Page 62 of Sharkbait
I hesitate, then go with, “Yeah well, that diving and mountain climbing excursion company I mentioned—The Highs and Lows?—I’m basing it in Hawaii.”
Is it terrible I don’t immediately say my daughter lives there?
That she is the main reason I travel back so often?
I don’t know why I withhold that information when everything inside me scrambles to say it. For some reason, it doesn’t feel like the right time.
“Why are you creating a company in Hawaii when you live here?” she asks.
“Well.” I swallow. “I’m moving there.”
“To Hawaii?” Her voice goes up a few octaves.
“Yeah.”
Am I imagining it? Or did her face just fall?
“Wow, that’s—When is that happening?”
“Few months. The plan is to start the new year there fresh.”
She takes a long sip of her drink and puts her smile back on. “Good for you. Making moves is always a good thing, right?”
“Eh. Not always,” I argue. “I mean, in this case, yes, I hope it will be good. But I’ve seen people bounce around the globe their entire lives trying to avoid themselves, ya know? To outrun themselves. But that never works. Because we take ourselves with us wherever we go. Eventually, we have to deal with whatever is inside us that’s making us want to run.”
Her eyes lock on mine, but something about them still feels distant.
“Can I say something?” she asks.
“Sure.”
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but—”
“Uh-oh.” I laugh. “Whenever someone says, ‘Don’t take this the wrong way,’ you know you’re about to be dissed.”
“No! No diss! I was just thinking, you’re...” She shifts in her seat. “You’re deeper than I initially thought.”
Not the first time someone has said that to me.
“I get that a lot.” I shrug. “When you’re a bartender, you hear a lot of stories. Gives you perspective, I guess.”
She shakes her head. “It’s more than that.”
A quiet comes over the bar.
Even the backroom crew seems to have settled down.
“You okay?” I ask.
She takes another sip and nods. “Mm-hmm.”
I clear my throat.
“As the resident bartender—at least for a few more months—and someone who’s been told they have ‘surprising depth’ on more than one occasion, I’d like to hazard a guess as to why you look so down right now.”
“That’s not necessary, James.”
I barrel ahead. “I’m thinking that maybe you’re sad becausethe guy you’re catching feelings for just told you he’s moving…”
