Dreams Adrift (A River Dream Novel) (24 page)

“
I’m back in town for a few days,
and thought I’d come see what’s new here at the aquarium,” I said.
“I haven’t been here in some time.”

“
Well, I know just the person to
give you your tour. Let me see if she’s available,” Mrs. Watson
said.

I thought for a minute that she might be
calling Malori to come and act as our tour guide, but I was wrong.
At first, I didn’t recognize the young lady that came forward. When
I saw the name tag ‘Emily’ I realized it was Beth Bosworth’s little
sister, only she wasn’t so little anymore. I’d heard she’d
graduated from the marine science program at Duke about the time I
finished up my degree at UNCW.

“
Hello Michael, Rhiannon. How are
you today?” Emily asked.

“
Hi Emily, it has been a long
time,” Rhiannon said. “How’s Beth?”

“
She’s doing very well. She and
Eric just had their second child, a little boy,” Emily
said.

Beth had married Eric Simpson, a guy she met
at East Carolina. When Emily mentioned their new baby, I
remembered, vaguely, that Beth had been pregnant at Maeve’s
funeral. Her oldest was a girl named Michelle. Eric coached
football and taught physical education at a high school out near
Winston-Salem. Beth was the band director at a middle school in the
same district.

“
Yes, I got an announcement in the
mail,” Rhiannon said. Turning to me, she said, “They named him Eric
Michael Simpson.”

“
Really, so he’ll be a junior,” I
said. “That’s great.”

“
Not exactly,” Rhiannon said,
“Eric’s middle name is Lawrence.”

She let me hang for a minute before laughing
and saying, “Eric’s father’s name was Michael.”

“
Fery vunny, Rhiannon,” I
said.

Emily gave us a confused smile. “Would you
like me to show you what’s new at the aquarium?”

Giving Rhiannon a scathing look, I said to
Emily, “I would like that very much, thank you. We can leave the
jolly joker to wait here.”

“
Oh, no you don’t. I didn’t come
all this way to sit in the lobby,” Rhiannon said, still
chuckling.

Emily gave us another funny look and started
to lead the way into the aquarium. Then she turned around
suddenly.

“
Malori Lanier works here. Isn’t
that your sister, Michael?” Emily asked.

Trying to be patient, I admitted, “Yes, she
is.”

“
Would you rather she gave you the
tour?” Emily asked. She looked almost afraid that I would say
yes.

Truthfully, I assured her, “Actually, no, I’d
rather you did.”

“
Oh,” she said with a very pretty
smile, “Okay then, we’ll start over this way.”

Emily had gotten a couple of steps ahead when
Rhiannon put her head close to mine and whispered, “Michael J.
Lanier, here with me and flirting with her. You have no
shame.”

Then she stifled a laugh at the look I gave
her.

Emily did give us an excellent tour of the
place, even taking us behind the scenes to show us areas of the
aquarium that are off limits to most guests. During the tour we
learned she was close to finishing her master’s degree at
UNCW.

“
If my thesis gets approved, I’ll
have my Master’s by May, Emily told us. “I’m in line for the
Assistant Director’s job here at the aquarium, but it all depends
on my finishing my degree.”

We had somehow avoided running into Malori
during the tour. I found out when Malori got home that night she’d
been out in the marsh collecting specimens. On a cold overcast day
like that one turned out to be, collecting specimens in a marsh was
not a job I’d have wanted to be doing.

Thanking Emily and Mrs. Watson, Rhiannon and I
left the aquarium and headed back to Wrightsville Beach. We both
wanted to change and maybe grab a nap before taking over at the
pier. When we got to the Nadeau house, I got out of the car and
started to go inside with Rhiannon.

She gave me a puzzled look. “Michael, are you
going to come in?”

Suddenly it dawned on me, I didn’t live there
anymore.

“
Old habits die hard,” I said.
“I’ll see you at the pier.”

I turned to get back in the car.

“
Michael, you can come in if you
want,” Rhiannon said softly.

