Page 44 of Sunset Tides
He didn’t go as far as wearing shorts, but Lucy appreciated the change. It was nice not having to hang out with a guy who looked like he was dressed to deny her a car loan. Plus, as not bad-looking as he was in a suit, he was just as not bad-looking in a fitted t-shirt.
He was still closer to “walked out of a catalog” than “average guy,” but it worked. Lucy wondered if he’d bought the clothes on island, or if he’d had them sent from his penthouse in New York City.
Even the material of his plain shirts looked nicer than anything she could buy on the island. She was tempted to reach out and feel one of the sleeves, just once, to see if his soft-looking shirt was cotton or some proprietary blend infused with silk.
She resisted, however, telling herself it was yet another symptom of her renewed boredom. She was so bored with her farm job that she’d started looking forward to seeing Rob.
They no longer took their island drives, instead spending their workdays together at the farm shop. Rob brought his laptop along, saying the fishy odor from the restaurant had grown unbearable and the music from the fitness classes were echoing in his dreams and driving him to madness.
Lucy didn’t mind having him in the shop. They didn’t have many customers this time of year, and since he was no longer athreat to the farm, Rob had become an amusing sounding board for her next set of schemes.
“What about cruise ships?” she asked him one day.
“What about them?” He sat back and crossed his arms. “I think they’re an oversaturated industry.”
As though she were thinking of investing in a cruise line. Lucy snorted. “What? I mean what do you think about me working on one? That’d be kind of cool, right? Like a vacation you don’t have to pay for.”
“Except you’re not on vacation. You’re working, and you’re stuck on a ship with a bunch of needy people.” He shook his head. “Actually, that sounds like a nightmare. You can never leave work.”
“It can’t be that bad. You get to go onto land sometimes, right? All the time, actually.”
“Not the employees.”
Lucy turned to rearrange the honey shelf for the third time that week. “I’d go onto land. Have you ever been on a cruise?”
“Not exactly.”
His tone was off, and she turned to look at him. Rob was staring at his screen a bit too intently, like he was hiding something.
Lucy swooped in, hands on her hips. “What’s that supposed to mean? Have you been on a cruise ship or not?”
“I’ve been on a ship.” He hesitated. “Not a cruise ship.”
Lucy let out a groan. That’s why he was being weird. “It was a yacht, wasn’t it? Your dad owns a yacht?”
“He does, but – ”
“I knew it!” She pointed at him, cutting him off. “Of course you would think cruise ships aren’t fun. You had your own private yacht growing up.”
“I’d rather be on a ship with a thousand strangers than trapped on a ship with my dad,” Rob said.
“How can he be that bad?” She took her seat behind the counter and logged into her laptop. “I’d put up with your dad if I could go on a yacht.” She froze. “Wait, that’s actually a good idea.”
Rob eyed her wearily. “You want to work for my dad?”
“Why not?” She shrugged. “Maybe not him exactly, but someone like him. I could work on a yacht. At least there wouldn’t be as many demanding customers.”
“Believe me. One of my dad is worse than a thousand demanding customers.”
“I don’t buy it.”
Rob sat back. “He was once so displeased with the chef he’d hired for a trans-Atlantic trip that he abandoned the guy in Cartagena.”
Cartagena, Cartagena… Lucy had no idea where or what that was, but she didn’t want to look uneducated. She’d search it online later. “What do you mean ‘abandoned’ him? Did he throw him overboard? I can swim.”
Rob laughed. “No, he left him in port to teach him a lesson. The guy didn’t have his passport or any of his stuff, which made it hard to get back to the US.”
Lucy made a face. “Ew. Okay, that’s pretty rude.”
