Saltwater Cove

by Amelia Addler

Margie was not a flirt, but she liked to be nice to everyone she met. When men were nice back, though, it bothered Jeff. So Margie avoided talking to anyone that might probe Jeff’s insecurities.

  A smile tugged at the sides of her lips. Yes, Hank was definitely the kind of man that would annoy her ex-husband. Yet for years, she’d taken great strides to avoid being petty or bitter after the divorce, because she never wanted her kids to have a bad image of their father. She wasn’t going to start with bad thoughts now! She decided that she better stop giggling to herself about Hank’s muscles and instead focus on something productive.

  Morgan didn’t say anything else about Hank, and they went their respective ways for the evening. The next day, Margie was busy running errands. Jade planned to stay for the weekend again; she volunteered to set up a website for Saltwater Cove. Morgan volunteered to take some pictures – apparently, she had a nice camera and a passion for photography. It all seemed like it was coming together in a wonderful way.

  The week flew by and Jade arrived early on Friday morning.

  “This job of yours is so flexible!” said Margie when she picked her up at the ferry terminal. “It’s great!”

  “I know. It makes me nervous they like me so much.”

  “Oh Jade, when will you realize that you really are as wonderful as we all think you are?”

  Jade smiled but said nothing.

  Margie decided to drop it. She was glad that she could see Jade more often now and that she could balance out Brandon’s constant nagging and nitpicking.

  When they got back to the house, Jade got to work right away on building the website, and Margie worked with Morgan to set up the barn to make it look like a wedding was about to occur.

  “I think weddings are going to be your big moneymaker,” commented Morgan. “But I’m sure that you can do graduation parties, birthday parties, retirement parties…”

  “That’s a lot of partying,” said Margie with a laugh.

  “If it’s for a wedding though, you can charge double for everything. They won’t notice.”

  “I would never do that! I just want to make a living, I don’t need to make a fortune.”

  “Suit yourself!”

  They set up the tables, chairs, table cloths, and even some simple centerpieces; they wanted to get a few pictures of the barn looking its best. They had to entirely avoid the bathroom area, though, because the contractor that Margie hired didn’t stop by that week at all like he promised he would. Margie called him a few times and he didn’t answer. She didn’t want to get worried without reason, but it didn’t seem like a good sign.

  Morgan had the idea to string up some bistro lights to give a soft, romantic look. It took both of them over an hour, climbing up ladders and sweating, to get the lights into place.

  “That was a lot harder than I expected,” said Morgan.

  Margie nodded. “Me too. But it does look incredible.”

  “Have you figured out the catering yet?”

  “Well, nothing is finalized, but I’ve talked to the owners of three different restaurants on the island, and all of them were interested in putting together catering menus and prices.”

  “That’s amazing!”

  Margie bent over and plugged in the end of the string of bistro lights. Luckily, they all lit up. “Thank you. What was amazing is that they let me try some of their dishes, and everything was wonderful. And doesn’t that just look lovely?”

  “I really out did myself,” said Morgan with a laugh.

  “How about we go inside and have a drink before we do the rest of this?” said Margie.

  “That’s a good idea.”

  They went back into the house and Margie was excited to see Jade’s progress. To her surprise, Jade was in the kitchen chatting with Chief Hank.

  “Oh! Hank! It’s nice to see you.”

  “It’s nice to see you too Margie. And you, Morgan.”

  “What’s up?”

  He was wearing a t-shirt again. He didn’t have the chainsaw with him, but he still managed to look big and strong.

  “Not too much, I wanted to stop by and see how things were going. I have the weekend off and…well, I have a boat.”

  Margie nodded slowly. “That’s nice.”

  He laughed and kept talking. “Well, what I mean is, I was planning on taking the boat out tomorrow. Normally, Mike would go out with me, but seeing that you ran him out of town and stole his house, I was thinking that maybe – you’d want to go out with me?”

