by Brooks, Abby
Fishing was my go-to. My ace in the hole. There wasn’t a time in my life that I could remember a day spent with a line in the water not being good for my soul.
Except all I could hear was Maisie explaining things from the fish’s point of view. Her laughter echoed through my mind. Her smile. A flash of her hair as she ran through my living room, calling me a giant monster for manhandling fish. The memories brought a smile to my face and a heaviness to my heart.
I was happy to have Maisie in my life now. I really was. Talking over the phone was fine. And texts were fine. And cooking ridiculous meals over Skype was fine.
But those were a hollow substitute for the real thing. I wanted her back. I wanted to touch her. To smell her. To have her. I wanted to fall into bed with her at the end of each day, make love to her, and then wake up freezing because she spent the night hogging the covers.
And so, I reeled in my line, pulled up the anchor, and headed back toward land, unsatisfied with the ritual for the first time in my life.
* * *
After my nightly call with Maisie, I still had a decent case of the blues. Several lonely hours stretched ahead of me and I wasn’t in the mood to spend them alone. I sent Eli a text, asking him what he was up to and he shot back two words.
busy tonight
Fine. Be a dick. It’s not like you haven’t been around for the last couple weeks or anything.
After a brief conversation with Wyatt, who was on his way to dinner with Kara, and then a call to Lucas, who was watching a movie with Cat, I hopped in the car and drove to The Hut. Mom would be there with Harlow and maybe, just maybe, the women in my family would have some advice for me—seeing as my brothers were seriously letting me down.
Only, Mom wasn’t there.
“What do you mean she’s on a date?” I asked Harlow, who sat on the front porch, her guitar at her side and her laptop open in front of her.
She gave me a withering look. “What exactly about that statement doesn’t compute?”
“Just, I don’t know.” I shrugged. “I guess I’m having a hard time seeing her as, you know…”
“A woman? With needs and feelings?”
I sat down beside my sister. “Yeah. Kind of. I mean, I’m really happy for her.”
“Sounds like it.” Harlow rolled her eyes as she closed her laptop and set it aside. “You were the most vocal about Dad being an asshole. Why are you so bothered about Mom finding someone better than him?”
It was a good question, but my answer was just as good. “That’s the thing.” I stared at my hands, then peeked at my sister. “What if he’s not better?”
Harlow grimaced, acknowledging the point as valid. “She seems really happy, if that’s any consolation.”
It was, even though it couldn’t quite soothe my fears of history repeating. Mom had a solid head on her shoulders. And if that failed her, she had me. If things with this guy got serious, and they looked like they were headed into familiar, craptastic waters, I would speak up. My mother would never have to live with a selfish, self-destructive asshole and his narcissistic choices again. Not while I was around.
My sister and I chatted, staying comfortably far away from any mention of Maisie. I asked her about her plans, because she didn’t seem like she had any intention of moving back out of The Hut any time soon. Harlow had been living in Seattle when Dad passed, came home for his funeral, and never left. At twenty-three, she was the only one of us who never really found her path, even though she had more than a few open in front of her.
“Mom said I could stay as long as I wanted to. You know, just until I find my bearings. Get a grip on things. I’ve been writing non-stop. Might even finally finish a book.”
“There’s a first time for everything.”
Harlow sighed wistfully, staring past me as if she could look back in time and count up the lost manuscripts littering her path. “I’d call you out for being a dick, but I earned that one. How many books have I never finished?”
“How does Lucas die in this one?” It was a long-standing joke in our family. Our sister loved finding new and imaginative ways to kill off our oldest brother.
She frowned. “I’ll hurt you if you tell anyone this, but I stopped killing him in my books after what happened in Afghanistan. Just didn’t seem funny anymore, you know?”
“Wow. Yeah. I get that. How come you still joke about it, though?”
“Oh, come on. You see how much he hates all the nicknames Wyatt gives him. Luc would like life to go on, as if he isn’t our Bionic Man, slash Robocop, slash guy with metal in his backside. Could you imagine how he would react if I started treating him differently?”
Silence settled over us for a bit and I watched a fern rustling in a pot. In the distance, someone laughed, a reminder that we shared our family home with a host of other people.
“Have you heard from Eli recently?”
Harlow gave me the side-eye. “I have…”
“What’s he been up to?” I turned to face her, surprised by how relieved I was to know someone had been talking to him. “He’s not mad at me, is he?”
“Should he be mad at you?” she replied with a quizzical tilt of her head and a strange gleam in her eyes.
“I don’t think so, but he’s kind of disappeared…” I let the statement trail off as Harlow refused to look at me, a tiny smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. I recognized her question for what it was. Deflection. “You know something, don’t you?” I asked, sitting forward.
My sister mimed locking her lips and throwing away the key, the joy of having a secret dancing across her face.
That look could only mean one thing. “You don’t just know something. You know something juicy, don’t you?”
“It doesn’t matter what I know, because I swore to Eli I would never tell. Now. Let’s change the subject to something much more interesting.”
I gave her a warning look, but Harlow continued as if she didn’t see it.
