"But what about the shop?" she said. "You ownthatfree and clear, right?"
"Not hardly," I scoffed. "I mean, yeah, it was my dad's place, and it's been in the family forever.But the last few years…" I gave a useless shrug. "I guess you could say he ran into a rough patch."
Tessa let out a quiet breath. "Oh."
"Probably, it started with the divorce."
She hesitated. "You were in high school, right?"
"Yup." The memory still chafed. "That's when Grandpa died, and my mom put her foot down."
Tessa reached toward the jumble of bottles and grabbed one of her own – a little white one with a tiny palm tree stamped near the cap.Tropical, definitely.Even in this, she was smarter than me. As she untwisted the cap, she asked, "How so?"
"She wassoready to leave. And I guess she figured that she would finally get her wish…you know, since Grandpa didn't need our help with the shop anymore."
Tessa took a tiny sip from her bottle and leaned back like it tasted of coconut and sunshine, which it probably did. "So, where'd she want to go?"
"For starters, someplace warm." I grimaced at the memory. "Andmore exciting. She hated the island – said it was too cold, too quiet, and too cut off. But my dad wouldn't budge. He said the shop was in his blood. So, when it became obvious that he would never leave, she up and lefthim."
Tessa blinked. "Wow."
Now that I'd started, it all came pouring out. "And that was just the beginning. To buy her out, he took out a mortgage – even though the house had been in the family for generations. Then he doubled down on the shop – poured money into flashy upgrades, including a fleet of custom bikes that nobody rents."
"Why not?"
I took another swig of whiskey and tried not to cough. "For starters, because they're too expensive to rent for cheap. And they're a little too…" I searched for the right words and settled on. "…whimsicalfor adults. But they're too big for kids." Thinking of it, I wanted to groan out loud. "The whole thing is just a mess."
In my mind's eye, I could see all of them – Harley Bike, Viper Bike, the Bumble Burner, the Rocket Racer, the Fudge Flyer, Taco Tuesday, Hot Lava, Disco Inferno, and several more.
We even had a bike named Shark Attack.
They were part of our Eclectic Collection, and each one had cost nearly as much as a car. I loved all of them – truly, I did. But I hated what they'd done to our finances, especially because Dad had seriously downplayed their cost.
Until his death, I'd had no idea they were so expensive.
So far this season, we'd rented exactly one, assuming the guy even showed up tomorrow. It was Trevor who had taken the reservation, so I couldn't be sure of anything.
Tessa smiled. "Yeah, I saw those on your Web site. Don't you have one with donuts?"
"Yeah. Glazed and Confused." I couldn't help but smile back. "That's what my dad named it, anyway."
Her smile turned encouraging. "It looked really fun."
I forced a laugh. "Fun enough to rent? For triple the rate?" The sad truth was, Icouldn'trent them for cheaper – not with how expensive they were to insure.
She hesitated. "Um…well…"
"Exactly," I said. "They were supposed to make us stand out. Instead, they nearly sunk us."
Tessa winced. "That bad, huh?"
I nodded. "And to cover all these 'improvements,' he took out another loan – refinanced the houseagain. I didn't even know until after he died and the debt collectors started calling."
Maybe I was oversharing. But I couldn't seem to stop. "So a couple of months ago, I got this consolidation loan – putting everything together, but the payments are insane. And it was only for a limited term, so I'll have to redoeverythingat the end of summer. The bank made it sound easy, but sometimes, I still get a little nervous – like what if they don't renew it? I'll probably need to move."
Yup, I was definitely oversharing.
Sure, I could blame the booze, but the truth was, I'd been feeling overwhelmed for weeks. No,months. And there was no way I'd be telling all this to my mom. Sure, she'd be sympathetic, but I knew exactly what she'd be thinking.I told you so.
