Pine Island Coast Florida Box Set by Jack Hardin

Author:Jack Hardin [Hardin, Jack]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-07-24T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

The top step of the footstool jiggled a little, and Ellie grabbed a rafter to steady herself. She ducked and reached to the string of Christmas lights hanging across the inside ceiling of The Salty Mangrove’s tiki hut. A red bulb had blown and caused half the run of lights that followed to go out as well. Gloria and Fu Wang sat with their backs to the marina, he wearing shorts and a red polo, she stuffed into a black one-piece swimsuit that looked as if it had reached the manufacturer's limits on stretchability.

Ellie unscrewed the small bulb, replaced it with a fresh one, and the dark lights came to life, restoring the funky, tropical ambience that Major, the bar’s owner and Ellie’s uncle, liked to maintain around Pine Island’s favorite bar. Ellie stepped down and tossed the old bulb into the trash before putting the footstool away. “That’s much better,” Gloria said, looking up at the lights. Her husband nodded approvingly, leaned in, and mumbled something to her. She nodded, said, “I’ll ask. Ellie, what was the name of that champagne we all had at the ceremony last week? Fu liked it and wants to get a bottle to celebrate our anniversary next week.”

“Your anniversary?” Ellie replied, stepping up to the sink behind the bar and filling a glass with ice. “How many years?” Fu and Gloria were as odd a couple as one would find. And yet, in some strange way, they seemed right for each other. They lived on a Gibson houseboat not two hundred feet from The Salty Mangrove—where they spent most of their passive income and drank enough alcohol each day to fuel a small jet.

“Six years,” Gloria beamed. “It still feels like we’re on our honeymoon.”

“Congratulations, you guys.” Ellie held her glass under the spout, filled it with water, and squeezed a lime wedge into it. “As for the champagne, I don’t remember what it was. I can text Major and ask him.”

Last week, after completing repairs on the Norma Jean pier, Major had held a rechristening ceremony. Council members, local business owners, members of the Rotary and Lions Clubs, and a couple hundred other people from around the island had come for a quick celebration. Six weeks prior, a small amphibian airplane carrying nearly a ton of cocaine had crashed into the southern end of the pier, not a hundred yards from where they were now sitting.

Sharla Potter sat a couple stools down from Gloria. “You two met on a boat tour, didn’t you?” she asked.

“We did,” Gloria blushed. “Providence sat me right next to him. You know, with as large as I am sometimes I get nervous about who I’ll be seated next to on a plane or a boat. But Fu”– she turned and smiled at her husband—“he liked me being pressed into him. It’s been nothing but good times and fireworks ever since.”

“Well, I’m with Ellie,” Sharla said. “Congratulations on six good years.” She nudged her wine glass toward Ellie.

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