  Chapter 11

  Jade felt her eyes bulge and had to remind herself to look natural. Was Chief Hank asking her mom out on a date?

  “Me? Go out with you?” her mom said.

  “Yeah, on the boat. Have you had a chance to go on the water at all – other than the ferry?”

  “No, I can’t say that I have.”

  Morgan chimed in. “Oh, do you think that you’ll see killer whales? Or do you call them orcas?”

  “You can call them whatever you like,” said Hank. “It’s a little early in the season to see the resident orcas. But you never know when you might see the transients.”

  “What’s the difference?” Morgan leaned onto the kitchen bar, resting her chin on her hand.

  “The resident orcas are the ones that only eat salmon. They tend to follow the salmon, and often they’re only here during the summer time. They’re the group at risk of extinction.”

  “Is that because of all the boats or something?” asked Jade.

  Hank shook his head. “There are a lot of theories, of course. But the biggest thing that we’ve seen is that some of the whales are starving. One of the main rivers for the salmon has a bunch of dams on it, which causes problems for the salmon spawning, and then you have the problem of overfishing, and the end result is that the whales don’t have any salmon to eat. And they starve to death.”

  Her mom gasped. “That’s awful! I had no idea it was so bad.”

  “Every year we have little victories where we’re able to do something good for the whales. If we’re lucky, the residents should come back in July or so.”

  “What about the other ones?” asked Morgan.

  “The transient orcas only eat mammals. Porpoises, seals, sea lions. There’s plenty for them to eat. But they come and go much more randomly. You never know when you’re going to see them.”

  “So you have seen them before? Out on your boat?” asked her mom.

  “Oh yeah! All the time. It’s really amazing.”

  Morgan sat up, a wide smile on her face. “Sounds like a lovely time.”

  Jade’s eyes darted between the three of them. Was she missing something? Was Hank over here all the time hitting on her mom or something? That didn’t seem very…professional of him!

  “Oh I don’t know, there is so much to do around here.”

  Morgan waved a hand. “I’ll be here all day and I can work on whatever you need. You should go! And Chief Hank, you have to promise to take me out on the boat sometime. Maybe when the whales are here.”

  “You got it kid.”

  Jade looked at her mom. Her cheeks were flushed – something that the other two may not notice, but she knew that response quite well. Did her mom like this guy? It made sense – sort of. They were around the same age, and it seemed like he was nice to her. It just seemed so odd. Her mom never dated after the divorce, she never even mentioned it. Jade assumed that she didn’t want to meet anyone else.

  Maybe she was wrong. Her dad already had a few girlfriends since the divorce. Jade used to hope that they would get back together, but that seemed unlikely. Maybe her mom wanted to have a boyfriend. Maybe she was lonely.

  The thought made her sad. Why shouldn’t her mom get to go on a boat date?

  “Yeah mom,” Jade added. “You should definitely go.”

  Their eyes met and Jade smiled.

  “It does sound like a very nice time,” her mom said slowly. “I can pack a picnic!”

  “That would be gr
eat.”

  Jade watched Hank carefully. It seemed like he had actually been holding his breath until her mom agreed to go with him. That was kind of sweet.

  He had better be a nice guy, or Jade would…she didn’t know what she would do, but it would be bad. Her mom deserved the best.

  “So Morgan,” Jade said, “let me show you how I have the website set up so far.”

  “Oh, good idea.”

  Jade had to force herself not to burst into laughter at that moment; Morgan was a bit heavy handed, plus she was giving her a funny look. Luckily, they managed to leave the room before doing anything obvious, a smile pulling on Jade’s lips.

  Chapter 12

  It’d been years – years – since Margie went out on a date. Jeff wasn’t a romantic guy, but whenever he threw a party for the business or needed to host a client, he would take her out to a really nice dinner or even a show. Margie tried to think of the last time they’d gone out like that, but she sincerely couldn’t remember.

