My Wreckage

Chapter 5: My 1st Gift to Him (Scarlett)

Scarlett

(Past)

Stepdad was being an a*s today. I wanted to tell him to f**k off and remind him that he wasn't my father, but this time I bit my tongue. I was just not in the mood for another lecture from my mother about me not wanting her to be happy and how ungrateful I am. She wasn't happy she was lonely. Big difference. I hated how people think they could only be complete when they are in a relationship and will do anything, even put off their kids to be 'happy'.

So once again work became my escape, though I was counting down the days. I was tempted to go to early enrollment, but I wanted to save up a little money first.

I was happy anyway. My package came in the mail. Troy lied. He didn't take that rod out of my paycheck, but I still felt obligated to replace it. I didn't know that it would take me nearly an entire paycheck to replace it. I had almost got the cheaper pole, but I decided to replace the exact one. I couldn't wait to see his face. I had never spent so much on a guy that I wasn't related to, so I just hoped he liked it.

Nick pulled the door open for me. "Hey babe, you need help with that?"

"No." I smiled tugging the package under my arm, "Where's Troy."

Nick c****d his head tossing his blond hair. "In his office."

I gave Nick a friendly smile as I strolled toward the back of the building. I couldn't help but think about the conversation I'd eavesdropped in with Leona. For the past few weeks, I had been working, I had heard heated conversations with Leona, but no visits, not even with his son. From what I gathered, he had really missed him and was going to file for custody if he didn't at least get some kind of visitation. I would have thought that kind of frustration would turn a guy into an asshole of a boss.

I've had bosses deal with less that would make everyone's life a living hell. I guessed when you could just go out a enjoy the ocean after a heated argument, stress didn't consume you like it did in the city.

Troy was on the phone when I walked in but from the sound of it, he was placing some orders. He looked relaxed leaning back in his tattered leather chair. I took it he was really sentimental because everything in his office looked ancient.

As he looked up at me he held up a finger. I nodded at his gesture to wait. I took the time to study the pictures on the wall. Like the short dark-haired boy in over-alls playing on the beach. Then tons of baby pictures. Then pictures with him only younger. There was one that caught me. He was holding a trophy and wearing a football uniform. He was cheek to cheek with a dark-haired lady. She had the same deep blue eyes and mouth structure that made the same warm smile. My own mouth curved absent-mindedly. She looked old but despite was stunning, almost like an old movie star.

Then I noticed a picture of the same woman, a young Troy, and from the looks of it a kid version of Zeke. I noticed a lighthouse in the background. I had noticed it in the skyline walking into work, but in the picture, they were standing close to it. I secretly wanted to see it in person. I thought lighthouses were beautiful and this one was no exception. It had a red striped that wrapped around it making it look like a big candy cane.

"Beautiful is she?"

I jerked noticing Trow in close range. Again the personal space, but now it didn't bother me so much. "Your mom?"

"Yeah." He smiled revealing a dimple in his stubble, "That's mom."

There was a strain in his voice that made me want to ask if she was still living, but I decided not to. Troy and I had only opened up that day on the boat. He didn't know about the issues I was having at home and I wanted to keep it that way, so even though I considered him a friend I didn't try to pry. I knew enough to know that under all of that womanizing flirtation, he was a decent person that just wanted to see his son and that treated everyone in town like family.

"You're here early."

I turned and pushed the box toward him. "Yeah, well I wanted to give you this."

He strolled over to his desk and opened the box and then gave it back to me. "I'm sorry. I'm not accepting this."

I shrugged shoving my hands in my tight jean pockets. "It's no big, and I ordered it from online so it's going to be hell trying to send it back. Besides I want you to have it."

His lips thinned. "Look, I appreciate the gesture..."

"Consider it a gift," I said. He was sentimental, he could appreciate a gift right?

He pushed his lips together and finally blew out a breath, "I'll tell you what? This is still your pole, I'll keep it on my boat, and teach you how to use it."

"Seriously?" I shook my head. "Don't you know how to accept a gift?"

"It's an expensive gift that I act accept."

I flicked my gaze upward and sagged. "You said it was your favorite one."

The corner of his mouth quirked. "Thank you for the thought, but I could replace it if I wanted it. Hell, I would have dove in the water if I needed it that bad."

