Henry and Tom: Ocean Adventure Series Book 1: Rescue (Ocean Adventures Series)

by Michael Atkins

  “My ‘bullshit’?”

  “This notion you have that human beings can think every problem through like little rational robots. People don’t work that way, Syd.”

  “Is that so,” Sydney was pouting, a mood Tom knew all too well.

  “Syd, this hurts. I mean really hurts. Yes, I’ve known we were over for a year now, but actually signing the documents and finalizing everything… it’s painful.”

  Sydney looked at Tom. Her pouting was over. She could see that he was in pain. She reached over and touched his hand. Tom squeezed her hand affectionately. They both teared up.

  “Tom, what was I supposed to do? We are both such different people. You know that I never stopped loving you; it’s just that… What we had as a couple, it’s gone. I’ve never said that it was all your fault. I’m to blame too. We’ve talked about this so many -.”

  “Yes, I’m being ridiculous. Forgive me. I’m a grown man.”

  “Stop it. Now who’s dispensing bullshit. You’re a great person, Tom. You need to be with someone who is more like you – open, free, emotional, vibrant. Women are very interested in you. Maybe you should think about dating.”

  “I’m not interested in dating. I am interested in sailing.”

  “There’s something else we need to discuss,” Sydney said.

  “Okay.”

  “I’m seeing someone, Tom. It’s getting serious. You know him, Harold Frandsen.”

  “Your publisher?”

  “Harold and I became friends. A few months ago our relationship developed into something more.”

  “You’re going to marry him?”

  “We haven’t made that decision. But we are considering living together.”

  “Wow, that’s great news. I’m so happy for you.”

  “Sarcasm. That’s your response? Would you rather that I lied to you or just announced one day that Harold lives with me?”

  “No, Syd. As usual you handled things in the most appropriate way. I’ve got to go, really I do.”

  “About Hawaii…”

  “What about Hawaii?” Tom said as he stood.

  “Are you really considering taking a job there?”

  “Yes, I’d like to get back into a position with a marine institution. You know that I’ve not been happy with my career since I left Scripps.”

  “Jonas wants to move to Hawaii with you.”

  “I know.”

  “I won’t allow that, Tom.”

  “You don’t have a choice. Now that Jonas is fifteen, he chooses where he wants to live. That’s the law in California.”

  “And if I object?”

  “Then I guess you object, Syd. Jonas wants to live with me. He does not hate you, he loves you. Why not try and see this from his perspective?”

  Tom was ready to walk away, but he did not want just to cut off Sydney. He knew that she would not do that to him.

  “The sailing trip is out, Tom. I won’t bend on that. The thought of Jonas, or you for that matter, out there all alone on the ocean scares me to death.”

  “I get that, Syd. I will respect your wishes regarding the trip. Jonas cannot go with me, but you have to tell him that, not me.”

  “Fair enough,” Syd replied.

  “Call me in a few days. I hope your book signing goes well. Harold lives in Portland, right?”

  “Yes he does,” Syd said sheepishly.

  “Then I’m sure you’ll be well looked after.” Tom and Syd exchanged parting cheek kisses and Tom walked off. He was already late for his next appointment. It was an important meeting.

  He was tendering his resignation. It was time to move on.

  Chapter Eight

  “Just like that?” Luke Hansen said. Luke was the Vice President of Pioneer Associated Insurance, the largest health insurance firm in Northern California.

  “I’m giving you thirty days, Luke. Isn’t that the standard protocol?” Tom said. He was fingering the cup of coffee Luke’s secretary had given him, but he had yet to sample it.

  “Let’s discuss this. I know that the divorce has taken its toll on you. God knows we all want to start over from time to time and -.”

  “This is not about my very real mid-life crisis or about turning fifty, or about Sydney and I splitting up. I am done being the spokesman for a health care company. Don’t get me wrong, Pioneer is a great corporation. I’m proud to have worked here for a decade, but I’m done and that’s the plain and simple truth.”