“What’s going on with you and Maisie?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Come on, Moose. We both know that’s why you came here.”
“Maybe I just needed a distraction.”
Harlow called my bluff and gave her attention to her laptop. “If you say so.”
I held my tongue as she started to open it up, but hurried forward as soon as her fingers hit the keys. Once she lost herself to her writing, that would be the end to any intelligent conversation as she fell into the world on her screen.
“Fine,” I replied as her nails clacked against the first set of keys. “Maisie and I talk every day and I still miss her like hell.”
With a triumphant look, Harlow closed her device. “See.” She tapped the side of her head. “I knew you needed to vent.”
I explained how things had been going since Maisie left. How nothing in my life felt as worthwhile as it did before her visit. “It’s like the volume has been turned down. Food doesn’t taste as good. The water doesn’t sparkle enough. I can’t even fish!”
Harlow dropped her jaw. “That is serious.” The best part? She wasn’t joking. She knew how much fishing meant to me. “So what are you going to do?”
An idea popped into my head. It was ridiculous, but the more I tried to ignore it, the more attention it demanded. “I don’t know,” I replied even as I found myself trying to untangle the intricacies of the fledgling plan.
“I don’t believe you.” Harlow narrowed her eyes. “It looks a whole lot like you have something on your mind.”
And just like that, the idea was fully formed and functional. What it lacked in intricacy, it made up for in fear and uncertainty. “What if I went to visit her?” I turned to my sister. “She came and spent a week with me. What’s keeping me from going to spend a week with her?”
Except that Maisie had to work.
And she hadn’t extended an invitation, so maybe she didn’t want me there.
Maybe she was satisfied with al
l the space between us.
Or maybe it would be exactly what we needed to bring some joy back to our lives.
Maybe we needed more time together to really figure out what this was between us.
With Harlow’s help, I brought the idea to life. I would surprise Maisie by showing up in Los Angeles. She could show me her world, the way I showed her mine. And maybe, with a little luck, we could find a way to bring those worlds together.
Twenty-Nine
Maisie
It had been a day. From oversleeping to burning my breakfast and spilling my coffee. To terrible traffic and several near misses accident wise. From Brighton being rude, to Collin being an ass, and Lombardi making vague threats and insinuations about my general lack of usefulness, I was ready to go home and lose myself to a conversation with Caleb, maybe drink half a bottle of wine, and fall asleep seriously regretting my life choices.
Ever since I came home, all the shine of my life had worn off. The people around me seemed pretentious instead of polished. My work felt useless in the worst possible way. My apartment felt cold and impersonal. And, given that my plant had died while I was in Florida and I never replaced it, that was all I had. Work. And people from work. That was the entirety of my life.
Before, that had felt like winning the world. Like I had everything I ever wanted, wrapped up in a beautiful package with a bow on top. After just a week with Caleb, it was like I finally thought to look inside the box and there I was, devastated to find it empty.
I checked the time. Eleven in the morning and I was ready to call it a day. I didn’t know what to do with that thought, but I did know that I couldn’t keep feeling this way. I wasn’t happy and that wasn’t okay. Something had to give, I just didn’t know what. If it was eleven for me, it was two for Caleb. He was probably preparing to go back out on the water, drawling like a superstar for his boatload of tourists. The thought brought a smile to my face—maybe the first one of the day.
At two pm my time, I had a photoshoot with an up and coming actress. She was young and sweet and about four minutes into her career, and audiences were eating her up in the best possible way. I wanted to be excited for her, but my experience with Collin taught me that even the sweetest people could have monsters hiding inside them, just waiting for the right set of circumstances to arise and set them free. The photoshoot would take maybe half an hour at most, but I was looking forward to leaving the office for a breath of fresh air—even if that air was tainted by the scents of the city.
My phone buzzed like an angry hornet on my desk. I yanked it off the handset, and forced a smile. “Maisie Brown,” I chirped, as sweet as honey, audibly eager to please. The best way out of a bad mood was to pretend you were in a good one. Fake it till you make it.
Movement in the doorway caught my attention as Collin West started barking about the newest worst thing that ever happened to him since becoming a household name. I glanced up and nearly dropped the phone as my forced smile blossomed into a full blown, cheek cracking, grin of epic proportions.
There, leaning in the doorway of my office in Los-Freaking-Angeles, was none other than my heart’s truest desire. He looked magnificent. A white shirt gleaming against tanned skin. Strong build commanding attention even as his casual demeanor suggested he didn’t care what anyone thought about him. His relaxed confidence looking so out of place—and so damn appealing—in this office built on people’s need for external validation.
“Caleb?”
Collin made an offended sound and started to say something as I stood, lowering the phone because in that moment I couldn’t care less about what that red-headed ass had to say.
Caleb held out his hands. “There’s the face I’ve been needing to see.”
