Page 7 of Colby
He really was booked solid for the next four weeks.Word had gotten around about how well the trip went and the amount of fish they’d been able to catch.He knew that had very little to do with himself and the crew, but the people who had rented his boat out had had such a good time that they had begged for another trip in the next month.It was his last opening before he got busy again with other fishermen.
Jack’s restaurant had provided the meals for this trip.They had a choice of sandwiches for both lunch and dinner, and that was what they had opted for.There were other things that they could have had.Jack would have joined them on the boat to cook them some of their catch if they wanted, or to have a dinner provided by him of their choice.Breakfast was just donuts or bagels, another thing that they opted for, or there could be a large breakfast with Jack doing the cooking.He’d done it on other trips, and it was working out well for the two of them.People loved being catered to, particularly when they were paying a high price for it to happen.
Just as the men were sitting down to dinner on the ship, he reached out to Emma to see how she was doing.He didn’t talk to her this way, only to check up on her.He was afraid that he’d startle her into having an accident sometime, and that would be bad for a great many people.
She was talking to someone when he touched her mind.It might have been someone at one of the docks that she had to go to, or just Crumble her faerie.He had one as well, and she was doing a good job of keeping him on track with everything that was going on around his job, too.Colby was glad that her faerie was supposed to keep her from being harmed, and he’d done that already on her first trip out for Taylor and Jack.
A man full of rage, road rage, actually had shot and killed the man in front of her while they were driving.She had only just been able to stop her rig from plowing into the accident that it caused by one inch.When the man looked up and saw Emma, he turned the gun on her.Firing twice into her rig, he’d actually been able to hit her both times with his gun going off and nearly killing Emma.If not for Crumble being there, she would have died as a result.As it was, she was terrified to have something else like that to happen less and less as she traveled.He thought that was the reason she was such a good driver.Something like that had happened that made her more alert while she was out on the road.
“What do you think you’re doing?”Instead of startling her, she did the same to him.He was at a loss to talk to her when she snapped at him by way of the link that they’d had.“Crumble had to explain to me that it was you checking up on me, that’s why I feel like there is someone in my head all the time.Do you know how distracting that is for me?Stop it.Or just talk to me.That would be better than me worrying about whether or not you’re finding out something that will make me have an accident.”
“I didn’t mean to distract you at all.I was just making sure that you’re all right.”She said she was until he started searching her mind.“I never searched your mind for anything but fear or pain.I didn’t want youto be hurt.”
“I’m fine.I’ve been fine.I told you that I have my faerie with me, and unlike you, he’s keeping his distance so that I can drive well.”He told her that he was sorry.“You should be.You’re driving me insane.Just talk to me instead of lingering around in my head like a ghost might.Christ, I don’t want to be your mate at all, and you’re not helping your cause either.”
“I said I was sorry.I didn’t mean to startle you.”She said that he’d done it now and that she couldn’t think beyond him stalking her.“I’m not stalking you.I’m just making sure…you know you’re difficult to have a conversation with sometimes.Are you always going to be biting and snapping at me when I just want to make sure that you’re doing well?”
“I might well be.”She growled low, and it made his lion wrap tightly around him, keeping him safe from their mate.“Listen, I have to concentrate on driving right now.I’m in heavy traffic, and talking to you right now is distracting me.Just let me talk to you when I’m ready.Which I’d not count on being anytime too soon.You’re driving me insane with all this shit that is going on.”
Colby left her mind but wasn’t happy about it.She could be kind of caustic when she wanted to be, and he wasn’t sure what had caused that.Sure, he’d been in her mind, but she was his mate; what else was he supposed to do if she wouldn’t let him make sure that she was all right all the time?
He didn’t expect her to talk to him later, so when she did, he was startled once again.Not that he’d tell her that.She’d be picking the worst times to talk to him and have him messing up like he nearly did to her.There were things that he needed to concentrate on, and she would be there in his head at the worst times possible.Not that he’d turn her down.She was his mate after all.
“I’m better now.I have an hour unload time, so what did you want to talk to me about that was so important that you had to scare ten years off my life?”Instead of getting into that again with her, he told her how well the trip was going.And what he was doing at the moment.“I can’t imagine cutting up fish for people.I’m not a big fan of seafood anyway, but I love pasta.When my mom was riding with me, we’d have it at least twice a week.She did all the cooking while I did all the driving.It worked out well for us both.”
“Jack sometimes comes on trips with me.Especially ones that have five or more clients.The limit that I can carry is six; anything over that, and I can’t take them out.It would overload the ship and make it hard to get around on the decking.”She asked him if he was normally a rule follower.“Yes, especially when people are depending on me to keep them safe.I would imagine that you have the same rules.That you won’t do something that might make it unsafe for you to drive.”
