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Cara and Oliver worked behind the counter, but the only person there besides Harrison, Blake, and Grant was an older woman.If she lived on the island, Grant might know her, but Harrison wasn’t speaking to her, so he assumed he wouldn’t.
He got in line behind Harrison, who stepped up to order with Oliver a moment later.Oliver’s eyes crinkled with laughter when Grant arrived at the counter.“Hey,” he said.“I haven’t seen you in a few days.”
“Yeah.”Grant kept his eyes on the menu.“I’ll have the Beach Sunrise, with only half of a banana, please.”He finally switched his gaze to Oliver, whose eyebrows had disappeared under his mop of hair.
“Half a banana?”He didn’t write anything down.Or even move.
“Yeah,” Grant said again.“Is that allowed?”
“It’s allowed,” Blake said behind him as he came to his side.“It’ll just be icy.”With both of them looking at him, Grant had the urge to punch something again.
“He wants just half,” Harrison said, coming back to rescue Grant.“Leave him be.”He grabbed Grant’s arm and tugged him away from the ordering spot.“Come on.”
Grant wasn’t sure if he should thank Harrison or not.He knew Oliver really well.He and Grant had been friends and doing business together for years, just like Harrison.
At the end of the counter, he pulled out his wallet to pay, but Oliver came flying down the aisle, calling, “Nope.He gets free smoothies for life.”
“That was a joke,” Grant said, handing Cara his card.She didn’t take it, and another dose of stupidity moved through him.He certainly didn’t need anything else adding to his complete humiliation.“I can pay.”
“Have a great day, Grant,” Cara said, and she walked away to get Blake’s smoothie out of the blender.Grant glared at Oliver, who folded his arms and tilted his head, a silent challenge for Grant to try to leave a bill instead of using his credit card.
Had he carried cash, he’d have done that.
Instead, he was forced to lift his smoothie and say, “Thanks.”
“Of course.”
Grant turned away from the counter and found Harrison sitting at a little table with four chairs around it.It wasn’t big enough for that, but Oliver didn’t serve meals here, and the table could hold four tall paper cups and a napkin dispenser.
He groaned as he sat down, but he flashed Harrison a grateful smile.He took a long draw on his straw, the tart, fruity taste of raspberries and mango striking him in all the taste buds.The smoothie was a little icy without the full banana, and he did miss the extra flavor.He loved bananas, and he regretted that he’d tried to be like Bea and eat one of his favorite things differently because of her.
Blake sat at the table too, his keys making a terrible metal-on-metal noise as he tossed them onto the table.“Sorry,” he said good-naturedly.“What are you two up to today?”
Harrison glance at Blake, but he didn’t have anything to say.“Building a roof,” Harrison said.“It’s too dang hot already.”
“Can I sit with you guys?”Oliver pulled out the last chair and sat without waiting for anyone to say yes.He had a smoothie in a cup too, and he lifted it to them in a silent toast.
Grant would’ve normally chuckled and lifted his smoothie cup back.Today, he didn’t.He did look at Oliver’s dark purple concoction and ask, “What’s that?”
“Black Noon,” he said, lifting the straw to his mouth.After he swallowed, he said, “Blackberries, raspberries, orange juice, protein, and—” He cut a glance to Harrison.“Vanilla frozen yogurt.”
“What?”Grant twisted to look at the menu behind him.“You have frozen yogurt now?”
“Told you,” Harrison said almost under his breath.
Grant swung back to him.“Told him what?”
“The new frozen yogurt machine is huge,” Blake said.“I even commented on it.”He studied Grant in a way that made Grant squirm.“You didn’t see it?”
“No,” Grant said, suddenly wishing he could see past the end of his nose.
“All right,” Oliver said.“What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” Grant said.
“Sure,” Oliver said.“Because you haven’t ordered the Beach Sunrise in forever.When you come in here, it’s for the Rainbow Over Troubled Water, and you always ask fordoublebanana.”
The three of them looked at Grant, and he didn’t see a way out of this.“My girlfriend broke up with me.”