I brought the phone to my ear, told Collin I’d have to call him back, then hung up and sprinted across my office and into Caleb’s arms. “Oh my God,” I murmured into his chest, drinking in his scent, his warmth, just…him. “I am so happy to see you.” The words felt hollow and inadequate. Happy was too small to describe how it felt to be with him again. His presence soothed an ache in my soul, a missing piece fitting back into place, calming a constant buzzing pain I had only been barely aware of.
“The feeling is mutual, May-bell,” he drawled into my hair. “I tried to be decent and stay at the hotel instead of bothering you at work, but, turns out I’m greedy.”
I stepped out of his arms, catching a few curious glances from coworkers as I pulled him into my office. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?”
Caleb took in the view from my windows, nodding his appreciation. “You dropped into my life unannounced and made everything better. The least I could do is try and return the favor.” He pointed at the window. “Much better in person, by the way.”
I took his hand in mine and drew him close. “I couldn’t agree more.” And as I stared into his eyes, the terrible, no good, very bad day became my favorite day this month.
Reversals of fortune, baby. Still rockin’ my world.
A knock at the door caught my attention and I moved away from Caleb as Brighton stepped in. “I thought that was you,” she said to him. “How are you, picture frame boy?”
He draped an arm around my shoulder and pulled me close. “Better now than I was.”
“Why didn’t you tell me he was coming in?” Brighton glanced over her shoulder and lowered her voice. “Trying to keep him a secret from Lombardi? I mean, I would. All he needs is a reason to explain why you’ve been so…you know…I guess I wouldn’t quite say lazy…” She gave a light shrug of her shoulder. “But you know what I mean. If Lombardi could pin your change of attitude on this guy? It would give him all the ammunition he needed.”
Brighton sounded just a little too pleased with the thought of Lombardi finding some ammunition.
Caleb turned to me with questions dancing all over his face. “Is there some kind of problem?”
Brighton put a hand to her heart. “Look at you, ready to jump in and protect her from her big bad boss. Aren’t you just the sweetest?” She smiled just a little too wide. “We have to have dinner. The four of us. Sawyer would be beside himself if he missed the chance to finally meet his best man.” She grinned even wider. “Tonight? Say, eight o’clock? I’ll leave work a little early and we can meet at Domingo’s.”
The last thing I wanted to do was share my first night with Caleb in Los Angeles with Brighton and Sawyer. “Honestly, Bri…”
“Oh, come on, Maisie. You have been zero fun since you came home. Don’t say no.” She turned her full attention to Caleb, and I recognized her wheeling and dealing face. She was working him like a client she wanted to make feel spectacular so she could attach to his stardom and catch a ride on his trajectory. I’d done it myself plenty of times, and for the first time, I was completely and utterly turned off by it. Before I knew what was happening, we had plans to meet at Domingo’s for dinner that night, and Brighton sauntered out of the office, looking overly pleased with herself.
“You didn’t have to say yes, you know.” I grimaced, less than pleased with sharing Caleb with Brighton—especially after everything I learned about her behavior with Collin.
“The way I see it, the sooner we satisfy her, the sooner I have you all to myself.” He leaned close to whisper in my ear. “And once I get you alone, the chances of you ever being seen again are slim.” His proximity had butterflies shimmying to life in my stomach, stretching their glorious wings after a forced hibernation.
“How long are you here?” I asked, trying to bring the conversation back to something more appropriate. I was at work, after all. And Caleb’s good looks and sudden appearance was stirring up quite a tornado of curiosity.
He shrugged. “A week. Week and a half. Got all my tours shut down and I am officially yours for the next seven to ten days.” He lowered himself onto the couch, rested his ankle on his knee and threw an arm up on the back. “So, this is where the magic happens, huh?”
“This is it.
” I gestured around the space, trying to imagine it through his eyes. What did he see? The glitz and glam that I used to love? Or the pretentious affectations I was starting to loathe?
His gaze fell on the picture of us, still in its place of honor on my shelf. “My God. Look at us.” He picked up the frame and ran a finger down the glass. “I loved you then, you know. You can see it all over my face. I just didn’t know what it meant yet.”
I studied the picture as if the answers to everything were hidden inside our four-hundred-watt smiles and dirt-streaked faces. “And what does it mean?”
“I don’t know. Maybe it means I move out here to be with you.” He grinned like it was the best idea he’d ever had. “Surely there’s a place for Cap’n Caleb Hutton in the great state of California.”
Judging by the quizzical glances from my coworkers, I’d say there were about fifteen people willing to strap their names to his and help him find that place. He had the looks. And the charisma. Maybe our paths crossed to bring him here, where he’d be discovered and start his career as the next McConaughey.
“There’s always a place for you here.” I pressed a hand to my heart.
Caleb turned, giving me a wounded look. “Only there?” he asked, his eyes glinting devilishly.
I laughed. A real, genuine burst of laughter that only served to remind me that I hadn’t been doing a lot of that lately.
* * *
Caleb came with me to the photoshoot, still garnering a whole lot of attention that didn’t seem to matter to him in the least. My sweet, budding starlet had a minor breakdown when the photographer asked her to pose with a snake…and while I understood her trepidation, I also was afraid I saw the first glimpses of who she would be when she grew into her star power.
