Page 51 of His Secret Gift

I clap my hands. “That’s what I like to hear.”

However, I soon remember my newest oath to ditch my playboy lifestyle.And what about Kayla?The mental gymnastics make me exhausted and feel like I hadn’t just had one of the best nights of sleep.

Sure, we’ve only shared one almost kiss, one actual one, and a thousand longing stares. However, I think it would crush me to see her dancing with some random stranger.But is that fair?

“Jack?” Bryant disrupts my spinning mind.

“Yeah?” My attention once again is on the food I’m preparing.

“You looked lost in the clouds again.”

It seems like that’s the effect she has on me.

“Uh, nope. All good. Just focused on making these new dishes.”

“Okay…”

After setting upeverything in the dining area, I sit next to him at our typical table, but when I get the courage to glance over at the one where Kayla typically sits, there’s a group of deckhands there instead.

“What the heck?”

“What’s wrong?” He follows my lead and looks over at them. “Oh.” Apparently, that answered his own question. “I thought it would be good to mix things up a bit.”

My eyebrows smush together. “What do you mean?”

“I just thought it might be better to have arranged seating from now on.”

“Huh?” We’ve never done that, at least to my knowledge.

“Yeah, there’s been some tension among some of the crew members.”

“There has?” I wasn’t aware of any of that.

He nods. “Oh, yeah. You know how it can get when a set group of people are forced to share the same air for too long… there’s jealousy and other negative emotions that can be brought out on the sea.”

“Hm.” He’s obviously more in touch with the employees than I am, so I have no choice but to doubt him on any of that. “Have you seen it having any effect on the morale?”

“Yes, sir. By distributing the flow of bodies and conversation, things seem to have evened out. For now.”

“Alright. Well, good work.” I don’t want tension on board. For one thing, it reduces the atmosphere and the productivity of the workers.

“Thank you, sir.”

With that, I look around the rest of the room, but I don’t see Kayla anywhere.

As if able to read my mind, Bryant says, “I gave the stewards a special assignment this morning.”

I shuffle in my chair. “Oh, yeah? Why?… I mean, why would you think I’d care.”

He gives me a look. “It was just a guess.”

After taking a bite of deliciousHarsha, I ask, “What are they doing? I’m just—just curious.”

“There was some slacking in the laundry area. So, I instructed for them to finish that up and make sure everyone’s extra uniforms and linens were perfectly folded by the end of the day.”

“Ah. I see.”

“Yes.” He takes a big swig of his coffee. “I noticed that I’ve been too relaxed with them. But no more.”

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