Page 66 of Knockin' Boats
“Yeah, the resort bookings are ramping up nicely,” Skylar said, sounding pleased. “I didn’t know how long it would taketo get the word out, but the social media marketing we’ve done seems to be working.”
“It’s not a full house yet,” Brooks said, “but the restaurant has been a big hit. With lunch more casual and dinner upscale—without being snobbish and overpriced like The Savory Swallow—it appeals to everyone.”
“I just wish we could find a better replacement for the pub,” Skylar said. “It’s definitely not up to Vera’s standard.”
I nodded. “No one makes nachos like Mom.”
Brooks snorted and tossed a coaster at me. “You and your freaking nachos. Your mom is so much better than that.”
“I know she is,” I admitted. “She’s in heaven over at the resort where she can experiment with recipes.”
“Ash is a lot like her, from what I hear,” Skylar said, sounding cautious.
My lips twisted. “Maybe.”
They both certainly took a lot of risks for what they loved. The only difference was, Ash had a wealthy stepdad to cushion him if the food boat failed.
It was a heck of a lot easier to take risks when you knew there was a safety net beneath you. But most of us weren’t that lucky.
We had to risk our savings, our home, sometimes everything to our name. And if we lost, we lost big.
Just as my mother did.
And that was just a cost too high to pay.
The next afternoon, I mopped the kitchen floor while Ash wiped down the counters. We’d been slammed since we opened. Now that it was June and the weather had been heating up, the lake had been getting busier each day.
“Hey, what do you think about…Ex-squid-site Bites?” Ash asked. “Get it? Ex-squid-site, because it’s calamari?”
He chuckled at his corny pun.
He’d been at it all day. Apparently, my mom had given him the idea to give his fancy foods sillier names or something. I wasn’t really paying attention when he rambled about it this morning.
My head was still too full offriendervention.Of my friends’ advice to face what was really happening with Ash. But how was I supposed to do that when I didn’t fucking know?
Cash thought I was in denial, or had some internalized homophobic or biphobic shit spinning in my head. But it wasn’t that. Hell no. I loved my queer friends, and how could I love and accept something for them but not for myself? No, that wasn’t my hangup.
My hangup was Ash.
Ash.
I’d spent so long hating what he did. Hating him for it. How was I supposed to do anything else? Even if…
Ash got into my face. “Are you even listening to me? I am still your fucking boss.”
“I’m just trying to get through my last day.”
“So you’ve checked out? Is that it? Because this business matters to me, even if it doesn’t matter to you.”
I tossed the mop against the wall and grabbed his shoulders, moving on instinct to kiss his stupid mouth shut again, when my brain supplied that kiss from last night with Cash.
Where I’d felt absolutely nothing.
I pushed him away instead. I didn’t need to test a kiss with Ash. We’d done it for days, and every time, I experienced something different.
Triumph. Domination. Elation.
The feeling that scared me the most? Joy.
