The Deepest Blue (Roadmap to Your Heart #2)

by Christina Lee

  The group moved toward the porch.

  “Lunch?” Mr. Montgomery said to Grammy.

  “Billie and I prepared some soup and sandwiches,” she said, rising from the swing and depositing her empty glass of tea on the tray. Billie kept his hand on the back of the yellow lab, as if to steady himself. And now that I thought about it, the Labrador had never moved from his side on the porch. Was he a therapy dog?

  “Good, I’m hungry,” Braden said. “I could eat an entire gator.”

  Billie snickered as I tried to control my gag reflex. “Hunting humor.”

  Cassie moved beside me and then held back as her family was fielding through the door. “I’m sorry. I should’ve only had you come down for the wedding day. My family isn’t usually this—”

  “It’ll be fine,” I said, breathing out. “It’s beautiful here. Nice change of pace.”

  Her eyes scanned the horizon and her shoulders seemed to relax. I did not want to ruin this week for her.

  “Seems like your family misses you and only wants what’s best,” I said in a soothing tone.

  She met my gaze with a bit of trepidation.

  “Thanks for being here for me.” Then she laced our fingers together and we headed inside the house.

  4

  Callum

  After chopping more wood, I got busy with paperwork in the home office the rest of the afternoon, while I listened to a ball game on a national station. I secured payment for the groups using our shooting range and wobble deck for target practice the next couple of weeks.

  This task always fell to me and I was cool with it, because the idea of Braden or Dad trying to balance the books was laughable. They were much better suited overseeing the land, which required plenty of maintenance to keep it operational.

  I also made sure we had our supplies stocked tight with hunting gear—mostly bright orange or camouflage—as well as bullets, knives, hats, gloves, and flags. We’d be ready to take the overflow from deer and gator season coming up, no question.

  Most of our revenue came from two to three key months a year, but shrimping augmented our business as well. Dad was always nervous about ruffling the feathers of the Lorrigan family next door since their surplus supplemented our income. He had leaned on Cassie for a couple of years, asking her to play nice, all to please Jerry and his parents. No wonder she decided to move away to college.

  I didn’t subscribe to my father’s insistence that Cassie give Jerry a second chance. You couldn’t force a relationship. Sure they seemed well suited years ago. But appearances could be deceiving and nobody but those two could speak to what happened between them. Maybe they were simply too young to think about family legacies back then.

  Before I knew it Grammy was clanging the dinner bell. I removed my favorite worn New York ball cap and hung it on the doorknob before Grammy gave me the third degree about wearing it at the table.

  When I walked into the kitchen, Cassie was already seated beside Dean. I tried to keep my gaze from guiltily roaming all over the man who was here with my sister, from his dark hair to his midnight eyes that immediately sought mine out.

  I had given the dude a hard time for no good reason. He was simply a date for the wedding and they might’ve only begun seeing each other. I wasn’t sure why I was being such an ass and I probably needed to apologize for my earlier behavior. But for some reason, the guy got me all wound up.

  I sat down directly across from Cassie. Billie and Dean were involved in a conversation about outer space, which Billie knew more about than anything else. It was one of his favorite topics, along with bird watching, and devising new recipes with Grammy. He was a cool kid all the way around. Smart as a whip too.

  “Yeah, but the New Horizons space ship made it all the way to Pluto,” Billie was saying. “So I bet they’ll decide that it should be a planet again.”

  “I don’t know,” Dean said. “It’s not like that decision was made lightning quick. It took them years to reach that conclusion.”

  “But now that they have photographic evidence from the actual…”

  “Time to cut it off, ” my dad said in a stern voice. “No space talk during dinner.”

  Daddy loved Billie to bits but always had a low tolerance for the things he felt so passionately about. Billie was born with epilepsy and Mom had died shortly thereafter, so Grammy had a large hand in raising him. I always wondered if Dad held some resentment toward Billie for mom hemorrhaging to death after giving birth to him.

  It was an irrational thought and my dad would never admit to it, nor give Billie a hard time, but he had a broken heart for years afterward. Still, he provided the best medical care for Billie and had agreed to a therapy dog to save his life in case of a debilitating seizure in the middle of the night.

  Billie looked sullen and Dean’s lips had drawn tight, seeming to feel guilty for contributing to the conversation. I shifted in my seat and winked at Billie, while his dog, Bullseye, sniffed at his feet beneath the table, completely in tune with the change in mood. That animal had been one of the best additions to this family.

  “So how long have you two been seeing each other?” Braden suddenly asked, probably in an effort to change the subject.

  Dean startled at the question and looked over at Cassie, who worried her lip between her teeth.

