It was one of those afternoons when Brian would have much rather been staying within the confines of his warm household, taking in the comforts of a basketball game on satellite television while lounging within his favorite recliner. Or even basking in the simple joy of just sitting back and watching his three year old son's creative imagination unfold in front of him would have suited him perfectly. Instead he found himself standing at the rear end of his ebony shaded SUV, loading the only two items of his luggage consisting of an over-stuffed Nike duffle bag and an old Jansport backpack. The bags landed with a thud against the gray inner lining allowing Brian to slam the heavy door closed. Adjusting the Wildcats cap atop his head, he stole a quick glance at his silver Rolex before returning his attention back in the direction of the door leading from the garage into the house. It was at that moment that the door was thrown open and a blurred bundle of energy came tearing through the opening with a yell, leaving Brian barely the chance to step back from the vehicle before he was nearly barreled over from his son's insistence of grabbing his father's attention.
"Daddy! I beated the 'nother level!" Baylee hollered, his bright azure eyes wide in an excitement only the child seemed to understand as he immediately tugged at his father's loose gray t-shirt, shoving the small gaming device into Brian's chest as proud evidence of his accomplishment. The internal speakers were still beeping with a low volume and Brian looked to see that the game character was dancing triumphantly around the small screen above the words 'Press Start To Continue...'. "I did it, Daddy! See?! I did it! Beat the bad guy, went ka-pow with some Ti-kwon-cow!"
Humored always by his son's growing antics, Brian grinned and reached forward to ruffle Baylee's short blonde locks. Leighanne had recently taken the little boy to one of the local barber shops, finally agreeing to trim his silky curls until all that was left were short, delicate spikes, gelled up in the front. Baylee was even pleased with the outcome, begging his father since the cut to always gel the front tips. "I guess you sure did beat the bad guy!" Brian finally answered, immediately recognizing the antsy nature of Baylee bouncing from foot to foot as he anxiously waited for deserved praise. And Brian was more then willing to give it as he returned the game to his son's awaiting hands. "Didn't Daddy say practice makes perfect?"
"No! Ti-kwon-cow makes perfect, duh!" Baylee quickly retorted, once again beginning to press against the buttons in determination, the tip of his pink tongue poking out of the corner of his mouth. Brian paused where he stood, watching his son for a moment in awe. Already three and a half years old, Baylee's interest in video games only seemed to grow each day along with his sprouting vocabulary. The sudden interest began months before one morning when Brian was about to rush out the door. He hadn't even laid one hand on the knob before Baylee was at his side begging for the bright green colored Game Boy he "sawed on the TV!". And the begging continued until Brian finally relented days later, driving to the nearest toy store in a head spin for the purchase. Since the surprise, both parents rarely were able to tear the small device from the little boy's hands, as it often kept him overly occupied.
"Don't you mean Tae-kwon-do, buddy?" Brian questioned with a smirk, launching the boy high onto his shoulders and bouncing him towards the left back door of the vehicle.
"No, ids called Ti-kwon-cow!"
"Then what is Tae-kwon-do?" Brian continued to question, tugging the door open and carefully lowering himself towards the ground so Baylee was able to safely climb inside. Not once was the boy's animated eyes torn from the screen as Brian busied himself in buckling his son in the booster seat.
Baylee shrugged, silently expressing his childish distraction. "Dunno... You the daddy..."
Brian rolled his eyes, abandoning the short conversation just as quickly. He watched Baylee for a moment longer before turning with a small sigh, his hand lingering on the edge of the vehicle door. He felt as if he could spend his whole life just watching his child and not once grow tired of it. Even the pride felt indescribable, although Brian would have never wanted it any other way. And it would be one of the things he would find himself missing the most for the next several weeks. "Leigh!" he called out, looking up to realize his wife was still absent from the garage. It was obvious his wife was stalling, tearing Brian's thoughts to a darker shade and slightly stirring his mood as he moved towards the garage door. "We really need to get on the road, Leighanne!" he proclaimed loudly as he leaned his head in through the doorway. The kitchen failed to harbor her presence forcing Brian to move forward until he heard her footsteps quickly moving towards him. "We need to go-"
"You can stop yelling," Leighanne snipped, brushing past her bewildered husband as she slipped the short beige leather strap of her purse onto her shoulder.
