Mia sat on one of the cushioned benches and sighed so heavily it was a wonder the yacht wasn’t pushed away from the dock. “I’m sick of this heat already,” she announced with all due petulance.
“It’s only May,” Michael chided her. “Are you going to start whining already? Just let me know so I can prepare myself for a long summer.”
“Shut up, Michael.”
Nice, Jake thought. A lot of respect flowing between those two.
“Oh Mia, I meant to tell you,” Robin quickly interjected. “Lucy was down on Gray Street the other day, and she said Lily’s is having a huge sale. I love that store!”
“Me, too,” Mia said, perking up. “But what was Lucy doing there?” she asked and Jake thought the tone of her voice was a bit derisive—assuming, of course, he was accurately distinguishing this tone from her whine.
“Just shopping.”
Mia snorted. “You must pay her pretty well. You know, I really don’t like her very much.”
“Lucy’s okay,” Slick said halfheartedly.
Mia shrugged; Robin frowned at her friend. “What’s not to like about Lucy?”
“I don’t know,” Mia said on a sigh. “She’s just . . . sort of pedestrian, you know what I mean?”
“Pedestrian? God, Mia, that sounds so elitist.”
“I don’t mean it to sound elitist, but you have to admit that there are differences.”
“Do you mean in income?” Robin asked, clearly agitated. “Is that why you don’t like her? Because she doesn’t have as much money as you?”
“No, of course not,” Mia responded with an irritable shake of her head. “I am talking more about how people like you and I have a different perspective of the world than people like her. I mean, we’ve traveled, we’ve been to lots of different places to shop or eat, or whatever . . . I just don’t see how it can’t create a difference.”
“I know what she means,” Michael said, nodding. “It’s like, if you vacation in Paris and Lucy has never been to Paris, then it’s sort of hard to relate.”
“So if Lucy vacations in Mexico, is it hard for me to relate?” Robin countered.
“No, because you have traveled extensively. You have the ability to imagine.”
“And Lucy doesn’t? God, that is so arrogant!”
Those were Jake’s thoughts exactly. If he hadn’t heard the whole thing himself, he wouldn’t have believed it.
“Whatever,” Mia said petulantly. “And it’s really not even that. I just don’t much care for her.”
“Maybe I should fire her,” Robin shot back.
Mia laughed. “Would you?”
Robin turned away again to stare out the cabin windows at the harbor water.
“What do you think, Jake?” Slick asked.
Jake looked up, fixed him with a piercing glare. “Think about what?”
“Whether or not there are differences between people who have been accustomed to a life of privilege and those who have not.”
“Don’t, Evan,” Robin said low.
But Jake didn’t need or want Robin to stand up for him. “You want to know what I think? I think this conversation is ludicrous,” he drawled, gaining everyone’s attention. “If you want to believe yourself better than someone else because of a lot of travel or shopping, that’s your deal. I prefer to choose my friends based on their character, not their income.”
Slick’s laugh rang false. He put down the martini glass, pushed it to the bartender for a refill without even looking at him. “That’s awfully noble of you, making all your friends based on their character.” He looked pointedly at Robin.
“When is dinner, Evan?” Robin sighed. “Jake and I need to get back soon.”
“We can start whenever you are ready, princess.”
The term of endearment cut through Jake like a knife, conjuring up unwanted images of Robin and Evan together.
“I’m ready if everyone else is,” she said and walked to where Jake was standing, slipped her hand into his, and gave him a little tug so that he would join her at the table. Jake had the presence of mind to hold the chair out for her, but he was, again, the only one. Mia flopped down like a fish onto her chair. Michael sat as far away from her as he could get.
Slick turned to the bartender. “Let Drake know that we have one more guest than we thought,” he announced loudly. “We’ll need another place setting if he can dig one up.”
Bastard. Jake took the seat next to Robin, the one with no place setting, and banged his beer down on the table. That earned him nothing but an amused smile from Slick as another man in white shirt and black bow tie came scurrying out of a door on the far end of the room, carrying a stack of plates, linens, and silver. He quickly and artfully set the place in front of Jake.
As he hurried out again, Robin looked at Slick. “By the way, thanks for sending the files over,” she said.
“Ah . . . did they help?”
“Sort of. But I noticed you had done a lot of the same work I had done.”
“Yes.” He lifted his martini glass and sipped delicately.
“I was wondering why.”