Chapter 7: Part 1

The ocean had a glassy quality that always made Sam think about living totally alone on his boat for the rest of his life. The rollicking waves and impressive storms always made him feel alive, but the calm ocean with few waves or sounds made him happy to live out here away from society.



It would be nice to be with Delanie right now. To sit at the tip of the sailboat, waiting for a dolphin or other sea creature to swim under the bow of the ship. He imagined her delight at the things he took for granted after being on the ocean for two years.



He'd made a vow to take nothing for granted, but it was near impossible to keep. You grew used to the dolphins and sharks. True, he had to work for his meals, but the work became easy. He could dip a line in the water and the fish would attack, clamoring to be the one he would eat for lunch or dinner.



Delanie would freshen his outlook. But he couldn't be just some crazy man on a boat. He needed something that she could look up to. To be the kind of man she could be proud of.



After boating closer to one of the bigger islands where he could catch one of those super expensive internet connections, he'd spent an hour going over the financials his lawyer had emailed.



The companies, corporations, properties and various other holdings were operating way above what he expected. Money poured in. He was richer. His board of directors had to be happy and all of the companies he owned were better off now that he was gone.



And it wasn't just the economy. In fact the global economy sucked wind, but still he made money. It wasn't a fluke. The people in charge of making decisions were smart. They made the right moves. He wasn't needed. But he wanted to be.



Truth was, if he fell into the ocean right now and didn't resurface, few people would realize he was gone. He needed to make it personal. Money was money, but what had he done in his life that really mattered?



Delanie would matter. Adding her to his life would change the way he operated. Money was his business, his life, his every thing. He could take any company and turn it around. He knew how to make money. Maybe he could still get Delanie and not go back to the same old grind.



He doubted that she would want to live on a small sailboat, and he wasn't the yacht type of guy.



Samuel picked up his computer and flipped through the files again. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Of course, when he'd left, he wondered about embezzlement. Safeguards had been set up, but still, things happened. Lucky for him, it hadn't yet with any of his companies.



A dolphin poked its head out of the water, eyeing Sam and his boat. It was wrong to feed the dolphins by hand. Sometimes they would find his scraps from cleaning fish, but usually it was the sharks that got the scraps.



Could he give all this up? There was a balance lacking in his life. If he focused on work then that's all he could focus on. He'd only changed his focus when he came out here to the ocean. Maybe he could find a balance that would allow him to work and play.



Some would say that his life on the boat wasn't that much different than living in the city. Sure, the location and atmosphere were, but the way he attacked the problem of sailing until he became an expert boatman, and how he had learned to catch fish had been done with the same drive. It was that drive that got him in trouble.



He had focused on others while he was out here. Adjusting his focus to things like the environment and poverty. Lack of any kind never even entered his radar before. If people lived in poverty it was because they were bad people. One thing this boat trip had taught him was not to judge. Maybe there was hope for him yet.



More than once he had been treated badly because of his looks. It hit home now. People were people. Maybe he couldn't return to his previous life. Maybe he needed to do something totally different. But how could he make that first step?



The reality of his life left a lot to be desired. Sure he was super rich, now. But could he ever be happy? Spending the night with Delanie had been the happiest night he could remember. There had been no sex, only card games and laughter. Not something he would have ever done before.



Damn, he had been living for the wrong thing for so long he didn't even know what to do or how to move forward. A change was in order. First he would get his life back on track. Then he would find Delanie and make her his.



Sam pointed his sailboat back towards Delanie's island. He wouldn't go ashore, but he wanted her close while he decided what to do with the rest of his life.

Copyright Sara Thacker 2011