Page 157 of Knockin' Boats
“I’m sorry for that, Sawyer. I wish we’d planned better. But you can learn from our mistakes. You can mitigate the risks you take with proper debt-to-income ratio, with insurance, with a business partner like Hudson. Just, please, don’t be afraid to go after what you want.”
I smiled wanly. “I guess that means I have to figure out what I actually want, huh?”
She smiled. “I guess it does.”
“I’ll work on that.”
CHAPTER 33
Ash
I leaned forward to peer out the order window. There were at least three boats headed our way. I squinted, trying to tell if any of them were recognizable.
Sawyer wasn’t out here, but my mother had promised to stop by. My stomach fluttered with nerves. I still didn’t know what Rick had said to her about me—or what I would tell her about him.
It was a delicate balance, this family dynamic where she loved us both and we hated each other. It hadn’t always been that way. I tried to get along with him when they first got married. Rick even tried a little. As much as he was capable, anyway.
But the longer I worked for him, the less I liked him. The less I respected him. Respect—or at least the appearance of it—was everything to a guy like Rick. It didn’t take long for us to be at each other’s throats.
Charity joined me. “We about to get customers?”
“Maybe,” I mused. “If they don’t look at our reviews.”
She scoffed. “I can’t believe that asshole did a second round of them.”
I shrugged. “I can, but Vera is working on getting them down. Hopefully our regulars and the fact not everyone out on the lake is even getting online will help us out. Let’s just not encourage anyone to order online. We’ll go old-school.”
She smiled grimly. “You got it.”
I opened the refrigerator and pulled out ingredients to prep toppings for some of our popular orders: slaw and fresh-made mango salsa for the tacos, grated parmesan and an aioli dipping sauce for the Nauti fries, tahini sauce for the falafel.
For the next twenty minutes, I stayed too busy to think much about Mom.
Until I heard her voice.
“Is Ash in there? I’m his mother.”
“Oh!” Charity turned toward me. “I guess you’ll want to handle this order.”
I stepped up to the window, grinning when I saw Mom with a couple of friends, looking relaxed and happy.
Despite my worries, I was glad to see her looking so carefree. It’d been a long time since I’d seen her that way. She worked so hard to keep the peace between Rick and me that she looked perpetually stressed while the family was together.
Maybe me leaving was a good thing. This latest conflict would put an end to me and Rick play-acting like we could be civil, but we could have a clean break.
If I could just see Mom separately from Rick, wouldn’t we all be happier?
“Look at this boat!” she enthused. “It looks so official.”
I chuckled. “Mom, it’s tantamount to a food truck on the water. Hardly a Michelin-star restaurant.”
“You forget I’ve eaten plenty of your food.” She glanced to the right, where her longtime friend Barb King was lounging in a bikini top, flowy skirt, and sunglasses. “You’re going to be blown away by him, Barb. His food issogood.”
“What would you like to order?” I asked, making up my mind I’d leave the Rick mess for another time.
Mom was with friends. She was happy. I didn’t want to ruin her day.
“Oh, you tell me. You know what I like.”