Brian stared after his wife in wonder, following her over to their vehicle. Even despite her sometimes agitating demeanor, he couldn't help but smile, even right then when he knew far too well that she was less then happy with him at the moment. He arched a light eyebrow towards her as he climbed into the driver's seat, hesitating with the key near the ignition. "This the way it's gonna be the entire drive?" he asked, finally revving the engine to life and placing the gear into a quick reverse.
Leighanne shifted ever so slightly against the leather seat, refusing to catch his gaze.
"Well?" he pressed, momentarily craning his neck and looking over his shoulder to navigate the SUV out of the garage. Brian grinned towards his son when Baylee looked up at him in excitement from another victory with the game. "Ya know, considering this is the last time we'll get to see each other for several weeks, you could at least have the common courtesy to answer me when I ask you a question."
"You know how I feel about this," Leighanne answered in a curt tone.
"How could I not? You've been on my case about it ever since I mentioned the idea to you. But that's not the point here. I'm not asking to fight with you," Brian replied, working to keep his frustration at a boiling point. He twisted the steering wheel and pressed his foot against the gas, guiding the vehicle down the smoothly paved roadway. Silence enveloped the inside aside from the dull roar of the engine, almost hinting towards a dead end for the conversation. Moments later they pulled out onto the main road, veering unnoticed into a light afternoon traffic. "Would you give me a break? Honest to God, c'mon Leigh. You think I'm thrilled about this venture?"
"Going away for several weeks because of business is one thing, Brian," Leighanne answered sharply, finally twisting in her seat to glare at him. Her orbs glazed over in a tumbling of emotions that she refused to let free. "I know and understand your obligation to the group. But this-"
"You just said the key word here: obligation."
Leighanne shook her head, "Driving somewhere is normal. Flying somewhere is normal. Driving a...a boat across the damned ocean...only the two of you is not just reckless, but it's plain crazy! Why can't you be like any normal person and take a plane? Be normal like your cousin and Howie, at least they know the normal way to travel."
"Well, reality check. I'm not Kevin and I'm not Howie."
"That's not what I was saying."
"Then what were you saying?"
"Don't patronize me."
Brian blinked in confusion, leaning back into his seat as he pondered his wife carefully. It had been like this for the better part of the past week; short conversations, bitter words, heated arguments. And it was all over the same thing. Him going away that day. It was getting old fighting about the same things over and over, but Leighanne would have none of it. She seemed utterly stuck to the idea of imprinting her negative opinion deep within the folds of his mind. And truthfully, Brian felt about ready to tear every inch of his hair from his head. "Look at it this way, Nick has never been normal," he replied with a lightness, deciding the best path to take would be to inadvertently change the subject. Although he figured that answer was somehow the understatement of the century and Leighanne certainly wasn't buying it.
"And you always seem to find yourself being dragged into one of his idiotic schemes."
"Schemes?"
"Every time he comes up with one of his 'great ideas'-"
"Right, right...I see where this is going," Brian sighed, interrupting his wife's blatant torrent of disapproving words towards Nick's character. He clenched his hands against the leather binding of the steering wheel, directing the large SUV away from the mainstream of traffic, up the on ramp, and into the thicker line of vehicles commuting along the interstate. He tapped his hands lightly, trailing his sight along the road in front of them as the thick silence once again crept right back in. "If you think fighting about it is going to change my mind about going, then you're going to be disappointed. Really, you're making a bigger deal out of this then you need to be. Nick asked me to go and I told him yes. I can't back out of something I already agreed to. As much as I'm not exactly thrilled about it, I'm obligated to go. He asked me but none of the others for a reason obviously, and besides, maybe this will give me a chance to talk to him..."
