Mason walked Hayden through the bar and sat at a table overlooking the water. This gave Hayden a view of the bar/restaurant. He handed her the menu and she was surprised at its blandness. Burgers, fries, a chicken basket, standard turkey club, and those were the highlights.

"Why isn't there anything tropical on the menu? No fruit plate, no tropical salads?" Hayden asked.

Mason's demeanor changed immediately, as did his facial expression. His light grin replaced by a straight line and his eyes got a bit of a crooked slant making Hayden uneasy. Obviously the two year old survived and Hayden, although happy to have seen a glimpse, didn't want to offend anyone on day one.

"We know what works Hayden. Quick, cheap food sells and gets the customer in and out quickly. Produce spoils and is expensive. There isn't a lot of money in restaurants."

Hayden continued watching the people filter in and out. Everyone seemed friendly and happy and the atmosphere was a welcome distraction to Mason's tone. She plastered on smile in her face and put her shoulders back.

"Good to know Mason. I sure do love fruit though. I'm going to have to keep my own stock I guess. I'm not really a deep fried fan."

She assumed she smoothed the core because Mason quickly came back with "Is that the secret to your great skin and perfect figure?  I may give it all up myself."

Hayden felt the warmth of a blush. She wasn't used to compliments and found herself again feeling quite the smitten teen. Mason began talking about the day to day operations of the business and Hayden tried to pay attention but a stray curl and a cozy couple in the corner kept distracting her.

She watched the servers joke with the customers and wished she were here on a regular vacation getaway. She could imagine playing a rousing game of beach volleyball and coming in out of the sun for a drink and some laughs. Mason cleared his throat and stared impatiently at her, waiting for her to answer a question she hadn't heard when fortunately, Tye walked over to the table to take the lunch order.

"Hey Hayden, can I get you something?" 

She noticed that he ignored Mason all together and would try to remember to find out why Tye would have a beef with his current employer.

"I'll take the chicken please, and a strawberry lemon aid. Thanks Tye."

"Mason?" Tye asked dryly without so much as glancing his way.

"A tuna on rye. No mustard."

Tye turned without another word and Hayden looked at Mason with a questioning glance. He responded by asking her about her trip. Small talk continued until the food arrived. Hayden's chicken sandwich looked good, her first and probably only meal of the day. It came on a sweet Hawaiian roll with a side of slaw that Hayden dove into. Mason's sandwich looked soggy and mustard oozed from the sides.

"They put mustard on, do you want to switch? Or send it back?" Hayden asked.

Mason smiled sweetly and took the half sandwich Hayden offered. She couldn't help notice something was off between him and the staff. He continued staring out at the water and Hayden felt like it had become an awkward silence. "So, Mason, how did you end up here?"  His face again changed to the relaxed young looking man she first glimpsed at the office.

"I actually came here as a guest. I met Dee, in the middle of a regime change crisis and helped her set up new hiring policies and a manager position. She was delighted with the structural suggestions and asked me to stay on. I've been here ever since."

As Hayden tiptoed around the topic trying to find out how Mason felt about his current job, he squirmed a bit and when his cell phone rang and he sighed in relief and excused himself from the table. Hayden had to admit he wasn't the easiest person to talk to. Looking at him was more than pleasant. But that only took a person so far.

She felt herself relax, and realized she'd felt like she was on a job interview the whole time. 'Get it together Hayden. It's your business. He's your employee.' She cut herself some slack and changed her seat to the one Mason had. She ate her meal overlooking the water and couldn't imagine anything better than a relaxing day on the water.

When she was finished she held her hand up for Tye to bring the check. He sat opposite her and gave her a smirk. " You don't pay here, you own the joint. When an employee orders it's taken from their checks. When you eat, it's on the house."

Hayden laughed. "That'll take some getting used to. Do the employees get a discount?"

Tye looked towards the door where Mason had exited moments earlier. "No. We used to. Half off. That ended a few weeks ago. No more discounts for long days."

Hayden felt her face wrinkle. Was this the beef with the employees? Mason had taken away their perks? Surely the resort was doing alright. The rooms were full and Dee's net worth was nothing to scoff at.

"Well, consider it back on. One free meal per shift over six hours and half off food and drinks. People should be compensated for working hard."

Tye's smile lit his face. He smacked his palm on the table and ate Mason's sandwich. "Thanks Hayden. That's a huge pleaser to the staff. And some of us paying for school, rent and families could use the break. But no alcohol. That was Dee's rule. No staff member gets a discount on liquor. Believe me. That rule had a purpose."

"Alrighty then. No alcohol. Thanks Tye. I'm glad we had this chat. Feel free to talk to me anytime. I want to know what's going on. And what I can do to make the place happy."

Tye grabbed Mason's untouched water and drank it.  He gave Hayden a wink and she couldn't help but giggle. Somehow she felt like she had walked into a romance novel full of good looking guys. All she needed now was to get past chapter one and avoid pitfalls.  Her glass was empty and her half of her sandwich was gone. Still there was no sign of Mason.

Tye sat looking at her like she was a science project. "What? Is there something on my face?" she asked.

"Nope. Just a smile. And it looks good. Be careful Hayden. This place isn't the adult Disney you think it is, and I don't want you getting hurt. You're a really nice person. I'm here for you. Remember that.  He put his hand over hers and Hayden felt a ripple of warmth run up her arm. 

He left the table when his sister started screeching his name. Hayden, puzzled, watched him walk back to the kitchen and wondered what the heck the warning was about.

After about ten minutes without a sign of Tye  or Mason returning Hayden made her way down to the beach. The sand was warm and the breeze just cool enough to keep people comfortable. The bright sun reflecting off the water made her squint but she could clearly see a sea of bare midriffs and toppless sunbathers.

Her jaw dropped as she realized she wasn't in Kansas anymore. Here woman freely walked around without worrying about tan lines. As she gawked walking down the beach she tripped over a pair of legs and landed on a body. He jumped up in surprise and Hayden flew off and ended up with a face full of sand.

As she spit the sand out he leaned over and put his hand on her shoulder. "Are you ok".

She looked up ready to apologize and ended up silently staring into the eyes of her lawyer. Minus the suit and tie and with an extra heaping of buff. She felt the blood rush to her face and stammered "Mr. Williams?"

His face lit up and his smile caused her to feel her heart pounding in her throat. He reached his hand down to help her up. "Hello Hayden."

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Well then!  Good ol' Warren sees to have arrived early. And there's got to be a reason for that. I'm thinking it's not paperwork, what do you think?