“Yeah, he hasn’t read it.”

Sage waited for them to catch up. “I have to head back to Boston. Any other ideas where Zia might be?”

Willow and Lila didn’t have any idea, but when they got to the car, her aunt did. “She might’ve gone to the beach house.”

“I don’t think so, Zia. Mom wouldn’t…” Lila trailed off. Her aunt was right. Her mother had probably gone straight to the beach house. She wouldn’t take any of the blame on herself. She’d blame everything on Lila’s father, just like she always did.

“I’ll call Dad.” Lila braced herself. She didn’t want to do this over the phone and was privately relieved when the call went straight to voice mail.

The five of them got back in the car and headed to the beach house anyway. Everyone was subdued on the drive over. Lila because she was afraid she was walking into a fight between her parents, and her aunt and grandmother because Willow had mentioned seeing their former servers at Surfside.

They all jumped when Willow shrieked from the front seat, “She stole my scooter!”

Lila leaned forward. “And drove it into my dad’s car.” This was going to be bad. She pressed a hand to her churning stomach as Sage pulled into the driveway.

Willow jumped out of the car and ran to her scooter. She cradled it to her chest like it was a baby.

Lila got out of the car. “Is it okay?” She hoped it was in better shape than her dad’s rental, which had a foot-long gouge along one door.

“I think so.” Willow glanced at their grandmother and her mother, who’d gotten out of the car. “Nonna, Mom, Sage has to get back to Boston, and Lila’s got this.”

“Thanks,” Lila murmured when her grandmother and aunt got back in the car. She didn’t need an audience when everything came out.

Sage leaned toward the open passenger-side window. “Call me if you need me.”

“Call me. I’m closer,” Willow said, and gave her a hug.

Lila waved goodbye to her family and then walked toward the house, listening for sounds of her mother yelling or of breaking glass. Instead she heard music and laughter and splashing coming from the deck.

She recognized her parents’ voices as she walked down the path, stumbling when she heard what sounded like a couple making out. They couldn’t be. She walked down the side of the house until she reached the lower deck and pulled herself up on the ledge. She got a look at the couple in the hot tub and squeezed her eyes closed. They were definitely making out.

She spun around and ran back to the house, grabbed the keys to the Ferrari off the console table in the hall, and took off. She got into the car and revved the engine. She didn’t know where she was going as she backed out of the driveway. She just knew she couldn’t be here.

If she stayed, she’d say things to her mother that she couldn’t take back. She didn’t want Eva with her father. There was no doubt in Lila’s mind that she’d break his heart. Her father deserved someone who would fall head over heels in love with him, and her mother didn’t do love. He needed someone who believed in commitment and happy ever afters, and her mother didn’t believe in either.

It was as if the car knew where Lila wanted to go before she did. She was headed to SUP Sunshine.

Chapter Nineteen

Lila had a moment of hesitation, a twinge of guilt because it was Luke she wanted to see and not her fiancé. But David was partying with his new friends, and the last place she wanted to talk about her mother and father and what she’d just witnessed was in a bar. David wouldn’t understand, but Luke would. He knew her mother. And Lila didn’t have to pretend with him or watch what she said. He wouldn’t use her fears or concerns like a weapon against her mother. He’d keep her secrets.

Luke’s pickup wasn’t parked outside his workshop, and the level of her disappointment took her aback. If her reaction to his not being here was this strong, it was probably for the best he wasn’t.

She was about to pull away when a man walked out of the shop, wiping his hands on a rag. He smiled. “Can I help you?”

“I was looking for Luke.”

“He took off about an hour ago. You can probably catch him at his place.” He cocked his head. “You don’t know where he lives, do you?”

“No I don’t, but it’s okay. I just had some ideas I wanted to run by him. I’m Lila, by the way.”

“Bodhi. Luke mentioned you,” he said as he walked to the car. “I’d shake your hand, but you’d end up smelling like turpentine.” He held up the rag. Then, without her asking, he gave her directions to Luke’s house. It was around the corner at the end of the road. “He’s pumped about you taking him on as a client. We all are. Luke figures, with you on board, he’ll need us full-time, which would be great. I’ve got a little one on the way.” He grinned. “No pressure, though.”

Maybe she should go see Luke. As with her family’s business, there were a lot of people depending on him to be successful, and not just with SUP Sunshine. She’d taken a look at his profit-and-loss statements for the charter business and found several areas that needed improvement. She had some ideas about how he could make those improvements and planned to bring them up when she met with him the next night.

“I work best under pressure,” she said. “I just hope I can live up to his expectations.”

“Trust me, you have no worries there. The guy thinks you’re the bomb.”