  “Um, not long…a few weeks.” She grasped for Dean’s hand and he held her fingers awkwardly. What the hell was that about? Was she way more into him than I assumed?

  But then he leaned over and kissed her cheek. The way his full lips brushed across her skin made the blood rush straight to my dick.

  I was either a fucking loser or it had been way too long since I’d gotten laid. I needed to call Jason for a one-nighter in Gainesville or download that app to hook up with local men. The one I was terrified somebody would spot on my phone. I’d only used it a couple of times and then deleted it straight after.

  Throughout dinner we made small talk about our business and property. I noticed how Dean only ate the biscuits and green beans, never touching the baked hen Grammy had prepared. Christ, dude was probably a vegetarian to boot.

  One big rule in these parts—you eat what you hunt. We didn’t believe in shooting for sport. So whatever game was slayed that day would be on the dinner table that night or shortly thereafter. If it wasn’t possible, then it was dropped off to the shelters around town to use in their soup kitchens.

  That policy was made clear to our customers and I had half a mind to give Dean an earful as well, in case he was holding back for a different reason. But it wasn’t my place. In fact, thinking about him this deeply wasn’t either. I had no idea why the man was like a burr in my side and intrigued me at the same time.

  We cleared the dishes from the table and Cassie helped pack up the leftovers while we headed outside where Braden and my dad were setting up a bonfire. I’d chopped enough fir lumber to last us to the end of the month and then some and I had my sore biceps to prove it. But pine smelled the best and seasoned the quickest. I made sure to leave the dense oak for the wedding reception later this week.

  Dean sat down beside Billie on one of the wooden benches near the flames and I chose a seat across from them. As Billie whispered and pointed in the distance, I figured he resumed his discussion about the planets and galaxies from the dinner table, out of earshot of my father.

  I couldn’t resist admiring the lean line of Dean’s neck as he gazed up in wonder at the sky. He seemed to be enjoying the dialogue as much as Billie and that made my chest feel funny. At least Billie had somebody new to share his interests with, even if Dean would be gone in another couple of days.

  “Damn.” Dean’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed, and I had to look away from all that smooth skin. “I’m not sure I’ve ever seen stars like this.”

  “Probably right, city boy.” When he glared at me, my lips tilted into a smirk. Couldn’t even help myself. There was something about pushing his buttons that got me fired up. Kept the
mundane at bay. “Too much pollution where you come from.”

  His eyes fastened on mine and his jaw was set tight, as if he’d decided he wasn’t going to allow me to egg him on. He simply nodded and went back to staring at the landscape and sky, seemingly in awe of everything around him, like he had never been in a forest setting or something.

  We heard the sound of gravel as a black pick-up drove up the long driveway toward the house. Cassie and Grammy stepped onto the porch carrying a cooler of drinks and watched as the truck parked in the turnaround.

  “It’s Mr. Lorrigan.” Cassie stiffened beside our grandmother before she headed down the stairs to stand beside Dean and whisper to him about who our guest was, more than likely. She was probably relieved the entire Lorrigan family didn’t show up.

  Jeremiah Sr. climbed out of the cab, and his son Jerry’s resemblance to him was uncanny. They were handsome men; I’d give them that. But Jerry was dumb as a box of rocks when it came to his business sense. Plenty of people had looks but if you had no substance to back it up, it was a damn shame.

  Maybe that was why his father was so eager for him to marry into a good family. He knew Cassie was sharp and seemed especially impressed when my father had announced that she’d be earning her Master’s degree in Business out of state.

  I noticed how Dean appraised Mr. Lorrigan as his arm slid possessively around Cassie. Finally the guy was showing some kind of emotional connection to my sister. If it happened to be protectiveness, then so be it. She looked up at him gratefully and stepped inside his embrace. Something about the action made me feel even stonier.

  Mr. Lorrigan made nice around the circle as I grabbed the cooler from Grammy, placed it beside the bench on the ground, and reached for a cold one. He avoided direct eye contact with me as he always did, despite shaking my hand in a show of manners, before approaching Cassie.

  “You’re as pretty as ever,” Mr. Lorrigan said, pulling her into an embrace. “The city been treating you well?”

  She returned a rigid hug, but smiled genuinely, maybe on the defensive about where his question was leading. Dean stood beside her, with his faded jeans falling perfectly across his hips, and his fitted T-shirt that I finally noticed read, Let Us All Pause For a Moment of Science. I snickered to myself and turned away to take a swig of my beer before he could notice.

  As Cassie introduced Dean, I tried to imagine what the lean muscles looked like beneath his shirt. What else did I have to do besides kill myself with fantasies of my sister’s new boyfriend? The five o’clock shadow already forming along his chin and the dark hair styled flawlessly above his ears was also mesmerizing.

