Ocean Dreams

Chapter 20

She seemed to appear insulted, but she would have to agree. He was hoping she would forget she asked. The reef they came to was the same one that Nichole met Kilnak at. Josh was the first one in the water, and he swam down to take a good look at the reef system. Nothing seemed to catch his interest, but he spotted something on the ground. Making sure the others weren't in the water yet, he picked up what caught his interest. It was a left over Spanish doubloon from when Kilnak was luring Nichole to him. Josh couldn't believe his luck.

For another hour, he searched the reef and the floor, but found nothing else. I'll have to talk to my dad to let him know what I found. And it was mine! When he saw the signal to return to the boat, he tucked the coin under the scuba suit. It was done in such a way that it wouldn't fall out of his swimwear when he had to take off the suit.

"Pretty cool, huh?" one of the guys laughed.

"Oh, yes! I'll have to do that again soon," Josh grinned. "How far are we from the mainland?"

"About five miles out. It's pretty common for us to come out here. Good fishing, too!" another guy said. "We tend to do this once a week when we can."

"Very cool! I'd like to do this again tomorrow, honestly. I'll be going on the cruise ship in three more days. I'm not sure how much longer I'll have to do this again," Josh sighed.

"Maybe we can arrange something. It's doubtful, though. We'll have to see what happens," the guy frowned. He nodded and felt the coin pressed against his side under the swim trunks. The red-head had clearly forgotten about giving me her number. That made him grin, as the charter boat made it to shore. He grabbed his phone and noticed that his father was just coming off a boat with a cooler. He remembered that Nichole was given a boat by her husband. When he saw Annie come out next, he paused at the rather humble look on her face. That was new. Lisa showed up next, and she looked like she was walking on air. What happened to the two of them?!

"Josh?" Joel said when he saw him. "What are you doing out here?"

"Oh. Some people offered to take me out to the coral reefs. I accepted," he shrugged. "Um...I want to talk to you alone. Is that okay?"

"All right. Lisa? Annie? Just wait around here for a bit, okay? Or go back on the deck," Joel said. "Josh wants to talk to me."

"I'll go on the deck," Lisa smiled. Annie followed her to wait. He set the cooler filled with cooked lobster down for them to keep an eye on. He promised his wife lobster, and he made sure to bring it. Down in the small living quarters' area, Josh whistled at the size of the yacht.

"Yes, this is Nikki's boat. Now, what do you want to talk to me about?" Joel asked, as he sat down. "I'm exhausted enough, as it is."

"Dad, I found this at the reef," he grinned and took out the coin.

"Oh! A Spanish doubloon? Nice! Hmm. It's worth about fifteen grand, I think. Good job," Joel nodded. Now Josh looked at his father with confusion. Did he see it before?

"Aren't you excited? I found it! Me!" Josh said.

"And it's yours. What will you do with it?" he asked.

"I don't know. I kinda want to keep it," Josh shrugged.

"Then keep it. Hmm. I wonder..." Joel mused and reached for his phone. "Hey, Nikki. When your husband found you...did he give you other things before really meeting up with you? He did? He lured you with them? That's funny! Oh, that's when you were attacked? When you were away from the reef? Huh. Well, I think Josh found one. Yeah. Right. Okay. I'll probably be back out tomorrow. You want me to pick that up? I was going to the jewelry store first. Hmm. I'll have to look for a very basic gasoline generator. Oh! That would be a good idea! I'll see what I can find. I'm sure that laptops are cheap now. Love you, too. Tell Kilnak 'hi' for me. Right! What? He wants to talk to me? Okay."