Page 17 of Saltwater Memories
Chapter 6
She rushed off so quickly that Will didn’t have a chance to set up another meeting with her.
Maybe he’d bored her to death and she was just trying to get away from him? He tried asking her about herself – he was dying to know more about her – but she was quite tight-lipped. He learned that she worked for an advertising agency, but she soon changed the subject.
It seemed like she wassomewhatinterested in the properties, and sensing that, he babbled on like a fool. What was he even talking about for so long?
Andwhatwas all that rat talk?
Will rubbed his face in his hands. She probably thought he was a moron.
Ugh. There was something about her. Whenever she was quiet or just staring at him, he felt the urge to fill the silence. He wanted to make her laugh, or at least keep her from walking away. It made him feel…desperate?
No, that wasn’t the right word. It was more like he was trying on every hat in his repertoire to keep her attention.
Amanda was a tough nut to crack, and if she wanted to add her property to their portfolio, he would put in the work for it. Though he had no idea if her property would be of use to the company, he could at least pretend that’s what he was doing.
Yeah, that’s what he could tell himself. That he justreallywanted to add her property to his portfolio.
On her advice, he took some time to walk around Friday Harbor and get a feel for the place. There weren’t many people out – it was a chilly day, and the clouds were threatening rain.
He peeked into the windows of the shops and studied the menus posted outside of the restaurants. He could see the charm of the place, both for vacationers and for buyers. Apparently, there was a big retired population on the island as well. He made a mental note to compile a list of community resources. Those were always good to put in descriptions, whether they were selling a property or renting it out.
He decided to get a cup of coffee at a café and take a seat outside overlooking the ferry terminal. A ferry was pulling up and Will was again struck by the enormity of the ships. He’d heard some people complaining about the ferry being late and he made another mental note to highlight the concept of “island time” in his listings. If he set the right expectations, people would react accordingly.
Despite the chill, he was content to sit at the cold metal table for the rest of the day, watching the comings and goings of the boats, and admiring the cycles of excitement and quiet when the ferries arrived and departed from the dock.
He wasn’t that far from Seattle, but everything felt so different. Even the birds looked different. He wasn’t a wildlife expert, but some of these birds looked completely foreign. There was one with an exceptionally long neck – was that a heron? Another, he could’ve sworn, had what looked like a blue mohawk of feathers atop its head. It flew off before he could take a picture. There were also a lot of fancy looking ducks – or were they not ducks? They were all swimming around, but probably not all birds that could swim were ducks…
Despite his bird-related knowledge being poor, Will felt like he could watch the birds bob and dive for hours. At some point, the sky even cleared out, filling with clean, white clouds so bright they were almost blinding against the brilliant blue sky.
When was the last time he’d stopped to look at the sky or at exotic birds? Maybe these were all regular birds, he didn’t know.
But still. He rarely slowed down, yet San Juan was forcing him to look around. The appointments that he’d set up with people on the island – plumbers, contractors, zoning board members – were all delayed, much later than he’d like. But no one was in a rush to get his business, so all he could do now was wait and stare at birds.
Maybe DGG’s ideas for these properties were silly to a native, and he was slowly going to have to piece that together on his own. But Amanda seemed to think that their ideas were at least interesting. Unless she was just being nice.
No, Amanda didn’t seem like someone who would fake being nice. He appreciated that about her – there was no pretense. There was little of that sort of honesty in the business world.
He dealt with, and doled out, so much fake niceness that it made him sick; it made him feel hollow. Will knew that it wouldn’t last forever; he wouldn’t have to live this life indefinitely. He’d move up the chain and be able to act more normally.
Maybe that’s why he’d tried so hard with Amanda. It was like she was the first real life form he’d encountered in years.
Sure, she had no qualms about making fun of him to his face. And she might’ve inherited her disposition from her frightening-sounding father. But she was different than any girl he’d met in New York City.
He didn’t tell her aboutthatpart of living in the city – how he’d gone out to the clubs at his friends’ urging, despite hating clubs more than anything.
But that was what his friends wanted to do, so he went. And they had to pay a cover charge, and then pay for a table, and pay for bottle service…it all added up. It was a waste of money to him, and even though the girls they’d meet looked like models – some of them actuallyweremodels – he had no interest in them.
And they had no interest in him. As soon as the free drinks ran out, they’d disappear, making sweet promises that they’d all “meet again.”
Will didn’t care – he gave them credit for figuring out a hustle. They had a game and they knew how to play it.
It was his friends that he thought were pathetic – believing they had a chance with those women, begging him to come along, to pitch in and pay for these ridiculous nights out. Will only agreed to go clubbing a handful of times before he put his foot down. While his friends had no qualms about pretending to be rich, it bothered Will quite a bit. It was not for him, and it was a silly way to waste money.
He had better things to do with his money. That reminded him, actually – he’d gotten a text from his mom during his lunch with Amanda. He pulled out his phone to see what it was about.
The message read, “Hey honey – it seems like there was a problem with the mortgage this month. Can you call me?”
