Page 160 of Knockin' Boats
Charity put a hand on my lower back. “You okay?”
I surveyed the kitchen blindly. “We should clean up.”
“Ash—”
“You can go cool off if you want.” I grabbed the container of slaw and slapped the lid on it. “I’m going to clean.”
She hovered behind me while I put away ingredients, then grabbed a sponge to wipe down the counters.
After a minute, she got out the mop and joined me in giving the kitchen a thorough going over.
I shouldn’t have dropped the boyfriend bomb on Mom right after telling her about Rick. Maybe I shouldn’t have even told her about Rick.
It was one thing to be at odds with him, but if I lost my mother too?—
I forced the thought away and resumed cleaning. But eventually I was doing little more than wiping down clean counters.
Charity finally took the sponge from me by force and pointed toward the door. “Go cool off. Jump in the lake or…or call Sawyer or something, okay?”
With a huff, I spun and went through the doors.
The breeze coming off the water was instant relief, making me realize just how overheated I was.
I pulled out my phone and called Sawyer, but there was no answer.
I hit Mel’s number next.
She answered on the third thing. “So you finally remember I exist?”
I winced. “Sorry. I’ve been kind of caught up in a lot of stuff.”
“Mm-hmm. Like sex with a certain childhood friend?”
“Not just that.”
She sighed. “Way to ruin the fantasy.”
“Stop picturing it,” I ordered. “That’s weird and pervy.”
She laughed. “I’m just kidding. I’ve got way better fantasies than you two.”
I wasn’t sure I believed her, but plausible deniability was better for us all.
“So, what’s going on?” she asked. “If you haven’t been caught up in Sawyer? You guys aren’t having problems, are you?”
“Not with each other.” I leaned back against the side of the boat, enjoying the fresh air. “It’s really about Rick.”
“Ofcourseit is,” she said. “What did that douche do now?”
“Something really bad this time.”
I filled her in on the accident, his attempts to coerce me, his shitty review bombing, and the conversation with my mom.
“No one ever really sees him for who he is, and it drives me batty.”
“I do,” she said. “I’m not exactly surprised by this latest, though it’s bad even for him. But I know your mom, Ash. She loves you to pieces. No way she’s gonna put up with him hurting you.”
“She won’t believe it’s him. She never believes he’s the problem. She’ll just try to smooth everything over, like she always does. But this time, it’s just not going to work.”
