FRANK LET out a rather loud sigh as he continued to work on the boat engine, screwdriver doing almost nothing as he attempted to tighten the air vent, but it didn't seem to budge. His deep blue eyes squinted under the sunglasses, which seemed to be sliding off his face from the sweat building on his forehead. His large calloused hands from long years of being a boat mechanic wiped the sweat away, frustration showing in the creases of his forehead.
The white shirt clung to his body uncomfortably, sweat building up in different splotches on the thin material. The denim jeans clung to his long legs, and he cursed himself mentally for wearing jeans on the hottest day of August yet. He continued to plunge the screwdriver into the slot, hoping to tighten the shaft but it just wouldn't budge. He stopped again, his free hand coming up to his hair to tug at the roots as he was at his tipping point.
"You know I didn't want to go to this stupid school in the first place," a gentle voice sounded from in front of him on the dock, and Frank almost forget that he wasn't alone, almost. Frank looked up for a quick second, his eyes at the top of the sunglasses as he looked at the young girl sitting in front of him. "And the boy in the next row acts inappropriately for someone who's a child."
Frank put the screwdriver back in, wanting to drown out the seven year old as much as he could once more. Out of his peripheral vision, he could see her swaying her feet back and forth, kicking the cooler once every few seconds making a banging noise. Frank knew that when Mary got in one of her ranting moments, there was no stopping her.
"I'm sorry, I'm still passive aggressively ignoring you." Frank spoke in his deep and bored tone, slight edge to his voice as he worked harder on the shaft.
"Other kids answer questions, they don't get in trouble." Mary said and he stopped what he was doing to look up at his niece, eyebrows furrowed in disbelief at her stubbornness, hands going to rest on his hips.
Only hours before had he gotten a call from the school saying that Mary had demanded-no yelled at the principal to call him and have him pick her up. Of course he wasn't surprised, Mary was as blunt as they come and once she had her mind set on something she would tell anyone off. Even the principal of her first grade classroom.
So as he arrived and picked up a rather annoyed Mary, he was stopped by one of her teachers who made Mary bitterly mumble under her breathe at the sight of the young woman. Frank also wasn't surprised when the woman said she believed Mary was gifted. Because frankly she is, but no one needed to know it beside him and Mary.
He of course denied the accusation, even though it wasn't much of one, and simply said she memorized the trachtenberg method which gave her an advantage over the others. The teacher was stunned, to say the least, and before she could ask anymore questions he quickly made an excuse and left in his old and damaged pick up truck quickly. Which brings him to now, his irritation almost to the point of anger as Mary had seemingly broken their promise to not show her affinity for mathematics.
"You didn't get in trouble for answering questions. You yelled at the principal." Frank told her as he took in her slouched posture and frowning features. Her short blonde hair blew against her face in different directions under the teal bucket hat, and he could feel his own short brown tousled hair blowing in every which direction. Frank decided he was done as he threw the screwdriver to the side of the boat, moving to the front rear before speaking up once again. "You know what, your going to find this interesting. So I googled first graders who yell at their principal, and statically your never going to believe how many kids do it."
"How many?" Mary asked him as Frank leaned over the counsel, his eyes scanning it quickly before turning back to look at Mary, her interests perked. A silence enveloped between them and the sound of waves crashing against the boats surrounding the dock filled their ears along with seagulls croaking. A small smirk then appeared on his plump lips surrounded by a bearded scruff, which suited him nicely.
"None!" He yelled just as he started the engine, and a smooth sound emitted from the engine instead of the once raggedy noise. He then turned back towards the counsel, his eyes scanning the waters before him just as he heard shuffling. He knew what was about to ensue making a smirk return once again.
"Frank, I'm sorry. I'm really sorry." Mary said innocently making Frank scoff under his breathe.
"Yeah right." Frank sighed, shaking his head slightly before turning to look at Mary, her now standing by the side of the boat. "You can't show off like that at school."
"I know...." she dragged on, her lips pursing slightly into a small frown.
"You promised you wouldn't then the first day-"
"I know I screwed up!" She cut him off sounding defeated as she looked at the ground. Frank realized she was sincerely sorry by the way she wouldn't meet his brown eyes, her own blue ones hidden beneath her long eyelashes. Frank nodded his head, letting out a deep breathe while turning his attention back to the water. A few seconds pass before Mary quietly speaks up. "Do you think maybe this boat needs a test ride?" Before Frank could even decipher a response, someone beat him to it.
"Um, hello?"
