Page 87 of Until We Break

I nodded. “I’ll ask Margot. She’d probably be cool with it.” The truth was I didn’t know if she would want to go out with Gabe and his summer girl. Now that she had decided to stay, I thought it was time to introduce her to more people.

I smiled when I thought about my mom’s dinner invitation. Maybe that was the place to start.

I signaled to Gabe I was ready to begin the tow. He returned the signal. We eased carefully on the gears and hauled the ski boat back to base together.

After my post ended for the day, I showered and dressed to meet Margot at the cottage. I had counted and recounted the money in the duffle bag twice since I’d been back. It was all there. Every single dollar bill. I shoved it to the very center of the bed and moved some boxes around it. Tomorrow I’d find a way to move it.

I pulled into my parents’ driveway on the way to the Blue Heron. My mom was at the kitchen window. She waved and met me at the front door.

“I didn’t expect to see you. Are you staying for dinner?” she asked.

I leaned down to give her a light kiss on the cheek. “No. I had some of Dad’s tools in my truck that I’d borrowed and needed to drop them off. They’ve been rattling around back there.”

I walked inside. It smelled like home. No matter what my mom was cooking in the kitchen. No matter what new candle she had picked out to try. It was home and there was no other smell like it in the world.

“What is for dinner?” I wanted to know.

She smiled. I followed her through the living room. “It’s so hot I didn’t want to turn on the oven.”

“Can’t blame you for that.”

“Tonight, it’s shrimp burgers.”

My mouth watered and I was certain she heard my stomach rumble.

“You sure you don’t want to stay?” Her expression softened. “I heard what happened today.”

I didn’t follow. “You heard about the ski boat?”

“Ski boat? No. I don’t know anything about that.”

“Then what are you talking about?”

She patted the table for me to sit while she poured a glass of sweet iced tea. It was one of the specialties my mother was famous for on the island. She would brew sun tea all day long on the back porch.

“Nan came over after work,” she explained. Nan had lived next door in the white brick two-bedroom house since I was a kid. She’d never married and didn’t have any children. Jacob and I were like adopted sons to her she would tell us and anyone else who would listen.

“How is Nan? Did something happen over at Reel Time?”

“You don’t know then?”

“Mom, spit it out. I have no idea what you’re talking about.” The sweet tea was good. Cold. Refreshing. Homemade.

She poured herself a glass and sat across from me. “Nan said your friend, Margot, had breakfast at Reel Time this morning. And I’m not sure how to tell you this, but there was a guy with her, holding her hand.”

I frowned. God damnit. This island was too small sometimes. “That was Ethan, Mom.”

“You knew about this meeting?”

I cleared my throat. I hadn’t talked to Margot all day other than to send her a text I was coming over. It was strange she hadn’t called or texted either.

“He’s an old friend of hers that came in from out of town. I knew they were having breakfast together.”

“Oh.” She looked worried as if what I said made little difference in the conversation she and Nan already had.

“It’s fine. I met the guy. I know the situation. Okay?” I drank the rest of the tea. “And maybe tell Nan that even though she means well, she shouldn’t meddle in other people’s shit.”

My mom gasped.

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