The Wanderer
* * *
Cooper looked up at Mac. “He could’ve had tons of money if he’d sold some land. Even a little piece of it.”
“I don’t think that was the point of the email. We all knew Ben wasn’t much for chasing money. Did you know there’s at least one eagle’s nest out there on the point?”
“I’ve seen the eagles, and I remember Ben telling me he had a nest—he was proud of that. They’re built in those rocky precipices out there. But I went all the way out to the point and looked over the edge, and I couldn’t see anything—it’s all rocky all the way down to the water.”
“And I don’t think you can get a boat up close. Those waves against the rocks will take you out. But I think maybe Ben saved this email because of the thing about money. It’s clear that money isn’t the only thing that drives you.”
“Well now, we don’t know that for sure yet,” Cooper said with a laugh. “That’s easier to say when you have enough to live on forever. And I don’t. Believe me.” He closed the laptop. “So, you’re done with this?”
“It’s all yours. Want a cup of coffee?”
“That would be good. Across the street?”
“It doesn’t look too busy over there,” Mac said.
Cooper looked at his watch. “I have a little time. I want to run by the store. I’m cooking for Sarah and Landon tonight.”
“Landon? Landon who?” Mac asked with a laugh. “You mean that quarterback who lives at my house now?”
* * *
Cooper rarely made any kind of a big deal over Christmas. Sometimes he went back to Albuquerque to spend time with the family, but he gave gift cards, not a lot of fussy presents. Those times he had girlfriends, he knew exactly what to give them—jewelry. The seriousness of the girlfriend determined the level of jewelry. For a girl you’re dating but not deeply involved with, a spa package or gift certificate. In years past, he always skipped the company party. Occasionally coworkers had informal gatherings he sometimes attended. Hanging out with fellow pilots could be entertaining.
In Thunder Point it was a little different. First of all, people seemed to take turns entertaining, but nothing flashy. Lou and Mac had an open house and invited their local friends, who turned out to be half the town. Women wore Christmas sweaters with Santa or reindeer on them, men came in green-and-red sweaters and wool pants as opposed to jeans. For the first time in his life, Cooper asked a woman to dress him. He knew better than to show up in one of his hand-me-down suits or his jeans.
Sarah picked through his closet, pulled out some dark pants, a starched shirt, no tie, taupe V-neck sweater and the black shoes he almost never wore. “This will work,” she said.
Carrie and Gina James had a gathering with the same theme. Their party featured meatballs, hot dips, cookies, fancy little cakes, and some outstanding bite-size crab and Parmesan hors d’oeuvres.
“If you eat any more of those, you’re going to make yourself sick,” Sarah said.
“I can’t stop,” he said.
Stu held his party at the diner one night, then Cliff had a free happy hour at Cliffhanger’s with punch for the younger set. Again, there were a lot of Christmas sweaters and pressed black pants. Cooper made every event and, to his surprise, had a wonderful time. Well, except maybe for a while at Cliffhanger’s when Ray Anne had a little too much to drink and Cooper drove her home. He had to lift her into his truck. She made a drunken suggestion that they “do it” just for the Christmas spirit and when he said that wouldn’t work for him, she accepted that and said, “Well, then at least sign those agent papers for me, Hank!”
He hurried back to Cliff’s so no one would assume...
The Coast Guard did not sleep on holidays, so Sarah couldn’t make all the parties, but she hit a few. For Cooper, it was nice to have someone as classy and sweet as Sarah on his arm. But come Christmas Eve, she was scheduled to work. She’d have to be at the Coast Guard station, ready to fly if anyone needed rescue.
“It won’t be the first time Landon and I had to adjust for holidays. Maybe the McCains will include him. I get off Christmas morning, so I’ll be around for that.”
“Let me,” Cooper said.
“Let you what?”
“I’ll stay at your house Christmas Eve. If he has somewhere to go, fine. I’ll be there when he gets home. Then we’ll have Christmas morning together.”
“Oh, I don’t know.”
“Does it make you nervous to have me over on Christmas morning?” he asked her. “Because I can be useful. I know how to cook. I know how to clean up better.”
“You know, it’s that whole family thing. I worry about Landon thinking of himself as a part of a relationship, the way he did with Derek. He’s only sixteen. He doesn’t realize that we’re close but not serious.”
Cooper laughed at her. “Don’t worry, Sarah. Landon hasn’t thought about anyone but Eve in weeks.”
“I guess that’s right,” she said, laughing with him.
So Cooper and Landon both went to the McCains for Christmas Eve where they ate seafood fresh from the marina and played poker until midnight. Eve pouted because she’d rather have had Landon’s undivided attention, Mac roared his agony at drawing such bad cards, Cooper laughed his ass off and Lou took it all home.
And then came Christmas morning.
Bachelors like Cooper enjoyed holidays and were not overly sentimental about them. Sarah was somewhere between a spa package girlfriend and a jewelry girlfriend, mostly because she was so reluctant to let herself get involved. He understood a lot of this had to do with Landon. To that end, he had selected the perfect presents for both of them.
