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“Let me see your phone again,” Cam says, and I hand it to him.
He checks the weather, zooming in and out on the screen before he looks at me. I know the minute he does what he’s going to say. “We gotta go.”
He’s not asking my permission or even making it a suggestion. It’s an order, which makes me grind my teeth. He walks to the back by the guys and tells them all to pack up because a storm is going to hit right over us and he can’t tell how bad it might get.
As experienced as they are, they don’t question him but pull their poles out of the water and put everything away.
“I’m sorry, guys,” I say.
“That’s the thing about fishing. Weather’s always an issue.” The one guy smiles.
I lift the anchor as they finish getting everything together and the rain comes down harder.
What a way to end the last charter of my season. I’m so annoyed.
I hear Rowdy calling me over the sound of the rain on the water. “Chevelle. Over.”
“Go ahead, Rowdy. It’s Cam. Over.” He snatches the radio from my hand as I scowl at him.
The men are putting on rain jackets, that’s how prepared they are.
“Cam. The storm turned direction at the last minute. You either find a place to hunker down or get back. Over.”
“We’re coming back. Over.” Cam’s gaze darts to me.
“Then hurry. Over.”
Cam puts the radio back and tries to take the wheel.
“Excuse me.” I stay where I am.
“Chevelle.” He eyes me.
The guys are staring at us, probably wondering why we’re having a standoff in the middle of a rainstorm.
“I’m the one in charge. You’re the employee. Remember?”
He sighs but lifts his hands. “Fine.”
While he sits behind me, I maneuver us toward the marina. Rain pelts down on us as the sky grows darker. My lights barely make our route visible with the sheets of rain coming down. Water coats the windshield in front of me and I instinctively squint, as if that will help me see better. We’re close to the marina. I see the lights, but a boom of thunder hits, so loud I’d think it was right next to us.
“Everyone okay?” I shout and take a quick look behind me.
They all nod.
I let up on the speed a bit to see where I’m going. The last thing I want is to crash into the dock.
Cam comes up behind me. “Don’t slow down, keep going. You slow and—”
The boat tips over a big wave, but I adjust our position and recover.
He stands beside me. “It’s gonna be tricky coming into the marina against the wind until we’ve passed the breakers.”
“I know. I've been doing this longer than you.” Which isn’t necessarily true. Cam has probably been on the water most of his life. And the truth is, I’ve never been in weather this bad.
“You need to accelerate, Chevelle. The boat will never—”
We tip again, and I correct us.
