About a week later, my daughter was finally due to come visit. She was coming to spend a week with me, right before starting the new semester of college. I prepared two berths for them, even though I was pretty sure one would just be a glorified closet. I also went to the store to make sure my galley was as stocked as it could be. I picked them up at Honolulu Intl., and would fly them to my home on Moloka’i in the seaplane.
When I saw them come out through security, I ran to her and gave her a squashing hug. I missed her so much, and told her so. “Maddy, my god I have missed you.” I looked at her girlfriend, and smiled. “And who is this lovely lady?”
“Dad, this is my girlfriend, Sarah Jones. Sarah, this is my dad.”
“It’s so nice to finally meet you, Mr. Holmes. After having met your wife… sorry, I mean… well anyway I really have been looking forward to this.”
The poor girl looked so nervous, I had to rescue her. Time to get her used to my motto, and hopefully set the tone for the next week.
“Please, call me James, or Dad if you get comfortable enough. While you are here, I want you both to just relax and enjoy yourselves. If there is anything you need, let me know, and I will get it. Well ladies, go get your bags, and we can head over to the local terminal. I will explain everything else on the way.”
With that they ran off to get their bags, and met me by the local terminal. I say local terminal, but really it was a pair of bench seat rows, next to a sliding door out onto the tarmac. There was a counter, which was usually unmanned, and that was about it. Oh, and a security guard posted at the door to keep kids from running out.
We walked out onto the pavement, and I led them to the plane. As a seaplane, it had pontoons, but when needed, actual landing wheels could deploy from within these floats to land on a real runway. I loaded their things into the hold, and we got in and buckled up. We took off, and I pointed the nose towards Moloka’i.
“So, are you two looking forward to next semester?”
“Definitely Mr. H., I mean dad. Sorry, that is going to take getting used to,” Sarah said, with a blush in her cheeks. “Maddy’s mom usually prefers either Caitlin, or Mrs. H.”
I was surprised to hear that she kept my last name, but oh well. I no longer wanted her to die a horrible death, but I also still didn’t want to be around her.
“No worries, it will take me some getting used to as well.”
“Anyway, yeah things are good. We moved in together, and school shouldn’t be as bad this year, as it was last year,” Maddy finished the answer.
I remembered well her complaints about finals, and the stress she was under. I was very glad to hear that things would be getting better, at least on that front.
“Maddy, Sarah, I want you both to have a great time while you are here. Unless you really want to go somewhere else, I have cleaned and set up rooms on my boat for you both to stay in. I made up two rooms, but I’m not so old that I think you will actually sleep apart. Use one as a glorified closet, or something.”
They both blushed at this, and my daughter did her usual, “Daaaaad,” whine. It was mostly for show, but still hilarious. We all started laughing at this. It felt good to laugh with her again, it had been too long.
“Once we get there, we will get your stuff dropped off, and then go meet my neighbor, Howard. You guys will enjoy hanging around him, he’s a riot. After that, I’m taking you guys to dinner. Sound good?”
“YUP!” they both answered in unison. My gut told me that they probably did that often, which was a good thing, I think.
We made the rest of the trip, chatting mostly about college life. The girls, strike that, women, were very happy together. Anyone could see that. I was going to need to get used to thinking about my daughter as a woman now. We landed on the water, which was a first for them, so of course they were excited.
After getting the plane tied up to the dock, we walked to my boat. “DAD! Oh my god is this YOURS?!” my daughter exclaimed.
“Yep, all mine. I let Shawn, my mechanic and friend, use one of the bunks. Do you remember him from Virginia?”
“Oh, yeah I think so. That’s cool dad, so which room is ours?”
I led them below deck, and showed them to their room, as well as where the head was. I pointed out Shawn’s berth, as well as mine, and then took them back to the Galley. They sat at the table, while I pointed out the simple kitchen-like features. It took all of four minutes.
“You ladies go get settled in, and come up on deck when you are ready to meet some of my friends.”
They went into their room, while I mixed myself a ‘Beach Pineapple’, and went up on deck to my favorite chair. I was sipping the drink, enjoying the noise of the gulls flying around, when I heard a slight moan coming from below deck. Thinking of my daughter having sex, was something I never wanted to do, so I turned on the radio and got lost in an 80’s playlist I had setup on my iPod. Currently, I was nodding my head to ‘Down Under’, by Men at Work. It’s funny that the music itself wasn’t that great, but just listening to it brought back memories of when I was young and listening to it when it was new.
After about thirty minutes, the ladies came up looking a little flushed, but otherwise happy. I really didn’t want to know what they had been doing. Being honest with myself, if it had been anyone but my daughter, I would be curious, but with her, I just didn’t even want to imagine it.
“Hey, you guys ready for a drink and meeting my neighbor?” I asked. I knew they were both under twenty one, but here, on my boat, I would let them indulge a little.
“Sure, what’s that?” asked Sarah.
“I call this, a Beach Pineapple. It’s basically some Rum, with juice that I think tastes like Pineapple. I came up with it when I first got here, and spent almost all my time on the beach. They are tasty. I made a batch in the galley, if you want to go pour yourselves a glass.”
They did just that, and joined me on-deck, each with a full glass. I led them onto the dock, and we walked over to Howard’s boat. If they had been impressed with my 36′ boat, their eyes truly bugged out at the sight of his huge yacht.
“Ahoy, Howard! May we come aboard?” I yelled out for him. Knowing him, he was passed out below deck yet.
I was pleasantly surprised when a gorgeous red-head came to the rail, and waved us up. “Come on up. Howard and Shawn are in here debating the finer points of beer. Personally I think all beer is the same, and tastes like shit, but that’s just me.”
We climbed aboard, and she offered her hand. “My name is Tanya, Tanya Pierce. My friends and I are just spending the week here in Hawaii, trying to ignore real life for a while to pretend like we are normal.”