“Don’t worry, it’s a long process. I might not even get it. Sure, I’m ridiculously qualified and all that. But there’s a lot of old people in charge around here who might not want me to get it. The dreaded board of aldermen.”
Carly shuddered, since she’d had her own run-ins with the town powers-that-be. “What’s the job?”
“Town manager. The job where I get to boss everyone around.” She smiled gleefully.
“Oh my God. That would be perfect for you. As a local business owner, there’s no one I’d rather get bossed around by.” Carly offered her hand for a high-five. Kendra obliged, then high-fived Gina as well. For the first time in a while, she felt some hope. Maybe Dominic hadn’t completely ruined her career and love life in one swoop.
“What about Alvin? Is he okay running the restaurant by himself?” Gina asked.
Kendra bit her lip. That would be the hardest part, for sure. Working with her father was great. She’d needed to come home after Dominic had shattered her dreams. But on the other hand… “Do you think he’ll understand that managing Alvin’s was a rebound job?”
They all laughed. “So you are open to rebounds!” Carly clapped her hands together.
“Rebound, rebound,” Gina chanted softly.
Three
Of course it was inevitable that Jason would run into Gretchen. Lake Bittersweet was small enough that it was impossible to avoid any particular person forever, even if they’d moved to the next town over.
With the weather finally warming up, he and Galen Cooper decided to take a canoe out for the summer’s first fishing trip. They were carrying Galen’s big double canoe down the pebbled beach when he spotted Gretchen’s strawberry-blond head in a speedboat tied up at the public landing. She wore a visor to keep the sun off her face and bright pink lip gloss.
Probably watermelon flavored. That was her favorite. He didn’t like the taste of watermelon—too sugary. But he’d never told her that and now it didn’t matter since he’d never kiss her again.
“You okay, man?” Galen asked. For a wilderness dude, he was surprisingly sensitive. He was Jason’s best fishing bud, a real character, a bristly-haired mountain man more comfortable in the wilderness than around people. He’d been growing his beard out for so long that no one remembered what his face looked like. Every time he tried to cut his hair or shave, he panicked.
Jason loved the guy because he was so much himself, and besides, Jason got a kick out of most people.
“Yeah, it’s all good.” He shrugged. Easygoing Jason. Easy come, easy go. That was his motto, right?
His phone rang, the ringtone telling him his sister Holly was calling. As her surrogate parent, he couldn’t ignore her calls. He motioned to slow down, and dug his phone from his pocket. “Hey, we’re about to go catch dinner. What’s up?”
“I’m having friends over tonight.”
“Okay…” Holly was seventeen—a later-in-life surprise for their parents—and had friends over all the time. Even though he’d been her main parental figure since their parents had moved to Minneapolis three years ago, they were more like roommates than anything else. Only occasionally did he have to play the authority figure.
“One of them has a crush on you. Just a warning.”
He groaned. “I’ll stay away.” If anything would be guaranteed to make him stay out of the house, it would be one of Holly’s friends with a crush.
“Thanks.”
Something in her voice made him pause. “How many friends?”
“It’s not like that.”
He waited. The edge of the canoe bit into his other hand, and he adjusted his grip. A slick of green algae on the pebbles made his boots skid a bit.
“Chloe’s going through a hard time and she started seeing this one guy who’s a fucking bitch-ass loser, so we’re having an intervention.”
Jason let the curse words flow past without comment. Holly was fierce when it came to defending her friends, and that extended to the language she used. She’s just expressing herself. And I’m not her damn parent.
When their actual parents had broached the idea of moving their dance studio to Minneapolis, they’d assumed Holly would go with them. But she’d hated the idea of leaving her friends. Their older sister had enough on her plate with her own crew of hyperactive kids, so Holly had begged Jason to let her stay with him. She’d promised she wouldn’t cause any trouble. To prove it, on her first night living with him, she’d announced that she didn’t intend to have sex until she was at least eighteen.
So far, she’d stuck to her promise. Boys weren’t an issue. Her problems came from her extensive network of friends who texted twenty-four-seven with all kinds of drama.
“Anything I can do to help? Chloe’s a good egg.”
“You can start by not calling her an egg.”
Water splashed onto his boots as they reached the edge of the lake. Catching Galen’s eye, he nodded and they lowered the canoe into the water together. “Listen, I gotta go. We just splashed the canoe.”
“Who are you going with?”
“Galen.”
“Okay, well, whatever you do, don’t bring Galen over. Marissa has a crush on him.”
Jason nearly laughed out loud. Galen, with his wild black hair and bristly beard, always looked like he’d spent the night curled up under a pile of leaves in the forest. Good to know that didn’t make him immune to teenagers’ crushes. Those hormones were really something.
“Are you really supposed to be telling me about your friends’ crushes? Isn’t that a HIPAA violation?”
“Ha ha. But it’s a good point. I wouldn’t tell anyone except for you. Because you know I can kill you in your sleep anytime I want.”
“Damn, Holly. Are all teenage girls this bloodthirsty?”
“Welcome to the future. We’re going to run this world. You’re lucky I have your back.”
Galen beckoned at him, looking impatient. Out of the corner of his eye, Jason saw the speedboat carrying Gretchen ease away from the dock. With any luck, it would be long gone before they made it onto the lake.
“I’ll see you later,” he told Holly.
“Much later.”
“Right. Much later.”
Crap. Maybe he should crash at Galen’s. Or at the firehouse. Or at Gretch—Dammit. He wasn’t ever going to sleep at Gretchen’s again.
He wasn’t going to be able to avoid her, either, he realized. The speedboat was lingering near the dock. After he slid his phone back into his pocket, he steadied the canoe so Galen could get in, then slid in after him. By the time they got their paddles out and their strokes synchronized, they were heading right toward the snappy red boat.
“Ahoy there, Jason,” Gretchen called over the low rumble of the twin 500 horsepower engines. Who needed that much horsepower for a lake it took fifteen minutes to cross? Her new husband, Jack Corsi, was at the helm, ignoring their lowly canoe.
“Hey, Gretch. What are you doing back in town?”
“Oh, Jack bought this new boat and wanted to try it out on the nearest lake.”