He hated that. I loved it very much and would never stop.
“…and that’s why I’m freelancing for the next year or two,” Mars said. The blenders started whirring at the same time as the coffee bean grinder, and he had to drop his arm to the back of my chair and lean in close to my ear to continue. “Given the enterprise-level demands, it makes more sense for me to have the flexibility to take on clients rather than coming onboard full-time.”
“Yes,” I drawled as I realized Mars had been talking about computerish things while I stared at Beckett. “That sounds—”
“Boring as hell but the fact of the matter is he’s too expensive for anyone to keep on staff,” Leary cut in. “I’m trying to convince him to move down here since I miss the water and he doesn’t go to work in an office anymore. It’s all talking at the computer screen and nonsense like that, which he can do from anywhere.” He sipped his coffee. “Besides, living with him in Boston has been hell on my social life. Do you really think I can bring a lady friend home when this guy’s yelling at his machines and knocking on the door every few minutes, asking if I’ve taken my blood pressure pills? Or telling me it’s time to eat supper if I don’t want to be up with indigestion all night?”
I murmured in agreement as I watched Beckett lean down and kiss the business-y blonde on the cheek.
Huh.That was strange.
I mean, I knew Beckett wasn’t playing games with me, and even if he did, he wouldn’t do it in plain sight of my café where my girls—and everyone else in town—were sure to see him. Beckett was a smart guy and he wasn’t a trash bucket. Between his parents, his brothers, his job back in Singapore and an entire oyster company, he didn’t have a spare minute in his life to juggle someone on the side.
I knew all of these things. I believed them. I really did. And yet I was still a simmering kettle of jealousy as Mars and Leary sniped at each other about which one was ruining the other’s bedtime prospects. I wanted to know who she was and why Beckett felt it necessary to stand so close to her and what they needed to talk about for all this time.
“Enough about that,” Leary said, knocking the head of his cane against the table. “I want to hear how the business is doing. Let’s see some figures, some receipts. I’ll tell you what you’re doing wrong.”
With an eye still trained on Beckett and the blonde as he led her to a sedan parked nearby, I handed Leary the sheaf of papers I knew he’d want to see. “Things are going well,” I said. “We’re sold out of the prepared items most days.”
“Good, good,” he murmured as he paged through the books. “And the overhead? Keeping it low?”
“As low as we can, considering—” I didn’t want to tell him about the fire hydrant flood. Or any of the other oddities that had occurred since we opened. Everyone else chalked these little incidents up to unrelated accidents, but when I gathered them all together, they added up to something that wasn’t quite right.
Sure, we could explain away the fire hydrant, but we’d replaced the dumpster lock three times and the back door handle twice. That just didn’t make sense. Despite all my teasing, I knew Beckett wasn’t to blame. And I knew it wasn’t anyone from the oyster company, especially now with Mel and Beth “ignoring” each other so hard the rest of us were getting high off the sexual tension and taking bets on when it would explode.
As much as Beckett loved pointing the finger at raccoons, I couldn’t see trash pandas going so hard, so often. And could they really throw rocks hard enough to bust a doorknob? I did not think so. I didn’t think they’d systematically skip out on attacking the compost either. If I was a raccoon, I’d be all about that compost. Fuck the knobs.
Maybe it was teenagers who’d designated Naked as their new target for late-night entertainment and angst relief. Or something—someone—else that I wasn’t prepared to contemplate.
“Considering what?” Leary asked, his eyes crinkled as he leaned in to peer at the documents.
I glanced outside and saw Beckett jogging up the stairs and into the oyster company, phone pressed to his ear like always. Everything would work out. It had to, even if it was a mess along the way. “Considering everything that can go wrong with a new venture.”
“Aye. I know how that goes.”
“The last time you did anything new was before the War of 1812,” Mars said.
Leary scoffed but the ghost of a smile bracketed his lips. “Didn’t I tell you to wait in the truck? Get outta here. Run through the broadside of a barn if you have to but I’m busy with Sunny. I’ll whistle for you when I’m ready.” To me, he said, “This is why I never had children.”
chapterseventeen
Beckett
Today’s Special:
Surf and Turf—A Duet of Jealousy
“Where the hell is my brother?”
“Which one?” Zeus asked, busy scrolling through the reservation system on his tablet.
“Parker, but I’d take a location on Dex if you have it.” I swept another gaze over the dining room. “I know Park’s on the schedule tonight.”
“Switched with Everleigh.” Zeus glanced away, frowning. “Maybe it was Eva. I don’t know. But he’s not here tonight. I think he’s going over to the open mic event at Naked.”
I checked my phone, expecting to find a text from my brother with that info. Nothing. It seemed communicating with me was too high a bar for him. He must’ve learned that trick from Dex. At least I could corner Parker around the house and at the restaurant when I needed answers from him. I had to keep an eye on sports news just to know where Dex was and if he was well enough to play that day.
I knew he’d taken the field through several injuries during the last few playoff seasons. I knew this because Dex dropped off the radar when something wasn’t working. He’d go from daily texts and regular calls when he was playing well and feeling healthy to radio silence when he was in pain. He never wanted to talk about what was wrong, especially when he felt like it was his job to fix it.
