"Well, it depends on what you're cooking. Eggs are really easy, so we all learned them young as a quick go-to meal when we were home by ourselves." As she sliced bread and slipped the pieces into the toaster, Inga added, "You must have beenreallyrich."
"It's kind of hard to explain," Lucy said. She felt embarrassed. "Neither of my parents had much money when they first met, and they were both determined that I would never have to work at all, and have all the things they didn't."
"Did you like it?"
"Of course I knew that I had things easy," Lucy said quickly.
"That's not really the same thing as enjoying yourself, though."
"I wish that I had taken the time to learn more things while I could." It had been all too easy, she realized now, with no one pushing her, not to push herself either. "I've never even had a job."
"It's not too late to learn, and you're doing fine," Inga said. "And I think those are ready."
After they had their lunch of egg sandwiches and fresh, ripe tomatoes from a neighbor's greenhouse, Lucy went to get the nail things and did the promised manicure. Inga was slightly bemused but delighted by Lucy's careful soaking of Inga's hands in warm soapy water—"Just enough to soften but not weaken the skin," Lucy explained—followed by delicately shaping her cuticles and painting her nails. Lucy wished she had more colors than just red and pink, but she did her best, painting Inga's nails a red base coat with pink flowers delicately dabbed on top.
"This is great," Inga said. She fluttered her fingers to dry the polish and blew on them. "You're really good at this."
"Juanita said that she might be interested in having me do some manicures at her boutique."
"Well, there you go! You have a job skill already. That's fantastic. What else are you good at?"
Lucy hesitated.
"Oh, come on. Everyone has things they're good at. I know you do. It's not your fault that you haven't done a lot of the things that everyone around here knows how to do." Inga waggled her fingers. "But you're great at this. What else?"
"Well, um ... skiing?" Lucy managed not to mention that she had mostly learned at resorts in the Alps and Aspen. Her family used to go every holiday. But she had really enjoyed it, and she was good at it.
Inga looked happy. "That's great! Lots of people ski around here. What else?"
"Math," Lucy said. She was starting to get into the swing of it now. "I've always been good at math. I got an accounting degree." She had taken classes by correspondence. Her uncle and her mom had both felt it was a waste of her time, but she had loved it. She had secretly wished that she could work as an accountant in some bookkeeping office completely unrelated to the family business. Just handling numbers all day long. That sounded so peaceful and nice.
Inga leaned forward. "You have an actual degree in it?"
Lucy nodded.
"I know Wyona Westerly is looking for someone to do the books for her real estate business. Do you want me to talk to her about it, maybe? I can introduce you if you haven't met her yet. She's Juanita's sister, and she might want to give you a job if she likes your work."
"Sure," Lucy said, feeling dazed. Having an actual job had always been something that she had fantasized about, the way that other kids probably fantasized about living in mansions and traveling to fashionable ski resorts. But to Lucy, it seemed exciting and exotic to work in an office or a kitchen, going in at a certain time every day and doing hard work for pay.
Later that day, Eren walked her up the hill to Wyona Westerly's real estate office. Wyona was a lot like her sister Juanita, round and friendly and cheerful. She was delighted with Lucy's offer to help her with the books, and sat her down immediately and showed her their system. To Lucy's astonishment, after Lucy helped her get a few things on the back end of the business straightened out, Wyona insisted on paying her for the work.
"It's my first payday," she told Eren quietly as they walked away. She was almost bouncing.
"Your first payday in Westerly Cove?"
"No, my first one ever. I've never had a job before."
She immediately broke off, afraid she'd admitted too much. Telling Inga the truth was one thing; it was girl talk. But with Eren, it felt much more fraught.
But Eren just ran his hand across the back of her neck. "It's okay. It doesn't matter what you did before you came here, Lucy. You're great, and everyone here likes you."
He pulled his hand away as if he was embarrassed, but it was Lucy who felt heat come to her cheeks, thinking about Eren kissing her. The way she had pulled back, he must have thought she didn't want it. Nothing could be further from the truth—but she asked herself how she could possibly invite Eren into her life with her uncle and his men on her trail. She was probably staying too long in Westerly Cove, but she couldn't bring herself to leave.
Eren gave her a light punch in the shoulder, a sort of awkward "bro-fist" gesture. Lucy's heart brimmed over with affection for him.
"Want to learn to tie sailor knots?"
"Is it hard?" she asked.