Page 70 of Rum Sips and Salty Lips

twenty-six

ORION

I hatehow the next few days play out in public. My back feels fine so I’m captaining as much as I can. Now that it’s fall, we’re slower and a few of our crew members have gone back to college or moved on to other jobs. If I can be the one sailing, then we don’t have to hire more staff. But I can’t keep up this schedule forever.

On my one day off a week later, Haley invites me grocery shopping. I thought it was an odd suggestion for a hangout. But since her life revolves around food, it makes sense for her.

We stop at a farmers market for fresh produce, and she introduces me to the local vendors. I buy what I need and wonder if she notices I’m buying enough for two. Carina and I may keep our distance in public, but we eat together almost every night I’m not on a sunset sail. She claims it’s a waste of effort for both of us to cook separately.

I buy blueberry jam, hoping we’ll share breakfast together soon.

I don’t know what Haley suspects about Carina and me. I hope she’ll open up to her friends at some point, but it hasn’t happened yet. Haley doesn’t flirt with me though. This doesn’t feel like a date or like she’s angling for more.

When we get into her vehicle after the market, she cranks the a/c and rests her head on the steering wheel. “I have a confession,” she says.

“Okay.” I draw the syllables out. I can’t imagine what she could possibly confess.

“The next stop is Eric.” She pauses as if the name means something to me. “He’s the fisherman I was seeing.”

“Wasseeing?” I repeat. They were at Paradise together the other day.

“I ended it. It wasn’t anything. But this will be the first time I’ve seen him since. I don’t want things to be awkward.”

“So you brought me to make him jealous.”

“No.” She sits upright. “No. I want company, and Carina’s too self-assured. The guys have too much history. He supplies Paradise, and they’ve always been close. You’re a neutral third party.”

I want to roll my eyes at the comment about Carina. Under the surface she’s a bundle of nerves. But Haley is her best friend. Shouldn’t she know that?

I wonder how Carina would handle Eric. She’d probably turn into a protective mama bear for her friend.

“What do you need from me? Should I flex a bunch? Puff out my chest? Brag about how big my boat is compared to his?”

“Your boat is nicer even if his is bigger,” Haley says. I give her a sideways look. “Just remind me it wasn’t worth everything smelling like fish all the time.”

I can accept this. She needs a friend, and I can be that for her. It’s simple repayment for introducing me to a lot of people atthe market, so they know I belong here. Even without that, I like Haley. I want to have her back when she needs me.

But the whole encounter is awkward. I stand to the side, glaring with my arms crossed over my chest. Eric stands close to her, peering down her dress when she bends over to get a better look in his icebox. My initial reaction to him was correct—he’s not good enough for her. He doesn’t treat her with the respect she deserves.

He probably wants her because she can cook better than anyone on the island.

He asks her to come over that evening. She declines. She doesn’t even need to look at me to do it.

“Thanks for doing that,” she says when we settle into her SUV.

“Would you have agreed to meet him tonight if I wasn’t there?”

“Maybe. I don’t know. It wasn’t like he was bad to me. But I was bored, and if I stay with him, I won’t grow.”

I swear the only thing I can do is grunt in response.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asks.

“He clearly sees you as an object and not a whole person.”

If she wasn’t focused on the road, she would have gaped at me with her mouth open. “What?”

“He stared down your dress the entire time. If he cared about you, he wouldn’t leer.”

---