Page 44 of The Sailor

“Hang on, Bud. I’ll go with you,” Linc told him, catching him before he could bolt by latching on to his arm.

The relief that crossed Kash’s face was easy to see. “You will? Thanks! You’ll tell Mom that you invited me over and we were practicing for the crate race, right? You won’t tell her about my fort or what I do here, will you?”

“Yes, and no. The fort can still be our secret. But do you really think she’ll be mad?”

“No. But she’ll worry. And she has enough to worry about.”

That was an extremely telling statement, and Zach saw that his brother realized it as well.

“All right. Well, let’s go make sure she’s not worried about you.”

They started walking toward Victor Rogers’s place, and Zach heard Linc ask Kash, “Did you know your mom and I knew each other when we were kids?”

“You did?”

That was the last thing Zach heard before they walked out of earshot. He would’ve loved to witness the reunion between the mean girl and the boy she used to torment, but Marit took that moment to stick her head out of the fort and smile at him.

“This is really a cool fort. Bad Assery, indeed.”

“That wasn’t what we called it growing up,” Zach admitted. “Chad made that name up the first time he found Kash out here.”

“Well, it’s appropriate. And have you seen all the stuff Kash has lugged out here? Books galore and a telescope that looks pretty expensive.”

“Yeah. He’s a pretty special kid,” Zach said . . . and he found that he meant it. He hadn’t spent a lot of time around children, but Kash was easily smarter than any other kid he’d ever met, and Zach enjoyed spending time with him.

“You get everything secured?” he asked Marit.

“Yup.”

“Good. You want to see the rest of Lobster Cove?”

“Absolutely!”

The next hour was spent with Zach showing Marit around the land he grew up on. He showed her the boat storage facility, then they walked through the smaller of the two rental houses, as the scheduled guests hadn’t arrived yet. They went down to the auto shop, and she was able to meet Walt and Barry. They’d been extremely busy ever since Camden, their part-time help, was thrown in jail for kidnapping Zach’s mom and Britt. But they still took a moment to meet Marit, both of the men extremely friendly and welcoming.

Zach wasn’t ready to share Marit with his mom again yet, so he suggested they walk along the shoreline. “I haven’t shown you the lobster swing,” he said with a smile.

“That’s right! The whole reason we came over,” Marit said with a laugh. “Lead on.”

They walked in comfortable silence toward where the rope swing was attached to a large tree. Zach expected Marit to want to immediately take a turn when they arrived, but she surprised him by asking if they could simply sit on the nearby bench instead.

“I needed today,” she said softly after a moment.

Marit had her hand in his as they sat and stared out at the water. “You okay?”

“Just tired. I mean, I’m usually always tired, but seeing Lucas today, and hearing his awful taunts . . . it reminded me so much of how miserable I was in Portland. I truly don’t understand people, Zach. Why are they so mean? Why can’t they leave me alone?”

“I don’t have any answers for you, Marit. But I agree. Mom always taught us to mind our own business. As long as we’re taking care of our own issues and being good human beings, we shouldn’t care what others are doing. We can’t control them anyway. All we can control is ourselves. There are so many issues in today’s world that could be solved if people simply minded their own damn business.”

“So true,” Marit agreed. “I’m not hurting anyone by working on a lobster boat. I work hard, do the best I can. If I was ever a liability, I’d totally quit. I’d never put anyone I worked with in danger because of my shortcomings. I honestly don’t know why Thorne Deaton hates me. So much so, he’d actually go out of his way to tell people in Rockville not to employ me! The same with Lucas. I mean, he doesn’t even know me, and yet he felt perfectly justified in spewing all that hateful stuff to me in public. So, yeah . . . that’s why I’m tired. Tired of fighting so hard to do something I love.”

“Don’t let them get to you,” he ordered a little gruffly, turning toward Marit on the bench. “I think it’s awesome that you’re doing what you enjoy. Don’t let them take it away from you.”

“I don’t want to. But it’s really hard to do my job day after day, knowing there are people like Lucas and Thorne out there who would love to see me fail.”

“I’ve always liked to cook. From a young age, my favorite thing to do was be in the kitchen with Mom. I’d put an apron on just like her, and we’d be in there for hours, baking, mixing, cooking. As I got older, I was a lot like Kash. I worried that I wasn’t manly enough. My dad took me aside and told me that as long as I enjoyed what I was doing, to hell with what others thought. Of course, it was easier said than done. When I joined the Navy, I had thoughts of becoming a Navy SEAL. With my brothers being badasses in their own right, in their branches of the military, I kind of felt like I needed to go that route.

“That time, it was Linc who sat me down and had a heart-to-heart with me. He asked what would make me happiest if there was anything in the world I could do. And I told him be a chef. He said I was an idiot for even thinking about suffering through what prospective SEALs did, if my heart wasn’t truly in it. He urged me to talk to my recruiter and go a different route. To be a CS. A culinary specialist. It wasn’t as impressive as a jet fighter, but I took his advice to heart, and I’m so glad I did.