Early Christmas morning, after spending a night on Sarah’s couch, he got up, fed the dog, wrote Landon a note and said he was running an errand and would be right back. He thought the kid would probably sleep late. In fact, Sarah might get home and read the note before Cooper got back.
He drove down the road to the beach, but he stopped at the marina. The boats were firing up. It was barely sunrise. It looked like a lot of the fishermen and a few crabbers were going out on Christmas morning. It hit him suddenly, these people had no choice. He’d known that, of course, but hadn’t given it so much thought. He didn’t know any of the men well and in fact the ones he’d met were the merest of acquaintances. He knew, however, that most of them worked their fathers’ and grandfathers’ and brothers’ boats. Maybe they loved their work, but even if they didn’t, it was their means of living.
But Cooper, always a loner, had had choices. He had never had to make long-term commitments or stay in jobs that weren’t satisfying. All he had to do was take care of himself.
Watching those boats go out early Christmas morning, he felt a sense of envy. People depended on those men. They had families to take care of. He’d almost married twice and yet had never felt that sense of responsibility.
From where he sat in his truck, he could see the toy hauler. He’d lived in apartments, on a boat for two years, in his trailer—anything that he could uproot quickly and easily.
He put the truck in gear and headed across the beach. Inside the shed, along with Ben’s old truck and RZR 800—his Razor—were two top-of-the-line paddleboards, oars and two boxes. He’d cleaned up and gassed Ben’s Razor, then he laid the boards across the back where a cooler might sit and fastened them in. The boxes went in the seat next to the driver. He laughed at himself—expert wrapper, he was not. There was a wide, red ribbon around each board and the plain white boxes had the identical ribbon. No paper, no froufrous, as his mom called them. He might be able to wear the hell out of a hand-me-down suit and buy some real top-notch toys, but he just was not good with wrapping presents.
He thought, however, that Landon was going to go nuts for this one. And Sarah, being a beach girl at heart, would probably be happy, too. Nothing had ever felt better.
He drove the Razor across the beach and up to Sarah’s house. Her SUV was parked in the driveway, so he pulled up behind it. In the kitchen was Sarah, still in her flight suit but in her stocking feet.
“Hey, thanks for making coffee,” she said, stirring cream and sugar into a cup. “I’m going to need a nap today. We went out last night. Some folks on a Christmas Eve yacht ride got in a little trouble with some rocks. And booze, I’m thinking. What did you guys do?”
“Poker,” he said, taking the coffee from her hands and pulling her against him for a delicious morning kiss. He went after her mouth like a starving man and realized that he wanted to wake up like that every morning.
When he let go of her, she laughed. “Poker? Are you corrupting my brother?”
“Shit, he had things to teach me. But Lou took the pot.”
“Good for her. How about some breakfast? I’m all stocked up—eggs, sausage, bacon, sweet rolls. We can do omelets or take ’em straight.”
“I bet you’re starving,” he said. “Can you wait fifteen minutes if I cook?”
“Sure, but I don’t want you stuck with cooking for the whole day. You already promised dinner.”
“Dinner’s easy. Hell, breakfast is easy. Go wake up Landon—I have something for him. For you, too.”
“Now, we talked about this. We’re not doing a big deal for presents. Just a little something, that’s all. Nothing big. You agreed.”
“Sarah, don’t start complaining until you know if you have something to complain about. Get the kid. He’s had enough sleep—he wiped me out last night.”
She patted his cheek. “All right, but you better have kept your word.”
Okay, he thought. So she’ll lecture him a little bit later. He was a big boy, he could deal with that.
Landon stumbled out of his bedroom in a pair of sweats, no shirt, bare feet, his hair all wonky and sticking up all over the place. Like a little kid, he rubbed his eyes. Like a kid with stubble on his cheeks. “What, Cooper?”
“I got you and Sarah a Christmas present and it’s in the driveway.”
His eyes opened for that.
“Oh, if you’ve done anything crazy...” Sarah warned.
He slipped an arm around her waist. “Take it easy, it’s not what you think.” And they followed Landon outside.
The cold didn’t bother Landon at all, even in bare feet. The ribbons gave it away—he went straight to the boards. He yelped, “Woo-hoo! Sarah, look at this! Woo-hoo!”
She turned to look up at him. She smiled when she said, “Cooper, that’s too much.”
“I do what I want,” he said.
“You don’t follow directions very well.”
He gave her a squeeze. “I thought that was your favorite part.” To Landon he said, “By March, you’ll be out there on the bay.”
“Yeah!” he said, lifting one of the boards off the back of the Razor.
“There are two boxes in the front seat to put under the tree,” Cooper added. “And this,” he said, wrestling the keys from his pocket. “I’ll need a ride home later.”
“Huh?” Landon and Sarah said at the same time.
“It was Ben’s. I think he’d like it if you had it. It’s far from new, but it seems to be in good shape. I sure don’t need it and I’m not going to sell it. And here’s a tip—Rawley is good on engines and restoration if you need that. Let’s get those boxes.”
The boxes in the front seat of the Razor didn’t make it under the tree. Landon, a little beside himself, tore the ribbon off the top box, threw off the lid and held up a wet suit. “Holy crap!”
“Jesus,” Cooper muttered. “He’s completely out of control sometimes.”