Nope, she was on a listening-only-to-her-heart kick.
And with that, she took the boat to the campgrounds. She managed to maneuver close to the dock and then brought up her bookmarked YouTube video on tying down a boat. And thanks to Hottie Lake Patrol Guy’s advice, she used two tie-downs. She then scrounged up the cash for day fees—there went lunch—and rushed belowdecks.
It wasn’t quite as pristine down here as it had been when it’d belonged to Lucas. This was because one, she wasn’t an OCD cleaning fanatic who’d had it scrubbed with a toothbrush. And two, she resented the hell out of her accommodations. She hated the small porta-potty she couldn’t even use because she didn’t know how to hook it up.
This had forced her to always park—er, moor—the boat near one of the two campgrounds on the lake so that she could use those facilities. What she did have were seats for six and a bed that barely fit one. The seats and bed were done up with the same leather-like material as the seats above, white with red trim, making the compartment appear more spacious than it was. Much more. There was a top-notch stereo system and entertainment center that had probably cost more than she’d made last year tucked into the cabinets. Everything was compact and efficient.
And it all drove her crazy.
She hurriedly brushed her teeth in the small galley sink, tamed her hair, and changed her clothes, digging into her last clean outfit. She would have made herself breakfast, but the sole electric burner on the tiny stove would light only about half the time she tried, and this morning wasn’t one of those times.
Forty-five minutes later she stood outside the hospital, switching out her running shoes for heels. Not that she’d run here from the lake. Nope, the only time Sophie did any running was if a bear was chasing her, and that hardly ever happened.
She’d walked the three miles to work, reminding herself that in return she could now have dessert with both lunch and dinner as a prize. She shoved her running shoes into her tote and headed into the building adjacent to the hospital, where for the next few days she was running the front office at the special-care facility while the regular office manager recovered from a root canal.
The job was stressful, but she loved the people. They were either elderly or a little loony tunes, but she fit right in. A shrink would have a field day with that, but she was making new choices these days, and one of them was not worrying about what people thought of her.
She waved at Dani, the receptionist, and then at the two accounting clerks in the staff room as she punched in. She moved to the front desk to see that everything was on track and froze as a man came in the front door. Given how the day had gone, nothing should have been able to surprise her at this point, but this did.
Hottie Lake Patrol Guy was striding directly toward her.
She opened her mouth and then closed it, gaping like a fish. What the hell could he possibly want? To sue her for getting seasick and throwing up? For leaving her boat in a spot no one else wanted anyway? Heart pounding, she narrowed her eyes. “Seriously?” she asked. Maybe yelled. “I didn’t do anything wrong! Well, okay, other than parking my boat illegally, but throwing up—while unfortunate—is not arrest worthy, especially since I didn’t even get it on your shoes! So just get over it already!”
He pulled off his dark sunglasses and met her gaze, his mouth tilted up in the barest hint of a wry smile.
“This is harassment,” she said. “I could sue you, but I’m not that girl. Especially if you agree to compensate me by letting me use the dock for one more night.” Holy crap, she couldn’t believe the stuff coming out her mouth, but she was backed into the proverbial corner, her heart trying to beat its way out of her chest.
Without saying a word, Lake Patrol Guy reached for the pen on the sign-in sheet they used for visitors of their patients and…
Signed in to see a patient.
Then he set the pen down, quirked a brow at her, and walked away.
Unable to help herself, she watched his very fine ass as he went. “So I can stay one more night, right?” she called after him.
Dani came up beside her and joined in the ass watching. “You threw up on his shoes?”
She sighed. “It’s a long story.”
Chapter 3
Jacob was still shaking his head as he made his way up the stairs of the rehab center to the second floor. Turned out Red from the lake had a name, which he’d seen on her name tag just now.
Sophie Marren.