“I’ll let you know after a few months of owning this place.” She tied her hoodie around her waist and fixed the tendrils of hair that had fallen from her ponytail. Griff slowed the boat as they approached the spot he was looking for. From below he could hear Brett telling the passengers to look out for more whales – blue ones this time.
“Do you plan on staying here permanently?” he asked her.
“In Angel Sands?” She tipped her head to the side. “I’m not sure. I have a few decisions to make, and I’m hoping being here can give me some clarity.”
He opened his mouth to ask what kind of decisions, then closed it again. It was none of his damn business. One of the passengers shouted when they spotted a blow hole, and Brett radioed up to the wheelhouse, asking Griff to cut the engines for a moment.
“That’s a blue whale up ahead,” he said softly to Autumn. “You might want to go down and look.”
“Are you coming?”
“No, I’ll stay here and watch.”
“Then I’ll stay here, too.”
It was stupid how much those few words warmed him.
“Oh my god, is that it?” Autumn said, leaning forward until her nose was practically touching the glass in front of them. “Is that the blue whale blowing water up?”
He bit down a grin at her enthusiasm. His hands tingled with the need to touch her. “Yeah. You see how straight and high the water is going?” he said, pointing. “And if you look on its back, you can see a really small dorsal fin. That and the color of the skin makes it different to the fin whale we saw earlier.”
She looked over her shoulder at him, her lips parted. “You know a lot about them, don’t you.”
He shrugged. “It’s my job.”
“It’s huge,” she whispered as the whale dove below the surface, its tail flipping into the air before disappearing. She lifted her hand to her hair, and he automatically glanced at her ring finger. It was empty. He filed that away with other things he wouldn’t be telling Jackson.
“Do you get many returning passengers?” she asked him.
“Some come out a few times while they’re on vacation. Others return year after year. But most of our passengers are a one time shot. People who get tired of sitting on the beach all day, or hiking in the hills.”
“How about off season? What’s your income stream then?”
His lips twitched. They were back to the questions. “We do executive charters, school trips, that kind of thing. And we try to maximize the in-season income to ride out the downtime. Expenses drop in off season, too. The students are seasonal workers, and Mike takes on other jobs. Plus I only use fuel when I take out the boat.”
“But the pier rental has to be paid.”
“Yep.”
“So if it went up things would get tight in the winter?” she asked, glancing at him from the corner of her eye.
“Yeah, but everything’s tight in the winter. We’ve always survived.”
“Have you thought about diversifying?” she asked him. “You could run evening cruises. Offer dinner and dancing or something?”
“Have you seen the galley?” he asked her. “It fits one person in at a squeeze. You couldn’t cater for people on there.”
“You could get Delmonico’s to cater.”
“And have them accuse me of stealing their customers?” Carla would be on him like a screaming banshee. He shuddered at the thought. “I’m thinking that might not work.”
“When was the last time you raised your prices?” she asked, changing tack.
He lifted an eyebrow. “Are you worried about me being able to pay the rent? Because it gets paid on time every month.”
She blinked. “I’m sorry. I just…” She took a deep breath. “I know I’m an outsider and I’m a woman, which is a double cross in the box. But I understand business and I want this to work for us all.” She shook her head. “I came on too strong.”
He immediately felt like an ass. “No, you didn’t. I reacted badly. I’m sorry.”