Leighanne reached across the middle console, grasping Brian's right hand and intertwining their fingers in the way that always caused Brian's heart to beat a step faster. He glanced over at her shortly and briefly caught that glimpse of defeat. It was never anything blunt or straight forward, but more of a subtle twinkle in the center of her bright orbs, silently letting him know that she was tossing in the towel to their argument. "I'm sorry," she mustered softly, clicking her tongue against the roof of her mouth in thought.
Brian brought their joined hands up to his mouth, kissing the tips of her fingers. Eventually his lips curled into an exaggerated humored grin. "Maybe I'll be able to convince him to have a professional drive his boat back when it's time to return. Otherwise, I'm dragging Kevin and the others along with us," he stated with a renewed authority, however laced with every hint of laughter. "I'm already having to endure the trip there, but if I have to endure it back, I'm dragging them with us. Even if it means having to drag AJ kicking and screaming the entire way."
"Good luck with that, hon. That's probably why Nick only asked you; he knew they wouldn't go."
Brian shrugged. "Probably, but they don't have to know that."
"Daddy's going to catch a big fish!"
Brian chuckled at his son's timing into the conversation. "Maybe I will, maybe I won't," he answered, peeking to the rearview mirror. He could see Baylee staring back at him through the reflection in his own child-like impish nature, tuning entirely too far into the adults' conversation. Leighanne often got after him about it too, complaining that Baylee mirrored his Daddy to a tee, whether it was a certain infamous facial expression or it came down to the simplest of motions. Inside it boosted Brian's pride more then Leighanne could possibly comprehend, humoring him even more to see that his wife was beyond a doubt jealous of the precise similarities between father and son that were impossible to share between that of mother and son.
"Daddy is going to catch more fishies then Uncle Nick!"
"Does Nick even know how to fish?" Leighanne questioned seriously.
Brian snickered, "Your guess is as good as mine, babe."
"If that's the case, then I hope his boating skills are better then his fishing."
"You just can't let it go, can you?"
"Brian..."
"Seriously, babe...just let it go."
"You really are something..."
Brian shook his head, withholding a sardonic chuckle. "I said I was done arguing and I meant it," he repeated, releasing Leighanne's hand from his grasp. He reached forward, switching up the air conditioning system a notch higher, just knowing the slight abandonment of affection in the situation would irritate his wife to an unimaginable end. And when he heard Leighanne sigh in annoyance, Brian knew his mission had been accomplished for the time being.
*****
“That fart better be here already,” Brian mumbled to himself as he steered the large vehicle onto the gravel roadway that led into the marina twenty minutes later. “All I can say is, since he insisted I be right on time, he better already be here.”
Leighanne glanced at her husband with a raised eyebrow, contemplating an appropriate comment that wouldn’t stir the air of intensity surrounding their previous spat. “Well, look at it this way, hon. Nick has never been very punctual. So how much can you bet that there’s a good chance he isn’t even here yet?” she finally questioned, although she felt reserved with letting the words slip past her lips. She refused to strike another argument, especially since time was dwindling down to nothing and the point where her and Baylee would have to say goodbye to Brian was steadily approaching.
Brian crooked his head to the left, watching as row upon row of expansive boats and yachts came into view, banked at their own respective dock slots. “You’ve got a point. Nick has never understood the meaning of being punctual, at least not in all of the years I’ve known him.”
“And considering you’ve known him since he was practically still a kid…”
“Alright, I get your point. But I still say he better be here.”
A small gasp sounded from the seat behind Brian’s as his young child turned in amazement towards the glass window, temporarily abandoning his game and staring in awe as they passed by each of the boats. “Wow, Daddy look at all the boats!” Baylee exclaimed in a hushed excitement as he placed both palms against the cool glass, twisting in his booster seat to press his nose against the window.
Brian glanced in his rear-view mirror, grinning. “Aren’t those cool, buddy? Big boats, huh?”
“Yeah!” Baylee nodded, “These all of Uncle Nick’s boats?”
Brian chuckled. “No ace, not quite. Uncle Nick only has one boat at the moment.”
“You mean only one docked at this marina,” Leighanne added.