  “You have a new job I suppose,” Luke asked as he fidgeted with his pencil, incessantly tapping the eraser end on his desk.

  “No, but I have a great prospect.”

  “Where may I ask?”

  “The Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology. Their longtime head of fundraising and media relations is retiring. I have a shot at the job, but of course it’s a highly sought after position.”

  “How much of a pay cut are we talking about?”

  “Well, this year you upped my salary to $400,000. The Hawaii position pays $175,000, tops.”

  “What’s your backup plan?” Luke asked.

  “I don’t have a backup plan. I’m going to sail to Hawaii and stay there. If I don’t get the job at the Institute I will work on a dive boat or sell T shirts or something.”

  “Seriously?” Luke asked.

  “Yes seriously. Syd made a ton of money over the past five years. We saved most of it and now I get half. I really don’t need to work at all, especially after the house gets sold. Living in the hills and driving a Benz are things in my past. My future is much simpler and far less expensive.”

  “You’ll be missed around here. You’re the best at what you do, Tom. Everyone thinks dealing with the media is an easy job until they try it; then they quickly learn how hard it is.”

  “Thanks, Luke. You’ve been a great boss. Promise that you’ll visit me in Hawaii. I’ll teach you how to scuba.”

  “Go underwater with all the fishes and the sharks? No thanks. I’m lucky to work up the courage to swim in the deep end of the pool.”

  “Do I need to sign anything else?” Tom asked.

  “No, we’re done with the paperwork. Still planning on crossing the Pacific solo?”

  “Just half of it,” Tom said.

  “You’re completely insane; you know that, don’t you?”

  ^^^^^^

  “That’s insane Dad, and so unfair. What if I say I’m going anyway? Are you going to kick me off the boat?” Jonas Campbell was angry. When he came home from school today, his mother told him that she was not allowing him to sail with his father to Hawaii.

  “Actually, your mother has a point. Sailing that far is dangerous. I think the risk is justified given the rewards, but your mother loves you and worries about you.”

  “She just doesn’t want me to live with you. That would make her look bad to all of her other shrink buddies.”

  “That’s not true, Jonas. As far living with me goes, once I’m set up you’re with me if that’s what you want.”

  “Really?”

  “Really,” Tom said.

  “What if mom says no?”

  “She does not have the final say on that one – you and I do.”

  “I want to sail with you. Can’t you just tell mom that I’m going and that’s that? Put your foot down.”

  “It’s not like that, Jonas. She has a right to object to something as adventurous as sailing to Hawaii. You know that your mother is scared to death of the water.”

  “She goes sailing with Harold,” Jessica Campbell said. So far Jess had stayed on the sidelines of the conversation, preferring to play with her i Pad and listen to music on her headphones.

  “I doubt that,” Tom said. “Your mother is allergic to sailboats.”

  “She doesn’t seem to be allergic to Harold’s boat. I think she likes it better than yours because it’s so much bigger.” Jess handed her father her i Pad. On the screen was a photo of Sydney wrapped in Harold’s arms standing on the deck of what had
to be a forty foot sailboat. Tom recognized the Oregon coast in the background.

  “She has no problem coming on board for a meal or to spend the day. But your mother becomes terrified as soon as the boat leaves the harbor,” Tom added.

  Jessica took her phone back from her dad and started to scroll through her text messages. She found the one she was looking for and handed the phone back to Tom.

  “Mom sent me this message by accident,” Jessica claimed.

  The text message read, “H, looking forward to sailing with you to Vancouver this summer. You have really helped me get over my fear of the water. Love always, Syd.”

  Tom took a deep breath. Looking at the picture and reading the text message didn’t just sting, it was devastating. For years he had begged Syd to go sailing with him. Supposedly she had tried phobia therapy and other potential cures to overcome her fear of the water, but with no success. Harold comes along and now she’s suddenly just fine with sailing on the open ocean?

  “I hate Harold, Dad. He’s a completely boring, obnoxious jerk,” Jessica announced.

