“Uh-huh…”
“And so why aren’t the rest of the girls here if he’s trying to poach her?”
“Because he only wants in Elise’s pants.”
“Ah…”
The tightness in Halley’s tone let me know what she thought of all that.
I put the bell pepper slices onto the large plate and moved onto the cucumbers.
“You ever gonna tell her?” I asked very quietly.
She huffed, the sound bitter as she slid off the stool and went to make herself another coffee.
I waited her out again.
“No.”
I’d known her and Elise for five years now, starting from a random party I’d covered for a friend in New Orleans. The band had been kicking off by then, and Halley was already Elise’s PA, although newly hired.
I’d chatted with Halley after I was done, and she’d asked for my info, because Elise loved the finger foods I’d made, especially.
After that, I’d been on several of their vacations and done a couple of smaller parties, both for Elise only and for the band.
Halley had been in love with Elise for at least three years from what I could remember. She was about ten years older than Elise’s twenty-five, so around my age. Watching her watching Elise party and hook up with people—occasionally women too—was killing me a little, so I couldn’t even imagine what it was doing to Halley.
“Is she into Zed?”
“Not in the least.”
“So, she’s just using him for his yacht?”
Halley giggled. “She doesn’t even think he’s that good of a producer.”
I laughed. “Good for her.” I shook my head and added the cucumber next to the bell peppers. “My niece always says that if a man’s tongue is hanging out of his mouth, it’s okay to wipe your shoes on it.”
Halley snorted and went back to sit. She took a sip of her coffee. Her laptop pinged, and she concentrated on doing her job while I continued to do mine.
* * * *
Most days, Elise just wanted to chill out, but she also did a lot of checking out of the islands. Whenever we stopped by a bigger one, I’d go and look for fresh produce, because that was one of those things that could get annoying on a yacht.
Luckily it was a place and time of year that gave me a lot of options. Keeping everyone on the boat fed with healthy, nutritious food was easy as pie. The key was to make something someone specifically liked each day, while obviously concentrating on Elise’s likes.
Not everyone would’ve liked my approach, but I knew how to keep crews happy, and Elise didn’t have anything against that. She was one of those celebrities who still remembered her staff were all humans. I credited that to her single mom from a working-class background. That lady took no shit and kicked ass if anyone treated servers wrong. I’d seen her open a can of verbal whoop-ass on some executive types who berated a waitress at one of Elise’s parties.
“Hey, we about ready?” Elise asked brightly, coming into the kitchen from wherever she’d been for the last few hours with Ramon, who had been on her security detail today, slipping in after her.
“Do I look like the captain?”
Ramon huffed, looking amused.
She laughed. “Of a motorcycle gang, maybe?” At my smirk, she waved a hand at me as she grabbed a bottle of water. “I’m asking you, because you always know everything.”
“I think they’re going to fuel up soon, and then we’re off.”
She gave me an “I told you so” kind of look, then flounced off.
