Page 134 of Forget Me Not

“You know,” he says, clearing his throat. I can tell whatever cough he’s got has gotten worse now that the air is getting colder. He sucks in a deep breath that wheezes and cackles before continuing. “I was in your shoes, once.”

Now . . . my interest has piqued.

“What shoes?”

He grunts, an unamused chuckle I don’t like the sound of. Usually, bad shit follows. “Crabbing.”

Interesting. “You fished king crab?”

He nods. “Mmhmm . . . Almost made it a full season. Worst mistake of my life.”

Jesus Christ. Just another person trying to talk me out of something I’ve already made up my mind about doing. My life is on the water. Not here in Port Nova. Still, he’s not the first person to tell me I should consider staying. He probably won’t be the last.

So, I humor him.

“Why’s that?”

“Well, left the woman I loved back here. Left the shop when I should have been getting ready to take it over for my dad, so he could retire. Hell, I left everything I had to go out there for the chase.”

“Seems like it all worked out for you in the end.”

“Yeah, and it took me twice as long. Took my pops years to trust me to run the shop after that. Took Beth even longer.” He shakes his head, his eyes taking on a faraway look like he’s thinking back to those times. “Dad was pissed when I left. He said if I survived, not to bother coming home.”

“But you did come home.”

“I did,” he nods. “Because my mom wrote me a letter, telling me how worried he was. He’d never show it, but the thought of me being out there terrified him. Never understood what he meant until you told me you were heading there in the fall.”

While I appreciate the attempt at camaraderie, I would rather not listen to Al try to dissuade me from my decision.

I’m going. That’s final.

But something still sticks out to me.

“How was it?”

“Boat’s bigger than out here, though not nearly as fun. Guy died my second week out there because he fell overboard. Water’s so cold, once we got him back, he died of hypothermia.”

Al stands from his chair, slow and unsteady, and I swear I can hear bones crack and pop as he does.

“Listen kid. The water up there isn’t the same. It’s five times choppier than what we’ve got here. Way deeper and colder, too. Crabbing is lonely work. And,” he murmurs, hemming and hawing around what I know he’s trying to say. “Take it from me. You’ll be a wreck without that woman.”

He’s smiling, but it does nothing for the ice moving through my veins.

“It’s not like that with Nova.”

It most certainly is like that, but Al doesn’t need to know.

Not that he believes my lies, anyway, as he fixes me with a warning look.

“Bullshit, kid. I’ve seen you two.” In the back of my mind, I wonder if he saw us sneak onto my boat a couple weeks ago. His face softens, the furrow of his brow evening out as he attempts to coax me to stay in Port Nova. “Nova’s a good girl, son. Someone’s going to marry her someday.”

I steel myself at the thought of Nova marrying some asshole in town. Maybe one of the kids that keeps trying to dance with her whenever she’s out.

Of course, someone already did marry Nova. Someone who I’ll never be able to compete with, even if he was a spineless prick who didn’t deserve her. The American high school sweetheart. The man who became a hero the night he drowned in the Mississippi.

I’ve got no competition with that. I have no family. No home to offer her. I’m just me and she deserves so much better than that.

“Well, then I guess we better enjoy our time together now,” I murmur, my voice dark, even to myself. I take the boat key that Al hands me and nod to him, striding out of the office.

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