“He’s only three, Leigh. Don’t make the explanation more difficult,” Brian chided his wife softly. Although, Brian could safely guess he had only succeeded in offending his wife more by his choice of words, but given the current situation, he’d given up all hope in caring about her opinion, whether she was angry with him or not.
“Where’s Uncle Nick?” Baylee asked, growing extremely quiet. He may have only been three and a half, but the child was already extremely smart, especially when it came to picking up on the tension between the adults around him. He could easily sense the argument brewing between his parents and it always reflected badly on his own mood.
“Right up ahead,” Brian answered, sighing in relief when he noticed Nick’s black Escalade parked several hundred feet in front of him. ‘So for once the man is on time’ Brian thought inwardly, as he sped up ever so slightly, noticing the fairly decent sized boat belonging to Nick come into view inch by inch as they moved closer. “There’s Uncle Nick’s boat right there.”
“Look, mama! Uncle Nick’s gots big boat!”
“He sure does sweetheart,” Leighanne whispered, glancing dejectedly out the front passenger window, frowning in absolute disgust as she took in the vast size of the boat she was about to ship her husband off on. Although she couldn’t help but smile in humor at all of the much smaller boats parked on either side. To anybody, Leighanne could tell that Nick and his boat looked rather out of place, having parked at that very spot.
Brian directed the SUV to a smooth halt directly next to Nick’s Escalade, placing the gears into park before moving to exit from the vehicle. He quickly opened the back passenger door, working to unbuckle Baylee from his booster seat while the child begged excitedly to be let out. “Stop squirming buddy and I can get you out,” he laughed when Baylee fumbled with the buckles, attempting only to assist in the process, but with no such success. Baylee only ended up delaying his father from finishing the task.
“You sure Nick even knows how to drive that thing?” Leighanne questioned moments later as Brian was lowering their child to the gravel.
Brian glanced sideways at his wife, contemplating whether or not to even answer the question. “I think navigate would be a more correct term and yes, I’m sure he does,” he finally answered. He wanted to cringe, knowing they wouldn’t be sharing as sweet of a goodbye as he had hoped for. “You know Nick practically lives for the ocean. He’s had enough experience with boats. I…trust him.”
“And yet you hesitate when you say that,” Leighanne replied.
“UNCLE NICK!” Baylee’s voice pierced the warm Florida air as he took off running towards the boat that Nick had yet to appear from.
“Not too close, Baylee!” Leighanne yelled.
“He’s fine, Leigh. Let him go see,” Brian interrupted, leading his wife forward.
Leighanne with held a frustrated sigh, reluctantly following her husband a few steps forward, concentrating on the sound of the rough gravel crunching beneath the soles of their shoes. She quickly reached for Brian’s hand, squeezing it tightly in some hopes of salvaging a small chance of parting on a slightly positive note. She nearly paused though when Brian gripped her hand just as tightly, if not tighter. Leighanne turned her head, studying the sun brightened features upon her husband’s face. There was some peculiar emotion hidden within his handsome features, but what worried her worse was the fact that she couldn’t even begin to place a finger on it. Something or another was plaguing Brian’s mind, and no matter how much Brian was trying to hide it at that moment, Leighanne could see right through his façade. “Bri-”
“Ahoy there matey!” Nick screeched obnoxiously as he suddenly appeared onboard the deck of the well-built boat, proudly carrying Baylee atop his shoulders as the child giggled wildly while fiddling with the captain’s hat Nick had placed on the boy’s head. Nick moved forward to the edge of the thin railing trailing the entire perimeter of the boat and leaned forward an inch to peer at the wary appearing parents. “Seems I’ve found a sneaky little stow away on my ship. Tradition has it that we throw stow aways overboard and feed them to the sharks! What say ye, matey?!”
“No sharks, Uncle Nick!” Baylee squealed as Nick bounced the child up and down, throwing him into a worse fit of giggles.
“You take one step closer to that edge with my son and it will be YOU the sharks are eating for dinner!” Leighanne snipped, pulling away from Brian to step closer to the boat. She bit down on her bottom lip, nervously watching her young child interacting with Nick, who she saw as nothing more then an oversized child himself. She didn’t trust him to handle Baylee on his own, no matter how many times Brian had tried to convince her otherwise.
