Summer on Main Street

by Crista McHugh

  “How’s Joy?”

  “She’s good.” She shifted on the barstool, happy to discuss her favorite subject. “Fourth grade math is kind of kicking her butt, but thankfully Brandon is good at it and can help her. They do a lot of writing in fourth grade, and that she likes.”

  “Can’t believe she’s in fourth grade. Before you know it, she’ll be a teenager.”

  That was not her favorite subject. “I have plenty of time for her to be a little girl.”

  “You should bring her down to the docks. I’ll take y’all out for a ride on the boat.”

  She couldn’t remember the last time she’d enjoyed the benefits of living on the coast. “I’ll have to check my schedule to see when I’m off, and she doesn’t have anything going on. When do you work?”

  “I go out on weekends, mostly, but I’m down there most days, doing something or another.”

  That was Blue, always doing something or another. During the summer, he ran a rental booth on the beach with his friend Logan, renting beach chairs and canopies to beach-goers. Occasionally, he gave surfing lessons, and sometimes he drove a tow truck, usually catering to tourists who got their little cars stuck in the sand. Now and again, he filled in as bartender. No focus, no responsibility. She didn’t understand it, the lack of drive, when she was working as a maid, going to college online and singing here. And she thought of herself as a late bloomer. When Blue had returned to Avalon Island after college, she’d figured he just wasn’t ready to grow up, but now, nearly seven years later, he hadn’t changed.

  At all.

  Brioney couldn’t understand that.

  “Come down tomorrow. When was the last time you were out on the water?”

  “Won’t you have a full boat on a Saturday?”

  “Maybe, maybe not. You know what you’re doing, though, so you don’t need me to hold your hand. It’d be good for you to get out on the water.”

  Why did he think that? He couldn’t know how stressed she was. He didn’t know the meaning of the word.

  She saw another person drop her notebook back to the stage, and she nodded in that direction. “I need to get back up there.”

  He smiled. “Yeah, you do. Come down tomorrow,” he urged again, and she wondered if she should.

  *****

  Joy was asleep when Brioney got home, but Brandon was awake, playing a violent video game she didn’t allow him to play when Joy was awake. She greeted him with a kiss on the cheek, no longer noticing the ink-black hair, the black painted fingernails. Her brother had been a cute kid before he’d gone full-on gamer. But if this was what made him happy, if that kept him going, she wasn’t going to fight him.

  “How was she?”

  “Good, as usual.” He paused the game and sat back, but didn’t take his gaze from the screen. They held most of their conversations like this.

  She set her guitar on the floor on the far side of the kitchen table. She’d eaten a little at the restaurant but she wanted something sweet, and wondered if Joy and Brandon had found her secret stash of Milanos. “What are you doing tomorrow?”

  He gestured with his controller at the big-screen television. “Same thing I’m doing now.”

  “Blue invited us out on the boat.”

  “Ah. No.”

  “Seems a shame for us to live so close to the water and never take advantage of it, when so many people spend so much money to do the things we take for granted.”

  “Yeah. I’m sticking with no.”

  “I feel bad leaving you behind.”

  “Nah, it’d be nice to have the house to myself.”

  He’d definitely find her Milano stash then. “And what will you do if you have the house to yourself?” Even as the words left her mouth, she regretted them, especially when he paused the game and turned to give her a look over his shoulder.

  “Okay, well, I’m going to bed so I can get out there early.” Giving up her desire for cookies at the risk of giving away the hiding place, she kissed the top of his head and walked toward her bedroom.

  *****

  Brioney shifted her weight to balance the backpack over her shoulder as she followed Joy out on the dock. How did the kid have so much energy this early? She’d been up over an hour already and helped make their special Saturdays-off breakfast of pancakes and sausage.

  She made a beeline for Blue’s boat Blue Skies, where he stepped out and caught her in his arms, swinging her up. She squealed with laughter, like a little kid, before he deposited her on deck and turned to smile at Brioney, white teeth flashing, blue eyes crinkling.

