Page 42 of Summer Ever After
Tara had grown up in Windswan and knew pretty much everyone in town. She was thirty years old and divorced from her high school sweetheart, who had remarried and already divorced Tara’s best friend.
Trey inched the throttle forward again and steered us into the wind on a direct course to the island. “Rumor has it that someone gave away the local’s tickets – for free.”
“Really?” I sat up. “Are there any left?” I knew better than to approach Laird Starling for such a thing, but if he was giving them away, he might remember meeting me at the regatta and…
Trey shook his head. “I don’t know anything about tickets. Trust me, I’ve been getting harassed by everyone I know.”
“Right.” I sagged into the wet vinyl seat.
The engine noise got a little quieter as we approached the dock. “It surprises me that you’d want to go to something like that anyway.”
“I don’t.” My voice was quiet. “I know someone who wants to go.”
Tara clicked her tongue. “There you go again, being all vague.”
“Vague?” I grabbed my backpack and slipped it over my arm. We were getting close to the dock. The wind was shifting and I knew that Trey was going to need some help with the boat.
“Yeah.” Tara unfurled from her fetal position and slid her feet into flip-flops. “I’ve worked with you all summer and I don’t know anything about your personal life.”
I laughed and tossed my bag onto the dock as Trey put the boat in reverse to stop our forward momentum. “That’s because you’re looking at my personal life” I held onto the rope and hopped onto the dock. Tara wasn’t totally off base. Any time she’d asked questions about my home life, I’d brushed them off. It was easier to deflect than to talk about my situation. It was something that I’d gotten so used to doing, it came as second nature, but it surprised me that Tara picked up on it. Maybe I wasn’t as good at playing it as cool as I thought. “My stepsister wants a ticket.” I started to tie up the boat but Trey stopped me.
“I’m going right back to the shore.”
“Ok.” As I tossed the line onto the boat a gust of wind whipped up the bay and blew my hat off my head.
Tara’s reflexes were lightning fast and she grabbed it before it went swimming in the very cold looking water. Trey’s eyes widened as he looked at me. “What happened to—” He stopped speaking mid-sentence and his face turned bright red. “Never mind.”
I was confused until Tara handed me my hat. “Your hair.” She reached to touch my now ear-length bob. “You cut it.”
Both of them stared at me, and not in a good way. I slicked my hair back with my fingers before putting on the hat – the hat that I’d worn all week to avoid this exact conversation. “Yeah, so?”
“It looks nice, Rosie. I’ll see you ladies at the end of the day.” Trey saluted and reversed the boat. He was lying about the haircut. It looked awful. The kitchen scissors in the trailer had rust on the blades. They had done a great job when my hair was wound in a braid, but I hadn’t been able to even up the sides very well.
Tara took the hat off my head. “Did you do this yourself?” Her eyes searched mine as though assessing my mental state.
“I just felt like a change. What’s the big deal? It’s just hair.”
“Right.” Tara absentmindedly touched her long blond ponytail.
One of the dock hands rushed to the end. “You two. Upstairs. Mrs. Graham is in a tizzy.”
We looked at each other. It was the day before a multi-million-dollar event, and our boss was a perfectionist. “It’s going to be a long day,” Tara muttered under her breath.
* * *
Mrs. Graham scribbled furiouslyon the whiteboard. “It’s about time you two got here.” She didn’t turn to look at us when we stepped into the cottage keeper’s cabin.
“We’re early…” I gave Tara an elbow and a look that said ‘Shut up.’
“Early?” She turned her upper body, her hand holding the marker suspended in the air. “There’s no such thing as early on a day like this.”
Tara shot me a glance and rolled her eyes. I didn’t dare acknowledge her gesture, Mrs. Graham noticed everything. “What do you need us to do?” Being proactive was what our boss needed, and I was ready to work hard for her.
Mrs. Graham’s shoulders visibly softened. “I need you to help the catering crew with the tables. I want that place cleaned as it’s set up. Those caterers are leaving a mess everywhere. I swear they tromped through a mud wrestling pit before getting to the island. The linens are coming later today and you’re going to steam them after they’ve been placed on the tables.”
“Alright.” I nodded. “We are on it.”
“I knew that I could count on you…two. This ball is going to be the death of me.”
