Page 79 of Troubles in Paradise
“It was acompliment,” Dunk says. “Show me a bird who doesn’t like hearing she’s hot, come on.”
“It wasinappropriate,” Baker says. “And then you touched her. You leaned into her, you put your hand on her back, you gave her a massage, and you rubbed up against her from behind.”
“Her word against mine, mate,” Dunk says.
Baker grabs the front of Dunk’s shirt and pulls him in. Will Baker hit him? He wants to. He would love to pop Duncan Huntley in the face and watch him bleed. “I’mnotyour mate.”
Nestor pokes his head out of the market. “You okay?” he asks Baker. “Need any help?”
“Ineed help!” Dunk says. “He’s attacking me!”
Nestor goes back inside.
“Here’s what you’re going to do,” Baker says. “You’re going to apologize to Swan in an e-mail. You’re going to offer her her job back. Do you understand me?”
“Yes,” Dunk says. His eyes keep sweeping to the other side of the truck. He’s worried about his vape pen, Baker realizes. Baker is never going to let Floyd start vaping.
Baker lets Dunk go, and in a few quick strides, Duncan retrieves the pen and pods from the ground.
Baker leans back against the driver’s-side door. “One more thing,” Baker says. “There’s nothing I can do for Cash—all’s fair in love and war, and Tilda chose you, a decision I’m sure she’ll come to regret. It was dirty pool. I know it; you know it. I now work with Jacqui at the Westin time-share office, and what you might not know about Jacqui is that she isverywell connected. We wouldn’t want her spreading any rumors about you. People on this island already think you’re sketchy—the sex app, the weed-edibles company, the jeans-and-Sambas thing, the fasting—but what if they hear that you’re an untrustworthy snake, a two-timer, a Me Too menace?”
“What do you want?” Dunk says.
“I’d like full use of your villa for one week this summer,” Baker says. “I donated a week at my father’s villa at an auction to benefit my son’s school, but now my father’s villa is gone so I’m left in a bit of a pickle. The high bidders paid fifty thousand dollars, so in addition to the villa, I’ll need at least one vehicle and staff, if you have any.”
“A housekeeper,” Dunk says. “And a landscaper. Any week in July works. I spend the month skiing in Tazzie.”
“Great, thank you,” Baker says. “I have your card. I’ll call you to confirm. Don’t forget the e-mail to Swan.”
“Granger will call her,” Dunk says. “He wanted to hire her back anyway.”
“Youreach out to her,” Baker says. “With a sincere apology.” He moves toward Dunk and Dunk stutter-steps back.
“Okay, mate, I will.”
“You’d better,” Baker says. “Jacqui’s a talker…”
“I will,” Dunk says.
“Good,” Baker says. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, my ice cream is melting.”
Everyone knows that Huck tries to stay away from Jake’s at the Lumberyard because he had a brief fling with Teresa, the breakfast waitress, after LeeAnn died.
It’s therefore unfortunate that when Huck asks Irene what she wants to do to celebrate her fifty-eighth birthday, which is in the middle of July, she says, “I want the whole gang to go to breakfast at Jake’s.”
“Jake’s?” Huck says. He has to head this off at the pass. It’s not that things between him and Teresa ended badly, but they do their best to steer clear of each other. Huck doesn’t ever go up Margaret Hill Road, where she lives; he doesn’t drink at the Quiet Mon Pub, where she likes to hang out; and he no longer goes for breakfast at Jake’s, where she (famously) works seven mornings a week. “Why don’t you pick another place? How about a nice dinner for everyone at Morgan’s Mango? Or the Terrace?”
“I don’t want anything fancy or over the top,” Irene says. She gives him a stern look and he recalls that her husband hired an airplane to pull a banner on her fiftieth birthday. “And I want the kids to come. What I’d like is a long, leisurely breakfast with mimosas and Bloody Marys at Jake’s.”
“Or,” Huck says, “we could all go to the Concordia in Coral Bay. They do a terrific breakfast and it overlooks Ram Head.”
“Listen to me, Huck,” Irene says.“The morning after my first night at your house, Maia offered me a piece of toast slathered with papaya jam from Jake’s. It was the first thing on my new mental Pinterest board.”
“Your new mental what?” Huck says.
Irene shakes her head. “I want to celebrate my birthday at Jake’s. Besides, it’s an island institution and I’ve never been.”
“It’s always crowded,” Huck says. “And it gets hot up there.”
