Second Chances in New Port Stephen - Chapter 103

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Second Chances in New Port Stephen - Chapter 103

December 31
The Thirsty Manatee’s New Year’s Eve party was a tradition stretching back to the eighties.
Reservations were normally booked solid by the summer, with the same old-timers attending
year after year. A band played Jimmy Buffett and Tom Petty covers out on the patio, where a
portion of the deck had been cleared as a dance floor. The buffet-style dinner was replenished
all night long: steamed crab legs, peel-and-eats, cocktail meatballs, fried clams, thinly sliced
roast beef, cheesy garlic bread, and the famous house-made key lime pie. The servers had only
drink orders to fill, along with distributing the complimentary champagne (technically Asti
Spumante) toast at midnight. After the ball drop and a rousing “Auld Lang Syne” sing-along led
by the band, a continental breakfast replaced the dinner buffet, and all the guests had another
hour to sober up with some bagels and lox before making their way home.
That was the plan, anyway. Nick checked his wristwatch. About twenty minutes to midnight.
Sandra swooped by, a pair of novelty New Year’s Eve glasses balanced atop her head.
“Smooth as a baby’s butt, boss man,” she said. “Quit worrying; it’s giving you wrinkles.” She
turned around and used her behind to shove open the door to the back of house, tossing Nick a
saucy wink.
Nick touched his forehead gingerly. Sandra was a liar. He was not getting wrinkles. She was right
about one thing, though: everything was going fine tonight. No one had gotten sick in the
restrooms, no one was so blitzed that

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Nick needed to call them a taxi, no fights, no underaged kids trying to sneak a sip of Malibu. The
restaurant was full of people dressed in their sequined finery, eating way too many crab legs
and grooving to “Fins.”
This should have left Nick with a sense of self-satisfaction for a job well done, but ever since
he’d left Eli standing on their beach, he’d been feeling—dejected. Like there was a weight of
sadness on his shoulders that he wasn’t quite ready to shake off. Eli had called and texted, but
Nick hadn’t responded. The petty part of him was happy to give Eli a taste of his own medicine,
but the sadder half thought that a clean break was best.