Page 5 of Something Real with the Sea Monster (Kraken Cove #3)

FIVE

Tegan

Luke leaves the house early the next day for work, and it’s just Mia and me at breakfast. I’m still feeling a little rough around the edges, so I stick to black coffee.

I consider searching Mia’s cupboard for something a little harder I could add to my coffee, but I’m not sure how she’ll react, so I hold off.

Look at me on my health kick.

Sometimes you need a little hair-of-the-dog, though. “So you think Luke’s brother was actually serious about that job?” I ask Mia to distract myself from the way my head throbs.

She shrugs. “Sure. I mean he’s been saying he should hire someone for a while now, but he never actually does it. I honestly think he’s been too busy to put an ad up. Why? Were you? Are you?”

“Maybe. I mean it would be good to give myself some space from Mark.”

She nods.

“Someone at work told me there’s a position at Stratos Group that’s going to come up soon.

She heard it from a friend of a friend. You remember the team leader role I applied for last year that I didn’t win?

They said to apply again when I had more experience.

Well, now I do. I’m a shoo-in. I know it. The trouble is I’d need a reference…”

Mia purses her lips. “From Mark?”

“Exactly. I don’t want to ask him. I doubt he’d give me a good one now anyway.” I sigh. “I should never have gone there.”

I sip my coffee, and Mia takes a bite of toast.

“I need a reset. A month or two to get it straight in my head what I want to do. Will I be in the way here?”

“Are you kidding? I would love to have you stay that long.”

“It will be good to have all the time together. It feels like forever since we got to catch up properly.”

I wonder what it would be like to work for Jack. Keeping my voice light, I watch Mia over the top of my steaming mug as I ask, “Is Jack married or single?”

Mia fixes me with a grin. “Single.”

I shake my head. “Oh no. I’m not asking it like that. I just want to know if I’m putting myself in the zone of another married guy who’s going to tempt me to do something that could turn out to be a disaster.”

Mia turns serious. “Jack’s a good guy. He won’t make a move. He’s not like that. And he’s not married. I don’t even think he’s had a girlfriend since I’ve known him.”

I remind myself that’s a good thing and I should absolutely not be feeling at all disappointed. “Well, I’m going to go down there and hit him up about it later today. Just as soon as I can stomach some breakfast.” I grimace.

Mia giggles. “You did have a lot of wine last night.”

“Pfft. I didn’t have that much.”

I have to look away from the knowing expression on her face, so I get up to toss out the dregs of my coffee and put my mug in the sink.

“You know what? Maybe I’m in my detox era.

I’m going to stay here and eat nothing but vegetables for two months and make only good decisions.

” Grabbing my phone, I start googling detox diets, but they all look so depressing.

I never last more than a few weeks on these things no matter how hard I try to drink only green smoothies and eat only raw foods.

“Come on,” says Mia. “I’ll make you a piece of toast, and then we can go down and get your car. I have to head out to the gallery later today to see if they’ve got space for my latest.”

My stomach rumbles, but I can’t tell if it’s from hunger or nausea.

I make a mental plan to stop at the supermarket for kale and celery, and my stomach rumbles again.

“No toast for me. Just let me brush my hair. Oh shit. I left all my stuff in the boot of my car.” I had to borrow pajamas from Mia when we got home because I realized I hadn’t even brought those with me.

“I’ll lend you something to wear,” Mia says cheerfully.

And so I find myself squeezing into a pair of Mia’s jeans. We’re technically the same size, but I’ve always had more junk in my trunk, and the jeans barely go up over my hips and the top button refuses to do up. Maybe I’ve put on a little weight.

“Sorry. The only other pairs I have are maternity jeans cause my bump got too big.”

“It’s fine,” I tell her. “I’ll just get changed when I get my stuff.”

We climb into Mia’s car, and I try not to breathe in too deeply on the drive across town, which only takes a few minutes.

The jeans still cut into me. I can’t believe Mia spent the last ten years thinking she was fat.

I’m so glad she found Luke because I know he tells her every day how gorgeous she is, and unlike hearing it from everyone else in the world, she actually seems to believe him.

Kraken Cove is nothing like Sydney. We drive down the main street, and I crane my neck trying to read all the signs I didn’t take in last time I was here.

