Brody held his tongue until Carly left around one a.m. Then he let me have it. The door had barely closed when he turned to me. “Do you think inviting Carly to live with us is the best idea?”

“Yes, actually I do. Maddy wants to move out and Carly wants to move in. It works perfectly.”

“But you don’t want to sleep with Maddy. You do want to sleep with Carly.”

“Just because I want something doesn’t mean I’m going to do it. Carly and I are friends. It’s going to work out great.” I leaned back against the couch. Sure, I hadn’t really thought things out, but that’s just kind of how I did things.

“Let me just get a preemptive ‘I told you so’ out of the way now.”

“You really don’t think I can control myself?”

Brody took a seat on the love seat. “You can control yourself, but you can’t control the awkwardness that’s going to come from it.”

“She’s cool. It’s going to work.”

“I hope so. I really don’t want any drama.”

“We’ve had drama with Maddy.” I picked up a celebrity type magazine Maddy had left out and flipped through it. I had no idea how she read those things.

“No. Maddy’s had drama, but she doesn’t bring it home. If things with you and Carly get awkward then we’ll really have drama.”

“Well, it’s too late now. I already offered her the place if Maddy agrees.”

“You didn’t think asking me beforehand was important?” He shook his head. He wasn’t actually annoyed. He just wanted to give me a hard time about it.

“You’re the one offering to help her get a job at the Grille.”

“How is that even remotely the same?”

“You like her, admit it.”

“I’m not into her, but I get the sense she really needs a job.” Brody leaned his head back against the cushions.

“She also really needs a place to stay. She can’t camp out at her brother’s all summer.” I felt for her. From what she told me, her family life pretty much sucked.

“Fine, I agree she could use the break. Besides, it’s probably only for the summer.”

I laughed. “That’s what we said about Maddy.”Of course this time I knew I might not even stay around past the summer, but I wasn’t willing to worry about that yet.

“And a year later she’s still here… but in her case that’s a good thing. She’s been a fun roommate. Maybe Carly will be that way too.”

“I know she will. She’s cool, trust me on this.”

“Do I have any other choice?”

“Nope. You might as well start getting used to it.”

---

The forecast was beautiful. Sunny skies, a slight breeze and calm ocean conditions. It was the perfect morning for diving. I took a glance at the books. I was scheduled to take a group of girls out for the last day of their certification course. They’d been an entertaining bunch so far. I knew more about swimsuit shopping then I ever wanted to know, but I didn’t care. There was something awesome about introducing people to scuba diving and the underwater world. Maybe it was in my head, but it made me feel like I was making a difference.

“What do we have on the books today?”

I groaned. Caleb, the son of the shop owner rarely ventured in, but when he did he always managed to ruin my day. I generally like people, but not Caleb. He epitomized everything I hated in a person: entitled, rude, and disrespectful.

“Is anyone going to tell me, or do I have to do it myself?” Caleb acted like he owned the place, and technically he would soon, but not yet. I still had a few months to enjoy my job.

“Just one dive today. The last day of a certification,” Anna Marie answered carefully. She specifically didn’t mention the gender of the divers. I didn’t know for sure, but I got the hunch that there was some history with them. When it came to history with Caleb it was never good.

“Oh yeah? Who’s in the group?”

“A few girls right out of high school.” She looked down.

“Oh. Awesome. I’ll take them out then.”

“That’s okay. Macon’s on it. He’s been with them all week.”

“Macon’s going to be busy refilling tanks today.” He shot me a shit eating grin. “Have fun with that.”

So much for enjoying the perfect conditions. Caleb was so sleezy it made me sick. At twenty-eight he had no business hitting on eighteen-year-old girls, but he didn’t care. Luckily there’d be a boat captain with them. So much for a good end of the week tip. Caleb would be pocketing that.

“You might as well enjoy the grunt work, Macon. You won’t be diving for this company once I take over.”

I resisted the urge to flip him the finger, and I headed toward the back of the shop. At least I was getting a cool new roommate.