Page 13 of Unmoored: How to Fail at Hating the Boss

“I see,” is all I can say.

I glance at the other moms. Patricia wears a purple shirt that reads “Wine O'Clock” and looks like she’s furiously texting someone. Renee stares straight at me and looks like she just came off the links, with a collared shirt tucked into her pressed, belted shorts. They are far too interested in my love life. I thought by deleting the friend requests on social media from my students’ parents, I could keep my private life private. Turns out, there’s no such thing as privacy in Songbird Ridge.

The assumption by some that Reef and I are dating, and that I’m hanging around the marina because I can’t be threefeet away from my boyfriend, is somewhat insulting to me as a woman. As if I don’t have a million other priorities.

“It’s my summer job,” I say tightly. That is all I’m going to give them.

“Oh,” Hannah says. “See, ladies? I told you it was nothing more than that.”

“You seemed really bonded together when I saw you at the dock earlier today, when you almost fell into the water,” Renee says.

Oh god. Who else saw that?

Breezy. Just be breezy. I laugh, “Oh, that’s just my hands-on supervisor. He loves to hang around and fix all my many, many mistakes. I’m still getting the hang of things.”

He’s standing right behind you, dummy. He can hear you.

“That’s so cute,” Hannah says, sipping from the striped straw attached to her baseball tumbler.

I stare at her, wondering what she means by cute. Scratch that. I know exactly what she means. It’s funny and adorable that I have a second job.

“If you’re not too busy, you should come to our Fourth of July cookout tomorrow,” Renee blurts, getting the side eye from everyone else. I get the feeling that Renee is the one in the group who is slightly nicer than the others, and the pleaser who feels compelled to fill an uncomfortable moment with silence.

“That’s very kind of you to offer. But I have to work tomorrow,” I say to Renee, giving her a genuinely grateful smile. I always did like her kids who were in my class.

“Some other time, then.”

The way that Hannah and Patricia glance over at each other, I am starting to get the feeling that they keep Renee around because she’s the one with the lake house.

“So hands-on, he supervises your groceries too?” Patricia asks with a hint of a sneer. A very classy, subtle type of sneer.

I look back at Reef, only meaning to glance, and to gauge whether he’d like to be formally introduced. Or maybe I’m looking at him for support. Or just an anchor. Someone to hold on to in this strange social storm that has kicked up.

He puts down the prickly passion fruit he’s been examining and says the absolute perfect thing.

Six

Reef

“She’s supervising me, as a matter of fact,” I say.

“I am?”

My quick look toward Quincy says, go with it.

“She is?” Hannah asks.

“Yeah…she came into the store one day and advised me on what to order and how to stock things. So I hired her as my professional organizer and purchaser for the summer.”

“Organizer?” one of the moms asks. I don’t know which one; I’m too busy avoiding Quincy’s horrified look at this whopper of a story.

“Absolutely,” I continue. "What, you thought she was actually working the dock like one of the teenagers who work for me? No, no. I’m just so busy that she has to follow me around the grounds with a clipboard and lists. It’s like she’s training me on how to manage things.”

One glance at Quincy tells me I need to stop. She looks like she might cry.

“Interesting,” I hear the ringleader say.

“I told Quincy she should open her own consulting business. Or, I don’t know, organizing business. I can see why she’s such a good teacher. She has a way of explaining things that even the most clueless people can understand. I imagine she sees a lot of those in her classroom.”