Page 50 of Summer Refresh

“Don’t worry about it. You have everything under control. I’ll take over now. I hope you have a wonderful vacation.”

Sara wanted to tell her that she was canceling her vacation. With Oreo gone and Kent avoiding her, she didn’t know what to do with herself. But she didn’t want to explain any of this to Josie, who would undoubtedly have questions—lots of questions.

Instead Sara said, “Thank you so much. If there’s anything you need? Or, if you have any questions, just call. I’ll be around all week.”

“I’ll be fine. Enjoy the time off.” And with that, Josie walked away.

Sara was left wondering what in the world she was going to do with all of her free time—time she would use to think about how much she missed Oreo and how much she was going to miss Kent when he moved to the mainland. And then there was the fact that her sister wasn’t returning her calls. What was up with that?

Chapter Seventeen

He’dnailedthem.

Friday morning, Kent was relieved to be back on the island. In the past couple of days, he’d had not one but two lengthy in-person interviews with multiple people at each company. The first had been in Boston, and the second one had been in Hartford. It was the Hartford position that offered him everything he could ask for, from his responsibilities to his benefits package. If he were to get the job, he’d be crazy not to take it.

Which brought him back to his biggest problem—leaving Bluestar. More pointedly, he didn’t know if he was ready to leave Sara now that things between them were coming together. He wanted to see where their relationship was headed.

He’d gotten home a lot later last night than he’d hoped. Traffic had been snarled from a big accident. With the lateness of the hour, he hadn’t made it to the inn to make sure the grand re-opening went smoothly. He owed Sara a big apology.

Showered and dressed, he headed out the door to go to Sara’s place. He was hoping to catch her before work. But as he headed out the walk, he ran into his father. His frowning father.

“Hey, Dad. What are you doing here?” He glanced at his watch. It was seven thirty-five. “Shouldn’t you be at the store?”

“Your mother is opening up today. We need to talk.”

He didn’t like the sound of that. “Now’s not a good time. I need to be somewhere.”

“It looks like you’re going to be late.” His father had a no-nonsense attitude. The same one he had when Kent and his brothers broke the neighbor’s back window with their baseball.

Kent smothered a groan as he retraced his steps to his apartment and unlocked the door. The only problem was that he had absolutely no idea what had put the frown lines on his father’s face.

Once they were inside and the door closed, his father said, “When were you going to tell us?”

“Tell you what?”

“That you’re moving and taking another job.”

Whoa!How did they know? It took him a second, and then he realized the only person who knew about his interviews was Sara… But she wouldn’t say anything. Would she?

There was absolutely no reason for him to deny it. Perhaps it was best to just get it out there. He knew his parents weren’t going to like it. He wasn’t sure he liked it, but he had to keep moving forward instead of being stuck in this rut.

He swallowed hard. “I was going to tell you when there was something to say.”

The frown lines on his father’s weathered face deepened. “So you weren’t going to say anything until you had a new job.”

Kent shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “Honestly, I don’t know. I know I just can’t keep doing the same thing over and over, day after day. I need new challenges.”

His father didn’t say anything for a moment. “And you can’t do that at the store?”

“I tried. But you and Mom don’t want any changes. My leaving is for the best. We can’t keep butting heads at every turn. It isn’t good for us, and it certainly isn’t good for the business. I need to find a new path.”

“Don’t walk away.” His father’s eyes implored him. “We need you. This is a family business, and someday it’ll be yours to run. Your brothers and sister don’t have any interest in it.”

His father knew exactly how to heap the guilt on him. It was something he’d been wrestling with for some time now. And he just couldn’t cave in now—not if he wanted to be happy. “I’m sorry, Dad. I just can’t go back to the way things were. I have to go.”

He turned and headed out the door, leaving his father to come to terms with the changes that were about to happen in both of their lives. It was going to take some adjusting for the both of them.

He walked to Sara’s place. He was filled with pent-up energy and frustration. The walk would do him good. Although he was now later than he’d hoped, so he wasn’t sure if he would be able to catch her before she left for work.

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