I finished my sandwich while he nodded and made various grunts and noises.
“I’ll be there as soon as I can,” he said and ended the call.
“Gotta get back to work?” I asked.
“No, not exactly. We’ve got a dead duck out in the water. They want me to chopper out there and see if I can get it running before they have to call a tug.”
“How far out are they?”
“I’m not sure. They were going to send the chopper to pick me up.”
“I can take you out on the boat,” I offered.
He laughed and shook his head. “I think the chopper will be faster and more sanitary.”
“Is it one of mine?” I asked.
He nodded. “Yep. She’s only been in service for a couple of months. I’m sure it will be an easy fix.”
“I’ll go with you,” I offered.
“You must be bored,” he joked.
“It’s one of mine,” I said, being very serious. “I need to know if there is an issue.”
“I doubt it is anything you did in the design. It is probably something stupid like they didn’t plug something in or some shit.”
I wiped my mouth, grabbed my wallet, and dropped a hundred-dollar bill on the table. “Let’s go.”
My reputation was everything. I refused to have rumors spread about my shitty designs or subpar ships. It only took one poorly designed ship to sink my business. While I would still be okay financially, I refused to take the hit to my reputation. My reputation was everything. My reputation was a million times more important than the money in the bank.
There were a lot of people who would love to see me fail. I refused to fail. I refused to let them see me crash and burn and live up to what they thought would happen. My success was fueled by my need to prove everyone else wrong.
“They will be at the plant,” he said as we walked to our cars.
“I’ll follow you over there. Let them know you’ll have a plus one.”
He laughed. “Glad I can return the favor.”
I was too irritated with the idea my designs had failed to laugh. I was already going through the potential causes in my head. I had no information to go on, but I knew what the likely suspects were. I prayed it was manufacturer or user error. If it was something I did, I would be very pissed at myself.
Thirty minutes later, we were in the air and flying out to the ship that was stuck out in open water. They had only left the dock a few hours ago. That told me it had to be a failure of some kind. I brought along my iPad with access to the file containing the design specs, including the engine specs. Charlie built them from what I designed. He knew them just as well as I did, but he knew the way it sounded and how it looked when it was all put together.
The helicopter landed on the massive deck. Charlie and I climbed out and made our way over to the ship’s captain. He led us into the engine room and quickly told us what was going on.
“We’ll get you back up and running in no time,” Charlie told him.
“I have no doubt in my mind you will. I need to go up and check on things.”
Charlie and I were left alone to diagnose the engine trouble. He was running through his list of diagnostics, but I could see the problem almost immediately. I checked the specs against what I had on my iPad and determined it to be the issue. It took less than five minutes to right the wrongs with me directing Charlie on how to fix it.
“Damn,” he shouted over the sound of the humming engine. “You are good.”
I shrugged. “I can be.”
We left the noise of the engine room and set out to find the captain. He was already barking orders to his crew, making ready to get back on course.
“Thank you,” he said, shaking my hand. “I have to say, when I made the call, I wasn’t expecting the damn engineer to show up. You’re a lifesaver.”
“It’s no problem,” I told him. “Charlie is the guy who fixed it. He’s good at what he does.”
Charlie was more than happy to accept credit for a job well done.
The captain shook his hand. “Thank you,” he said. “You really saved my ass.”
“Not a problem at all,” Charlie answered. “Happy to help. You shouldn’t have any more problems.”
“If I do, I’m calling you two,” he joked.
“Please do,” I replied. “I take my ships very seriously. I want to know if there is an issue.”
“These puppies sail like a dream. This is only my second run with her, but she’s been a really great ship to captain.”
“Glad to hear it,” I told him.
“We better get out of here,” Charlie said.
We said our goodbyes and headed back to the helicopter. We climbed in and were back at the plant in no time.
“Thanks,” Charlie said. “I would have figured it out eventually, but you were a big help.”
“Sure, it isn’t like I had anything else to do,” I teased.
“We didn’t get to finish talking about your new lady,” he said.
“Yes, we did. I said all I had to say.”
“What’s up? Are you guys dating?”
I thought about it. “No.”
“It was just a hookup?” he asked with a skeptical look.
I shrugged. “Yes, I guess it was.”
“Bullshit.”
I frowned at him. “Why do you say bullshit?”
“Because I know you.”
“I have had one-nighters before,” I said, suddenly feeling like I was in a locker room.
“Haven’t we all, but you don’t do it much.”
“We agreed not to complicate things. I’m really not interested in a relationship. I don’t want all the baggage. I like things just the way they are. I don’t want the messy stuff.”
He shook his head, a disgusted look on his face. “It sounds like you already got messy. Little late to turn that one back.”
“Whatever. She’s got her life and I have mine. Neither of us is interested in making this a thing. It was an itch that needed scratched and that was that.”
He rolled his eyes. “You’ll see her again.”
“Care to wager on that?” I asked him.
He grinned, never one to turn down a bet, especially one he thought he could win. “Fifty bucks says you will see her again. Not just see her but sleep with her.”
I extended my hand. “You’re on. Now, I have to get to work.”
“No, you don’t.”
I laughed. “No, I don’t, but you do.”
“I’m checking on you and I will know if you are lying about seeing her again.”
“I doubt it,” I called as I walked away. “And I won’t be seeing her again, at least not in that way.”
I heard him laughing as I crossed the lot and headed for my car. It had already been a week. I had not heard a word from her. Granted, I hadn’t texted or called her either. We both agreed to keep things simple. I wouldn’t mind another hookup with her, but it would be a repeat of the boat incident. We would both get what we wanted, and life would go on. I wasn’t interested in dating or getting serious. That took a lot of effort and I didn’t want the hassle of going through those early weeks in a relationship.