  She came to a stumbling stop as her stomach dropped to her toes. Where had that reaction come from? She’d known Blue since she was a kid. Her sister was only a year older than her, so the three of them and Mercedes, her best friend, had done a lot together. Okay, maybe more than once she’d admired the look of him, like when he’d been shirtless on the beach or by the pool. But she loved her sister too much to do more than that. But today, the ratty flip-flops, ragged cargo shorts, and the faded-to-colorless T-shirt didn’t matter, only that smile and the way he was looking at her.

  His smile dimmed and he stepped forward. “You okay?”

  How long had she been standing there, gawking like an idiot? “I’m fine. I’m good.”

  He took the backpack and staggered, exaggerated, under the weight. “What do you have in there?”

  “Water, sunscreen, a change of clothes, a jacket for each of us.” All the things a mother needed to think about.

  “I have water and sunscreen, and extra jackets on the boat.”

  “Well, I didn’t know that.”

  “Because you haven’t been out in so long. Come aboard.”

  “Do you have a lot of clients today?” she asked, ignoring his proffered hand because honestly, she just wasn’t sure what touching him would do to her brain right now. She pulled the backpack away from him.

  “Two older couples. Should be here any minute. You ladies get settled in.” He hopped on the deck beside her and tugged on Joy’s braid, much like he’d done with Brioney’s hair back in the day. “Good to see you, kid. Give me a hand making ready, and tell me what you’ve been up to.”

  She watched her daughter tag along after him, and stowed their bag under the seats that lined the boat. Blue was good with Joy. She’d forgotten about that, how he’d been around her whole life and seemed to feel invested, like an honorary uncle. And it was good for Joy to learn about boats and fishing and things Brioney didn’t have time to teach her. She dropped to her seat and leaned her head back, closing her eyes against the sun reflecting off the water. She knew she should put on her sunscreen, and she would in a minute, but for now she wanted to just savor the warmth.

  “Hello?” A gruff voice brought her out of her reverie, and she opened her eyes to see Blue’s clients standing on the dock. She stood quickly to welcome them, and Blue joined her to offer his own greeting.

  The man with the gray beard stepped onto the deck before helping down a blonde woman. Then a tall, slender man with military bearing followed, and his wife, a brunette, was on her own.

  Brioney watched as Blue settled them in, showed them where to store their belongings, where the cooler was so they could help themselves to refreshments. He was good at this, good with people, making everyone comfortable before he beckoned Joy to come to the bridge with him. He motioned for Brioney to cast them off from the dock, then they were on their way out of the channel, heading toward the bay. She leaned her head back again, letting the breeze wash over her, and watched a flock of pelicans soar overhead. They were her favorite, so primitive-looking. One broke away and dove toward the wake of the boat, startling an exclamation from one of the women as the pelican swooped beneath the surface, then emerged victorious, a large fish flapping in its beak.

  “I wish I was that lucky,” one of the men, who’d introduced himself as John, said.

  “If you had that laser surgery like I told you to, you might be,” his wife M
arie countered.

  He scowled at her.

  “How long have you been married?” Brioney asked, and wondered what compelled her curiosity. Lord knew she saw enough people at the hotel and didn’t want to know their stories, beyond what they left behind in their rooms.

  “Twenty-eight years,” Marie said. “Long enough that I hear that every time we come on vacation.”

  “Are you from Texas?” Brioney asked.

  “North Dakota,” John responded. “We live there half a year, and here half a year. Tired of shoveling all that damn snow.”

  “I can see that.” But she couldn’t help a wistful sigh. “I’ve never even seen snow.”

  “Have you lived here all your life?”

  “Yes, and I couldn’t ask for a better place to grow up, but we don’t have much in the way of seasons, unless you count hurricane season.”

  “Now that would be terrifying,” the other woman, Sharon, said. “Risking losing everything by living here? I couldn’t do that.”

  “We’ve been lucky, nothing major in my lifetime. We’ve evacuated a couple of times, when I was a kid, but at the last minute the hurricanes took a turn toward the north and we were spared.”

