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My waitstaff surrounded Emma, pushing Gillian out of the way to get a look at the baby.
Esther was first in line, leaning in to gently touch Adriana’s foot. “Do we finally get to know the name? Mason wouldn’t tell us.”
Emma met my gaze with a twinkle in her sky-blue eyes. “You didn’t tell them?”
I shrugged. “Figured you did all the hard work, you should be able to tell everyone the name.”
Emma gently cradled the baby’s head, then peeled back the green cloth to show the dark cap of hair. “Everyone, meet Adriana Kelly Hauser. You’re going to be seeing a lot of us.”
Esther, Penny, and Gillian all turned to look at me.
I raked my fingers through my hair. “So, yeah. Meet the new director of the MJ2. And evidently, her first mate.”
ELEVEN
The girlabout my age with blue-tipped short hair squeaked. “Oh, thank goodness. I had a good feeling about you.” She nudged the waitress beside her with her shoulder. “Didn’t I say that, Pen?”
The woman rolled her eyes. “I’m Penny and this is Esther. Glad to have you on the team.”
The dark-haired woman brushed between the two waitresses and only narrowly missed bumping me as she stormed off the patio and back into the restaurant. I remembered her from the day I interviewed.
She hadn’t liked me then either.
I leaned down to sniff at Adriana. “Do we smell?”
Esther snickered. “No. That’s Gillian. She only has two modes. Bi—”
“Esther.” Mason’s warning tone made Esther bat her eyes.
“What? I’m not wrong. Anyway. Don’t take it personally, she always has a bug up her butt about something. But if you come in on time and do your job, she leaves you be.”
“Emmaline will be working with me on the engagement party. Then we’ll see how it goes from there.”
“He thinks this is a trial basis.” I swayed lightly as Adriana stirred. She settled back down, her cheek against my chest. “I’ll prove you wrong though. Think I can have a look at the boat again before you open?”
He arched an eyebrow at me. “As if you could forget it?”
“A little fuzzy actually. Pain will do that to a girl.”
He paled.
I reached out and patted his arm. “Promise we won’t give you a heart attack this time.”
He glanced down at the baby. “Sure you want to take her?”
“Absolutely. Where I go, she goes. And might as well get used to it. I think she’ll like the water. Especially since she was born on it.”
He swallowed hard. “Right.”
I turned to Clint. “Was a little hairy when you guys first met. Clint, this is Mason. My new boss.”
Mason gave me a hard look. “Trial boss.”
I waved him off. “You won’t be able to live without me after this party.”
“That is…safe?”
I swayed and did a little twirl and my baby wrap stayed in place. “This sucker is magic. Took me a lot of swearing to figure it out, but once we did…” The baby gave a little hiccup. “Well, she’s still nonverbal, but she really likes it.”