I bit my lip. I didn't want to send it back, my only option was to take door number two, and keep it on his boat and learn to fish with that overpriced thing. "Alright fine," I said, "Teach me how to catch the catch of the day."

His face lit up. "Great." He c****d his head.

"I thought I was opening the restaurant."

"Britt and Tiff can handle it." He tugged my arm and then handed me the box.

I let out a frustrated laugh. "It must be nice."

"What?"

"To be able to kick back and fish all day." I trotted after him.

"Hey." He said, "This is work. I like to make everything fresh. Besides if you're saying I don't work hard, you've got me all wrong."

"Yeah, I'm sure drinking beer and fishing all day is excruciating."

He let out a light chuckle. "I resent that. There is nothing wrong with loving what you do." He stepped into the boat and reached out his hand for me. "You hope that one day you can go to work and it doesn't feel like work."

Truthfully, working at the restaurant didn't feel too much like work. I just hung out with friends and served them breakfast and sometimes lunch. It sounded kind of pathetic.

"Alright, first lesson," He said, "Never let go of the pole."

I rolled my eyes. It took me a few tries but I had learned to cast and by lunch, we were sitting on a couple of lounge chairs. Troy even had a walkie talkie to call Heather to bring our lunch out.

"I'm getting paid for this right?" I looked up at him as he ate his chicken club.

"Only if you catch something."

My eyes widened.

He laughed. "Of course, you're getting paid."

"Are you always this stubborn about gifts," I asked as a bit into my tuna sandwich,

He shrugged. "I guess I don't ever feel like I need anything I can't buy."

I sighed, "Must be nice."

He chuckled. "You say that a lot."

"You are like the poster child for retirement."

His eyebrows furrowed. "I'm nowhere near retirement."

"I'm surprised you don't have a mini television to watch the football game." I laughed.

"It's in the cabin. Football season isn't for a couple of months, then you'll have to give your spot up to Nick."

"He can have it." I said, "I'll be in college anyway."

"Just breezing out huh?"

I took a sip of my cream soda and shrugged. "What can I say. I want to do things with my life. I can't just be still."

His eyes drifted off as he nodded. "People aren't meant to be still."

"Well, you have a thriving business."

He chuckled. "Thriving, I don't know."

My eyes fell to the floor of the deck. "Did you ever want to do anything else?"

He shrugged. "I'm happy here." He said, "I don't want to be anywhere else, but I guess I wonder..." He took a sip of his beer, "It's like meeting your soul mate in high school. You know she's the one, you know you'll never love another, but there's always that part of you..."

"That wonders if it's really it." I finished. I had never dated but I understood, "I think about that too. Like you achieve everything you set out to achieve, and then what happens after that? You know?"

He looked at me through narrow sincere eyes. "Exactly."

"I don't know what I want to do with my life. I just know I want more than this." I confessed, "I'm just scared I'm going to get knocked up and stuck somewhere I don't want to be, or with someone that doesn't give a s**t about me. Or being stuck in a life I never wanted. "

His lip twitched. "You're afraid if you don't move life will happen, and you won't have control."

"Exactly."

"I used to feel the same way." He leaned back in his lodge chair.

His eyes fell again. "You're afraid to be that person when ten years go by and you wonder what you did with your life."

Then I looked at him. Was he calling himself a failure? From where I was looking he was living the dream. Then I thought about what I said about capturing the dream. Maybe he didn't know what to do next. "You ever thought about expanding?"

He chuckled.

"I mean, I don't know you have a stage, why not make it a little teen club at night." I suggested, "Or turn this place into a chain."

"All really good ideas." He smirked, "You're really smart you know that?"

He was changing the subject but I couldn't say that I didn't appreciate the compliment. "I'm just saying you can teach an old dog new tricks. I mean, you can always revamp this place."

"You don't like my place?"

I giggled. "I like it." I shrugged, "A little change never hurt anything though. Everything is so old a dusty."

"Including him huh?" He smirked.

I giggled again, "You said it not me."

"I think you're onto something." He said taking a sip of his beer.

I thought it was the coolest thing in the world that Troy and I just got each other. I like that he listened to me. I wasn't just a kid or a girl. Not like my mother's husband, or even my mother. I started not to regret that rod so much, it gave us a chance to hang out for a talk. Troy was always so easy to talk to. In a lot of ways, he was my best friend.