  “That is fortunate.” Sharon looked toward the bridge. “Your husband is good with your daughter.”

  The words took a minute to penetrate, then a flush heated her face. “Oh, Blue? No, he’s not my husband. He’s just a friend. He just wanted to do something nice for us today.”

  “Oh, I wondered. You have such a good rapport, I was sure you were married.”

  “We’ve just known each other forever.”

  “What is it you do?”

  “I’m a maid at the Avalon Island Hotel.” She had worked there since she was in high school and was used to the pitying looks she got. Sometimes she was compelled to let people know she was studying for a business degree, but not today. Let them judge.

  “I guess you meet a lot of people when you work in the tourism industry,” Marie said. “Even people from other countries?”

  Brioney took the opportunity to tell them about the British couple she’d met this past summer, who claimed to have minor roles in Downton Abbey, only to be interrupted when Joy bounded down the stairs and skidded to a stop in front of her.

  “Blue told me to remind you to put our sunscreen on.”

  “Right. Get the bag.”

  As she applied lotion to her daughter, Blue guided the boat out on the open water.

  “Blue said we might see dolphins today. Are we going to fish?”

  “Maybe. It’s up to Blue.”

  “You like to fish?” the other man, William, asked, surprised.

  “Yes, my uncle taught me, but I don’t like to clean them.”

  “If you catch them, you have to clean them. That’s the rule.”

  “I know. My uncle taught me that, too, but I still don’t like to do it.” She wrinkled her nose. “Sometimes I just throw them back so I don’t have to clean them, but sometimes I like to eat them. My mom cooks them really good. Are you going fishing?”

  “We certainly hope to. The advertisement said your friend knows the best spots.”

  “He should, he’s been doing this since he was Joy’s age,” Brioney said with a smile.

  When Blue brought the boat around and anchored it, Brioney sat back and watched him settle his clients, then Joy, with fishing poles.

  “Are you sure you’re just friends?” Marie leaned over to ask. “You haven’t stopped looking at him since he came down from the pilot house.”

  Brioney willed herself not to blush, the new feelings rushing forward again. “You have to admit, he’s nice to look at.” But maybe the older women didn’t think so, not with his collar-length hair blowing in the breeze, the sun-bleached hair of his beard glistening on his jaw, the loose T-shirt plastered against his body by the wind.

  “Oh, he is definitely that,” Sharon said.

  Blue turned his head to flash a smile at them. “Any of you ladies game?”

  Brioney shook her head. “I’m just going to sit here and do nothing for a change.” She’d thought about bringing one of her textbooks, and probably should be studying for midterms, but she needed a brain break, a day off. She wished she’d brought a novel, or even a magazine.

  “Okay, well, if any of you need me, I’ll be in the water. I need to check out one of the props.” He stripped off his shirt even as he crossed to the opposite side of the boat, and dove in before anyone could say anything.

  “Oh, my!” Marie said, leaning over to watch where he’d disappeared. “Is that safe?”

  “Blue is part fish,” Brioney assured her, though the glimpse of muscles she’d just seen had her throat knotting.

  Just then, he bobbed back to the surface, whipping his hair out of his face. “The water’s just fine, ladies!”

  “How deep is it there?” Sharon wanted to know.

  “Forty feet?” Brioney surmised.

  “Are there sharks?”

  “Probably a few. I’ve seen hammerheads and tigers off of the pier. But Blue does this all the time.” Which was why he looked like that. “He’s a surfer, so he’s in the water more than he’s out of it.”

  The three women watched him dive and surface repeatedly, until William made a sound like he’d caught something. Blue heard, too, and pulled himself back onto the boat, the muscles in his lean arms rippling, the wet hair of his chest glinting in the sun. He crossed the boat to support the man reeling in his fish, but William was clearly experienced and didn’t need Blue’s help. At Blue’s quiet suggestion, Joy put her own rod in the holder and moved aside, out of the way. She came to stand by Brioney as the older man started to struggle with his catch.

