“Not very,” she told Zita. “But when it does, I’m not the one to break the bad news, thank god. My bosses are.”
“What happens if there’s bad weather?” Obi-Wan asked on a completely different tack.
Lace shrugged. “Just like you in your helicopter, we go out in almost anything that isn’t deemed dangerous,” Lace informed. “Which means half the time I bake in the sun, and the other half I’m as wet as a used dish rag coming in.”
Vince listened to the conversation going on around him, but dish rag visuals or not, he couldn’t get his mind off what would most likely be happening between him and this amazing woman a little later.
His cock stirred, but quickly subsided when his phone rang with the special tone he had for the dive shop.
He cleared his throat and pulled his device from his big-old clown pocket.
“I’ve got to take this,” he said, walking away for a little privacy.
Vince was on alert and curious. He hadn’t been called during his time off yet, unless it had been important.
“Vince here,” he clipped.
“You need to come in,” Sheila stated outright, without greeting.
Sheila was Tabitha’s sister who was somewhere on the spectrum, but also brilliant with the way she kept Diver Downeast’s office running like a well-oiled machine.
“What’s going on, Sheila?” Vince asked, already calculating his time table.
“A job. A job Spence was supposed take, but he’s sick. He started getting sick two hours ago and we sent him home. But he had a job scheduled, and nobody else can do it.”
So. Not an emergency. But Vince was always game to don his diving gear and get in the water.
“No problem. I can be there in ten minutes, twenty if you don’t want me dressed like a clown.”
“No clown,” Sheila stated, but didn’t extrapolate.
Vince chuckled, then thought of something else. “Hey, is it okay if Lace comes along on this job?” he asked. Even though Sheila had yet to meet Lace, he’d been singing her praises all over the shop to anyone who’d listen.
“Sure. Lace is okay. Sure. Come into the office.”
Click.
Yup.That was Sheila.
Direct. Succinct. No wasted words.
Vince put his phone away, then walked over to rejoin the group.
He rubbed the back of his neck. “That was our office manager, Sheila,” he told them. “My brother Spence was supposed to do a job this afternoon, but he went home sick, so, tag, I’m it,” he quipped.
“Well, we’ll leave you to it, then.” Obi-Wan reached out a hand and they shook. “If you need my services for anything while I’m here, all you have to do is let me know.”
“Thanks, man.” Vince appreciated it, but didn’t think they’d have a need for the pilot’s assistance. With Tabitha’s submarine, the office Zodiac, and Jett’s Cessna all available, they pretty much had everything covered.
Vince didn’t know exactly whathewas headed for, but he seriously doubted they’d need a helicopter for this job that had been planned and on the books.
He turned to Lace. “Sheila says you can come with me,” he told her, and her face lit up again.
Vince could tell she was having a stellar day.
“But let’s go back to my parents’ house first,” he said. “I have to clean up and put on some normal clothes.”
“You mean you can’t show up at a job dressed like a clown?” Zita teased. “I don’t know. It might go over well.I’mgetting kind of used to you being in that outfit. I’m not even sure I’d recognize you in civvies.”