Part of me wanted to, but I wasn’t ready, not
quite yet.

Opening the car door, I said, “Another time,
Rhiannon, okay?”

“
Another time, Michael, when
you’re ready,” she said.

The gentle look on her face almost made me
change my mind. Mentally taking a deep breath, I got into the car
and drove to my folks’. On the way there, it started to
rain.

Thirty-seven

The rain became a steady light sprinkle, the
kind of rain that accompanies a warm front. The forecasters said it
would probably keep coming down all night and into the next day
sometime.

Taking into account the weather, I expected it
would be a slow night at the pier. Putting on a foul weather jacket
over a sweatshirt and a pair of jeans, I added a pair of allegedly
waterproofed leather boots and headed over to the pier.

It was a short walk from my folks’ house to
Lumina Pier, so I only got a little soaked. Reaching the door of
the pier house, I heard a car pulling into the nearly empty parking
lot. It was Rhiannon. I waited for her just inside the
door.

“
Hi, Mike. What a night,” she said
by way of a greeting.

Shedding my jacket, I said, “I know it. I
don’t think we’ll be very busy tonight.”

Rhiannon nodded her agreement. “Only the most
diehard fisherman will come out on a night like this.”

“
Personally, I’m against fishing
in the rain,” I said, and then glanced at Rhiannon.

“
Okay, Hank Jr.,” Rhiannon said
with a grin. “Let’s get checked in so Dad can start his night
off.”

We hung up our rain gear and went in to tell
Uncle Lind that his relief had arrived.

“
Some night you picked to give me
a night off,” he said. “Believe it or not, there are a couple of
guys out there fishing.”

Helping myself to a cup of hot coffee, I said,
“I believe it. I’m surprised that Mrs. Schultz isn’t out
there.”

“
She’ll come when it’s cold, but
she doesn’t usually fish in the rain,” Uncle Lind said.

“
Well, Daddy, you can go on home
to Momma,” Rhiannon told him. “Mike and I can hold down the
fort.”

After showing us where everything was and
making sure we knew how to operate the new cash register, Uncle
Lind finally left. I made up some fresh coffee and, while Rhiannon
straightened up the shelves behind the counter, I swept the
floor.

About seven one fellow came in, asked how the
fish were biting, walked out on the pier, and left. Around eight
the rain started coming down harder, and one of the two guys that
were out on the pier fishing packed it in.

“
I was getting just enough bites
to keep me at it when the rain wasn’t so bad, but not good enough
to put up with this,” he told us.

He decided to have a cup of coffee and a piece
of crumb cake before he went home. I think he was hoping the rain
would let up. It didn’t, and after he finished his coffee and cake,
he left.

“
One diehard left,” I noted.
“Maybe I should walk out and see how he’s doing.”

“
That might be a good idea,”
Rhiannon agreed.

I walked down the pier to where the guy was
set up, almost all the way to the end. He was sitting there bundled
up against the rain, sipping on what by then must have been a very
cold cup of coffee, and watching his lines.

“
Good evening, sir. How are they
biting?” I asked when I got close enough.

“
Better than you might think on a
night like this, Mike,” he said.

I knew the voice but couldn’t place it right
off. Then he turned towards me with a big grin on his
face.

“
Wes, you son of a gun, what are
you doing out here in this mess?” I exclaimed.

“
Mike, I’m home on leave, and
tonight’s the only night I’ll have to go fishing. I promised myself
I was going fishing at Lumina Pier tonight, no matter what,” Wes
said.

I smiled at his determination. “Home on leave.
Then you’re still in the Corps?”

Wes nodded and said, “Yeah, man, still in. I
just made Gunny.”

That, as I well knew, was a big deal for a
Marine.

“
Congrats, man,” I said shaking
his hand. “It’s good to see you.” Remembering the day I heard about
Wes getting hurt in Beirut, I realized how really glad I was to see
him.

“
Yeah, you too man. Hey, Mike, I
was sorry to hear about Maeve.” Wes said. “That really
sucked.”

