“That’s quite the age difference!”
“It was, yeah. By the time I was in high school, Hannah and Stafford were gone from home, in college, and starting their careers. It made my parents very aware of what I was doing. And let me tell you, when your two much older siblings are taking the world by storm and making a whole bunch of cash, it puts a whole lot of pressure on you.”
“But your parents couldn’t have expected you to keep up with them. They were fully grown with an education, and you were just some high school student.”
He shrugged and turned a page in the binder without really paying attention to what he saw there. “It didn’t matter. But let’s just say that the pressure is what I needed to motivate myself to outperform them.”
“What did you do?” Jade was shocked. “I mean, how can a sixteen-year-old compete with adults?”
“I started a security company when I was in my junior year of high school. At first, I was running basic security for online clients. Protecting their data and that kind of stuff. By the time I was in my senior year, I had a few people working under me. I liked it too. My parents didn’t realize the amount of success I was having until MIT came calling to the house.
“They wanted to give me a full ride to their school on the condition that I helped them revamp their security. By the time I was in my sophomore year of college, I had more clients than I knew what to do with. I barely managed to graduate because I was working so hard. I had banks and the world’s rich and famous as clients. I expanded from online security to more concrete stuff. Homes, buildings, people events.”
“Holy shit! That is impressive. Your parents must have been so proud of you.”
Parker’s shrug was so small that Jade would have missed it if she hadn’t momentarily looked away from the road. There was pain and longing in the shrug that made her heart ache for the young man sitting across from her.
“They weren’t proud?” Her question was a rushed whisper.
“Let’s just say that my sister and brother did moremeaningfulwork. My parents looked down on what I did.”
“So what happened? How did you retire so young?”
Parker didn’t want to answer. His silence said that for him, but he finally started. “When a bigger firm approached me to buy my software and buy me out, I took the deal. It was more money than I would ever know what to do with, and by that time, it was pretty fucking obvious that nothing I did would ever be good enough for my parents. I would never be able to compete with Hannah and Stafford. So I decided to move away. I headed here to Half Moon Key. Why keep on playing a game that is rigged for me to lose again and again?”
Jade sighed and shot him an apologetic look. “Well, for what it’s worth, I’m proud of you.”
He laughed softly. “Thanks. That’s actually really nice to hear for the first time ever.”
“That can’t be true! It can’t be the first time.”
“Oh, but it is,” he assured her. “It doesn’t matter. I sold the company and made more money than God. I’ll have a comfortable life in Half Moon Key. At least, if the locals let me stay.” He shot her a rueful grin, and Jade felt it everywhere.
Thankfully, the long ride was over, and they were pulling into the fairly big city.
“So, is this really the only place we can rent tents?” Parker asked as they got out of the car. They made their way to the brown brick building that announced the company rented out all of the party supplies that anyone could want, including huge white tents.
“Well,” Jade began, “we used to have a tent rental in town. But there was a really bad storm not too long ago. It completely destroyed the tents that the Elliot family had. They moved out of town not too long after that.”
“And why doesn’t the town buy its own tents?”
Jade shrugged. “I’ve asked the elders that very same questions way too many times to count, but they never have any kind of answer for me.”
“I should buy some tents, then.”
Her jaw dropped open. “Are you serious?”
He chuckled. “Well, yeah. Maybe if I buy some tents and offer them up to the elders for Beach Day year after year, maybe the locals will start to see me as one of their own.”
“If you do that, then you can bet your ass that every single woman in Half Moon Key will want to marry you.”
He threw his head back with a laugh. “And why would that be?”
“Well, it would mean that you’re a team player. That you are around for the long haul.”
He nodded. “That’s good to know. Let’s see what deal these people will give us before I make my final decision.”
Jade opened the door and made her way inside. “Don’t hold your breath. They’re basically thieves. They always increase the prices from year to year, claiming that inflation has gone up.”