“Where do you shop?” I ask Mia, scanning the scant few shops on the main street and coming up with nothing that looks like it sells anything I’d even consider wearing.

Mia laughs. “I don’t. I buy everything online these days. You get used to it.”

I gape at her. Imagine never setting foot in a trendy boutique shop ever again! Or going on a thrift shopping spree all Saturday picking out cute vintage finds and designer gems.

That’s not a life I could live long term. “Ha.” I laugh weakly. Mia seems happy. Who am I to burst her bubble?

My car is right where I left it, with only a huge splat of bird poop on the windshield to let anyone know it spent all night unattended. I fish my keys from the pocket of Mia’s jeans—quite a feat—and unlock it.

I have to wrestle with my enormous suitcase to get the top open and then can’t find the cute faded blue jeans I want, so I have to rummage around for a while. The carpark is empty apart from a few cars with dew on the windshields, and the sleepy little town seems like it’s still waking up.

I yank the suitcase out of the boot and onto the ground, finally locate the jeans, and try unsuccessfully to get the case back in my car.

I bend my knees, and there’s a nasty ripping sound from the seams of Mia’s jeans.

I freeze. “Uh oh. Sorry.” I glance around.

I was going to run across the road to the public toilets by the pier, but there’s no one around and I don’t want to actually rip Mia’s jeans any more than I already have. “Hey, cover for me.”

“What are you—oh!”

The jeans are harder to get off than I expected. I almost topple over when I toe off my shoes and go to yank them down my hips.

Behind me, Mia squawks.

“Yeah, yeah. It’ll only take a minute. Just watch out and make sure no one comes by.” I’m rushing and fumble and drop my jeans on the ground, so I have to bend and pick them up.

Mia squawks again.

Finally I yank them up my legs and stand, just in time to hear her say, “Hi, Jack.”

Great. Just great. I haul the waistband of my jeans up over my ass, thanking all that’s holy that I at least remembered to wear nice panties for the day my new boss sees my ass. Oh god. This was not how I wanted this to start out.

I spin, lifting my chin and determinedly looking Jack right in the face. To my silent satisfaction, his mouth is actually hanging open, and beneath the beard, his cheeks are a dusty shade of red.

He coughs. “Hi, Mia. Hi, Tegan. I was just coming out to ask if you needed a, um… a hand. With your case, I mean. That thing looks heavy.”

I step closer to Mia and lower my voice. “What happened to cover for me?”

“I tried to warn you,” she whispers back.

“In bird?”

Jack easily lifts my giant case and slips it back into my boot like there’s nothing to it. I’m not even sure how I lifted that fucker yesterday. Rage gave me strength I guess.

“You weren’t kidding when you said you might stick around for a while, huh?” He turns and smiles at me with a grin that still looks a little dopey and lopsided, and god damn it, why does he have to have the whole cute boy-next-door thing going on?

“Where I’m concerned, there’s no such thing as traveling light.”

“So I see.”

“Yeah, I think you did. Not exactly the way I usually start a new job, though to be fair, that’s kinda how the last one ended.”

I’m not surprised at all when there’s awkward laughter from both Mia and Jack. I really need to figure out when not to say stuff like that.

“Anyway, what I meant is, if the job is still available, I’d like to take you up on that offer.”

Jack’s cute smile is back. “Absolutely. Would you ladies like to come up for a coffee?”

Mia shakes her head. “I have to head out to the gallery this morning before they open. I’ll see you back home, Teegs?”

“Sure thing.” I give her a bright smile and a wave and try not to let my trepidation show.

I’m not really ready to admit the reason why I’m having second thoughts about this job.

Because saying it out loud is a hop skip and a jump away from saving his number in my phone under a cute nickname and picking out wedding china. I can’t be doing that. “See you.”

I follow Jack inside the Inlet Views, and he takes me behind reception to the door of the residential part of the property. “Coffee?”

Why does going inside his home feel so intimate when I was up there yesterday? Probably because now it’s just the two of us.

I shake my head. “Nah. I’m good. Let’s talk business.” That’s right, Tegan, keep things professional. This is your boss, and you're absolutely, definitely not going there again.

Once burned, twice shy. Or so they say.

I can’t really remember ever being shy in my life, but there’s a first time for everything I guess.