Chapter 33

CHAPTER 33

Ash

I leaned forward to peer out the order window. There were at least three boats headed our way. I squinted, trying to tell if any of them were recognizable.

Sawyer wasn't out here, but my mother had promised to stop by. My stomach fluttered with nerves. I still didn't know what Rick had said to her about me—or what I would tell her about him.

It was a delicate balance, this family dynamic where she loved us both and we hated each other. It hadn't always been that way. I tried to get along with him when they first got married. Rick even tried a little. As much as he was capable, anyway.

But the longer I worked for him, the less I liked him. The less I respected him. Respect—or at least the appearance of it—was everything to a guy like Rick. It didn't take long for us to be at each other's throats.

Charity joined me. "We about to get customers?"

"Maybe," I mused. "If they don't look at our reviews."

She scoffed. "I can't believe that asshole did a second round of them."

I shrugged. "I can, but Vera is working on getting them down. Hopefully our regulars and the fact not everyone out on the lake is even getting online will help us out. Let's just not encourage anyone to order online. We'll go old-school."

She smiled grimly. "You got it."

I opened the refrigerator and pulled out ingredients to prep toppings for some of our popular orders: slaw and fresh-made mango salsa for the tacos, grated parmesan and an aioli dipping sauce for the Nauti fries, tahini sauce for the falafel.

For the next twenty minutes, I stayed too busy to think much about Mom.

Until I heard her voice.

"Is Ash in there? I'm his mother."

"Oh!" Charity turned toward me. "I guess you'll want to handle this order."

I stepped up to the window, grinning when I saw Mom with a couple of friends, looking relaxed and happy.

Despite my worries, I was glad to see her looking so carefree. It'd been a long time since I'd seen her that way. She worked so hard to keep the peace between Rick and me that she looked perpetually stressed while the family was together.

Maybe me leaving was a good thing. This latest conflict would put an end to me and Rick play-acting like we could be civil, but we could have a clean break.

If I could just see Mom separately from Rick, wouldn't we all be happier?

"Look at this boat!" she enthused. "It looks so official."

I chuckled. "Mom, it's tantamount to a food truck on the water. Hardly a Michelin-star restaurant."

"You forget I've eaten plenty of your food." She glanced to the right, where her longtime friend Barb King was lounging in a bikini top, flowy skirt, and sunglasses. "You're going to be blown away by him, Barb. His food is so good."

"What would you like to order?" I asked, making up my mind I'd leave the Rick mess for another time.

Mom was with friends. She was happy. I didn't want to ruin her day.

"Oh, you tell me. You know what I like."

"Hmm." I pondered it. "Definitely some truffle-parmesan." I turned toward Charity, but she was already on the move. She pulled out our pre-cut fries and tossed them in the frier. "And…calamari with a spicy marinara?"

"Sounds great," Mom said.

Charity pushed into the window space beside me. "Now, Ash, you have to tell your mom what she's really getting."

My mom looked confused, and I just rolled my eyes. "Ex-Squid-Site Bites and Nauti Fries."

Barb cackled. "Well, now that sold me," she said, digging into her purse for a credit card. "I need some naughtiness in my life."

My mother passed along both their cards with a laugh. "As if you're not plenty naughty already."

I turned to throw in a second batch of fries then checked Charity's progress on the calamari. At this point, she had most my recipes down pat. Not that the real crafting happened here. That took place in the prep kitchen at the resort.

Out here, we mostly fried, heated, and mixed. But they were my recipes, and I cared about every single one.

"Ash?" Mom called.

I turned back to the window. "Can I get anything else? Maybe for Mike?"

Mom thrust a phone in my face. I had to draw back a little to read the screen. It was open to the review site, with a nice selection of new one-star reviews on it.

I grimaced. "You don't need to worry about those. My food is safe. We had the boat inspected for health and safety. We do everything by the book and?—"

"I'm not worried about that," Mom cut in. "I know you take this business very seriously. You talk about nothing else when we chat."

I winced. "Sorry."

"No, sweetie. It's wonderful that you've found something that makes you so happy." She waggled the phone. "But this is cyber bullying! Who's being mean to you?"

I almost laughed. Leave it to Mom to phrase it like I was a kid getting my lunch money stolen.

"I'm handling it," I said.

"Ash." Her forehead furrowed. "Maybe I can talk to Rick, and he can send some extra customers your way from his tours. I know that wouldn't solve everything but?—"

A bitter laugh burst from me.

It startled us both.

Mom stopped short, staring at me. "What is it? What's wrong?"

I dragged a hand down my face, then leaned as close as I could and said quietly, "It's Rick."

"What about Rick?"

"The reviews, Mom. It's Rick's doing."

She shook her head. "No. He wouldn't."

Behind her, Barb lowered her sunglasses to exchange a look with her husband, who sat in the captain's seat. I couldn't read their expressions, but no doubt, they were friends with Rick too.

"It's complicated," I hedged. "I, uh, doubt you want to hear all about it right now. Did you all want anything else to eat?"

"I think we're good," Mike said.

Charity rang up the purchases and I returned their credit cards. "Okay, let me finish up in here. Your order should be right out."

"Wait," Mom exclaimed, putting a hand on my wrist. "I'll talk to Rick, but I know he wouldn't do something like that. This is all a big misunderstanding."

"There's more to it than just the reviews, Mom." I bit my lip, casting another look at Barb and Mike, but fuck it. Maybe Sawyer was right and Mom did deserve to know what her husband was doing. "There was a boating accident."

