Page 12 of Ship Happens

“Did you set a date with the bank yet?” Ravi asks.

“No, uh . . .” Owen forces his attention back down to the sink, steam rising from the steady stream of water and heating his face. “Not yet. I wanted to have a spot in mind for the shop before I scheduled anything.”

“Fair.” Ravi nods.

But Owen’s holding his breath for Jacob’s reaction.

“Is this about the shop?” Jacob asks. “Full Metal?”

He still remembers the name that Owen’s held on to for years now. Basic, maybe, and Owen figures he’ll eventually need to learn to pierce just to make sure he doesn’t give anyone the wrong impression.

“Yeah, Owen and I have been getting his proposal for the loans ready.” Ravi looks to Owen, like he’s expecting Owen to take over the conversation.

It is his shop, after all.

“Uh . . . yeah.” Owen swallows. “Ravi’s been helping me a ton.”

“That’s amazing.” Jacob beams, and even if there’s no real condescension in his voice, that doesn’t stop Owen from interpreting the words that way.

“Yeah!” he adds, suddenly brave. “It is, actually. I’m hoping to open it up next year!”

This is the first time Owen’s hearing about an opening date.

Owen’s loan proposal still sits in a Google Drive shared with Ravi, nowhere near ready. He hasn’t even decided on a neighborhood. Or if the shop is even going to happen. Even if the bank does say yes, by some miracle, owning a shop and working at one are two different beasts, a whole other level of responsibility. Besides, it’s been such a dream for such a long time, there’s a sort of comfortable acceptance about the idea that it’ll permanently be out of reach.

“Owen, babe?” Kaitlyn’s voice pulls Owen from his spiral. “I think you ripped the sponge in half.”

Owen opens his hands, staring down at the sponge halves.

“Sorry,” he says, taking the replacement that Kaitlyn offers. She eyes him before rejoining their friends back in the living room as the topic of conversation shifts. Owen takes responsibility for cleaning the dishes, watching Kaitlyn and Abigail pull out their Rock Band set. Hailey and Ravi join in, and even though Hailey takes the microphone, everyone sings along, like a group karaoke session.

It’s why he doesn’t hear Jacob approach.

“Kaitlyn wants to know if you want to do ‘Call Me Maybe’?” Owen jumps, nearly letting a glass container slip out of his suds-covered hands. When he turns, Jacob’s looking at him bashfully. “Sorry.”

“I’ll be there in a bit,” Owen says flatly. “Still cleaning up here.”

“You should take a break,” Jacob says. “Don’t overdo it.”

“I’m good.” Owen glowers at the man.

“Just make sure—”

“I’m not a child, Jacob. I know my limits,” Owen bites out, hoping that’s the end of things.

“Okay, okay . . .” He takes a step back. “Sorry, I—”

Jacob’s expression softens, and Owen feels guilt wash over him. Shit.

Why does he feel so bad for being angry? He has every right to be. This is the man who decided that their relationship wasn’t enough. Sure, he hadn’t used those exact words, but he’d been willing to walk away from everything they had, all to research the migration pattern of some stupid squid.

And now Owen feels bad about calling the squid “stupid.”

They didn’t do anything wrong. No one did.

“I’m fine. You don’t have to worry about me,” Owen tells him, though he can feel a soreness in his legs; he’s been alternating between standing and squatting too long. Even bringing over a barstool hadn’t provided as much relief as he’d needed.

Jacob doesn’t challenge Owen, but his gaze lingers, like he doesn’t quite believe him.