“I don’t need him to be patient,” Zoe said before Ash could answer. “I need him to be a damn professional, but I’m not even sure he knows what that means.”
“Drink,” Kai told her.
“What?” she sputtered, distracted.
“I’m implementing a new game. Every time you—any of us, I mean—answer in a bitchy way, you have to take a drink.”
Zoe’s eyes seemed to glow red. “So just because I’m a woman who speaks up for myself, I’m a bitch?”
“Nope.” Kai was unfazed. “Ash is being a bitch, too. In fact, by the time this conversation is over, I think three of us will be sloppy drunk.”
Clearly, he thought I’d be the sober one, which was valid. But it also was mildly insulting. I could be hot-headed and speaking strongly about something I believed in. Or at least I used to do that.
“Answer the question,” I said to Ash. “Why are you riding her so hard?”
I groaned as I could feel Kai snap to attention. I slapped my hand over his mouth before he could say whatever perverted thing he had in mind. “Drink,” I told him before letting go.
“Just from what I was thinking?”
“Yes.” Ash said it at the same time, and Kai laughed.
Then Asher raised his bottle. “I’m taking a preemptive drink.” Since he downed half his beer, I was suddenly unsure if I wanted to hear what he had to say. But it was too late for that. “She had barely set foot in the lodge when she was already telling people what to do and how to do their jobs. People that’ve worked here for years. But that doesn’t matter. She thinks she knows better than them and isn’t afraid to tell them.”
“That’s not fair,” Zoe sputtered.
“Isn’t it?” Asher’s eyebrow quirked up, reminding me of Kai’s most arrogant look. He took another drink, and it made me worry he was gearing up to say something even worse.
But Zoe wasn’t done. “No, it’s not. First of all, I didn’t do that, and besides, even if I had, that’s not why you’re being such an asshole.” She took a quick gulp of her beer for her choice of words and then continued. “You were rude from the second you met me back in Haverford. Did the way I put my suitcase in your trunk somehow offend you, too?”
“Yes.” Ash took another drink. Kai was right, the two of them were going to be drunk soon. But maybe not Kai. He was handling this fairly well. Perhaps that was because he and Ash were a lot alike… or because he wanted to get into Zoe’s pants. Or, rather, those straight little skirts she usually wore.
“Are you sure you two never hung out back at school?” Kai asked. “Because you’re acting like exes.”
I’d been thinking they were acting like children, but actually, Kai’s response seemed more spot on. It really did feel like they had a history. But Zoe shook her head, and after a moment, Ash did too.
Finally, I spoke. “All right, if you’re sure there’s no history to dissect, let’s talk about the future. About how you can get along, at least forthe next few weeks.”
That brought about silence as Zoe looked at the floor and Ash stared at the fire. Great, this was going well.
But for the first time in a long while, Kai and I were on the same page. “What’ll it take to keep you two from jumping down each other’s throats?” he asked.
“She could leave,” Asher said, taking another drink. I was genuinely confused by his attitude. I’d never seen him like this before.
“Youcould leave,” Zoe countered.
“Fine. Have fun making fifty meals a night.”
“You have fun?—”
“Stop,” I held up my head. Then I turned to Zoe. “Drink, for whatever you were about to say.”
“I have an idea,” Kai said. He was still working the problem as he sometimes did when he got a new ski student with bad habits to correct.
Both of them were looking at Kai, so he continued on. “Ash, you say one nice thing about Zoe. One genuinely good thing that doesn’t require taking a swig. And then Zoe, you say one nice thing about him.”
All he got for his troubles were two no’s.
“Ah, but you haven’t heard the incentive yet. People catch more flies with honey or whatever that saying is.” Kai’s eyes gleamed as he looked at Zoe. “If you say one good thing about Ash, I’ll tell you a secret.”