  Even still, this was different. This wasn’t really going out on a date. Hank just wanted her to see the water – to see his boat, apparently. She did find it odd that he hadn’t invited Jade or Morgan on the boat as well.

  What if they wanted to come and see the whales? When she brought it up to them after he left, they were both adamant that they had no interest in going.

  “I have a lot to do before I catch the ferry tomorrow,” said Jade.

  “And I need to edit all of these photos to get them ready for the website,” said Morgan. “There’s absolutely no way that either of us could go boating tomorrow. But you should! You need to have some fun every once in a while.”

  “Yeah Mom. The weather is supposed to be great. You’ll have fun,” added Jade.

  Margie did feel better that Jade didn’t seem against the whole idea. She wouldn’t want Jade to feel strange about her spending time with a man other than her father. Yes, they were divorced, but she knew how uncomfortable it made her kids – especially the girls – whenever Jeff brought around one of his girlfriends.

  Margie didn’t want to do that to them. She was perfectly content with her life as it was. Her children were her focus, and she was just now getting a chance to bring them all together again. She wouldn’t risk it on a romance with some guy, no matter how good he looked in his sheriff’s uniform.

  Or chopping wood.

  Okay, no need to keep bringing up that image!

  Also, no one made a comment that it was actually a date, so Margie felt okay going. Hank was, for the time being, her only friend on the island. Soon, Morgan would have to go back home and Margie would have no one to hang out with.

  Well, she had Jade of course, and so far she’d been lucky in spending a lot of time with her, but that couldn’t last forever. Brandon was sure to be annoyed that Jade spent so much time on the island. Margie hoped that eventually she’d get to know some other people on the island; surely there was a book club or quilting club that she could join. Once her business was off the ground, she would investigate that further. For now, she was happy to have Hank as her friend.

  As promised, she packed a nice picnic for the trip. She didn’t have a picnic basket, but she decided that an insulated bag that she usually used for grocery shopping would do. It wasn’t cute, but it did the job. She packed sandwiches with ice packs, freshly cut fruit, some fancy cheese, and cherry tomatoes. She put some soda in there too, but she didn’t know what Hank even liked. For good measure, she baked a batch of brownies as well.

  He told her that he would pick her up at eleven on Sunday morning, and true to his word, he arrived promptly at eleven o’clock. Margie took one last look at herself in the mirror before she went to meet him – she’d decided to wear a pair of olive khakis with her bright yellow rain jacket. She also had a pair of boat shoes that she hadn’t worn in ages, and it felt like the perfect occasion to bring them out again. She leaned forward and made sure that she didn’t have anything stuck in her teeth before heading out the door.

  “Good morning!” said Hank as he got out of his truck.

  “Hi! I hope you’re ready for a big picnic.”

  “Always,” he said as he ran around the side of his truck to open the door for her.

  Margie rushed over, hoping that neither Jade nor Morgan were watching from the house. She decided not to look at the windows to check.

  She settled into her seat and Hank rolled down the driveway.

  “This is a nice truck,” she commented.

  “Thanks.”

  They kept driving. Margie didn’t know what else to say, but she hated feeling awkward.

  “Do we need to go and pick up the boat?”

  Hank shook his head. “No, I keep it docked year round. The dock is actually not too far from here.”

  “Oh. That’s nice.”

  They rode the rest of the way in silence. Why was he being so quiet? Why was she being so quiet? Maybe this really was a date. Maybe she shouldn’t have worn this outfit…she even brought a goofy hat to block the sun. It wasn’t a very date-like item to bring.

  They reached the dock and Hank parked the truck. Margie could see several boats bobbing peacefully in the water, glistening in the sun.

  “Which one is yours?”

  “The red one.” He extended an arm to point it out.

  As they approached it, Margie squinted to see the name on the back. “The Cori Express?”

  “Yeah,” Hank said, rubbing the back of his head. “It was kind of a joke. For my wife – Corinne. When I got the boat, I convinced her that I could use it to shuttle her between the islands whenever she wanted.”

