I didn’t necessarily consider it a living room, but I knew what he was referring to. “I’m really not sure why it matters. Do not expect me to give you details. I’m not going to give you a blow by blow.”
“Now I have to clean the boat,” he said with disgust.
“What are you talking about?”
“You sullied the boat. I sit on that couch. Hell, I lay on the damn thing. I need to know where the bleach goes.”
I chuckled, taking another bite. “You should probably just get a hose. It would be more efficient.”
He groaned. “Oh my god. Gross.”
“You’ll survive.”
He took a bite of his sandwich. He looked thoughtful as he chewed. “You don’t expect me to sleep with you every time you take me out on the boat, do you? I think you are a cool guy and all, and you are mildly attractive, but you are just not my type.”
I ignored him and ate my sandwich. He didn’t let up. He outlined all the acts he was willing to consider and those he was adamant against. If he made a move on me, I would knock his ass out. Both of us knew that.
“Are you done yet?” I asked him when he paused for a bit.
“I just want it made clear. I like your boat, but I could buy my own boat.”
“You could build your own damn boat,” I told him.
He nodded. “I could, but that’s not the same. It wouldn’t have all those nice finishes. Any boat I would build would be utilitarian and not comfortable.”
Before I could offer to go boat shopping with him, his phone rang. Because of his job, he needed to answer his calls. “This is Charlie,” he answered.
I finished my sandwich while he nodded and made various grunts and noises.
“I’ll be there as soon as I can,” he said and ended the call.
“Gotta get back to work?” I asked.
“No, not exactly. We’ve got a dead duck out in the water. They want me to chopper out there and see if I can get it running before they have to call a tug.”
“How far out are they?”
“I’m not sure. They were going to send the chopper to pick me up.”
“I can take you out on the boat,” I offered.
He laughed and shook his head. “I think the chopper will be faster and more sanitary.”
“Is it one of mine?” I asked.
He nodded. “Yep. She’s only been in service for a couple of months. I’m sure it will be an easy fix.”
“I’ll go with you,” I offered.
“You must be bored,” he joked.
“It’s one of mine,” I said, being very serious. “I need to know if there is an issue.”
“I doubt it is anything you did in the design. It is probably something stupid like they didn’t plug something in or some shit.”
I wiped my mouth, grabbed my wallet, and dropped a hundred-dollar bill on the table. “Let’s go.”
My reputation was everything. I refused to have rumors spread about my shitty designs or subpar ships. It only took one poorly designed ship to sink my business. While I would still be okay financially, I refused to take the hit to my reputation. My reputation was everything. My reputation was a million times more important than the money in the bank.
There were a lot of people who would love to see me fail. I refused to fail. I refused to let them see me crash and burn and live up to what they thought would happen. My success was fueled by my need to prove everyone else wrong.
“They will be at the plant,” he said as we walked to our cars.
“I’ll follow you over there. Let them know you’ll have a plus one.”
He laughed. “Glad I can return the favor.”
I was too irritated with the idea my designs had failed to laugh. I was already going through the potential causes in my head. I had no information to go on, but I knew what the likely suspects were. I prayed it was manufacturer or user error. If it was something I did, I would be very pissed at myself.
Thirty minutes later, we were in the air and flying out to the ship that was stuck out in open water. They had only left the dock a few hours ago. That told me it had to be a failure of some kind. I brought along my iPad with access to the file containing the design specs, including the engine specs. Charlie built them from what I