Page 19 of Knockin' Boats
Brooks gave him a flat look. “Aren’t you on the clock?”
Cash raised his hands. “Sorry, boss boyfriend! I’ll get back to the front desk.”
“I hate when he calls me that,” Brooks grumbled.
“I hate most of the shit that comes out of his mouth.” I paused. “Why are we friends with him again?”
We laughed, cutting through some of the tension.
“I really don’t know,” Brooks said. “But I do know why I’m friends with you. And I really should have given you more time to come to terms with this.”
I shrugged. “You knew I’d flip. I’m sure you weren’t looking forward to the ranting.”
He grimaced. “Still.”
“It’s okay.” I glanced out the window. The dock was empty. Now was my chance to get to work without any run-ins. “It’s notlike we have to work together. We don’t even have to speak to each other.”
Brooks frowned. “I don’t know if that’s the best?—”
“I gotta get to work.” I patted his shoulder. “Don’t worry, man. We’re cool.”
I stepped into the hallway, and damn near ran into Ash. He’d just stepped inside, head bent, eyes on his phone. I ducked into the conference room next door and waited for him to pass, then hauled ass down the corridor to the exit.
By the time I got to the Swallow Adventures hut, I was breathing hard. The weather was still mild, but I’d broken into a light sweat from the speed-walking I’d done.
Avoiding Ash when his boat was right next to ours might be trickier than I’d implied when I spoke to Brooks. Most likely, we’d run into each other. Probably exchange some unsavory words. Just like we did on the lake when we were both running tours.
Ash could never resist stopping to taunt me. I could never resist taking the bait.
But Brooks didn’t need to worry about all that. It was my problem, not his or Sky’s. The resort was an incredible project, and this was their first season opening. They had bigger fish to fry.
“Damn it!” Hudson slapped his phone down on his flimsy metal desk as I walked into our little hut that included a front ticket window, small office, and bathroom.
“Uh-oh. What’s wrong?”
Hudson growled and tugged his beard, which he’d grown at Fisher’s request. My friend had a real bear fetish.
“Regi isn’t coming back this season.” He blew out a breath. “And apparently he had to wait until the first day he was scheduled for a tour totellme.”
I knew what that meant. “More booze cruises for me, huh?”
“Well, I’d send Heath, but you know what he’s like.”
Grumpy. Cantankerous. Too likely to dump an obnoxious drunk into the lake.
“Yeah,” I said glumly. “I know.”
“We’ve still got a lot of applications on file. I’ve got a tour about to go out, but if you wanted to look through them…”
“I can do that.”
“Are you sure? You could also just go home and relax until the cruise later tonight.”
“Sooner we get interviews scheduled, the sooner I’m off booze cruise detail, right?”
“That’s right. You’ve done your time. Besides, you’re of more help to me in the office.” He chuckled. “You could probably run this operation better than I could.”
“No, thanks,” I said quickly. “I’ll just take my paycheck and leave the business headaches to you.”
