“Not like that,” Mike said. “Like I said, sometimes I do classified stuff. That room has some of that stuff in it. That’s why I keep it locked. Also has my weight gear. Do you mind if I take off my shirt?”
“Changing the subject?” Courtney asked, smiling. “Go ahead.”
“The scars make people comment, so I generally keep it on when I’m in dock,” he said, setting the autosteer for a second and stripping out of the T-shirt. “But I like to keep it off when I’m out.”
“Nice bathroom,” Pam said, coming topside. “Wow, you really are scarred up, aren’t you?”
“See?” Mike said, shaking his head. “Yeah.”
“That’s some major damage,” Courtney said, running her finger over a suture mark in his side. “Like, I’m surprised you lived.”
“Nursing student?” Mike asked.
“Pre-med,” Courtney said shortly.
“Well, the doctors told me they spent about ten hours with their hands in various parts of me,” Mike admitted. “And about half of my insides are now plastic. Wonder of modern medicine, that’s me.”
“You want to go sun?” Pam asked Courtney.
“I’m going to sit and talk with Mike. Maybe later.”
“We can actually do both,” Mike said as Pam made her way forward. “Up on the tuna tower. And you can see more.”
“Uh, it’s kind of high,” Courtney said.
“You’ll hardly notice,” Mike replied. “Let me get out of the channel, first, though. And there’s more motion up there.”
“It’s pretty smooth so far,” Courtney said.
“Well,” Mike said, spinning the wheel and engaging the bow thrusters to make the final turn, “that’s because the bar we’re about to go through is breaking the waves. It’s pretty calm today, inshore, which is where we’re going to be most of the time, it’s only a foot. Offshore it’s two feet and glassy. That’s good conditions. Very good. We’ll rock up there,” he said, gesturing up. “But it’s fun.”
They passed through the final turn and he powered up, the nose of the cruiser rising and riding easily across the small swells.
“Now this is more like it,” Courtney said, grinning.
“Look,” Mike said, pointing off to the left. “Dolphin.”
“Where?” Courtney asked, standing up and shading her eyes.
“Look for a fin at about ten o’clock,” Mike said, keeping his eye in the direction and on close boats. “There.”
“Oh, cool,” Courtney said. “Pam! There’s a dolphin off on the left!”
“Port,” Mike automatically corrected.
“What is it with sailors and all this port and starboard stuff?” Courtney asked, watching the dolphins. “There’s three of them.”
“Two females and a juvenile,” Mike said, nodding. “You can tell the young one because its fin is smaller.”
“Can we swim with them?” Courtney asked. “They’re going away.”
“Most dolphins won’t swim with people,” Mike said. “Sometimes you can slide over the side and get them to look you over. But there are very few that actively enjoy swimming with humans. Come on up on the tuna tower,” he said, setting the autosteer. “You’ll enjoy it.”
“I need a bathing suit,” Courtney said, temporizing.
“And sunscreen,” Mike said.
“I’ve got a pretty good tan,” Courtney replied.
“Trust me,” Mike replied. “Up there you’ll want at least fifteen SPF. Twenty-five would be better.”
“Somebody will have to do my back,” she said coyly.
“Twist my arm and we’ll discuss it,” Mike said, grinning.
He made his way up to the tuna tower and checked the controls. The autosteer had been set to run towards a break in the outer reefs, He leaned back and propped up his feet, reclining the chair and trying not to grin from ear to ear. After a second, though, he leaned forward and looked down at Pam.
“Pam!”
The girl sat up and looked around, confused.
“Up here,” Mike said, smiling. “Did you put on sunscreen?”
“I put on tanning oil,” she said, turning around and looking up at him. “Like the view?”
“Love it,” Mike said, grinning. She had an exceptionally nice chest and the legs were outstanding. “I’d strongly advise more than tanning oil. But it’s up to you.”
“I want a tan when I get back,” Pam said, shrugging.
“Okay,” Mike said, sitting down. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” he muttered.
“This is cool,” Courtney said, coming up the ladder. “But a bit…”
Mike helped her up the last few feet and into the chair next to his.
“I love it up here,” he said, sitting up. “More dolphins, way off to port, forward. And you see those,” he said, pointing to some circles to the right. “That’s bait fish feeding on the surface.”
“Wow!” Courtney said, pointing forward as a small finny shape jumped out of the water and tail walked off to the left. “Flying fish!”
“They’re pretty rare inshore,” Mike said. “But you see a lot of them out in the Stream.”
“The Gulf Stream,” Courtney said, nodding. “That I’ve heard of.”
“That’s where you get the pelagics,” he said, pointing down to port. “There, you see that flashing. Those are the bait fish.”
“Something just jumped over there,” Courtney said, pointing off to port.
“Probably mullet,” Mike said, shrugging. “They jump a lot. Nobody knows why.”
“Where are we going?” Courtney asked, looking around.
“There’s a shallow reef,” Mike said, pointing at the GPS. “You can’t see it very well on this little bitty screen. It’s not all that shallow, unfortunately, with the current tide you’re talking six or seven feet. But it’s pretty and you can dance to it…”
“What?” Courtney asked.
“What was that show?” Mike asked. “Soul Train? One of the judges was always saying ‘it has a nice beat and you can dance to it.’ I guess it’s a generational thing.”
“Okay,” Courtney said with a laugh. “Whatever.”
“Anyway, we’ll hook up there,” Mike said, “and you can try your hand at snorkeling.”
“Hook up?” Courtney said, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah, there’s a buoy you hook up to rather than anchor,” Mike said, looking at her. “Why?”
“Uh…” Courtney paused and shrugged. “It’s a generational thing. Hook up is… well it’s one way of saying you’re sort of… dating…”
“Or having sex?” Mike asked, grinning.
“Maybe,” Courtney said, shrugging. “Hooking up just means you’re… together for a while. Maybe sex, maybe just making out, maybe just dating and none of the above. Generally at least making out is involved.”
“Like going steady?” Mike asked.
“Not exactly,” Courtney said, shrugging again. “God, I haven’t heard anyone use that term since high school.”
“Last time I heard it, too,” Mike admitted. “But hooking up is a new one on me. Except for buoys.”
“I wouldn’t have picked you for going both ways,” Courtney said, blank faced. “But, then again, you were a sailor, right?”
“Did you just make a joke?” Mike asked, grinning.
“What? I can’t joke?” Courtney asked, smiling.
“Joke all you want,” Mike said. “As long as they’re not farmer’s-daughter jokes.”
The reef only had one other boat on it, a snorkel trip boat that was already starting to recover its group of dentists from Cleveland or whatever. Mike turned downwind, then lined up on the buoy and leaned over the tuna tower.