Part of me expects her to jump up in outrage. Maybe throw a fry at my face. But instead, she takes another calm bite of her burger as she mulls over my words.
“Not just a few bucks and a short summer,” she corrects once she swallows. “It’s a reference and possible introductions from a leader in a local industry, if I do my job well—which I fully intend to.”
“Not buying it. Based on that resume, you don’t need references or introductions from little Garnet Shores.”
“I don’t want to be a one-dimensional hire.”
“And I don’t want you to lie to me when we’re having an honest conversation,” I say, calling her bluff outright. A high-achieving woman like her wouldn’t go from the city to rural Garnet Shores amidst a successful career, just for more fuckingdimensions.
The burger hits the plate.
“You and I are not buddies,” she says, waving her finger between us. “We don’t have heart-to-hearts over dinner. You’ll dislike my presence no matter what I tell you.”
“You want an official tour of thefarm?”
She scoffs. “Are you seriously bartering with me right now?”
It’s worked for civilizations for years. “How about oysters? They’re award-winning, I hear.”
“I don’t want your oysters.”
“How can you work that social media magic if you can’t even describe how our oysters taste?”
She tilts her head. “Oh, so now you care about my work?”
Something tells me she can play this game all night. So I give her a flat smile and declare, “Tour tomorrow. Going once. Going twice.”
Her sarcastic mask drops, and I swear I see her cheek muscles spasming on ayes.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime offer. And it’s about to be sold in two seconds to no one.”
Stubbornness keeps her mouth shut.
So be it.“And it’s so?—”
“I needed to get out of the city,” she rushes out. Quietly, like it’s a confession.
“You rob a convenience store? Running from the mob?”
I watch as she visibly sets her shoulders back. “My position was cut from my previous job, and I needed a break from the people I know there. This fit the bill, and I liked the challenge of learning a new industry. It’s a reset.”
A break from the people I know thereis vague as hell, and I want to press. But her shoulders are tensed up, and pressing would go beyond the professional boundaries of this conversation.
Her personal life is no business of mine. I’ve gotten the information I need. Yet I still find myself shoving down a niggle of curiosity.
“There are plenty of towns around. There weren’t otherjobs with better potential? Something actually worthy of your resume?”
She shakes her head slowly. Resigned, almost. “Everything happened a little unexpectedly, so I couldn’t pre-plan anything. My options were limited. And now I’m locked into my summer rental here.”
In other words, she isn’t going anywhere until August, even if she wants to.
I nod at her closed laptop. “Working over dinner at a restaurant doesn’t seem very reset-like to me.”
Her eyes flick from the silver device to the people around us, and I’m reminded of Amanda’s words about her being lonely.
Her tight smile makes those words louder in my head. “I have wine. It’s relaxing to work at a slow pace.”
That’s the biggest pile of duck shit I’ve witnessed in a long time.