Frank and Mary averted their attention away from each other and to the voice. He was confused to see a young woman in shorts and a t-shirt walking towards them, long blonde hair blowing across her face every few seconds. What caught Frank off guard was not that she was approaching them, but rather that she had a familiar orange-striped one eyed cat in her hands, his cat.
"Doggy!" Mary squealed and Frank then realized the small dog trailing behind the woman, it's panting filling his ears as they grew closer. Mary took off without hesitation towards the animal and the gorgeous dog did the same in delight, enveloping Mary with slobbery kisses.
A small laugh filled Franks ears making his attention turn back to the woman, who now stood on the dock right beside the boat. He could make out the blueness of her eyes matching the waters beneath them, even with the sunglasses on, and also the softness of her features signaling just how young she is. He found her attractive, but his frustrations hid the fact that he thought so.
"Are you Frank?" She asked and just then did he realize how soothing her voice was to his ears. He dismissed the thought before nodding his head slowly, hard gaze even though she couldn't see, set upon her.
"Yes. Why do you have my cat?" He didn't mean for it to come out rude and abrupt, which in a way he was going towards, but the deep tone of his voice made it seem that way. She looked surprised, and he watched as her eyebrows furrowed at his sudden attitude.
"My dog," she spoke dismissing his annoyed expression, "decided to play a game of tag with Fred here and I just naturally thought you might be looking for him?"
Frank looked at the the dog, who now was lying on its stomach as Mary scratched the exposed skin, and let out a deep sigh. He took off his sunglasses before squinting at the woman while picking back up the screwdriver and heading towards the motor once more. She watched him, and couldn't help but bite her lip as his biceps bulged as he pushed the screwdriver into the slot.
She finally got a better view of his features and wasn't at all disappointed. He was a few years older than her, telling by the maturity of his face and built of his frame, but nonetheless was a sight for sore eyes. She caught a glimpse of his sharp blue eyes, which had been hidden away from the dark sunglasses, as well as the darkened outline around them making the blue essence stand out. She wasn't one to find a scruff-even a partially full fledged beard attractive, but this man before her was breaking all boundaries. Although his attitude so far was a huge buzz kill, much to her dismay.
"Thanks, but no thanks. Fred knows not to go within a mile out of our vicinity." Frank said rather harshly as he continued twisting the driver, trying to tighten back up slot as it had loosened up from being jump started. "You can just put him down, you know."
"I guess Chivalry really is dead." She spoke under her breathe, all while gently setting down Fred who immediately went to the little girl, but Frank heard her loud and clear. He rolled his eyes but decided not to comment on it, although Mary laughed loudly making the woman confused as to why she knew that reference which in turn caused Frank to glare at Mary in warning, ceasing the laughter simultaneously.
"Look..." Frank began trailing off waiting for her name while looking back up at the woman.
"Grace."
"Look Grace...thanks for caring but I can take care of my own." He said making Grace glare at him, really not liking the gorgeous man before her. "So if you don't mind I'm trying to get my work done."
Grace watched as he feverishly went back to twisting and turning the tool, attempting to tighten the vent slot. Grace eyed the tool and smirked at the realization of why the tool wasn't working efficiently. Grace may have had her own boat growing up, and years of watching her father fix the boat up has taught her a few things. One of those being which type of screwdriver you should use for different parts.
"You know that's a Philips screwdriver right?" Grace spoke up, and Frank snapped his head back up to the woman, narrowing his eyes at her.
"Excuse me."
"You are aware your using a Philips screwdriver." Grace spoke firmly while folding her arms across her chest. Frank stood straight from his bent over posture, and she could already tell that he would tower her, despite them being a feet's worth away.
"Yes, I am." He said dryly while putting his hands on his hips, challenging her in a way. She cleared her throat, straightening up to seem less timid, before speaking again.
"Well boat engines don't use Philips, they need something more efficient like Pozidriv. Though, it's a honest mistake." Grace spoke sarcastically, taking small steps away from the man. His expression softened from annoyance to realization that she was actually correct. "But what do I know, right?"
She took a bold move and winked at Frank, her not missing the pink tint that consumed his stubbled cheeks, even noticeable from the distance she was putting between them. Grace turned to the girl, who was already looking at her with the biggest smirk. Grace waved goodbye to her before calling over Sunny with a single pat of her leg.
"Come on Sunny." Grace called to the dog, and she watched as Sunny gave the girl one last slobbery kiss before strutting over to her owner. Just as Grace and Sunny began walking away from the two, the girl said something that made Grace's cheeks turn crimson and caused her to slightly trip over her own feet embarrassingly.
"Stop staring at her ass."