Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 79190 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79190 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
“Yes, Mother.” He sighed dramatically. He kissed her cheek and asked if there was anything she needed him to do. She sent him to retrieve the newspaper and make sure his brothers were awake. Pearl added “nicely” to her statement and warned Dune not to do anything to anger his siblings. Dune loved and hated being the oldest. A lot fell on his shoulders, and while he loved running the family business, sometimes he wished he could sleep in and not have to worry about things so much.
After breakfast, Dune headed to the docks. The Blue Lobster Adventures cabana was open with Ana working the counter, booking trips for the lengthy line of people. Dune greeted everyone as he passed by and found that most of them were visiting.
This morning, the first trip out was whale watching. While this wasn’t always the ideal time, Dune always had luck spotting a whale or two before the harbor got busy. There would be another tour just before dusk, which usually yielded some positive results.
Thankfully, it’d been unseasonably warm for New England and the water temperature was favorable for whale watching. There was one year, when winter lasted long after the groundhog said it would, and the cold weather in June and July really hurt business. No one wanted to be on the water so to make money, Dune started running a water-taxi service. This, of course, turned into a full-time business because no one knew they needed a water taxi service until Dune started one.
Speed and Wilson, Dune’s best friends, worked for Blue Lobster Adventures and had since they were teenagers, were already at work. Each morning, they cleaned, gassed up, and made sure the vessels were ready to transport twenty or thirty people out into the middle of the ocean, depending on the tour. Life jackets were counted, stacked, and at the ready. To date, none of the Blue Lobster boats had to use their life preservers, call for an SOS, or return to the harbor because of mechanical failure. Dune counted his lucky stars every single day.
“Yo, Captain Blue Balls,” Speed said when Dune stepped onto the boat. He smiled at his nickname and nodded toward his mate. The name came about after one too many summertime hook-ups. Dune couldn’t recall whose idea it was to hand out new monikers, but they’d all stuck. His was by far the worst. Speed, whose real name was Spencer, had a penchant for going a bit too fast, whether it was in his car, his boat, or on a Jet Ski.
“Where’s Wilson? I thought I saw him a moment ago.” Their other friend was Arthur Eugene Wilson III. He hated his full name but didn’t shy away from buying everything with the Wilson name or logo on it.
“He ran to the boathouse to grab a few things. He’ll be right back. Did you see the line out front? It’s early in the season.”
“We can thank the weather,” Dune said as he fired up the engine. “If it stays like this, we’ll have a record season.”
“We should book a trip with the party barge. Turn it into a tiki bar. I’m sure Ana could get some lights strung, add some fake grass, and stock the bar.”
“Are you bartending?” Dune asked Speed.
He shrugged. “Sure, why not? It’d be fun.”
“What would be fun?” Wilson asked when he boarded the boat. “Hey, did you see the line?”
“Yeah,” Dune said. “Speed wants to turn the party barge into a tiki bar.”
“That’s a great idea. Seats would sell out in seconds.”
They had a point. Dune wrote the idea down on a piece of paper near the wheel so he wouldn’t forget. Even so, he was likely to forget, regardless.
“Anyway, back to the line. Money’s coming,” Wilson said as he nodded toward the line of people gathered at the gate.
Dune and Speed looked up.
“Shit,” Speed muttered.
“If that isn’t rich, I don’t know what is,” Dune added.
Randy, one of the high school deckhands led the group of people toward the boat. He helped each one step onto the craft where the guys greeted them. When the last person stepped on, she looked as out of place as possible.
She was the money; the one Wilson saw in the line. With her wide-brimmed hat and oversized Prada sunglasses, she screamed dollar signs which gave Dune an uneasy feeling in his gut. She wore a coral-colored dress or kaftan as he had heard his mother call the dresses she owned, with a scarf around her neck. Her long blonde hair hung down her back, and despite the breeze, it barely moved. For some reason, Dune looked at her left hand and sighed happily when he didn’t see a ring there. Her right hand, however, sported a large diamond and he felt a bit of jealousy against the person who had slipped it onto her finger. And on her wrist, a chunky gold bracelet that looked like it weighed a ton.