“You Callie?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said.
“Then it’s you. You’re the girlfriend.”
She was both ridiculously relieved and horrified. “I’m going to ship my grandma off to a third-world country where there’s no WiFi available,” she muttered.
He grinned and looked so much like a young Tanner that her heart panged. “Could you take my grandma too?” he asked.
She laughed. “Your grandma’s perfectly normal and nice, so no, sorry. And for the record, I’m not your dad’s girlfriend. I’m just his—” The memory of Tanner’s mouth on hers made her trip over the word friend. That didn’t fit any better than girlfriend did. “Neighbor,” she finally said, and gave a mental grimace. Lame.
Troy arched his brow, another perfect imitation of his father.
“So he’s not here, right?” she asked, desperately needing a subject change.
“He’s up at the warehouse with Sam. But he’ll be back any second to check on his slave labor.”
That didn’t sound like Tanner. “You’re not getting paid?” she asked.
“Twelve bucks an hour,” he said morosely.
She laughed. “I’ll trade you jobs.”
He leaned on the mop and shoved back his dark, wayward hair from his face. “Do you really do a wedding website?” he asked.
“Yep. I deal with demanding brides all day long, and trust me, they’ve got nothing on your dad.”
Troy didn’t look convinced.
“I also design wedding websites,” she said. “And granted, that’s a lot more fun but takes some IT knowledge.”
“I know a lot about computers,” he said.
“Then you’re ahead of the game. Do you play football like your dad did?”
“How do you know he played football?” Troy asked. “He never talks about it.”
“I went to school with him,” Callie said, and caught the sudden interest in Troy’s gaze. “He set a bunch of records that I think still stand to this day.”
“His jersey and two trophies are displayed in a glass case outside the athletic department,” Troy said. “They say he could’ve gone pro if he’d been able to go to college.”
Callie heard the change in Troy’s voice at that. Guilt. “There were more important things to your dad,” she said.
Troy looked at her, for a moment nothing more than a very young, vulnerable, hurting kid.
“It’s true,” she said softly.
“They talk about him at school sometimes. About his football record and some of the stuff he used to do. I guess he was pretty wild and crazy.” Now there was a note of awe in his voice, like he wanted to be that guy.
Only thing was, Callie was pretty sure Tanner didn’t want Troy living up to his legacy in that way. “I don’t think he’s as proud of that stuff as he is proud of you,” she said carefully.
Troy snorted.
“What?” she asked.
“I got dumped on him, you know. Here in Lucky Harbor.”
“He’s happy you’re here, however that came to be,” she said. “He’s happy he gets to be a real dad to you.”
Troy gave an indifferent shrug that didn’t match the unmistakable yearning in his eyes and went back to working the mop. “So you really know how to design a website and stuff?”
“Yep.”
“I’d like to know how to do that,” he said. “But not for weddings.”
“I could show you sometime,” she said. “I recently did a wedding site for Sam and Becca, setting it up so people can RSVP for the wedding, see their registry, and chat about it on a message board, all in one place. In fact, the wedding is coming up. We’re having the bachelor/bachelorette party here on the boat.”
“I don’t know why anyone would choose to have a party here, much less live here,” he said. “There’s nothing to do.”
She laughed. “Are you kidding? You’ve got the mountains and the water. You can ski, hike, fish, scuba, or just relax in the beauty of it all.”
He didn’t look impressed by any of this.
“Trust me,” she said. “I grew up here. There’s a lot for you to do.”
“So you live here because it’s fun?”
“No, I live here because of my grandma.”
“Lucille.” He grinned. “She’s a little crazy.”
“Crazy nice?” Callie asked hopefully.
“Crazy crazy,” Troy said. “She put my dad and Sam and Cole up on Instagram this morning in a Who’s Hottest poll. They were pissed. There’s also a pic of you.”