AllFreeNovel
Share Us
After replacing their shirts and shorts, Hope and Alex were still wet, so the group went to the pool bar, where the furniture was designed for wet guests. They settled around one of the tables, and Clark produced five champagne flutes and opened the bottle, filling each one halfway.
He passed them around to everyone before holding his glass up. “To Hope!”
Alex, seated next to her, turned with a smile. “To the best student I’ve had all week.”
Hope laughed as they all clinked glasses and drank while Gerold cut the cake and gave a piece to everyone. Alex’s knee had been pressed against hers under the table for quite some time, and she hadn’t moved away.
As she sat there, looking around at her new circle of family, tears sprang to Hope’s eyes. She may have left everything behind in Chicago, but right now she felt like she had gained even more.
CHAPTER 21
May . . .
Alex descended his stairs to the pier after showering. A week had passed since certifying Hope, and they had been busy. He’d led several afternoon dives and a night dive too. As he looked toward the palapa, he wasn’t surprised Tommy was kneeling on the deck of Deep Diver, the two large fiberglass panels lying on the pier while he worked on the boat.
Alex climbed aboard. “Let me guess. Bilge pump?”
Tommy sat up, wiping his hands on a rag. “Yeah.”
“I noticed she was running heavy this morning.”
“You could tell that?”
Alex leveled a stare at him. “I have been on this boat for a while now, you know.”
“So you say. I’m still scared to let you drive, though. You’d probably run her aground somewhere. I love this boat.”
Alex grinned. “Well, if you want a day off once in a while, you don’t have much choice, do you?”
“Don’t remind me.”
Alex approached the hole in the deck of the boat. “How’s the repair coming?”
“Gonna be a late day. After I finish this, I have to fix the plumbin’ in the Flame Tree bungalow. I swear that shower’s possessed.”
Tommy had originally started at Half Moon Bay as the resort electrician and handyman, but had been around boats his whole life. Steve had seen his potential and paid for Tommy to get his Coast Guard captain’s license before Alex arrived. He was still their first thought when anything in the resort needed fixing.
Alex sighed. “I still think we need to dry-dock this damn boat.”
“Nah, she’s fine. We do need a new bilge pump at some point, but I can keep it goin’ a while longer yet.”
“Steve didn’t want to listen to me, and the expense of a drydock is the last thing Hope needs right now. She’s got enough on her plate.” Alex ignored Tommy’s grin. Apparently, the whole resort staff noticed the time they were spending together. “Besides, we’re in the middle of the busy summer season. When it slows down later this fall, I’m going to make sure we get this boat out of the water and inspected with a fine-tooth comb. I already warned Hope.”
Tommy looked up at him, squinting in the sun. “Anybody ever tell you that you worry too much?”
Alex refused to smile at him. “There are some things I won’t compromise on. Safety is one.”
“Hey, man. I’m not gonna argue with you. If you want to make Hope pay a whole lot of change to dry-dock this boat, knock yourself out.”
Alex hunkered down next to him. “I can take over here. You go on and get to work on that bungalow.”
Tommy turned to him with a frown. “What if you screw it up? Then I’ll just have to fix it again, anyway.”
“God, you’re an asshole. Get out of here.”
Tommy laughed and clapped Alex on the shoulder as he stood. “Thanks, man. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Alex pulled his shirt off, enjoying the warm sun on his shoulders as he got to work on the bilge pump. He was reasonably sure they could nurse the boat along until October or November, but he was serious about getting her thoroughly inspected.
