Page 23 of Always, Plus One

“Well, it was prepping bacon for tonight’s service, but after that”—he pointed at the rat—“I will probably switch tasks.”

“I don’t blame you,” Ariel said, laughing. “I think I’ll go take a shower.”

Darcy left, and Katie lingered; Ariel stepped out of the bathroom, taking off her shoes and gesturing to her daughter. “Hey, Katiebug, do you mind coming with me? I have to talk to you about something.”

Katie looked askance at Ariel. “Now?”

Ariel nodded. She knew that sooner was better rather than later—the incident with Emily had been a distraction, and Ariel should have stayed at Leeside to catch Katie when she’d come back from wherever she had been going, to talk with her about Connor’s quitting. But if the evening came and Connor wasn’t at dinner service to help out, Katie would wonder why. And then, Ariel wouldn’t be guaranteed the privacy that their talk needed.

“You can hang out in my room, and I’ll talk to you once I’m done with my shower,” Ariel said. “Bring your phone. We should take a break together before dinner service, anyway.”

Katie nodded, her expression confused, but she went ahead of Ariel to make sure that no guests were in sight so that Ariel could make a dash for her room without being seen looking like she had lost a fight with a monster.

Once in her room, Ariel shut the door and rummaged for fresh clothes, piling her shorts and tee on the bathroom sink before shutting that door and starting up the shower. She made quick work of the wallpaper paste and—she shuddered—the rat’s fur, double-scrubbing her arms and washing her hair twice. Once she was done and dressed, she emerged from the bathroom, drying her hair with her towel, to find Katie lounging on her bed, clicking on her phone.

Katie looked up. “Cute shirt,” she said, pointing to Ariel’sVisit Endless Harbor, Mainelogo.

“Thanks, I got it at the marina. I was thinking of getting some made up for the B and B and the café.” Ariel came to sit on the edge of her bed, pointing to Katie’s phone. “Whatcha playing?”

“Oh, some stupid bubble game,” Katie admitted, tossing her phone onto the bedspread. “And wondering why Connor hasn’t returned any of my texts from today…” She flopped back on the bed, and Ariel knew this was the perfect “in” for their heart to heart.

“About that…” Ariel started.

“Oh? What? You discovered that there was a county-wide cell service outage that only affects text messages, and that’s the reason? Whew. That is good news.” Katie grinned, staring at the ceiling. “Though I walked almost the entire property earlier today to make sure that wasn’t the case.”

So that’s where she had gone…

“No outage, honey.”

Ariel noticed Katie's expression change from playful to concerned, and Ariel knew it was time to talk about the elephant in the room. "Katie, I need to tell you something about Connor," she said gently, smoothing the comforter beside her daughter on the bed.

Katie sat up, her eyes widening with worry. "What is it? Is he okay?"

"He's fine, don't worry. But he quit his job at the B and B today," Ariel said, taking Katie's hand. "And the reason why is because his father made him."

Katie's face fell. "What? Why would he do that? And why didn’t he tell me himself—or just text me!"

"It's complicated," Ariel sighed. "You know there's been some tension between his father and me, and he thinks it's better if Connor doesn't work for us anymore. I tried to talk to Connor, but he wouldn't listen. He’s stuck in a difficult place between somewhere he wants to be—here with you—and something his father is insisting he do."

Katie looked down at her hands, her brow furrowed in deep thought. "So what does this mean for us?"

Ariel shrugged. "I'm not sure. I think he’ll talk to you, given some time. He didn’t want to hurt you, but I agree he should have told you himself. People aren’t always at their best when they’re against a wall, though, Katiebug. So keep that in mind.”

Katie looked contemplative for a moment, and then said, “Mom, I may have an idea of what’s going on.”

Ariel’s eyebrows rose. “Oh?”

“Sort of.” Katie swiped on her phone and held up a photo from a Snapstaface profile. The photo was of a blonde, probably around Ariel’s age, and a younger, teen girl who appeared around Katie’s.

“Who is that?” Ariel asked, squinting at the photo. Both of the photo subjects wore heavy makeup, their clothes trendy and tight, their nails and hair and fake lashes at teen magazine levels of done up.

“Trish, the mom, and Tiffany, her daughter. Trish is Mayor Stanton’s newgirlfriend.”

Ariel blanched. “How do you know that?”

“Because Connor told me. She just moved here from California, and she practically invaded their house even though she has her own. Changed all the furniture around, started telling Connor that she would be his stepmom soon.”

Katie frowned. “And Connor said Trish was pushing him to hang out with Tiffany. What if he—I mean Connor and this girl—” Katie broke off.

---