“There are worse people in the world to want to be when you’re thirteen than Rory Gilmore,” Drea added. “And in my defense, we didn’t have a regularly scheduled family meal then. We could have stopped Friday dinners when we started Wednesday breakfasts.”
Kyle could feel the tension in Drea as she defended her teenage thinking. He didn’t really think the story was that embarrassing, but he also knew that her uncles had a tendency to treat her like she was still that thirteen-year-old girl, and he understood her frustration with that. He wanted to lean over and kiss her, tell her he saw her for who she was now, a beautiful adult woman with a mind of her own. But he knew that this would be the worst place to do that, so instead he tried to change the subject.
“Miller, the meal is fantastic, as always. Thank you. But I hope you didn’t make this just for me.”
“This was actually Dave’s mom’s recipe. I made it the night we celebrated our engagements to the girls, so I felt it was fitting for tonight,” he said, raising a glass in the direction of Simone and Vaughn. Simone smiled sappily and raised her glass in return, while Vaughn simply nodded.
“I know you guys were working all day, but have you talked about what you wanna do with your days off?” Simone asked.
“No, but truthfully, I’d be happy if we just anchor out somewhere and then take a long nap in the sun,” Drea replied.
“You could do that here,” Vaughn said. “If that’s your whole plan, then there is no reason to go anywhere.”
“That’s not the plan—I just said we didn’t have a plan. And yes, the whole purpose is to not be on the resort.”
“There is nothing wrong with staying on the resort. It’s safer here,” he said.
“Are you saying my boats are unsafe?” Grayson asked from around
a bite of bread.
“No, but you never know what could happen.”
“Drea and Kyle are both excellent sailors, which, you know, is why we trust them with our guests every day!” Grayson spat out.
“We’re right here,” Drea said.
Kyle wanted to jump into the conversation and defend their getaway, but was afraid to say the wrong thing. The tension he was feeling off Drea was only escalating as her uncles went back and forth, so he reached back under the table and lightly ran his hand up and down her thigh. She turned and smiled at him tensely.
“We get it, Vaughn, you don’t like the idea of her going away, but let the kids do what they want,” Miller said.
“They can relax here just as easily as they can on the boat. And we were all just in San Juan a couple of months ago. Why go back so soon?”
“Get the sand out of your vagina, man!” Grayson barked. “Just let them go. No one questions what you do with your days off.”
“Sorry I brought it up,” Simone said quietly, looking at Drea. Drea simply shrugged in response.
“No one questions because I’m an adult and—”
“So is she!” Simone interjected. “She’s twenty-six, he’s twenty-seven. Well over the adult age line!”
“The next words out of your mouth best not be that you’re the boss,” Miller stated. “Because we are all equal in this.”
“And I’m Kyle’s boss,” Grayson said. “And I’m the one giving him the keys.”
“Still here,” Drea said, louder this time.
“Well, if you two really think it’s best to just let her run off with some boy—”
Drea stood, stopping Vaughn midsentence. Everyone turned to look at her.
“Okay, as much fun as this has been—enough. We’re taking a weekend off. We’re going sailing, not to the moon. And he is not just ‘some boy,’ he’s Kyle! Who has worked here for five years! You know him, he shows up to breakfast most mornings. Yesterday he was ‘part of the family.’ So now if you’ll excuse me, I’m done with dinner. I don’t need dessert.” She turned around and huffed out of the kitchen.
They all sat there for a brief moment in silence. When Vaughn went to open his mouth to say something, Simone put her hand on his arm and Kyle was pretty sure he heard her whisper “just stop.” He pushed back from the table and stood up, placing his napkin on top of his dinner plate.
“If you’ll excuse me as well, I think I’ll go after her,” he said solemnly.
“Good idea, son,” Miller said.
