Page 6

TREVOR

The morning birds chirp outside my bedroom window as I grin at my phone when I read Andy’s message back. I wanted to stay awake to see if he’d send me another message, but my eyes were too droopy and I passed out nearly as fast as my head hitting the pillow.

DaddyAttyAndy: What a lovely welcome. Thank you. I hope you have a great day.

It’s so basic, but welcome. I can’t help my silly grin. My fingers fly over my phone to reply.

RaccoonBandit: Good morning Andy! The weather is thankfully supposed to be nice and cloudy with no rain in sight, just the way I like it. Hope your day goes well! Only a few days till the weekend!!!! It’s been so friggin long since I’ve gotten to play. Sorry, I over share a lot ::hides::

I hit send and hop in the shower for a quick wash. After I’m dressed, I walk the few blocks to dad’s hotel to start the breakfast.

I’m stirring a huge batch of scrambled eggs when Dad comes up behind me and squeezes my shoulder.

“How you doing this morning, kiddo?”

I smile up at him. “Good. I’m excited about the weekend.”

Dad snorts. “I can imagine. It’s been a while since you’ve had one totally to yourself. Big plans?”

My cheeks heat and I nod. “Going to visit some friends out of town. Haven’t seen them in a while.” Dad doesn’t know I’m a Little, neither does Mom and if it’s up to me, they’ll never know.

“Sounds great. I wish you’d take more time off. You’re still young. You need to play.”

“About that.” I nibble my bottom lip as I continue to stir my eggs. “Can I have the third week of next month off?”

“Of course.” Dad pulls his phone from his pocket and schedules me off from the calendar. “Done.”

“Thank you.” My shoulders drop. “Mom scheduled me to work this weekend after getting permission months ago. Then she got mad when I asked for a week off next month. I’m tired.”

Dad squeezes my shoulder again. “I’m so sorry. She can be a bit bullheaded when it comes to the carnival. You have to decide for yourself if you want to keep working with her.”

I snort. “Do I really have a choice? If I quit, she’ll probably hate me.”

Dad turns me to face him. We have matching pale blue-gray eyes and his bores into me.

“She won’t ever hate you. And you always have a choice.

If you want to quit your job here, I’ll support your decision.

If you want to quit the carnival, I will support your decision.

You have to live your life and dreams. Not ours. ”

When I blink, tears betray me and spill from my eyes. “I don’t even know what my dreams are.”

Dad tugs the spatula from my hands and places it on the clean counter before pulling me into his arms. “I’m sorry, Trevor. We did that to you.”

“No. I... I just... I never thought about it. Mom always said I’d take over for her one day.

” I pull away and shake my head. “But I know I don’t want that.

Don’t want that responsibility. It’s too much.

I know it’s family tradition, but it’s not for me.

And I love the hotel, but I don’t see me taking over this place either. ”

Dad holds me close. “You’ll figure it out. You’re smart and you’re still so damn young.”

I sniffle in his shoulder. “Sorry for crying.”

“Don’t be sorry.” Dad pulls away and brushes my escaped bangs back into the hairnet. “I probably should have intervened sooner, but until recently, you seemed genuinely happy.”

I nod. “I’m just tired. It’ll be better after a break.”

Dad’s eyes soften, and he shakes his head. “You need to find yourself. Unless you object, I’m going to drop you down to part-time hours. Three days a week.”

My eyes go wide. “But I’m doing a good job, aren’t I?” I turn back to the eggs to make sure they aren’t burning.

“You’re doing excellent, except for taking care of yourself.” Another squeeze to my shoulder. “We’ll talk again after your trip. If you really want to stay full time here and at the carnival, I won’t deny you, but think about it.”

“Thank you,” I whisper.

Dad kisses the side of my head and leaves the kitchen.

The timer goes off right as I pile all the eggs into a serving bowl. Here at Cruiser Beach Hotel, we make breakfast from scratch. I think we’ve only used store-bought muffins twice in my life.

Dad’s words echo in my head. I really do need to figure out what I’d like to do with my life. Where my passions lie.

Mom loves the carnival, and it’s been in her family for generations. I’m as proud of it as much as she is, but I don’t want to make it my life.

Dad’s hotel has been his dream since before I was born. He saved to purchase the building and renovate it to his vision. It’s seventy-five rooms of luxury and amenities not offered by many. I love it as much as he does, but again, it’s not my dream.

I finish my breakfast duties and change out into dungarees to switch over to housekeeping duties.

Housekeeping, I like more than the clean-up crew at the carnival. For one, the hotel has air conditioning. And two, so far I’ve never met a disgusting room. The clean-up crew at the carnival is anything from cleaning up trash to vomit.

It’s summer and we’re at eighty percent capacity at the hotel, which means a lot of rooms to service.

But unlike the carnival, we have an extensive housekeeping crew.

Even if one or two call in sick, we always have enough people that we’re not rushing through each room and can give them all a thorough cleaning.

Fresh sheets and comforters for every guest. It’s why we have repeat clients.

Well, one of the reasons anyway. I like to think my cooking is a lovely surprise and our hospitality is topnotch.

It’s the homey touch to everything we do.

Too soon, noon comes around and it’s time to rush through a quick lunch and run to the carnival.