Half a F*ck

Chapter 12

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.