"What do you tell him?"
"That I like staying busy." She kept clearing. "But that's not really it."
Jake stopped working.
"He has everything figured out," Sophie said. "Where he's applying to college, what he wants to study, his whole five-year plan. He knows exactly who he's going to be. And I don't. I don't know any of it. But I can't say that to him because he'll want to fix it. Make a plan."
"Some things don't need plans."
"Try telling him that."
They finished the patio without talking. Sophie had opened up more than she'd planned, and Jake hadn't tried to fix any of it.
Inside, Diane was locking up the register. "You two good to finish? I've got to drop my daughter off at a sleepover—I'm already late."
"We've got it," Jake said.
Diane took her keys and left. Sophie found the broom in the supply closet and started sweeping near the hostess stand.
"For what it's worth," Jake said, wiping down the bar, "he sounds exhausting."
Sophie laughed. "He's not. He's just... certain."
"Same thing sometimes."
Her phone buzzed in her apron. She ignored it.
It buzzed again. And again.
She pulled it out. Three texts from Trevor.
Hey, so I've been thinking
What if I came down for a weekend? Maybe Fourth of July?
I miss you and it would be fun to see the beach house
Two weeks ago, she would have been excited. Trevor here, meeting her mom's friends, seeing where she worked, walking the promenade after her shifts.
Now the thought made her uneasy.
"Everything okay?" Jake had paused, rag in hand.
"Yeah. My boyfriend wants to visit."
"That's good, right?"
"Right," she said. "That's good."
She went back to sweeping. Trevor in Sea Isle. Trevor meeting everyone. Trevor asking about her coworkers in that friendly way he had, expecting her to be excited to tell him.
They finished closing in another twenty minutes. Jake walked her out the back. The air smelled like fryer grease and salt, and music spilled out of a bar up the street.
"See you tomorrow?" Jake said.
"Four to close."
"Same." He headed toward wherever he'd parked, keys already in his hand.