  “He’s alright, but I don’t like him being around the house all the time,” Jonas added. “I don’t like his stupid habit of making us breakfast. Fake bacon is gross. So are egg white omelets. I can’t believe mom eats that crap.”

  Tom needed a minute. He excused himself and went to the restroom.

  Tom’s face was flushed. He was angry. Why? Because Sydney was with someone else? He knew that she was dating before her disclosure today. Sydney was a beautiful woman and although she was in her late forties, age had not done any damage to her looks.

  As their sex life diminished over the years, Tom wondered if Syd fooled around on him. He never found any evidence of it that’s for sure. Truth be told, despite her beauty and brains, Tom was just not attracted to Syd anymore. The spark, the flame that Tom was once certain would never go out between him and Sydney had slowly flickered out died.

  Tom’s brother told him that from a man’s perspective getting and being divorced is an emotionally complicated process. As Gabriel put it, “The band has stopped playing, but you can still hear the music.” While Syd was not his wife anymore, she would always in a very real sense be his wife. Ties so deep are not easily cut, if they ever truly are.

  Looking in the mirror in the men’s room Tom said silently to himself, I need to get out of here, out of California. I have to turn the page or I will go nuts. I need ocean therapy and lots of it.

  Tom’s kids were hurting. They were caught in the middle and no amount of money or counseling or expensive distractions could heal the wound created by their parents splitting. He took a few deep breaths, splashed more water on his face and went back to the table. Tonight was about Jonas and Jessica, not about him.

  As he walked back into the main dining hall Tom took notice, as he always did, of the Palace Hotel’s beautiful architecture. He and Syd had dinner here the first night they moved to San Francisco. Her parents were both alive back then and joined them for dinner. Jessica was barely two.

  Tom and Syd were still in love ten years ago. In retrospect, signs of their growing estrangement were evident. Neither of them wanted to see the negative; they wanted everything to be perfect between them. So they both whitewashed issues rather than compromise and resolve them – Tom’s unhappiness about having to leave San Diego and Sydney’s feeling that Tom was not enthusiastic or supportive enough of her budding career as a writer being chief.

  But Sydney wasn’t here now. She was at home with Harold or talking with Harold on the phone making plans to go sailing. Stop it Tom, he chastised himself. Get a grip. Be there for your kids.

  “Dad, the waitress wanted to know if you liked the wine. I took a taste and told her it was fine.” Jonas said with a sly grin.

  “Please tell me that’s your idea of a bad joke,” Tom said.

  “Lighten up! Jeez!” Jonas said.

  “As long as you pass all of your drug tests I’ll lighten up,” Tom said as he sat down and took a sip of his Chardonnay.

  “How long do I have to keep getting tested? I’ve been clean for four months. It’s not like I was an addict or something. It was just weed, Dad. It’s basically legal anyway.”

  “It’s legal if you’re over twenty one. You’re fifteen, remember? Drugs are not good for growing brains or for any brains for that matter,” Tom said.

  The food arrived. The kids loved going to dinner with their father because they could eat like kids eat when they were with him. Tom was not surprised when they ordered fried everything with maximum grease. They would be ordering dessert too, without a doubt.

  “Dad, I really need a new computer. My laptop just isn’t cutting it,” Jess said, in between bites of fried shrimp, her favorite food.

  “We just bought you a laptop six months ago. Has it stopped working?” Tom asked.

  “No, but its old now; a phone or laptop older than six months is outdated,” Jess argued.

  “Keep using it, honey. You can do what you need to do on it, no doubt,” Tom said.

  “Harold said that he would buy me a new one, so you don’t have to worry about it,” Jessica said as she slipped her headphones back on.

  Tom reached over and slid Jess’ headphones off. “Put those away. We’re talking, not listening to music.” Jess groused a bit, but then set her headphones down.

  “I think Harold and your mom might become a permanent thing. We all have to get used to the idea. I know this much, your mother would never bring anyone around you kids who was not a good person,” Tom said.

  “He’s a jerk,” Jessica whined. “I don’t care how much stuff he buys me; he’ll always be a jerk.”

