Page 17 of Made For You
“Bad news is that one guy told him he got something stolen off his boat five years ago.” I roll my lips. “The guy went on and on about it for fifteen minutes. Ask me what they stole.” I just shake my head. “A mop.”
“You’re kidding,” I say, looking at my father who puts his hands on his hips.
“No.” My father shakes his head. “If they are going to steal a mop from his boat, can you imagine what they will do with you?” he asks, and Chase next to me tries to keep from laughing. “They can sex traffic you, and then where would we be?”
“Sex traffic?” Franny says. “Dad, she’s in her thirties and not a virgin, who is going to pay for that?” She then looks at me. “No offense.”
“None taken. I agree I could maybe be sold for a goat or even a sheep depending on where they are sending me.”
“You are definitely not going to no sheik,” Franny huffs. “Now, as much fun as this was, I have to get home to my baby.” She looks over at Erika and Cooper, who nod at her. “But we will come back next week with the baby.”
“We should buy a boat,” Erika pipes up. “We can be sister boats.”
“Why is it that your family,” Julia says, standing up, “talks about buying boats, cars, and houses like it’s going to the store to pick up salt?”
“I’ve come to the point when we don’t question anything,” I say, getting up. “Let me walk you out.”
“Is that to make sure we leave?” Chase laughs at me as he walks up the steps to the bridge. “How many times do you think we’ll be stopped for pictures?”
“Can you not do that here?” I say. “This is where I live, and the last thing I need is people to point and be like, ‘you know who she is?’”
“No one is going to point at you,” my father assures me, “and if they do, it will be like, ‘don’t touch that girl because her father is going to cut your balls off and use them as bait.’”
“Look at you being clever with the boat talk,” my mother says, kissing his lips.
“Come on, I have to return you to Max in one piece,” Julia prods. “He gets cranky when he’s without you for too long.”
“Guy can’t live without me,” my father jokes.
“You literally called him ten times on our walk,” Chase cuts in, getting off the boat and holding his hand out for Julia.
“That’s because I forgot that I called,” my father says as he gets off the boat. We walk down the dock to the front gate, people definitely staring at the nine of us. “Well, the good news is I get the boat inspected tomorrow, and then it’s all ours.”
“I can’t wait,” I reply sarcastically as we walk up the ramp. Cooper presses the button, and I’m about to walk out when my father stops me.
“You stay here so you're safe.” Everyone laughs at him. “Give me a hug.” I hug him, and he kisses my head. “Love you, baby girl.”
“Leave her alone.” My mother pushes him. “Call us if you need something.”
“Do you have the Ring cam on your boat?” my father asks, and they all laugh at him. Franny comes back to give me a hug.
“I miss you,” she says softly. “Will you come visit soon?”
“You come visit me,” I urge. “Big man isn’t playing.”
“We can rent a boat,” Wilson says to her. “If you want, I’ll look into it when we get home.”
“You know what that means,” Franny states, walking to him. “We’re getting a boat.”
I shake my head and wave at them as they drive off. I won’t deny that I miss them the minute they leave. I won’t deny that getting on the boat, I look over to the chair my dad was sitting in and even miss him. I walk back into the boat, grabbing my laptop and heading out to sit in the same chair my father sat in.
Opening the laptop, I check my emails before loading my Word document and starting to write. I turn on some music as I fall deep into the story. I don’t even know how long I’ve been writing when I look over and see Xavier coming back. He is upstairs on the top bridge. The back of his boat is fully open, and I take a second to look inside it. It’s very pretty. Beatrice sits on her bed, looking out and enjoying the view. I get up, looking at him. He sure took off fast after my family was here. He probably thought I was going to have a huge party.
I stand on the back deck of my boat and put my hand over my eyes to shield myself from the sun. He is coming in back first. He sits on the top with his sunglasses on as he slowly backs in. He looks right and left. I feel like I should do something. I get off my boat and go onto the dock. “Do you need help?” I shout at him, and he just laughs at me, which pisses me off.
“Can you catch ropes?” he shouts back at me.
“Only if you throw them directly at me.” I cross my arms over my chest. “Do you think you can do that?” I ask him, and he laughs again, but this time, I smile at the sound. It’s the first time I’ve really heard him laugh, and it sounds good on him. I walk down toward the side of his dock, where he ties his boat up. He looks down in front of him. “What are you looking at?”