“Why if it isn’t my best friend’s wife whom I adore oh so very much!” Nick called back in reply with a obvious snort as he lowered Baylee to the deck.
“So what’s the occasion?” Brian quickly interrupted. He glanced in annoyance between his wife and friend, already seeing the storm brewing between the two. Knowing just how long they could spat at each other, often turning it into an argument marathon of the sorts, he worked to put a stop to it before it could even begin.
Nick arched his eyebrow, helping Baylee back onto the dock before hopping down himself. “Say what?”
“There’s gotta be some occasion, you being on time and all. So what is it?”
“Funny man. Contrary to Leighanne’s popular belief, I know how to be on time.”
“Could have fooled the best of us,” Leighanne muttered.
“Seems just about anything can fool you.”
“Uncle Nick!”
Nick glanced down at the child tugging hard on the hem of his khaki shorts. “’Sup there, Bay?”
“You’s gonna catch a big fish like my daddy?”
“Ha! Your daddy said he’s gonna catch a big fish?”
“Uh huh! The biggest one ever!”
“How big?”
Baylee spread his arms apart as wide as he could possibly get them to stretch. “Dis big!”
“How about you tell me more about this big fish while we go grab your daddy’s bags from the car, yeah?” Nick suggested, feeling the heat of Leighanne’s glare radiating off the skin of his face. He shuttered at the thought of such an icy glare, knowing he had his own collection of tainted daggers he would like to shoot in her direction. But he preferred not to stir up the fighting, knowing it would only tear the line between him and Brian once they finally departed. “Yo B, keys?”
Brian nodded slightly, fishing in his pants pocket for the set of keys before tossing them in Nick’s direction. He waited a few moments for the pair to walk away before turning towards his wife, ready to reprimand her for even attempting to start an argument, but stood taken aback when he finally took in the extent of deepened expression. “What’s wrong?” he questioned hesitantly, cringing at the ear piercing shriek of Baylee’s cries somewhere behind him. But he continued to focus his sole attention on Leighanne, knowing there was something she was trying to convey further then what she was allowing to show on the outside.
Leighanne looked away for a long minute, allowing an uncomfortable silence to settle over the two. “I don’t have a good idea about this…” she finally answered quietly, wrapping her arms around her waist.
“I don’t get what you’re saying, babe…” Brian trailed. “What don’t-”
“This,” Leighanne whispered sharply, pointing back towards the boat that loomed behind them. Her hand trembled as she brought it up to run it through her loose locks of golden hair.
“Baby, you’re shaking.”
“I…”
“Leigh, sweetheart, what’s-”
“Brian, you don’t have to go. I know you already told him yes-”
Brian frowned. “I’m not going to start this again.”
“I know you already told him yes,” Leighanne continued, stressing each word individually as she stepped closer to her husband. Her bright orbs reflected the glare of the blaring sun, sending an almost eerie shadow of her face. “Brian, I don’t have a good feeling about this at all. This trip…I don’t feel right about it.”
“Of course you don’t feel right about it. You’ve made that perfectly clear since I brought it up to you.”
“That’s not what I’m saying.”
“Ok, then what is it that you are saying?”
“I’m worried, Brian. I know you trust Nick, and that’s your decision, but this isn’t some little spin around the ocean venture he’s asking you to go on.”
Brian sighed, pulling Leighanne to his chest. “You’re worrying about nothing,” he spoke with a soft, not threatening laugh.
“I’m being serious!”
“Baby, I know that. I wasn’t implying you weren’t being serious. But you shouldn’t worry. Everything’s under control, I promise. Nick may act like a complete idiot most of the time, but when it comes to boating, surprisingly enough, he’s pretty smart. Besides, I don’t trust him to make this trip alone.”
“I just don’t see why it’s gotta be you he has to drag along.”