  “Has he said something unkind to you? Or hurt you in some way?” Tom asked.

  “No, he’s sooo polite,” Jess said sarcastically, “but he thinks he can just step in and be you. I don’t like that, not at all. He’s not my dad, you are.”

  “I’ll always be your dad, honey. That will never change.”

  “But will you ever stand up to mom? She walks all over you. That affects me and Jess, you know that right?” Jonas said.

  “Jonas, your mother does not ‘walk all over me.’ That’s a rude thing to say about her and about me.”

  “Yes she does,” Jessica added. “If you would have stood up to her a few times I’ll bet you two would still be married.”

  “Alright, that’s enough,” Tom said. “Let’s change the subject.”

  “Okay. When do we leave for Hawaii?” Jonas said.

  “Harold has a dog. Mom says that when Harold comes to live with us the dog is coming too,” Jessica announced.

  “Eat,” Tom said. He didn’t have to be a psychologist to see that his kids were trying to bait him. They were in pain over all of this. They probably blamed themselves for the divorce, at least to some degree.

  They didn’t talk about Harold, Hawaii or the break-up for the rest of the meal. In fact, they didn’t talk about much. Jess slid her headphones back on and Jonas started playing Candy Crush on his Android.

  Tom ate and thought. While he felt guilty about his kids’ unhappiness and he was still reeling from the revelations about Syd, whenever he took a deep breath and looked around Tom wasn’t in the Palace, he was a thousand miles away in the Pacific, slowly making his way towards Hawaii.

  Chapter Nine

  “There he is,” Tom said as he opened his front door and Gabriel Campbell stepped inside. “It’s so good to see you.” Since Gabriel moved to Denver from San Diego three years ago to practice environmental law, Tom rarely saw his older brother and his only sibling.

  “Nice place you got here,” Gabriel said as he tossed his luggage on the floor. “Everything a bachelor needs except for the eighty inch plasma TV. Where’s that?”

  “I have a small TV in the bedroom. The kids have a big screen upstairs. I’m not much of a television watcher.”

  “That’s always been puzzling. You know how to stand and look and spe
ak for the camera, yet you aren’t interested in TV at all.”

  “A collection of paradoxes, that’s me.”

  “It runs in the family. Our friends call us quirky. I like to think that idiosyncrasies are endearing,” Gabriel said.

  “Are you still watching every Dodger game?”

  “Never miss one, especially now since they have more money than God and have purchased all the best players. You?”

  “Nah, not so much anymore,” Tom admitted. “Jonas is into longboarding and diving and sailing. It’s not like when we were kids. Baseball isn’t that important these days.”

  “Blasphemy. You can go to hell for saying things like that,” Gabriel joked.

  “I do have tickets for us this weekend. They cost a small fortune, but we have seats four rows behind the visitors’ dugout. We might have to reconsider wearing Dodger hats to the game though. The fans at AT&T don’t appreciate it.”

  “You got us tickets for all three games?” Gabriel asked hopefully.

  “All three,” Tom confirmed.

  “When was the last time we went to a Dodger game?” Gabriel asked.

  “Two years ago when I came to Denver. Coors Field. The Bums won 5 to 2,” Tom said.

  “Got a beer?” Gabriel asked.

  “One Henie coming up,” Tom said.

  Gabriel and Tom spent a half an hour catching up on kids, life and careers. They avoided discussing the eight hundred pound elephant in the room, Tom’s divorce, but after a while there was no more dodging the issue.

  “So, is it final?” Gabriel did not need to define what “it” was, Tom knew.

  “We signed the papers last week. The judge signs them tomorrow, I think. It’s all over.”

  “Talk to me. I know this cannot be an easy time for you,” Gabriel said as he popped the cap on another beer.

  “Syd has a new man in her life. It sounds serious.”

  “I know people in low places. Broken legs or something more severe?” Gabriel joked.

  “He is a good guy by all accounts. He’s been nothing but polite to me the couple of times I’ve spoken with him on the phone.”