Page 122 of Knockin' Boats
“I know.”
“He deserves a clean slate, and so do you, Saw. Trust him. Trust yourself. If you can’t…”
I pushed the door open, stepping into the balmy night air. “What, Brooks? Just spit it out.”
“If you can’t let the past go, then you should end it before it gets any more serious. Because I’m pretty sure Ash is already half in love with you. If not all the way.”
My heart skipped a beat. “You think he feels that strongly?”
“I’m pretty sure. Which is why you owe it to him to make up your mind about what you want.”
I could almost see it. A future with Ash. All of us one big group of friends.
It wasn’t really a matter of what I wanted. It was a matter of what I could trust. Could I risk a future with Ash after everything that had happened in our past? I’d let go of my resentment and forgiven Ash. But could I believe in him, in us, without reservation?
I didn’t have time to figure it out right then. I told Brooks goodbye and headed to the dock to meet my booze cruise tourists.
They were a bunch of young twenty-somethings.
“It’s my 21st birthday!” a brunette who looked about twelve crowed as she boarded the boat.
Her friends, a mix of college kids, whooped and hollered.
Great. This was going to be a real treat.
“Happy birthday, Kerry,” I said gamely before reaching for the next guy.
He was too macho to accept my help and stepped up without taking my hand. The next guy attempted the same and nearly fell off the side of the boat before I grabbed him.
“You all did some pre-gaming, huh?”
“We did! Yeah!”
I helped the rest of the group aboard, one of the last women in the group meeting my gaze with a sheepish smile. “Sorry for my friends. They’re just having fun.”
“That’s the point of the booze cruise. Don’t worry about it.”
I hated booze cruises, yes, but I didn’t blame tourists who wanted to have a good time. I just didn’t want to be responsible for a bunch of drunken, impaired adults on the lake. Not to mention how obnoxiously loud and reckless drunk people could get.
“All right, everyone, take a seat. I’ve got a few rules.”
“Rules? Boo!”
I smiled. “Yep, sorry. You want to get this show on the road, then you’ve got to listen. Otherwise we’ll cancel it right now.”
“I love a man with a firm hand!” one of the women called to a chorus of laughter.
I ignored her and went through my safety spiel, emphasizing the requirement to stay seated while the boat was moving, to keep arms and legsinsidethe boat, and what to do in the event someone went overboard or the boat became incapacitated.
Afterward, I got everyone situated with a drink from the cooler, then took my seat in the captain’s chair and started up the boat. The woman from before, not the birthday girl but the one who’d apologized for her friends, sat in the co-captain’s seat.
“Is it okay if I sit up here? I’m not really in the mood for their kind of party.”
“Sure,” I said. “It’ll be pretty boring. I’m just going to drive the boat and lecture everyone to sit the fuck down before they end up drowning.”
She laughed. “I’ll help you yell at them then.”
I grinned as I hit the throttle, taking us slowly out of dock. “Appreciate it.”
