Page 156 of Knockin' Boats
I nodded. “Yeah. Given how everything ended.”
“Well, that’s a tough question. I don’t really believe in regret. It’s not that I’m happy about what happened, of course. It broke my heart. But…I tried, and I learned a lot of important things from that experience.”
“Like don’t invest all your money in a business?”
She looked surprised. “Well, no. I learned that the only people worth keeping are the ones who stand by you in tough times.”
“If we hadn’t gone bankrupt, you might still have a marriage.”
She shook her head. “Things were crumbling long before that, Sawyer. We hit some bad luck, but we could have recovered if your father hadn’t taken out loans he didn’t tell me about.”
“What? You never told me that.”
She shrugged. “It was hard enough for you to watch him leave. I didn’t want to give you more reason to be angry.”
I pushed my plate forward, most of my appetite gone now.
“You didn’t ever try to open another restaurant though. You learned it was too risky?”
She shook her head. “No, I learned that I loved running a kitchen, not managing a whole restaurant. Your dad did all the business office work, you know? I never wanted that. This job at the resort is my ultimate dream. I get to focus on the food and my kitchen staff and let other people worry about the rest.”
“I guess that makes sense. That’s my dilemma too.”
“How do you mean?”
I chewed my lip. “I had this idea to expand Swallow Adventures to include water-sport tours.”
Her eyes lit up. “You’d have so much fun with that.”
I nodded. “Hudson doesn’t want to take it on. Not if things stay like they are now, anyway. Says he’s looking to scale back, not expand.”
“Oh.” She frowned. “So you’d need to start up your own tours business to do it?”
“He said I could buy into Swallow Adventures, run the water-sport tours, and eventually take over the whole thing from him.”
Her eyes widened. “Wow. That’s an amazing opportunity.”
“Is it though?” I leaned forward. “What if I invest and it goes down the drain like the restaurant? Or…or what if I hate running a business, like you did?”
She reached across the table to squeeze my hand. “Let me ask you a question.”
“Okay.”
“How did you feel about managing the business for Hudson while he was gone?”
“It was fine.” I shrugged. “I kind of liked setting the schedule, and even though I had problem with an employee, I think we came out with more respect for each other. I came up with a better way to set up payroll too. I need to show Hudson?—”
I stopped as she smirked at me.
“What?”
“I can safely say you wouldn’t hate running a business,” she said. “You got a trial run, and you sound more enthused about your job than you have in years.”
“I guess I did like calling the shots,” I admitted. “But that’s not the same as having all the financial responsibility.”
She nodded. “True. Running a business is risky. You’re right. You have to decide if you want the reward enough to take therisk. You asked me if I regretted opening the restaurant, and my answer will always be no. I’m glad Itried.I’m glad I learned what I really wanted from the experience. If I had a regret, it would be that you seem to be letting my mistakes hold you back.”
“It was hard,” I admitted. “We had to move and Dad left and I lost my friends.”
