by Natalie Ann
His aunt sucked her breath in. “But he could lose his job,” she argued.
“Then he should know better. I’ve got to keep a clean driving record to retain my job.”
“You don’t need to work.”
“Which doesn’t mean I’m not going to. That’s the problem with you. You think that just because I’ve got money I should sit on my ass and drink and party and blow through it all.”
“You were doing exactly that before your parents died. You know it and you’re nothing more than a hypocrite.”
“Calling me names isn’t going to help your case. I turned my life around after my parents died. I learned my lessons, but no one else in this family seems to be able to do that. The answer is no for Cole and no for Stephanie.”
“Crew.”
“No. Stephanie has been in college for almost six years now. Give me a break. Even I would have graduated by now.”
“She doesn’t know what she wants to do.”
“Then she should figure it out before she starts taking more classes or gets in more debt.”
“You’re nothing more than a wannabe just like your mother was. She’s the one who wanted to travel the world after they won. She is the one that wanted that plane so that they could take off when they wanted. They’d both be alive if she didn’t talk my brother into it.”
“Bye,” he said, hanging the phone up. The last thing he needed was some family member talking shit about his parents.
And his aunt was wrong. His father wanted that plane and the license because he wanted to give his mother the life he felt she deserved after they’d worked their asses off.
Yep, his parents won a lot of money and they shared it and gave everyone a clean start. When family came to them for more, they handed it over too. But his aunt and his uncle both blew through what was given to them thinking it was an endless stream to drink from.
Not anymore it wasn’t. He’d never be able to escape these phone calls, but at least he knew he was doing the right thing.
After that call he needed to work out so he went to his room, changed out of his uniform and into shorts and a T-shirt. He put the music on some loud blasting rock and decided to pump iron until he was hot and sweaty and his mind was off his money-needy family.
By the time he was showered and looking for something to eat, he was still annoyed and called the only person he could be open and honest with.
“Crew, sweetie, how are you doing?”
“Good, Grandma. How about you? Did you decide if you’re going to come visit me yet for Easter?”
“I think I might,” she said.
“I’ll book your flight for you then.”
“I’ll let you know for sure in a week or so. Don’t jump the gun. So, what is going on? I can tell in your voice you’re in a mood. Is the high-priced escort giving you fits?”
“Grandma, you need to stop referring to Emily that way. I want you to meet her and that would be pretty embarrassing and most likely insulting if you refer to her that way.”
“It’d be more than most likely insulting and you know I’d never say it to her face.”
He hoped not but never knew with his grandmother. She’d be one to say it for a reaction. “Aunt Vicki called me.”
“Ah. How much did she want this time?”
“Twenty thousand. Ten for Stephanie’s tuition and ten for a lawyer for Cole as he got another DWI.”
“And you told her no, I’m assuming,” his grandmother said.
“Of course I did. You know that. Stephanie is a career college kid just partying and sleeping around. Everyone knows it. She didn’t fill out her financial aid forms on time or that is what Aunt Vicki said.”
“Stephanie isn’t that stupid. It’s more like that’s an excuse to get you to put money up.”
“I thought about that too, but there was no reason to call her out on it when I had no intention of giving the money anyway. She gave a sob story about being barely able to keep a roof over their head.”
His grandmother laughed. “Your mother told me that not only did they pay off her mortgage and cars but they also gave her a hundred thousand dollars. She’s the one that blew through it when she could have put it away for a rainy day and lived very comfortably with her job and no debt.”
He wasn’t surprised his parents did that. He’d never asked and didn’t care back then. There was enough money to go around. “It had to be more than that though,” he said.
“Oh, it definitely was. That is what she got to start though. She just kept asking for more. And Cole is her baby. My guess is she spent most of it bailing him out of trouble.”
“I’m sure and I pointed that out. She threw it in my face I was the same way.”
“You were never that bad, Crew. You were misguided and then you were depressed. But you found your way all on your own. It bothers your aunt that you’ve got a good job and work daily and don’t need to.”
“Yeah, I heard that too. Why can’t they just leave me alone? I told her insulting me isn’t going to help her case.”
“She’s desperate more than anything.”
“Desperation is an ugly mask on people,” he said. He’d seen enough of it in his life between friends, family, and exes. He was getting sick and tired of only being wanted for money or lied to and manipulated.
“It is. Speaking of that. Emily still has no idea about you? See, I used her name.”
He laughed. “You did and that answer is no. I don’t see any reason to tell her. At least not right now.”
“Crew.”
“Yep. I know. Playing with fire. It’s fine; I can handle it. She doesn’t want anything serious and has told me that enough times. We are just dating and it’s fine.”
There was some silence on the other end. “It doesn’t seem like it’s fine to me.”