  “What do you think he got?” Brioney asked aloud, but no one answered as Blue stepped forward then, his mouth grim as he lent a hand.

  And then the animal broke the surface, thrashing against the line.

  “Shark!” Blue barked, then looked over his shoulder at the women as he pulled a knife from his pocket and switched it open. “You see it?”

  Brioney saw it, all gray anger and triangular teeth, an animal that had been in the very water Blue had been in. She nodded and tightened her hands on Joy’s shoulders when she would move closer. Blue dropped his gaze to Joy, motioned her closer.

  “Are you crazy?” Brioney demanded.

  “I’m going to cut it loose, but I want to make sure she gets a good look. I won’t let anything happen to her.”

  Because she knew that to be true, she released her grip on her daughter, who immediately slipped away to Blue, her focus on the pissed animal. Blue looked from her to the fisherman, who nodded, and with a quick motion cut the line. The shark dropped back into the water, which calmed almost instantly, except for the fin moving back and forth, agitated, before disappearing.

  Blue and William dropped into their chairs at almost the same moment, while Joy leaned over the side of the boat, scanning the water for the fish. Brioney resisted the urge to pull her daughter against her, to take her below, away from danger.

  “I know what I want to do now,” Joy declared, turning to face Blue when she didn’t see the creature any longer.

  “What’s that?” Blue asked.

  “I want to study fish.”

  “That’s a lot of science,” Marie said. “Do you like science?”

  “She likes everything,” Brioney said.

  “I guess this is the place to figure out if you want to do that,” John said. “Do you scuba dive?” he asked Blue.

  “Nah, I don’t. Her uncle does, though. Maybe when he comes home, he can teach you,” he said to Joy.

  “So she can get in the water with sharks?” Brioney demanded, still a little breathless. “Um, no.”

  “She won’t start out in the water with sharks,” Blue pointed out.

  But also scuba diving was expensive. Brioney couldn’t swing lessons on her budget. Maybe by the time Fitz got home from the army, she
would have new interests. She felt bad even thinking that, because part of the reason she sang at The Wharf on Friday nights was to show Joy she should follow her dreams. She wanted her daughter to follow whatever path excited her.

  Except getting in the water with sharks.

  Once the excitement settled down, Blue started up the engines and they moved away from the shark’s territory before dropping their lines in the water again.

  “You were in the water with that animal,” Brioney said quietly to Blue, joining him in the pilot house.

  He reached past her to adjust a lever, not meeting her gaze. “He wasn’t all that big. I wasn’t in danger.”

  “You don’t know that.”

  “I kind of do.” He turned to her and stroked a strand of her hair back from her face. “You worry about me?”

  She stepped back, breaking contact, and dropped her gaze. “You’ve been good to us. I’d be sad if something happened to you.”

  “I’m your friend, Brioney.”

  The rumble of his voice, kept low, sent shivers down her spine. She couldn’t meet his gaze, didn’t have enough confidence in her emotions to face him.

  “I don’t know why, after the way Jessamy treated you.”

  His mouth straightened into a grim line. “I won’t say it didn’t hurt, but it was a long time ago. She wouldn’t have been happy here, and I wouldn’t have been happy there, so it is probably for the best.”

  He guided the boat through the waters, the rumble of the engine and the flow of the water mesmerizing. So she was caught off-guard when he spoke.

  “I’m meeting my parents for dinner tonight, but do you want to go get something to eat tomorrow night? You and me and Joy?”

  “I can’t,” she said automatically.

  “Why not?”

  She couldn’t think of a reason. “Brandon. I have to make sure he eats.”

  “He can come, too.”

  “I can’t.”

  “You came today.”

  “I…Blue, I don’t date.”

  He rested a hip on the console and folded his arms over his chest. “I didn’t ask you on a date. I asked you and your daughter to have dinner with me. If I wanted a date, I wouldn’t have invited your daughter and your brother.”