  Oh. He had a wife. So this most certainly wasn’t a date. Margie was surprised that she felt bothered by this. “That was nice of you.”

  He laughed. “She didn’t think it was funny. But it ended up being helpful when she was sick. We had to go to the mainland for a lot of her doctor’s appointments and treatments, and sometimes the ferry schedule just didn’t work for her.”

  “Oh,” replied Margie, her voice falling. “May I ask what she was sick with?”

  “Cancer. It was, ah, kidney cancer. It spread before we even knew it was there. She passed away almost two years ago.”

  “I’m so sorry. Do you have any other family on the island?”

  Hank hopped onto the boat and extended a hand to help Margie. She accepted.

  “No, unfortunately not,” he said with a chuckle. “My kids fled to the opposite ends of the world after my wife died.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well my oldest, my son Jacob, he moved to Australia.”

  “Oh my! How exciting.”

  “Yeah, he loves it. I’ve been to visit twice, it’s an amazing country. And my daughter Amanda – she moved to London. She works in marketing, and when her company gave her the option to go, she took it.”

  Without thinking, Margie commented, “It must be very lonely.” She paused, realizing her mistake, and said, “I mean –”

  Hank laughed. “No, it’s okay. It is. I know it’s hard for the kids to come back here, but I miss them. Yet somehow, I just can’t bring myself to leave.”

  “Well I think it’s wonderful that you have a place for them to call home – even if they’re not quite ready to come back yet.”

  “I never thought of it that way,” said Hank as he untied the boat. “You can put a positive spin on anything, can’t you?”

  Margie laughed. “I try. That’s what I’m trying to do for my kids now. I just want to have a place that we can all be together and be happy.”

  “I think you’ve achieved that. Are they coming for Christmas?”

  “Well hopefully sooner. My ex-husband’s girlfriend suggested that we throw him a surprise birthday party here in a few weeks. At the barn, I mean. That’s why I’m in such a rush to get everything done. And as of right now, I think that all of the kids can make it.”

  “That’s great. My daughter is coming to visit next
week actually. It’s the – well, it’s the two-year anniversary of my wife passing away. But we try not to focus on that date. She’s really coming to celebrate her mom’s birthday.”

  “That’s nice that she can make it here.”

  “It is. My son can’t, but we’re going to video call him. I’ll visit him soon. Sorry to talk so much about my depressing life,” he said rubbing his face. “I’m just not used to talking to anyone really.”

  Margie smiled. “You don’t have to apologize to me. And your life isn’t depressing. It’s…very normal, actually.”

  He smiled and started the boat. Margie took a seat. It was too bad that he felt that way – she really didn’t mind hearing about his past, even if it was sad. It was actually quite nice to get to know him. So far, it seemed like she was the only one sharing information – bits and pieces of her life that made her seem a little crazy. It was nice to know that he was human too. Plus, the more she knew about him, the more relaxed she felt, and of course, the more she liked him.

  He took the boat south, down the west side of the island. They rode past the Lime Kiln Lighthouse, and he stopped his boat there for a while.

  “Later in the summer, the resident killer whales will swim up and down this side of the island, just hunting salmon. You can stand at the lighthouse and watch them. It’s just incredible.”

  “Do you think that we’ll see any today?”

  Hank frowned. “I don’t know. I haven’t heard of any sightings unfortunately.”

  “Then we’ll just have to come out again,” said Margie.

  He smiled broadly. “Good, so I must not have bored you too much if you’re willing to come out again.”

  “Of course not! This is great.”

  They continued around the south tip of the island all the way to Cattle Point. He peppered in some interesting history about the islands. They were extremely lucky in their non-whale wildlife watching. Past Cattle Point, they came upon what looked like a huge flock of bald eagles. There had to be at least ten or twelve of them just spreading their wings over the bluffs, letting the sea breeze keep them afloat. Margie tried to take a picture with her cell phone, but they were too far away.