Page 32 of Beached Wedding

“Surf competitions,” Ashley explained to her family.

“He’d bought a run-down bungalow with some prize money and wanted to flip it, but he wasn’t home to do the work. Eddie had done the same thing when he and Sandy first married. Hegave me some pointers and I cracked at it while Shane was gone. Shane gave me a cut when he sold it and we kept at it while I finished my degree. By then, we were getting good at it so we kept it up after I graduated. When Shane was ready to retire from professional surfing, he suggested we open the shop. By then I had a decent little nest egg and thought he was out of his tree, asking me to gamble it on Togs and Boards, but he talked me round.”

“And now you’re, like, rich?” Fliss asked from the seat beside me. “A millionaire?”

“Honestly? The bank owns most of T&B. We keep our salary modest and reinvest a lot of our profit into our growth plan. We had a really good quarter, thanks to Ash’s help with the website and the vlog. Speaking of that—” I glanced at her then belatedly recalled she wasn’t marrying Shane and coming to work for us. I bit back a curse. “Never mind.”

“What?” she prompted, wide-eyed with curiosity.

I scratched under my chin. “I was hoping to corner you at some point while we’re here to help with a promotion proposal. Remember that one we did for the wetsuits, tying it into board purchases? I want something like it for the tents and camping gear. There’s a deadline for getting the proposal to the suppliers. That’s why I wanted to jump on it this week.”

“What else have I got to do?” she said dryly.

“I’ll pay you. Obviously.” It hit me that her not marrying Shane was a loss to the company, something I hadn’t fully computed yet. Ashley knew the business and the particular culture behind our brand. I had already folded her skill set into our expansion plans. Togs and Boards wasn’t a house of cards that would fall under the first gust, but her absence was definitely a missing piece that would have to be re-tooled.

“You don’t have to pay me.” She frowned as she shoved a bite of food into her mouth.

“Of course, I do. Maybe we could work out a long-distance consultancy.” I was thinking aloud.

She scowled harder.

“So you’re definitely not going to Australia?” Fliss pressed.

“You still want her to work for you?” Whitney chimed in with a scathing smile. “Just not have a stake in your company by marrying your partner?”

“Whit, stop it. I can fight my own battles,” Ashley snapped.

“Can you?” Whitney scoffed. “Because what he did to you sucks. And you’re completely ignoring that.”

“Tome,” Ashley repeated. “Not you. So back off.”

Everything in me wanted to take Ashley’s hand then. Especially as her eyes pooled with tears of frustration and her mouth trembled.

“Hey,” I said gently, confining my touch to one bent knuckle grazing her elbow. “I can fight my own battles. It’s okay if your sister wants to give me a hard time. She cares about you. That’s nice.”

“Oh, if you’re enjoying this, then by all means.” Ashley swept a Help Yourself wave toward her sister.

Whitney set down her cutlery with a clank, as though ready to take up the challenge.

“Getting name, income, and points of vulnerability is standard procedure in this family, isn’t it?” Oliver spoke lightly as he gave Ryan’s fingers a wipe. “My ex-wife thought Ashley was hitting on her when she chatted her up at the grocery store.”

“She did not!” Ashley giggled and covered her mouth.

“Oh mygawd. You grilled her at the grocery store?” Whitney was horrified. “When?”

“How did she know who I was?” Ashley wasn’t denying it, I noted with amusement.

“Not at first. She was flattered, actually, then you said something about just getting home from Australia and she put ittogether. She thought I might want to know that my girlfriend’s sister was doing recon.” Oliver was tickled, not offended.

“Too far.” Whitney glared at Ashley.

“Your Aunt Gilly opened your father’s mail more than once,” Joanna mentioned idly.

“That’s illegal!” Fliss snapped her head around.

“Very illegal,” Ashley agreed. “She worked at the post office.”

“She could have been fired and I didn’t even listen to her. I should have.” Joanna shook her head with regret.

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