“
Thanks, Wes. Yeah, it did,” I
said.

Somehow it didn’t sting as much hearing it
from Wesley. I don’t know why not. Maybe it was because we’d been
through so much of the same stuff.

“
I’m sorry, man, maybe I shouldn’t
have brought it up,” Wes said.

“
No, it’s all right. I’m handling
it a lot better nowadays,” I told him.

We stood quiet in the rain for a few minutes
before Wes asked, “What are you up to these days?”

Glad for the change of subject, I brought him
up to date. “I’ve been sailing around the Caribbean for the past
several months. I came home for Spring Break. Figured I’d leave the
Islands to the college kids. I just got into town
yesterday.”

“
Will you be in town long?” Wes
asked.

“
I’m leaving next Monday,” I
said.

Wes frowned. “Awe, man, that’s too
bad.”

I turned my collar up against the cold, wet
breeze. “Why’s that too bad?”

“
I’m home for thirty days, and I’m
getting married a week from Saturday. It would have been nice to
have you there,” Wes said.

Wondering if I might know the bride-to-be, I
asked, “Who’s the lucky girl?”

“
You wouldn’t know her,” Wes said.
He was quiet a moment while he tightened his line with a few cranks
of his reel. “I met her in Jacksonville. She’s a nice girl. Her
family has lived in Onslow County for generations. They weren’t too
crazy about her dating a Marine, but after they got to know me,
they warmed up to the idea.”

I congratulated him again and was about to
head back in when he asked, “So what are you doing out here on a
night like this, Mike? You don’t even have your fishing
pole.”

“
I’m working, that’s what,” I
said, chuckling. “Rhiannon and I decided to give her dad and uncle
a night off and took the six to six shift for them.”

“
Is Rhiannon back in town?” Wes
asked. “Say, are you two…”

Shaking my head, I said, “No, it’s not like
that.”

Wes bit his lip and looked out over the dark
ocean waves. “No, it wouldn’t be. Too soon, huh? I
understand.”

“
All right, Wes,” I said, getting
the feeling it was time to leave him alone. “It’s been great
talking to you, but I think I’ll let you stay out here and fish in
the rain if you want to. I’m going back inside and get
warm.”

Looking at his dripping fishing pole, Wes
said, “I can’t say as I blame you. I probably won’t be far
behind.”

Back inside I shook out my raincoat and poured
myself a fresh cup of coffee, adding a dollop of maple syrup from
the cooler.

Rhiannon stopped rearranging the snacks on the
display rack long enough to ask, “What in the world kept you out
there so long?”

Taking a big sip of the hot coffee, I told
her, “I ran into an old friend.”

“
Really, who is that out there?”
she asked, leaning back against the counter.

“
Wesley Hunter,” I said. “He’s
home on leave and bound and determined to get in some pier fishing
tonight if it kills him.”

Rhiannon thought about that for a moment. “Is
he still in the Marine Corps?”

“
Yup,” I replied, taking another
sip of coffee. I could feel it starting to chase away the
chill.

Coming over to sit next to me at the counter,
she asked, “Is he stationed at Camp Lejeune?”

I shook my head. “I don’t think so. He said
he’d come home on leave to get married. He’s marrying a girl from
Onslow County. I got the impression he’s been away.”

“
Maybe so,” Rhiannon
conceded.

Wesley came in about ten, soaked to the skin
and chilled to the bone, but with a cooler full of fish. We offered
him a cup of coffee, but he said he’d rather just go home and climb
into a nice, hot shower.

For the next couple of hours it was just the
two of us. We straightened and cleaned and swept until there was
nothing left to straighten, clean, or sweep. It rained even
harder.

Around midnight a couple of guys came in with
their gear and bought passes. They said they had just gotten off
work and were bound and determined to get in an hour or so of
fishing. It was a tradition with them. They went fishing every
Tuesday night after work and weren’t going to let a little rain
stop them. They bought a half-pound of shrimp, a cup of squid, and
two cups of coffee. They joked and said it just didn’t seem like a
beer night.