Same, kid, same.Linc threw the throttle into drive. Hard not to stare at Zoey lately. Which obviously was just proof Linc needed a vacation. He’d been working too hard the past month, was getting tired. Or something.
Something dangerously close to vulnerable.
He squinted into the sunlight as he navigated them out of the inlet into deeper water, keeping an eye on the wind still sending rogue gusts. Zoey might be goofy, but she’d rake in those five stars for him. He’d pay her for helping today, even though she wouldn’t be expecting it. She’d been couch-surfing over Magnolia Bay since her apartment lease ended and the insurance from the fire at Bayou Beignets had yet to pay out. She needed all the money she could get, despite insisting she was fine. He knew better, knew that was why she’d been scrambling to create her own side catering business in the meantime.
She also insisted she couldn’t stay with him, even though he had two extra bedrooms. Said she’d cramp his style. And she would. He rather liked his high ceilings and cedar beams and wide windows with a view of a pond, his own private corner of Magnolia Bay. It was peaceful. Quiet.
But maybe some temporary company didn’t soundtooawful.
Zoey leaned in toward her audience, casting one leg straight out to the side like it was a peg. “Who can tell me why one pirate pushed another one overboard?”
The parents exchanged knowing grins while the kids shook their heads.
“Because they got into anarrgh-gument, of course!”
Linc rolled his eyes as the adults chuckled. “I thought Miley was the resident comedian around here.” The moody young barista had shocked everyone with her comedy skills at the Cajun Circus fundraiser his friend Cade hosted earlier in the summer. “You should probably keep your day job, Zo?—”
Oops. She had no day job anymore. He winced.
Zoey narrowed her eyes, the wind brushing back her hair and giving her an even more genuine pirate-like appearance. “If you’re going to insult me, commit already. Don’t stop mid-sentence like a coward.”
“Sorry.” He briefly released the wheel and held up both hands in surrender. “I didn’t think it through.”
“Since when do you care about that?” She turned back to the tourists, thankfully before she saw the grin Linc fought to hide. Maybe that was why he tolerated Zoey. Okay, more than tolerated. She had moxie. Always told him what he needed to hear.
Never seemed to be scared of him, unlike most of the rest of the town.
“I’ve got one more question for ye, then we’ll turn our attention to the murky, treasure-laden waters of Magnolia Bay.” Zoey wiggled her fingers toward the freckled kid.
The boy jumped up from his seat and grinned. “I have a question too!”
“Please remain seated at all times,” Linc droned.
The kid reluctantly perched on the edge of the bench seat. The engine hummed beneath them. “What’s your pirate name?”
“Oh! Um.” Zoey cleared her throat, cast a quick look at Linc.
He shook his head, stoic. Nope, not helping. She’d gotten herself into this…
“It’s, ah—” She adjusted the eye patch that had slipped. “Captain Z, of course.”
Freckles sank back, skinny brows furrowed. “That’sbor-ing.”
“I mean, thatwasmy name. Before…the fire.” Zoey squared her shoulders.
Freckles blinked and the rest of the crowd grew still. “The fire?”
What was she doing? Linc steered them toward the open water, where two jet skis raced. He scowled. In this wind? Those arrogant idiots better follow the traffic rules…
“Argh, that’s right. I’m homeless.” Zoey lifted her chin, patted her goatee as if she were making up a simple story and not merging fiction with reality. “Did you not see the burnt building on Village Lane?”
“I did.” A younger girl, life jacket securely buckled, raised her hand, eyes wide. “That was yours?”
Anyone else, he’d worry about the story sending them into a PTSD episode. Even his stomach twisted when he remembered the flames, the sweat pooling on his back as Zoey buried his face into his shoulder, hiding as her award-winning business burned to a crisp.
But to Zoey, it was apparently just one more obstacle to pole-jump over onto a sunbeam. One more silver lining to an already gloriously metallic cloud. Did anythingeverbother the woman?
Though she did refuse to walk past the shop in its current shape—the shape on hold while she waited for the claims department to sort the whole mess out.