“If I mess up, it might well cause a lot of damage to a lot of people.I could plow into a line of cars that would hypothetically kill all of them.I try not to think about that happening, or I might not get behind the wheel again.I have tonnage to stop when I have to, and it’s no easy feat when I’m in the city.”He told her that he didn’t envy her job.“I don’t envy yours either.Being stuck in the middle of the ocean with strangers.I don’t know how you do that without being terrified all the time.”
“I have a faerie with me, too, that does the same as Crumble does for you.Her name is Buttercup, but she goes by Cup.She makes sure that I’m not going to get the worse of the worst kind of people on my ship when I’m out, either.”She asked him if it was on purpose that her faerie was a male and his a female.“Yes, it’s to balance us out.Crumble is hundreds of years old, so he knows what to do in emergencies.While Cup is younger, not that much, but still younger, I have her to help me with chores around the ship, too.They love to be helpful, I’ve noticed.”
“Yes, so have I.”They talked for the hour that she had, and he got the fish cleaned up for the men to take home with them when the trip was over.He usually cut himself once or twice with the sharp knife, but he didn’t this time.He had a thought that it had a lot to do with the fact that he was relaxed, but he didn’t know.She was calming his beast, too, for some reason.
Chapter 2
Emma made good time on her trip out today.She was home for dinner on time, and she loved that her mom seemed to be excited to see her.After telling each other how their days went, they settled into dinner and then cleaned up together.Mom did most of the work around the house as she was living there full-time, but she would help with the dishes when she ate with her.
“I’ve been to the library today.It’s a really nice one that has a children’s section that rivals most toy stores.I’m going to be volunteering there once or twice a week to read stories to the kids.Isn’t that wonderful?”She told her mom that it was fantastic and hugged her when she seemed to need one.“Are you missing me even a little bit?”
“I miss you terribly.Especially at meal times.There isn’t anyone to talk to.”She said she could always call her.“I thought about that, too, and I might once in a while.But you need to get out more because this is what you wanted.I want you to be happy.”
Emma remembered being told about Taylor’s mom and how she wanted to be happy with her daughter all the time.She wanted her to make her the center of attention, no matter what was going on in her life.She couldn’t live like that.It would drive her crazy to have to cater to someone all the time.That’s why she and her mom got along so well; the two of them did their own thing.
Since she’d gotten up so early, Emma was ready for bed at nine-thirty.Dragging herself to the bedroom that was all hers, she realized that her mother had left it for her to decorate.She was fine with that.Having been able to put some final touches on the rig had been great since it was only her anymore, and it had given her ideas on what to do to her room at the house.She pulled up the shopping link and put several things in her cart before she was ready to call it a night.
Tomorrow was her day off, and she had things that she wanted to get finished in addition to her room.First thing she was going to do was to wash her rig.It had been needing a bath since her last long trip before working for Taylor Tucker.
Getting up early, something that she was used to doing anyway, she was out in the yard cleaning up the rig when the mailman came to the house.Mom had told her that he’d been coming around a lot and she wasn’t sure how she felt about it.Leave it to her mom to be out of driving for a week and find a man who was sweet on her.She took the mail and had him moving along his way by telling him that her mom was busy.He looked so downtrodden that she wanted to get her mom and make her talk to him.Poor guy.
“You have a letter from the realtor about the house, I’m betting.”She said that someone had finally made an offer on the house.“Great.Now, only if they can get financing, then that will be one more thing to get off our list of payments.”
“I just paid the taxes last month, so we should be good for at least six months.Did I tell you that the electric bill came due, too, and I went ahead and paid it while I was writing checks out?I can’t believe how much it costs to have an empty house with electricity.I don’t remember it being that high when the three of us lived there.”It had been her and her parents who lived there for five years.Then her dad had died one night, and that had left only the two of them.Since neither one of them wanted to live in the house anymore, it had been put on the market and hadn’t sold yet.They were just waiting for the right buyer to come along and take it from them.She hoped that this was the one.
“It says here that they’ve put in an offer and that I accepted it.I did, by the way, before you get all defensive about it for me.”It made them both laugh about how she would come to her mom’s rescue even when it wasn’t necessary.“I guess they’re covering their asses with this one, or perhaps that’s the way it’s done now.I don’t know, but I’d like for the house to be sold so we don’t have to worry about it anymore.”That was what she wanted as well.Not to have to worry about the house that they’d notlived in for over five years now.“And since it’s paid off, everything we get out of it will be profit.I’ll just use it to pay off this house, and we won’t have to worry about this one either.”
Not that they had to worry about that much.Since her father had died and left them well off with insurance money, it had been an easy life for the two of them.Even when she’d purchased her own rig, using the house as collateral, it hadn’t been that much of a hardship to pay that off either.Now all they wanted to do was to get things squared away with her job, and things would look so much brighter for them.
The two of them had plans for dinner tonight.Mom wanted to try a new place in town, and she wanted something to eat that didn’t involve using a microwave.She didn’t want any bread either, as she’d been eating sandwiches a great deal over the last several days, and she was sick of them as well.As soon as they were seated, she nearly fell off her chair when Colby joined them.
