My earlier empathy for her had fizzled out as quickly as it’d started. Ariel’s situation wasn’t like mine. She’d used up her second chance. And her third. And her fourth. I still had my second chance.

Tom nodded slowly. “Sounds good. I’ll put up a sign in the window once that’s done.”

“For a waitress?” asked Lucy.

“And the fish fry is coming up, too,” said Tom. “We could use the extra hands.”

“We don’t even need to hire anyone new,” said Lucy. She placed a hand on my shoulder. “We’ve got this, don’t we, Babe?”

“Do you, now?” Tom smiled at me. “Like mother, like daughter.”

A rush of pride swelled through me. Like mother, like daughter. The words rang in my ears long after Tom retired to a table in the back and Lucy began humming Taylor Swift’s latest single.

My mother, Jenna, had worked at Busy’s, too. The best waitress and manager he’d ever had, Tom once proclaimed, though her coffee-making skills didn’t have a lick on mine. The affection Tom had for Mom was like that of a father.

“Does he look more tired lately to you?” Lucy whispered once Tom left.

Alarm flared through me. I hoped it wasn’t Ariel that was stressing him out. I glanced at our boss. He was over sixty, but he looked younger. His skin didn’t sag, and the lines on his face were all from laughter.

“I don’t know,” I said. “A little, maybe. But it’s probably only because it looks like it’s going to be a busy summer. It’s the fiftieth anniversary of the sandcastle competition. I heard someone say that a lot more people are coming because of the press coverage.”

“Maybe.” Lucy gnawed on a nail. “How are things with Penny?”

“Nonexistent.” Since our fight, she’d already avoided me in town twice, and after the talk we’d just had, I didn’t see that changing. It wasn’t like she’d crossed the street like El had, but the cool way her eyes looked right through me was worse somehow.

“And Chad?”

I shrugged. “He doesn’t want to rock the boat right now with Penny. She’s … she’s sort of icing me out. Um, she kicked me out of an iMessage group chat last night. Surprised it took this long, honestly.”

“Mmm. Well, you still have to let me know what you think about us doing the pageant together,” said Lucy. “It’s okay if you don’t want to come dress shopping, but maybe we could just get ready together or something.”

After our conversation on the houseboat, I knew there wasn’t any chance I’d be doing the pageant with Penny. And it was really more her thing than mine.