Page 3 of You Know You Wanna

With Jacqueline’s flowing red hair and porcelain skin, it was always difficult to look at my daughter without seeing my ex-wife in her, but when she was having a temper tantrum? She was her mother’s kid through and through.

“Yes, business,” I said, trying to be gentle, but it really didn’t come naturally to me. “I’m not going to be working a lot this summer, but I do need to get some things done, okay?”

She responded with yet another heavy sigh, and I left her to her misery, focusing on the road instead. I didn’t like being bested, and if this resort was so popular, then I was going to have it for myself. Once I did, I could replicate whatever was responsible for its success over at the Greens, and then I’d own the two crown jewels of the Smoky Mountains.

Thirty percent occupancy rate, my ass. I wouldn’t let it stand, and nothing was going to get in my way—not even the promise I’d made myself that this summer was about spending quality time with my daughter.

2

BIRDIE

“Gosh, have you ever met someone who’s such a snob?” Gracie asked as I drove us back to Blue Pines Resort. “You heard that guy, right? We’ll find someplace better? Pardon us, your majesty. We don’t put caviar on our cheeseburgers.”

I laughed. “Is that your idea of fancy food? Fish eggs on a burger?”

“You know some rich moron is eating that exact thing somewhere right now. Posing with it for Instagram.”

“And they paid three grand for it,” I said, grinning.

She chuckled and shook her head. “My idea of fancy food is when I can eat lunch off a plate instead of over the sink while I’m working.”

I nodded. “My idea of fancy is when something cooks in the oven instead of the microwave.”

Gracie slapped her hand against the dashboard excitedly. “Oh my goodness, I want to feed that guy a microwave burrito. I bet his stupid snobby head would explode.”

Some of the humor faded from me. “You might just get that chance. Since he was asking for directions, I’m assuming he and his kid are going to be our guests, which means you’re going to have to get over it and be nice if you run into him.”

She groaned. “God, that poor kid. Can you imagine what it’s like to be raised by someone like that?”

“Nope, but I also don’t even really want to try. I like the simple joys in life. Money just complicates everything.”

The rich guy was scorching hot, I’d give him that, but if he thought he was going to find a restaurant better than Bluebell Diner, he had another thing coming. His little girl had been right. Their burgers were delicious.

“Why are the hot tourists always asshats?” Gracie asked next to me. “Just once, I’d like a handsome man to be a good guy. Is that really too much to ask?”

I laughed. “Seems so. Although, to be fair, you think all men are asshats.”

“Well, they have been,” she objected jokingly. “At least, all the men I’ve come across recently. They’re either married asshats or single asshats, but the one thing they all have in common?”

“They’re asshats. I got it.” I wasn’t about to admit it to her, but I didn’t think the guy from the diner fell into the married category. If he was, he didn’t wear a ring, anyway.

Why yes, I did check.

Not because I was interested in a summer romance with some rich tourist, but because a guy who looked like him and was single staying at our resort was going to cause a ruckus. Seriously, tall, dark, and handsome with an imposing presence like his, gorgeous ocean-blue eyes, and thick chocolate-colored hair, he was definitely going to have more than one taker among the staff if he was interested in a summer fling.

Needing to change the subject before I got hung up on the memory of those intense, sparkling blue eyes, I glanced at Gracie. “Are you sure we got everything we needed in town?”

“Yep,” she said happily. “I have all the pineapples I need for the Mai-tai happy hour and we remembered to pick up Alan’s prescription, so we’re all good.”

“Sure, except that we had more things to pick up than pineapples and pills. Did we get everything on Jenna’s list?”

Our camp counselor over at the resort had needed a few rainy-day items just in case, and Gracie checked the list she’d given us before she nodded.

“We’ve got it all.” Her teeth sank into her bottom lip and she snuck another glance at me. “Are you sure Alan’s going to be okay? I’d really like to check what medication we picked up for him.”

“He’s our boss, Gracie. We can’t go snooping around in his personal life,” I said. “Whatever medication it is, we just need to trust that it’ll work and that he’s going to be okay.”

“Fine, but I’m only there for the summer. Come fall, I go back to my real job and you might be stuck with an ailing seventy-five-year-old. I’m just saying, I would like to know what’s wrong with him if I were you.”