“What do you mean you bought a boat?” my father says, glaring at me.
“I mean that I bought a three-bedroom, two-bathroom floating cottage.” I take a drink of water.
“Hold on a second,” Cooper says, putting up his hand. “What do you mean a boat?”
“I have pictures,” I reply, grabbing my phone out of my pocket and opening it to the photo gallery. Handing it to him, I can’t help the smile that fills my face and the calmness that comes over me.
“This is a yacht!” Erika blurts out. “This is not a boat.”
“Where are you parking this?” Michael asks as he grabs the phone from Cooper.
“It’s going to be parked at the marina,” I inform them.
“You can barely drive a car,” Franny joins in. “You live in New York.”
“I can so drive a car,” I reply through clenched teeth, “and I got my boat license.”
“So you can drive the boat?” my uncle Max asks me, shaking his head.
“Eventually,” I answer honestly.
“How the hell did you get a license?” Michael asks me, leaning back in his chair.
“Online,” I tell him, and Franny just gasps. “I did it in one day.”
“That can’t be right,” Wilson says, looking at me and then my father. “Or safe. Right?”
“Who the hell would get a license online to drive a boat?” Alex asks me. “Like, that is bigger than a van we had in Hawaii, and you ran over a flower bed.”
“You will not be driving this boat anywhere,” my father orders. “What the hell are you going to do?”
“I plan to spend the summer on it,” I tell him what I was going to tell him at a later date, but now the secret is out. “So there you go.”
“Absolutely not,” my father says, shaking his head vigorously. “That is not going to happen.”
“Dad,” Franny says, laughing, “she bought the boat. I think it’s pretty much happening.”
“What if there are pirates?” Uncle Max now chimes in, and the whole table laughs.
“It’s New York. I don’t think there are any pirates,” I reassure him, shaking my head.
“I am putting my foot down,” my father insists, and I just look at him.
“Fine,” I reply, getting up. “See you in October!”
CHAPTER2
XAVIER
My eyesflicker open slowly as the sound of the soft bells fills the room. I blink a couple more times before I roll over the king-size bed, reaching out to stop the ringing. Lying in the middle of the bed with my hand on my chest, I hear the clicking of nails on the floor before I feel her jump up on the bed. “Good morning, Beatrice,” I greet her when I hear her sniffing as she walks toward me. “Did I wake you?” She lies down beside me, putting her head on my chest. I stroke her head. “How did you sleep?” I look down and all she does is blink her eyes for a second before closing her eyes. The room is still pitch black. “Are we not getting up this morning?” I ask her, and I can hear the thumping of her tail on the bed. I toss off the covers, getting up and walking to the bathroom. “You get five more minutes,” I tell her as she lifts her head to look at me before putting her head back down and closing her eyes. I shake my head, walking into the bathroom and turning on the dim lights.
I wash my face and slip on a pair of basketball shorts before turning and walking out of the bathroom. The bed is now empty as I walk out of the room, walking up the five stairs to the galley. The soft lights from under the cabinets fill the almost dark room as I open the shades and start my coffee. I walk to the back with the sliding door and push the curtains open. “I think it’s going to be a nice day,” I state when Beatrice comes beside my leg. “They said it was going to rain, but I don’t know about that.” I turn and walk back down to my bedroom to grab a sweater and the baseball hat I always wear. Slipping on the black sweater, I push my hair back, then put the cap on backward.
Clapping my hands together, I turn back to the galley as the smell of coffee fills the air. I open the drawer and take out my big white coffee mug, filling it with coffee. “You ready?” I look over at Beatrice, who is sitting at the door. I grab the leash from the couch by the door before unlocking it and sliding it open. The cool air hits me right away. “Oh, it’s chilly this morning,” I observe, walking out and sliding on my boat shoes. The sound of the water hitting the boat is almost peaceful. Birds chirping can be heard. “Let’s go,” I say, walking to the side and stepping off the boat to the dock.
I wait for Beatrice, who jumps off the boat like it’s no big deal. The sun is slowly starting to peek out of the sky. “Another day.” I take a sip of my coffee. “Another dollar.” We walk down the dock to the end of our row, turning to the left and strolling to the metal walkway that leads up to the street.
I press the button to open the security gate to the outside parking lot. The door opens, and we slowly take our morning walk. I look down at all the boats, all the slots now filled up. When I came in from the Gulf Coast three weeks ago, four or five boats were docked. But as the weather started getting nicer and nicer, more and more boats started coming into port.