Page 51 of The Sailor

“How was today at the shack?” she asked, tilting her head back but not letting go of Zach.

He grinned. Huge. “Good.”

“Good?” she questioned. “Just good?”

“Great. Fantastic. Better than I could’ve imagined. I’m going to have to make those lobster pot pies a regular menu item. I could jack up the price simply because they have lobster in them, but in reality, they’re mostly bread, which is fairly cheap. People are happy about the lobster, though. When in Maine . . .”

“They’re happy because they’re damn tasty,” Marit corrected.

“That too,” Zach said.

She studied him for a moment. “You really love what you do.” It wasn’t a question. He’d told her that he’d wanted to be a chef from the time he was young, but standing here, with Zach smelling like fried food and grease, sweating from being in the back of his shack, smiling from ear to ear because he wasn’t just making people happy with his food, he was making money while doing it . . . all that made him more attractive to her.

“I definitely do. You want to head out, get a good spot to watch the race?”

“Yes!”

He handed her a paper bag with The Lobster Buoy’s logo on the side. “I bet you thought I forgot. Lunch for you,” he said, nodding toward the bag as she took it from him. “It’s a lobster roll. I know, I know, it’s cliché, but I really loaded the lobster on. So it’s more lobster than roll. Just don’t go spreading tales about how my lobster rolls have twice the amount of lobster as everyone else’s, because I made it that way special just for you. I’d go broke if I stuffed every roll I sold with that much meat.”

Of course, Marit’s mind immediately went into the gutter. “That’s what he said,” she muttered, as she reached into the bag.

Zach roared with laughter. His hand rested on the small of her back as they made their way toward the harbor, and as she ate the delicious sandwich. He was right, it was literally overflowing with buttery lobster. And it tasted delicious. She was ruined for any other lobster roll for sure.

As she ate and they walked, Zach asked, “You have tomorrow off, right? Because in the summer, no pots can be hauled on Sunday, yeah?”

“Uh-huh.”

“You want to spend it with me? At least the afternoon, after I spend the morning at The Lobster Buoy?”

It was just that morning that Marit had been thinking about slowing things down with Zach. It was why she hadn’t seen him for the last couple of days. But him asking if she’d spend the afternoon with him, and not just assuming, made all her reservations disappear in a puff of smoke.

Growing up, her brothers had preferred she remain out of their sight as much as possible. They didn’t like the constant reminder that they were responsible for her. They saw her as a huge burden. As a result, she’d taken it for granted that people didn’t want her around. That they’d prefer she do her own thing.

Having Zach insist he wanted to spend time with her felt nice. Heady.

“Marit?”

“Sorry, yes, I’d like that.”

“Anything in particular you want to do? It’s supposed to rain all day, so doing much of anything outdoors is probably out.”

Amazingly, Marit didn’t get any sexual vibes from his statement. He wasn’t suggesting she come over and have sex with him all afternoon—although she probably could be convinced to do so—he simply wanted to spend time with her. There went those butterflies in her belly again.

“Britt said things were crazy at Lobster Cove. Cleaning the rental houses and baking in preparation for the next guests. Chad and the guys are swamped at the auto body shop, and she mentioned something about helping with their inventory? Said she loves living there, and helping out wherever and however she can. Sounds like she works a lot,” Marit said. “Maybe . . . we can go over and help them out?”

“When did you talk to Britt?” Zach asked.

Marit shrugged. “She texts me all the time. And she called last night.”

Zach was beaming.

“What? What are you smiling all freakishly like that for?” she asked.

“I’m just thrilled she’s reached out. Chad’s been worried about her. She does work a lot, hardly takes any time off. And she hasn’t really made any friends here yet, because she’s always out at Lobster Cove. I’m just happy you two are hitting it off.”

It said a lot about Zach that he was happy for his sister-in-law-to-be. Some people couldn’t stand their siblings’ significant others. Marit liked that Zach seemed to honestly care about Britt the way he would a sister.

“I like her. She’s nice.” That was probably an understatement. The other woman had made Marit feel so welcome. And it felt great to have a friend. Even if they’d just met, they’d clicked. “Anyway, since it’s going to be rainy, maybe we could go over to Lobster Cove and lend a hand. Maybe even help decide what they need to do to the rental house after the season’s over, before they move in. She mentioned ripping up carpets and gutting the kitchen. Said they wanted all-new appliances, but she has no idea where to start trying to figure out what to buy to replace them.”