“There are some things about Nick nobody will ever understand,” Brian joked. He leaned back just enough to make room for a feathery kiss to Leighanne’s forehead, hoping only to calm her hidden fears. “Trust me. You have nothing to worry about-”
“Not a worry there, Leigh!” Nick called out in agreement. The two glanced to see Nick and Baylee heading back in their direction, Nick with the duffle bag slung lazily over his shoulder and Baylee struggling to keep his father’s back pack from dragging along the gravel. “This baby is loaded with the latest technology in navigation and communication. We’ll be in constant contact with the National Guard and we’ll be getting up to date weather reports every hour on the hour. So your itty bitty lil’ Bwian will be perfectly safe out there on the middle of the big blue!”
Leighanne stared at Nick for a moment in contemplation of his remark. “Has anyone ever told you that you are a smartass?”
“Well, as a matter of fact, yes. You tell me every time I see you. But the way I look at it is that it is better to be a smartass then a dumbass,” Nick snickered, smirking as he turned away and led Baylee back towards the boat to dispose of Brian’s small collection of luggage.
“Just let it go,” Brian immediately said, wrapping his arms tightly around his wife’s thin frame.
“You don’t have to do this,” Leighanne whispered, but her voice was more so muffled by the material of Brian’s t-shirt.
“I do have to do this because I already committed myself to it. Just stop worrying. There’s nothing to be worried about. Trust me on this, ok? Would I ever lie to you?”
“For your own well being, I would hope not.”
“If I should take that as my wife threatening me, then rest assured that I would never lie to you.”
“Brian Thomas, you better promise me.”
“I promise.”
“Baylee is really going to miss you, you know?”
“What about you?”
“I’m going to be missing you more then anything.”
“Know I’ll be missing you more then.”
“I would hope so.”
Brian smiled, reaching up to press his lips against Leighanne’s to capture the moment. “You’re going to be ok?”
“Me? I’ll be fine,” Leighanne nodded.
“And then I made the good guy kick the bad guy in the butts with the Ti-kwon-cow! He went boom all the way off the cliff and pow!” Baylee explained with a burst of his own childish energy, dragging Nick from the confines of the boat and back along the dock to be reunited with his parents. “And I won da game, Uncle Nick! Gots all the points!”
Brian launched his son into his arms, twirling him in a wild circle. He grinned as Baylee grabbed onto his neck with a giggle, hating even worse knowing that he would have to say goodbye in just a few short moments. “Can Daddy walk you and Mommy back over to the car before he leaves?”
“Duh!”
“I’ll just uh…yeah. I’ll be over here untying the ropes,” Nick stated awkwardly.
“You have to go bye bye?” Baylee questioned wearily a minute later when Brian buckled him back into his booster seat.
“Yeah, buddy. But it’s only for a couple of weeks. And I want you to be a good little man for Mommy. Be a good boy and do what she says, ok?”
“Otay…can’t go wid you?”
“I’m afraid not, ace. But I promise to catch that big fish, just for you.”
“Bigger then Uncle Nick fish?”
“Much bigger then Uncle Nick’s fish.”
“Cool!”
Brian stood back, ruffling his son’s short spikes then shut the door with the utmost unwillingness. He smiled before sidestepping to the driver’s door where Leighanne was already waiting inside with the window rolled down. His wife stared directly ahead, hands folded in her lap. “I tell you what,” Brian began, resting his arms on the edge of the door. “Give the fellas and I a couple of weeks to get settled and get some work done, then I’ll fly you and Baylee out for a while.”
“Brian, you don’t have to do that…”
“I want to. So do we have a deal?”
“I should guess so.”
“Great. Then I’ll see you both in a couple weeks.”
“Just be careful.”
“Always. You know I love you right?”
“I love you too.”
Brian leaned through the window, pulling Leighanne to him for one last kiss. “I’ll call you when I can,” he whispered before stepping back and watching his wife rev the ignition and pull away from where he stood. He waved towards his son who peered out the back window until the SUV had pulled out of sight, leaving only a thin cloud of dust behind. Brian sighed, shaking his head and stuffing his hands into his pants pockets.
“If I didn’t know any better…I’d say Leighanne hates me,” Nick snorted, coming up to stand beside Brian.
Brian glanced at his friend. “You think?”
