Page 9 of Swept Up In You

Her thoughts drifted back to Liz. For all that she did not want Liz in her life anymore, she did miss the loss of friendship that came along with their breakup. She thought about how weird it felt at the first games night after she’d left, the space next to her glaringly vacant. Nothing against Heath, but partnering up for certain games had just felt weird. With Liz, she’d hardly needed to share a look when they were teamed up; she justknew. They were always on the same wavelength.

“Taylor, are you sulking again?”

Taylor paused the game. She decided to be honest, as Jess would just call her out anyway. “I was thinking about games night and how it just sucks not having her there anymore.”

Jess pushed out her bottom lip. “That does suck. I hate seeing you sad, and I wish I could take that pain away.” Sheleaned over and squeezed her knee. “Give it time. Things will get easier. Concentrate on you, like you said—Taylor Time, yeah?”

Taylor gave Jess a half-hearted smile. “I know. You’re right.”

“C’mon, no more moping. Let’s shoot some more bad guys, and you can take your anger out on them.”

“Deal.”

Chapter Four

Sam glanced at the clock. 4:13 pm. Almost time to start closing up. Five o’clock couldn’t come soon enough. She was looking forward to getting out of the shop today. The sun was shining, and Manny was practically begging her to head down and work on him in the last few hours of daylight.

Luckily, a few parts had come in today for the boat, so Sam was already mentally planning what she was going to do in her head. One of the perks of working at the marine shop was not only could she order her own stuff, she could also get them at cost price and save herself a few dollars along the way.

The front door opened and in came another regular.

“Hey Peter, haven’t seen you in a while. How have you been?”

“Sam,” Peter acknowledged as he walked past the counter. “Been all right. Sold my boat though.”

“Oh? What are you doing in here then?” Sam joked.

“Bought another one,” Peter said with a smirk. “A smaller boat this time.”

“Well, hopefully a smaller boat means smaller problems.”

“Maybe.” He paused for effect. “But I keep hitting my head,” he said with a wink and a laugh.

“Ha, good one,” she humoured him. Dad jokes wereverypopular amongst her particular boating clientele.

“Sold anything?” he enquired.

“I’ll check your file while you have a look around. After anything in particular?”

“A few bits, but I’ll wander around and grab them meself.”

“No problem. Dad’s around by the anchors if you need anything else.”

“Cheers Sam.”

Some of their regulars, like Peter, had items on consignment in the second-hand section. So whatever sold, they could either be paid in cash or take the amount off their next purchase at the shop. It was great, as it brought regulars back to check in on their sales,andnew customers were obsessed with finding “treasure” in the overfilled back corner. To Sam, most of it seemed like junk. She swore there were still bits in that section from when she was little, but try telling her dad to get rid of anything.“Someone might need that!”he’d say. She shook her head, thinking about it. Luckily for Peter, a few of his things had actually sold.

Sam looked up as someone came up to the counter, thinking it was Peter. Instead, she was greeted with a bright smile and green eyes lit up from the afternoon sun streaming in through the windows behind her.

“Oh, Taylor, hi. Didn’t expect to see you again so soon. Although, maybe I should have with the amount we’ve seen each other recently,” Sam said. “I almost feel like you’re one of our regulars now.”

Taylor grinned back. “Maybe I will be. This place stocks so many things I need all the time for work. How in the hell I’d never heard of this place is beyond me.”

“We are kind of tucked out of the way. Though I’m super happy you found us, even if it was by accident. So what can I help you with today?”

“I believe this is yours.” Taylor handed back her favourite T-shirt, washed and folded neatly. “I mainly just wanted to swing past and give it back to you before the end of the day. And, say thanks again for coming to my rescue.”

“Ah, pfft.” Sam waved her off. “It was seriously nothing. Glad I could help. And actually, speaking of help, were you serious about being able to take a look at my boat?”

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