wooden cabinet near the door buzzed, surprising him. He dropped the rope and walked over to the door, picking up the device and opening its lid. "Lo?"
"Hey, Ugly! Where the hell are you?"
Andrew studied the phone receiver as though it had morphed into a hamster. "This here Bradley?" He queried.
"Sure is! Where are you, man? I told you I wanted everyone working today."
"Wall." Andy crossed his arms and leaned against the cabinet. "Them folks told me not to come back yesterday," he said. "They talk to you? They were pretty fussed up last night."
Ceci emerged from the boat's cabin and cocked her head curiously. "Who's that?" She was carrying a plate containing a cheeseburger, surrounded by a bunch of vegetables and fruit bits. She put it down near Andrew's elbow and leaned next to him.
"Feller thinks he's my boss." One of her husband's grizzled eyebrows waggled, as he covered the receiver with the palm of one large hand. "Ain't figgered out he isn't yet." Carefully removing the burger from its nest of healthiness, he nudged aside a carrot curl threatening to contaminate his breakfast and then bit into it.
"Ah, the mental midget who made your first petty officer look like Einstein. Gotcha." Ceci walked over to the canvas bucket chair on their back deck and seated herself, resting her head against the wooden seat back and contentedly absorbing the early morning sunlight. "Anyone ever tell him that whole Christian Sunday is the day of rest stuff? Only thing in the whole rigmarole that ever made any sense to me."
Andrew reached over to tweak a bit of her hair. "Yeap, ah am still here." He spoke into the phone. "Did you talk to them folks? Got their shorts in a big old twist yesterday."
"Yeah, yeah. I talked to them. Listen, that lady was just spouting some crazy stuff, and yeah, she doesn't want you around here, but I got a spot on that boat behind this one and I really need you to help me out."
"That big blue one with the patches on one side?" Andrew asked.
"Yeah, whatever. The one behind this one."
Dar's boat. Andrew took another bite of hamburger and chewed it thoughtfully. "Hmm."
"C'mon, buddy. I figured you could use the cash, right?" The supervisor sounded a touch desperate. "My guy over there walked out this morning, said he'd gotten a better offer. Tell you what, I'll give you a buck an hour raise."
Forty bucks a week. Andrew mused. Well, it'd pay the phone hook up fee for the month, at any rate. "All right." He agreed. "But I got to finish what I'm doing here right now, so it'll be a bit." He told the man. "Then ah will be over there."
Ceci stuck her tongue out.
"Okay, but not too long, huh?" Bradley said. "This place is a mess. Wait till you hear what happened last night after you left with the government people. It's chaos."
'"Yeap." Andrew agreed. "I do believe the gov'mint usually does cause that. Bye." He hung up the phone and set it on the counter. "Seems like somebody done hired this guys' feller off that boat Dar's working on."
"Oh, really?" Ceci regarded him, a mildly sardonic look appearing on her face. "I wonder if I can guess who that might have been, hmm? My goddess, those women are a pair of hairless Mexican cats." She frowned. "Can they be that desperate, or are they just that pissed off about you?"
"Beats me." Andy finished his breakfast, licking a bit of juice off his thumb. "That was a damn good hamburger, ma'am." He complimented his wife. "Do you want your part of this here MRE?" He handed over the plate of plant matter.
Ceci took a tomato slice and bit into it. "You only wish you ever got these in those." She retorted. "So you're going to go work on Dar's boat now? Doesn't really help much to know what those women are up to."
Andrew shrugged. "Do the best ah am able to. Sides, got me a one US dollar an hour raise out of it."
"Oo. You're taking me to dinner on your paycheck this week, sailor boy." Ceci laughed. "And we're not ending up in that chicken wing place, either." She got up and slid her arms around him, giving his solidness a fierce hug. "I'm glad you're helping out the kids. I think this one's throwing them out of whack a little."
"Ah'm sure they're having themselves a good time down south." Andrew said. "Without none of this here stuff to bother them." He gave her a return hug, then ducked his head and surprised her with a kiss, even though they were standing in what was now broad daylight on the back of the boat.
After a moment, they parted, and Andrew looked down at his wife, his eyes twinkling in the sun. Ceci reached up and stroked his face gently, her fingertips tracing the scars that, though faded, still crossed his skin. "I was looking forward to spending the day with you." She admitted.
"Yeap." Andrew kissed her again. "Me too." He said. "But I told that man I had something to take care of before I went over there."
"Oh, really?"
"Yeap."
"Well then." Ceci smiled. "What are we standing out here for? Unless you want to shock the neighbors." She paused. "Again."
"Nope." Andrew courteously opened the door, then followed her inside.
"AUGH!" Kerry reached for the Frisbee, flying high over her head and knew she was going down. She took a quick breath as she hit the water, then kicked for the surface, her head breaking the waves as she looked around for the bright pink disk. "Darn it, Dar!" She struck out for the toy, swimming quickly toward it before the thing got pulled out to sea.
"Not my fault you're short." Dar bobbed up and down in the surf, not far offshore on the far side of the dock near the cabin. It was fairly shallow there, not like the deep draft they'd had dredged for the Dixie, and the surf was almost calm, perfect for playing Frisbee.
Well, almost perfect. Dar watched Kerry reach the disk and grab it, turning to swim back far enough for her to stand up and throw it back. Chino was racing along the shore barking, frustrated that her owners were somewhat beyond her reach.
"C'mon, Chi!" Kerry got to where she could stand up, and tossed the disk back to her partner. "Come swim."
"Gruff!" Chino bounded halfway in up to her chest, then bolted away as a wave came chasing after her.
"Goofy dog." Kerry shook the wet hair out of her eyes, then set herself as Dar threw the Frisbee back. It was a little high, but not nearly as much as last time and she made a grab for it, pulling it out of the air despite the drag of the water against her body as she moved. "Hah!"
Dar grinned. Kerry always approached the playful sports they engaged in with a healthy dose of competitiveness that at first had surprised her. Then, when she'd learned more about her partner, she'd come to realize that Kerry had been forced to fight for recognition at every turn in her life, whereas standing out had never been a problem for Dar.
It wasn't as though she wasn't competitive herself, in business of course she was. But in her personal life, she'd never really had to do what she often kidded Kerry about--fighting for kibble.