She always read more into his words than he liked. “I’m making it fine. We’ve got a good thing going that is working for both of us. She’s very busy with her hotel and her family and I’ve got plenty to keep me busy between work and the investments I dabble in. I’m thinking of buying another property here to rent out.”
“But then Emily might find out about that if you do?” she said.
“Which is why I’d buy it under my LLC and have my lawyer take care of it all.”
“It’s your life, Crew. But I’d hold off on that right now if I were you. Even if your lawyer buys it and you managed it behind the scenes, you’re still going to want to check the place out. It sounds like a small island. What if someone catches you and it gets back to her?”
He didn’t think of that. “You worry too much. It’s fine. I’ve passed a few places delivering mail and I’ve talked to the homeowners about it in friendly conversations.”
“Sneaky,” she said. “You never used to be that way.”
“Sometimes we have to change to protect ourselves.”
“Not everyone is out to get something from you,” she said.
“No. But it sure the hell feels like it lately.”
He hung up the phone and tried to find something to eat, then heard his phone go off with a text.
When he picked it up he saw it was from Emily asking about his day. It was wrong, he knew, but he lied and said it was great.
She sent him back a smiley face and a little kiss emoji and then asked if they could get dinner tomorrow night.
Rather than text back, he called her. “Hello,” she said.
“Are you still at work?”
“I am. I just got out of a meeting and Penelope and I are going to meet with the night manager and then I’m out of here. Late night but not tomorrow. I promise.”
“Since you’ve been working so hard and late, I don’t want you cooking. Let’s go out to eat.”
“We can do that,” she said. “How about McKay’s? It’s right up your alley. It’s a bar and restaurant in the back or a pub style in the front. It’s closer to the middle of the island.”
“Sounds go
od to me,” he said. “Just give me a time to pick you up tomorrow.”
“Will do. And I’ve got to go, Penelope just walked in.”
“Bye,” he said and tried not to feel guilty over what his grandmother said. It was best right now since she was trying to keep things light, even if he knew he was falling head over heels in love with Emily Rauch.
16
What Works For Me
“Talking with your boyfriend?” Penelope asked her when she hung the phone up with Crew.
“At our age boyfriend sounds immature.”
“Then your lover.”
“Ha ha. You’re just jealous.”
“Yep, I am. You’re getting action and I’m not. So how is he in bed? I bet he’s a take control type of guy.”
She didn’t want to talk to her sister about this even though in the past she had. If anyone knew how much Emily didn’t think sex was the be-all and end-all, it was Penelope.
“Maybe I like to take control.”
“Oh. Sounds like he’s a lot different from your exes.”
“What exes?” she said. “I really only had Simon and anyone is better than him.”
“But you’ve dated since Simon.”
“I have, but nothing serious. And there isn’t anything serious with Crew either. I told him that upfront.”
“Why would you do that?” Penelope asked, shaking her head.
“Because I don’t want to lead him on.”
“That’s so stupid.”
“Geez, thanks for the vote of confidence when I’m trying to be honest.”
“I get that to a point, but you have no idea how things are going to end up. Now you put up roadblocks without meaning to. No one goes into dating thinking it’s going to be serious right away, but you set yourself up by controlling everything from the start.”
“Whatever,” she said, knowing her sister was right but not wanting to admit it. “I’m doing what works for me.”
“Until it doesn’t work for you anymore and you end up hurt,” her sister said.
“Nothing can hurt me as badly as I’ve been.”
“Simon was a dick.”
“Yes, he was. Which is why I kicked him to the curb and he still kept coming around. I’m not going to fall for dishonesty again. I’m beyond that. I’m upfront with people and I expect them to be the same with me.”
“Everyone lies about something at some point, Emily. You better get used to that.”
“I get it. White lies are one thing. But I’m not getting played again. I told Simon from day one what my plans were with you. He wanted in on it and we were okay with it as a job not an ownership.”
“I wasn’t okay with it,” Penelope admitted.
“Why didn’t you tell me that then?” This was the first she’d heard anything like this from her sister. Something she should have been told long ago.
“Because he was going to be your husband. I didn’t want to come between you two. You said it was still going to be in our names only and I trusted that. But his idea of being in on it and ours wasn’t the same. I guess deep down I had a feeling things weren’t going to work out, but I didn’t want it to be because of something I said or did.”
“I still would have liked to know how you felt.”
“It wouldn’t have changed anything back then,” Penelope said. “You know that. You were in love and seeing a family and a business at the same time.”
“I’m not so sure what I was seeing if I look back. I had all these plans. Things you and I worked out since we were kids.”
“And you put Simon second. Trust me when I say he was aware of that.”
“I know,” she said. “It caused a lot of fights.”
“That you never told me about.”
“Because there are some things that are between a couple and not told to family.”
“Exactly,” Penelope said. “But looking back you knew it wasn’t right and I’m glad you called it off before it went any further. Can I ask, what was the final straw?”
