Cole Davenport stood outside Hargrove Marine for a long time before he went in. He had left this place by choice. He had left the next place with a box in his hands. Now he was back, and he had no pitch left.
"Cole," Abby said. "Are you all right?"
"Not especially," he said, trying for a smile that did not quite arrive. "Is Mr. Hargrove here?"
"He is on the dock," Abby said. "Do you want me to tell him you are here?"
"Cole," Nate said. "Come and stand with me a minute. The water is calm today."
"I was fired," Cole said at last, because there was no better way to begin. "From Palmetto. Within weeks."
Nate nodded. "I am sorry."
"Dean Porter warned me first," Cole said. "Clearly. In his office. Then I pressured a young couple who asked for time, and I kept going after they asked me to stop. He fired me the same day."
Nate looked out at the harbor. "That sounds familiar."
"It should," Cole said. "It was the same mistake, in a different showroom. I told you I would try not to make it twice. I made it twice, and I lost the second job faster than the first."
"What brings you back here?" Nate asked, gently.
Cole took a breath. "I am not here to ask for my old job back. I know that job is gone, and I know why. I am here to ask for any job. Any job at all. I will sweep. I will wash boats. I will carry lines and fuel tanks and whatever needs carrying. I need work, and I need a place where I can learn to do it right."
Nate studied him for a long moment. "Cole, you were a top salesman here. You were twelve sales away from the record. Dock work is the bottom rung. People will see you doing it, and they will talk."
"Let them talk," Cole said. "I have heard worse from myself. I would rather be seen doing honest work badly than be seen doing dishonest work well."
"I know," Cole said. "I watched the dock when I was suspended. I saw what the work actually was. I am not romantic about it."
Nate turned to face him fully. "Then I will be plain with you, because plain is what you need now. I can offer you dockhand work. Bottom rung. No title, no desk, no customers to impress, no promises about where it leads."
"That is more than I expected," Cole said.
"It is less than you had," Nate said. "I want you to understand that before you say yes. There will be days when a customer you once sold to walks past you with a hose in your hand. There will be days when you want your old life back so badly it aches. If you take this, you take all of that too."
"I understand," Cole said. "I am not asking you to protect me from it."
"Good," Nate said. "Because I will not. Angela will set your hours and your duties. You will answer to her, and to the dock lead, like everyone else. If you cut corners, you will hear about it. If you complain about the rung you are on, you will hear about that too."
Cole nodded. "Fair."
"And one more thing," Nate said. "This is not a shortcut back to sales. It is not a trial with a secret ending. It is dock work, and it matters because the work matters, not because it leads somewhere better. If you come back hoping this is a waiting room, do not come back at all."
Cole met his eyes. "I am not hoping for a waiting room. I am hoping for a place to start over without pretending I did not fail."
"Welcome back, dockhand," Nate said.
Cole took his hand, and his grip was steady this time, not eager, not performing. "Thank you, Mr. Hargrove. I will not waste it."
"Abby will show you where the gear is kept," Nate said. "Start tomorrow, early. The dock does not wait for late risers."
"Early," Cole said. "I can do early."
They walked back together toward the showroom, and Abby met them at the door. She looked from one to the other, reading the news in their faces before either of them spoke.
"Well?" she asked.
"He is joining us," Nate said. "On the dock."
Abby smiled, warm and unguarded. "Good. We can use the help. And Cole, if you need someone to show you the ropes, literally, I know where they are."
"I would appreciate that," Cole said. "I mean it. Thank you."
He left with no title, no desk, and no promises, only a tomorrow morning to show up for.
Chapter 22: Abby Steps Up