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The yacht shifted and he clamped his mouth shut, gripping the glass of ginger ale like it was a lifesaver. His knuckles turned white.
“Never mind. You probably don’t want to be thinking about food right now. You’re kind of green. Let’s talk about something else.” Nara tapped the bench seat as she thought. “I know. Let’s talk about your favorite subject. Work.”
He gave her a weird look. “Work?”
“Yeah. That’s what you like most, right? Working at the company?”
A wave of sadness washed over him as he stared at her. Nara didn’t know him at all, did she? They’d known each other since they were kids, but she knew nothing about him. “That’s not my favorite thing.”
Her eyes grew wide. “You’re kidding me.”
“Nope.”
“Then what is? Because I’ve only ever seen you working, or talking about work, or wanting to get back to work…” She looked up at the clouds, like she couldn’t remember anything else about him. “Okay, maybe you did talk about raisin oatmeal cookies when we were kids.”
He squinted at her. “What?”
“I remember this one time when someone at my Dad’s office brought in cookies, and you grabbed one thinking they were chocolate chip, but then you bit into it and it was raisin oatmeal, and you yelled for a good twenty minutes about how no one in their right mind should ever put raisins in a cookie, and how could they do this to you when you thought it would be chocolate.” She grinned. “Remember that?”
He laughed. “No, but that sounds like something I would say. I hate raisins in cookies.”
“Okay, mission number one, make Derek loosen up. Mission number two, find out what Derek likes besides working.”
“I’m sitting right here. Why are you referring to me in the third person?”
“Because I’m making a note to myself.”
“Make another note. Don’t take Derek on another boat.”
Nara snorted. “I made that note a long time ago, when I first saw how green your face was.”
A few minutes later the boat docked and one of the crew came to tell them it was safe to deboard. Nara took his hand. “Let’s go.”
Once they were back on land, the guilt set in Derek’s chest. He walked beside her on the sidewalk by the pier. “I’m sorry I ruined your evening.”
“You didn’t. I told you that already. Besides, I just wanted to rent a yacht because I knew it would be expensive. Now I get to charge another meal on Pop’s credit card. One more twist of the knife in Dad’s pocketbook.”
Derek frowned, a sadness making his chest heavy. Richard Claymore was like a father figure to him. He hated to see the distance between him and Nara. He shoved his fists into his pockets and looked down at the sidewalk reflecting the streetlamp. “Do you really hate him that much?”
Nara stiffened and looked up at him. “Don’t worry. He’s a bazillionaire. He can handle a couple of small charges on his credit card. I doubt he’ll even notice.”
That wasn’t what Derek was asking, but he decided to drop it. Nara and her father had a complicated relationship. He knew that. He just wished she were nicer to her father. Especially since his health had been declining. Richard hadn’t told Derek anything, but he had noticed how gaunt her father had become. Something was wrong, and her father wasn’t talking about it.
“Are you feeling better?” Nara’s large eyes stared up at him.
“A bit. Still a little queasy.”
“You had it bad. Your prom dinner thing probably didn’t go well.”
He cringed. “Yeah. Not well at all. Tossing your cookies on your date’s lap isn’t exactly the most romantic thing you can do.”
Nara gasped. “Seriously? That’s what happened?”
Derek hated to admit it, but he nodded anyway. “Terrible, huh?”
She whacked his arm. “Why didn’t you tell me that when I was going on and on about renting a yacht?”
Why did she have to keep asking him that? He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked up at the darkening sky. “I guess I didn’t want to be called a party pooper.”