She’d never told anyone this before and she supposed it wasn’t that big of a deal now. “He knew that he wasn’t getting any of the business in his name. He’d have a job here, a career, but he wouldn’t have a lot of say. Not what he wanted. It seemed to me like he accepted that.”
“I know all of that,” Penelope said. “He wasn’t happy, but he did seem to agree to it. So something else happened. I know it had to have. He wasn’t stupid enough to cheat on you.”
“No. I would have impaled his balls to the wall with a nail gun during construction if he did that. It was what he wanted my will to say.”
“What? You weren’t even married and he wanted a will? I would have figured you for a prenup, but the will thing. That takes planning in advance a little too far even for you.”
“The will was his idea,” she said. “Yes, to the prenup. I know a lot of our family doesn’t have one and many wouldn’t even care if they were asked.”
“Yet you wanted one and that says you didn’t think the marriage was going to last,” Penelope pointed out.
“You’re probably right. He agreed to the prenup, but then wanted to make sure that if anything happened to me my shares of Atlantic Rise went to him as my husband.”
“Oh hell no,” Penelope said. “That would make me think he’d try to off you.”
“It might have briefly crossed my mind and at the time it was pretty morbid. Then I asked myself—how the hell could I marry someone if that flickered in my thoughts?”
“Exactly. Well, good riddance to him. But now we’ve got some work to do. Do you want to stay in here or go to the conference room?”
“I’m good in here unless you need to spread out with things,” Emily said.
“Nope. Just talking promos and activities to add when spring break comes around, then the summer seasons. We are already booking up pretty fast. I was thinking of having some big special marketing promo and offering some travel bloggers a few nights during the spring break and then early June. What do you think?”
“That’s a great idea. You know it’s hard for me to give out free rooms, but we know it needs to be done. It’s some of our best marketing.”
“Eli tells us that enough. What do you say we bring Eli in on this and maybe a few others on the island? We can hold a contest for bloggers to apply and then pick and choose who we think might be the best fit.”
“I’m so glad you are the one leading up the marketing,” she said. Penelope always had a better mind for that than her.
“And I’m glad you deal more with the numbers and budgets. I can sit through those meetings just like you but I like that it’s more in your wheelhouse. We make a good team.”
“You’re damn straight we do,” she said.
“But that doesn’t mean we can’t add to our team.”
“Back to Crew again?” Emily asked.
“Yes. You seem so relaxed and happy right now.”
“He has a job. I’m pretty sure he wants nothing to do with tourism,” she said, laughing.
“I don’t mean it that way. Not at all.”
“Then how do you mean it?” she asked.
“That we are a team and we work well together. Our family does for that matter. But we are entitled to personal lives and I want you to know I’ve got your back if you need time to be in a relationship.”
“I appreciate the offer, but I’m not skirting my duties so I can have a boyfriend.”
“Ha. You called him your boyfriend.”
She laughed at the finger Penelope was pointing at her. “Fine. I’d say we are. We get along well and we don’t have to be in each other’s personal space often but do enjoy our time together.”
“He relaxes you. Admit it. You are such a kid with board games and you found someone who likes to do that too.”
“It’s silly, I know. I wonder if he’s just doing it because I want to at times.” Though the darts and pool had been Crew’s idea that first night.
/> “So what if he is? If he’s having fun, then what is the big deal?”
“No clue.”
“You’re just overthinking things like you always do. Go with it. Go to dinner tomorrow night and have fun. Then take him back to your place and jump him.”
“I might just take your advice on that.”
“Who are you kidding? You had it planned like that all along.”
“You know me well.”
17
Makeup Sex
“This place is nice,” Crew said when the two of them walked into McKay’s. “She looks familiar at the bar.”
“That’s Sidney. You saw her at Hunter and Kayla’s wedding. She is one of Kayla’s old roommates.”
“The one Mac Bond was looking at?” he asked. “Or you said he was.”
“Yeah,” she said. “But I was just busting on him.”
Emily waved her hand to the brunette at the bar and then pointed to an open table that they moved to and sat down.
“I guess I should get used to how small this island really is, though it’s not as small as many think.”
“Population is about twenty thousand permanent residents, I think. Give or take. That doesn’t include the weekend visitors or second homes people have let alone tourists. During the high tourist season, then you are pushing sixty thousand or more. That is what Penelope said last year. She’s the one who handles marketing and reach for the hotel.”
“So a lot of people and they still know you,” he said.
The waitress came over and took their drink orders and gave them menus. “Some of us are more noticeable than others,” she said, sounding grouchy. “I haven’t lived here my whole life but have been around from the day I was born. When construction of the hotel started a few years ago, more and more people realized who Penelope and I were. Plus my father is on the town board now that he and my mother have their residence here.”