Her lips pursed. "Okay?"

"Sawyer saw it happen. He's an official witness. And, uh, Rick wants him to change his statement to authorities."

"I don't understand."

"It was a hit-and-run, and one of the DreamBoats was involved. Rick is trying to cover it up."

She shook her head. "No. That's not possible. I haven't heard anything about that."

"I'm sorry. I wasn't sure if I should tell you."

"Ash, I know you don't get along with Rick, but to come up with a conspiracy theory like this ? —"

" You know Sawyer, Mom. You know how honest he is."

"Of course I do, hon. He's a good boy."

"He's, uh…" Now was so not the time for this. "He's my boyfriend now."

Her eyes bulged. " What ? What about Mel?"

"Just a friend, Mom. Like I've been trying to tell you for the past five years."

"But a man? I didn't think you were—" She stopped short and shook her head. "This is a lot to process right now."

Charity handed me the finished orders. I passed it out the window, throat tight. "Sorry. I didn't mean to hit you with everything at once. I just…I wanted to be honest."

She took the order, handing one set of fries over to Barb and setting the rest down on the seat beside her.

She reached for my hand, squeezing tight. "You know I love you no matter what, Ash. I'll talk to Rick and straighten everything out." She flashed me a smile, one of the fake ones I'd seen at so many events. "This is all just a big mistake we're going to clear up."

"I'm sorry to pull you into the middle of all this."

"I'm your mother," she said. "Do you really think I'd want to be left out of any problem you have, hon?"

"I don't know."

"No." She met my gaze. "And for what it's worth…" She licked her lips, looking nervous. "Sawyer is a good guy. I'm happy for you. Just sad for Mel."

"Mel is fine, Mom. She doesn't want to date me any more than I want to date her. We've been nothing but friends for a long time now."

Mom didn't look convinced. "If you say so."

"I do!" I exclaimed. "I have. Many times."

She shuddered out a sigh. "Well, uh, we should get going?—"

"The fries are amazing," Barb said from her corner, where she'd started chowing down. "If those reviews are right, it'll be worth the food poisoning."

I rolled my eyes. "There won't be any food poisoning!"

She chuckled. "There better not be."

Mom picked up her food and took a small bite, saying all the nice, complimentary things she'd come to say. But my news dump had knocked her for a loop, and I doubted she even tasted what she was eating.

After a few minutes of strained small talk, Mike fired up the engine and they took off.

Charity put a hand on my lower back. "You okay?"

I surveyed the kitchen blindly. "We should clean up."

"Ash—"

"You can go cool off if you want." I grabbed the container of slaw and slapped the lid on it. "I'm going to clean."

She hovered behind me while I put away ingredients, then grabbed a sponge to wipe down the counters.

After a minute, she got out the mop and joined me in giving the kitchen a thorough going over.

I shouldn't have dropped the boyfriend bomb on Mom right after telling her about Rick. Maybe I shouldn't have even told her about Rick.

It was one thing to be at odds with him, but if I lost my mother too?—

I forced the thought away and resumed cleaning. But eventually I was doing little more than wiping down clean counters.

Charity finally took the sponge from me by force and pointed toward the door. "Go cool off. Jump in the lake or…or call Sawyer or something, okay?"

With a huff, I spun and went through the doors.

The breeze coming off the water was instant relief, making me realize just how overheated I was.

I pulled out my phone and called Sawyer, but there was no answer.

I hit Mel's number next.

She answered on the third thing. "So you finally remember I exist?"

I winced. "Sorry. I've been kind of caught up in a lot of stuff."

"Mm-hmm. Like sex with a certain childhood friend?"

"Not just that."

She sighed. "Way to ruin the fantasy."

"Stop picturing it," I ordered. "That's weird and pervy."

She laughed. "I'm just kidding. I've got way better fantasies than you two."

I wasn't sure I believed her, but plausible deniability was better for us all.

"So, what's going on?" she asked. "If you haven't been caught up in Sawyer? You guys aren't having problems, are you?"

"Not with each other." I leaned back against the side of the boat, enjoying the fresh air. "It's really about Rick."

"Of course it is," she said. "What did that douche do now?"

"Something really bad this time."

I filled her in on the accident, his attempts to coerce me, his shitty review bombing, and the conversation with my mom.

"No one ever really sees him for who he is, and it drives me batty."

"I do," she said. "I'm not exactly surprised by this latest, though it's bad even for him. But I know your mom, Ash. She loves you to pieces. No way she's gonna put up with him hurting you."

"She won't believe it's him. She never believes he's the problem. She'll just try to smooth everything over, like she always does. But this time, it's just not going to work."

"I'm sorry. I wish I could say something more helpful."

"That's okay."

My phone beeped, and I checked it, thinking it might be Sawyer. But no. My day had to go and get even shittier.

"I just got a text from Rick."

"What's it say?" Mel asked.

"It says that if I'm going to upset my mom, then he'll just have to make sure I don't see her anymore."

"He can't do that!" she said indignantly. "Your mom won't allow it. Neither will you."

"I wish I believed that," I said. "Listen, there's a boat approaching. I've got to get back in the kitchen."

"Ash—"

"I've got to go, Mel. Thanks for listening, but there's really nothing you can do. My family mess is my problem."

I hung up before she could try to reassure me. I didn't want to hear false promises right now. I just wanted to focus on work and drive every shitty thought out of my mind.