Sweet…Me?
Griff
The trail through the woods was paved and wide enough for two. Walking beside me, Maisie said with a little laugh, "So then Dad says, 'Buteveryoneloves sharks.'"
The trail stretched ahead, framed by towering trees and flanked with patches of wildflowers rustling in the breeze. It was nice. But my eyes kept returning to Maisie. "So that's how you got Shark Bike?"
"Not just Shark Bike," she said. "You've seen the other ones, right?"
I considered the whole eclectic fleet – Bumble Burner, Hot Lava, Rocket Racer, Disco Inferno, and maybe a half-dozen more. There was even one named Glazed and Confused that Homer Simpson would've loved. With a smile, I said, "Yeah, well…they're pretty hard to miss."
"No kidding," Maisie said. "My dad thought they'd make us rich."
"How so?"
"He wassosure that we'd have customers lined up to rent them no matter the cost."
"But you haven't?"
"You tellme," she said with a half-hearted laugh. "Haveyouseen a line?"
"Not yet," I admitted.
"More like not ever. And he ordered the whole fleet before testing out a single one."
I was no marketing expert, but evenIsaw the pitfalls of that approach. "Did he say why?"
"Oh, yeah. He said he got a great deal by buying them in bulk – all custom-made, by the way – but trust me when I say, they didn't come cheap." Her voice grew wistful. "But my dad was a dreamer, so…"
I didn't say anything. I just kept pace and waited for the rest of it. But she never finished. Instead, she kept walking, with her eyes fixed on the trail ahead like she was seeing a different path altogether.
I gave her a moment before asking as gently as I could, "So… what happened to him?"
She hesitated. "Heart attack."
The words were simple, but they still hit hard. "Shit. I'm sorry."
"Yeah, me, too. But it wasn'ttotallyunexpected. He always had a heart condition – one of those things he was born with. The doctors warned him for years that he might not see fifty."
"So, how oldwashe?"
"Fifty-nine." A smile crept into her voice. "And he wassoproud, like he'd proved them all wrong." She let out a sigh. "Of course, he could've proved themmorewrong if he'd moved someplace warmer. That's what the cardiologist kept pushing for." Her voice softened. "But he loved it here. The island. The shop. The people. He said he'd rather drop dead in a snowbank than melt somewhere in Florida."
I couldn't help but smile. "He sounds like a badass."
She let out a surprised laugh. "Yeah…I guess."
"And what about your mom?"
Maisie gave me a wry, sideways glance. "Well…let's just say she wasn't the dreamer type."
The simple sentence did the work of twenty. "So, they weren't together?"
"When he died?" She shook her head. "No. She was already married to someone new. She lives in Georgia now, which is probably for the best. That's where she's from originally. Plus, shereallyhated the cold."
Mackinac Island was a long way from Georgia. "So how'd they meet?"
Maisie gave a sad little laugh. "She came here on vacation and fell in love with the place – and my dad, too, I guess."
