in greeting. Ash nods, and Nathan says, “Hi, Lacy” as they pass. There’s a corresponding kick in my belly that I’ve never felt when I see David, not even when we were together in high school.
Maddy swivels her head to watch them go, then turns back to me. “Who was that? The one guy looked familiar.”
“Those are my bosses. You met Nathan at Rusty’s last year.”
“Your bosses?” Her tone is one of utter disbelief.
“Yep.”
“Wow. I mean, they’re not as good looking as my men–” She turns to smile back at Adam, Matt, Josh, and Jake. “But wow. Must be hard working for them.”
She makes it sound like a joke, but I correct her, lowering my voice. “It actually is hard. They want to be more than my bosses – all of them, together – and resisting them takes all of my effort.”
Maddy stops in her path and looks at me with raised eyebrows. “Wait. What? Tell me, how and why are you resisting them? Because you’ve been dating David?”
I sigh. “Sort of. I mean, yes. Even though David and I have just been casually dating, I wanted to give us a chance. But my main reason is that I’m looking for a relationship, not just sex.”
My friend starts walking again, at a much slower pace. “Hmm. Okay. Well, how do you know your bosses wouldn’t be down for both?”
“Down for a relationship? All four of them? You mean like your guys?”
“Yeah, why not?”
“First of all, they’re not brothers. As far as I know, they don’t live together or anything. I don’t think they’d ever enter into a relationship together. Even individually, none of them are interested in settling down. They’re all about short-term fun. There’s a constant stream of women in their lives.”
Maddy looks back behind us but the men are no longer visible in the crowd. “No one was with them today.”
She has a point. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen or heard any signs of women at the office, either, though Amy certainly has, according to her warnings. “Oh, the other thing is that they’re only here temporarily. Their plan is to build on the island for a while and then move the business elsewhere.”
“You wouldn’t consider moving away with someone?”
I shake my head. “No, I don’t think I would. You know I love it here. This is where I want to raise a family.”
“Maddy! Hi! Bring my granddaughter over here!” Maddy’s mom, Jen, is waving to us, arms outstretched, from behind a long table laden with baked goods.
Actually, as we get closer I see her table isn’t nearly as full as it probably was earlier. I scan the trays with the hope that there are apple fritters left.
“Hi, Lacy! How are you?” I’m honored that Jen tears her attention away from Amelia to say hello to me. “I’ve been waving at your parents. Our booths ended up being near each other.” She points across the way to my family’s booth and when I look over my mom is gesturing at me like something’s urgent.
“It’s great to see you, Mrs. Harding. I’ll be right back. It looks like my mom wants me. Can you save an apple fritter for me?”
I tell Maddy that I’ll see her later and hurry over to my family’s booth.
“Lacy, you won’t believe it!” Mom is more excited than I’ve seen her in quite some time. Dad’s grinning. Bianca’s there, too, but doesn’t look up from her phone.
“What’s going on?”
“Four men – they said they work with you – just bought all of our gift cards! We only brought twenty – we hardly ever sell any – and they bought all of them, loading them with one hundred dollars each!”
“What?”
“They bought all of the picture frames and hats, too.” She gestures to the big empty spaces on the table. “They said they give gifts to their clients and that things from our store would be perfect.”
Twenty gift cards? Being that the construction company only takes on two clients at a time, twenty seems excessive. It hits me all at once that they spent money here to help my family. They knew this was my family’s booth and bought things because I’d told them about the financial troubles. I’m irritated for some reason, but also grateful. It’s a confusing combination of emotions.
My mom is still gushing. “They were so nice. Handsome, too.”
Bianca finally looks up then to give me a narrowed-eye look, as if I’m guilty of something, before she returns to whoever