I don't know if it was the prospect of seeing Kaia, or just a run of good luck, but everything was going so damned well in my life. Connor had been in a great mood because I got him into a local daycare and he'd been meeting all kinds of fun kids. For all the reservations I'd had about the situation at work, it was going smoothly and I was shocked. It also meant that I'd completely changed my opinion of Dan. Where once I thought he was the second best project manager there, now I knew he was a fucking moron.

He'd turned over five projects to me, and three of them were already done because I actually talked to his team. It turned out one was just a holdup with a software vendor that was a quick fix, one was because some material was backordered and we got it from a different supplier, and one was a simple issue of a contractor not understanding the requirements. Once that was fixed, all three projects were done, and we were submitting them to billing.

With the extra time we now had on the team, I made sure that everyone took two days off to get some training in on some of the spots they wanted to improve, and they were happy to get some time to work on their skills and training instead of being told to do it in their free time. In the meantime, Gina and I got to work on the last two projects, getting things sorted out and underway so they could both be closed out on time. Once those were complete, we could get onto the one we really wanted!

As for Kaia and I, we had our second date on Thursday and I took her to Superblue Miami, a giant immersive art experience with some amazing digital, kinetic and extrasensory light exhibits that you walk through as some of them are even on the floor. I'd been looking to go for a while now but had nobody to go with. Now that I was with Kaia, I did.

But for Saturday, I wanted to do something a little more romantic. I'd never been alone with her, just the two of us, and I wanted to do that. I talked to Captain Burns, and their charter was due to come in at 4pm, and I'd be there waiting for them. The most extravagant gift I'd ever received was my cabin cruiser. I don't count the house, because that was bought for Kate, but my father in law seemed to think that every man in the family should own a boat. So, when he bought Kate her Ferrari, he bought me a Bavaria Sport 330 Open. It was a beautiful boat, but nothing gigantic. Had Kate any interest in it, we could have had a lot of fun family trips on it to ski or something. But she'd never stepped foot on it once it was in the water at the marina. Instead, Connor and I took it out a few times to go have some fun. It was hard, just the two of us, because I felt scared trying to drive and keep an eye on him at the same time, so it didn't get used as much as I would have liked.

Today, I was tied up at the pier near where the Twin Star berthed, waiting for them while chatting with Hayden, who would be taking out Heather as well. Yes, we had talked multiple times throughout the week, and I'd forgiven her easily. It had hurt at the time, but I couldn't make my friend beg for forgiveness. She and Heather had been seeing a lot of each other too, and I really hoped the two of them were as serious as Kaia and I were. I still didn't know much about Heather other than she was Kaia's best friend, but I had little doubt that we'd have a double date at some point in the future and we'd have a chance to talk at that point.

But in the meantime, I had a great date lined up with Kaia alone, even if Hayden was a little jealous. "You'll let me borrow the boat, right? Some day?" she begged.

"Do you know how to drive a boat? Or find your way back to the marina?" I asked.

"Not yet! But you could give me lessons!"

"Ok. How about next Saturday we can take Connor out on the boat while the girls are working, and you can get a lesson, okay?" I suggested. I hadn't even finished talking and she was jumping around on the deck happily.

"Yes! I'm down for that!"

"You're nuts, you know that right?"

"For Heather I am, yeah. Fuck is that girl amazing! I can't thank you and Kaia enough, I swear that girl is nothing like I've ever met." Hayden just sat back on the boat and smiled dreamingly while staring out towards the channel. "Oh! There they are!"

Sure enough, the Twin Stars was approaching now, making its way carefully into the berth, with what looked like four customers. Strangely, both Heather and Kaia were in the cockpit with Captain Burns, which worried me. I jumped onto the dock, making my way over to their berth to help get them tied up. The quicker they were done, the quicker I could take Kaia out for a nice night.

"Come on! Just one night! We can make it worth your while!" One of the men was begging the girls as the boat finally idled at the dock. Both girls saw us and smiled, then jumped over the gunwale to the dock, making sure to keep Hayden and I between them and the men.

"Sorry, they don't want to take no for an answer," Kaia whispered as she pulled in the front rope. "They think we're for hire."

The four men clomped onto the deck with their fish, casting an eye over me before they gazed at all the girls, including a scowling Hayden now. "$1500! Final offer!" one of them called over.

I stepped forward, looking down at them. "How many times do they have to say no before you stop asking?"

"Hey, we just want a good time!"

"And you just did. You got to spend the whole day fishing. Now why don't you head on out of here or your evening won't be nearly as pleasant," I warned him. I hadn't been in a fight since I broke up a drunken brawl in college, but I'd been known to be in quite a few scrapes in the past, and I wouldn't hesitate to toss all four of these assholes into the harbor.

Captain Burns stepped up next to them with a baseball bat. "I told you fuckers not two hours ago to stop with that talk. Trust me when I say that every charter captain up and down the coast will hear about your four, so I wish you luck coming back to fish."

"You heard him," I pointed out. "Leave."

The foursome looked between us, and the fuming Hayden, and started muttering to themselves before stomping up the pier. I kept an eye on them until they disappeared up beyond the top of the pier, just because I didn't trust them to not return. Heather was already wrapped up in Hayden's arms, and Kaia was leaning into me gently, her head resting on my chest. I wrapped my arms softly around her, not wanting to squeeze. We really had taken it slow, only having a hug after the first date, and a kiss on the cheek after the second. I didn't want her to feel any pressure about intimacy at all, so I was fine moving at her pace.

"Are you alright?" I whispered down to her as the captain finished tying up the boat.

"Yeah, just annoyed. We've dealt with this kind of stuff before, but none of them were quite that aggressive."

"Do you think we should stick around for a bit to make sure they are gone?"

"I think being on the boat is fine, but we should walk Heather and Hayden to their car." Her voice held enough worry in it that I couldn't help but agree.

That is exactly what we did, borrowing the baseball bat just in case. Hayden and Heather were glad for the escort, but it turned out to be for naught, as the men were all gone thankfully. I wasn't sure where the girls were off to, but their body language made me think there would be a heavy make out session involved.

With that taken care of, we headed back to the Twin Stars and gave the bat back to Heather's dad before hopping aboard my boat, which I'd called the Con-Man of course. "Welcome aboard! Do you mind a few more hours out in the water?"

"No, that sounds perfect if I'm not working!" Kaia let out a deep breath and sat back on the dining seats just aft of the captain's chair. "This is a gorgeous boat!"

"Well, it is, but I think I'm going to be selling it once the divorce is over. It was a gift, and I don't think I need any ties to the past. I'd rather start over," I explained.

"She liked the boat then?"

"Nope, she was never on here," I admitted.

"So, is there really a tie to the past then? Couldn't we make some new memories?" she wondered.

I thought about the night I had planned, and what I'd hoped to share with Kaia and realized she was exactly right. It may have been a gift from my father in law, but I never had anything but respect for him. With Kate never caring about the boat, it truly was perfect for making new memories, starting tonight with Kaia.

I looked over at her as she reclined in her bikini top and short cutoffs and couldn't imagine any better way to start the night. "Would you like to go make some memories with me then?"

Her piercing blue eyes met mins as her face broke into a wide smile, dimples showing up and letting me remember the first time I ever laid eyes on her. "Yes, I'd like that very much!"

I nodded, then fired up the engine. We had 90 minutes to be where I wanted to be at 6pm, and that was a perfect amount of time to squeeze in a little swimming off the rear deck too. "Then let's go!"