  And after lunch, when I saw him slip some black-framed reading glasses over his eyes, so he could see something Cassie had pointed out to him in the local newspaper, had left me practically drooling. Apparently brainy men were sexy as hell.

  Right then Dean’s eyes darted up to mine and held. A pyrotechnics display fired off in my chest, leaving me a bit breathless. Could he tell that I’d just been checking him out and thinking about him naked? Or was he trying to gauge my reaction to our visitor?

  When Mr. Lorrigan placed his hand on Cassie’s shoulder, Dean kept his gaze centered on mine, but tightened his hold on her waist. Ah, so this show was to prove to me that he would protect my sister. Good play.

  5

  Callum

  Mr. Lorrigan and my father went inside the house to discuss some business. Soon enough they ended up on the porch with Grammy and Braden, shooting the breeze about the upcoming festival in Roscoe, along with some town gossip about the owner of the Quail Inn hooking up with a waitress at the Sunnyside Up Diner.

  Never a dull moment if you gave people something to talk about around here. Right about now, they were probably whispering about the new guy Cassie Montgomery had brought home for her cousin’s wedding. I wondered if Dean’s ears were buzzing.

  I remained down by the fire with Billie, Cassie, and Dean, listening to all the peaceful noises that represented home to me—owls hooting and the crickets chirping. Dean would flinch every now and again when he heard a twig break, but I was so used to the sounds of the woods around us, that it nearly lulled me into a sleepy state. The more I stared at the fire, the more tired I became after such a busy day. I didn’t know how Cassie and Dean were holding up after their long drive.

  “I haven’t seen a firefly in a long time,” Dean said staring out at the pine trees where the insects were flickering their lights on and off for his entertainment. “They are the coolest things.”

  “Fireflies love standing water,” I said, motioning to the creek and small pond we boasted on our property.

  “You should do your odor study on them,” Billie said in an excited voice that made Bullseye rise to a sitting position ready to pounce.

  “Maybe I will.” Dean laughed and then tentatively reached his hand out to Bullseye’s snout to pet him. It seemed that Dean understood that the dog was more than a pet and up to this point, had respected the boundaries. Unless Billie had explained his condition to Dean while I was working this afternoon, he didn’t seem to pry and I liked that about him.

  “We used to catch them out here in Mason jars,” Cassie said, a sense of nostalgia in her voice. “Poke holes in the top.”

  Dean shifted uncomfortably, his eyebrows scrunched. “Why did you do that?’

  “Stupid kid stuff,” she said, disentangling one of her legs from beneath the bench. “Remember, Billie?”

  “It was to trap the bugs and study them,” Billie said, stroking his hand across Bullseye’s flank.

  Cassie bumped her shoulder playfully against Dean’s. “Don’t go getting all philosophical on me. It’s not the same as the zoo.”

  “What about the zoo?” I asked, and then cleared my throat, attempting to control my curiosity about the guy sitting across from me. But maybe if I found more to irritate me, it would throw a wet blanket on his appeal.

  “Dean has a thing about the zoo,” she said and he rolled his eyes. “He doesn’t believe in them.”

  As her feet knocked against his sneakers, I noticed a casualness between the two of them, like they’d known each other longer. Had they been friends first?

  “I just think those animals should be allowed to roam free in their own habitats.”

  “But for analysis—” Cassie began, but Dean cut her off as if they’d had this same argument before.

  “Then it should be time limited. Their babies shouldn’t be raised in captivity,” Dean said in a persuasive tone. “Kids come to gawk and stare everyday. They have no escape. I think it’s cruel.”

  I found myself wanting to know more. Here was a guy who had plenty of convictions. “Same with aquariums?” I asked, after taking a swig of my beer.

  He studied me across the fire, as if waiting for me to bait him or say something cruel. I definitely regretted the way I had treated him earlier.

  “Sure, same concept,” he said, his voice weaker, almost defeated.

  “I don’t think Dean would want to stick around for gator season,” Billie said, and Cassie nodded.

  “The hunters around here use bang sticks and only under water,” Billie said, lowering his voice, as if to keep this conversation away from Mr. Lorrigan’s inquiring ears.

  “Bang sticks—those are the long poles with a firearm attached to the end?” Dean said, looking a slight shade of green.

  “It’s the humane way,” I said. “So the animal doesn’t suffer.”

  I hadn’t taken part in gator hunting for a few years now, leaving it up to Braden and my daddy to participate if they chose to. Though my dad was getting up in age and Braden enjoyed other aspects of hunting more. Regardless, I always stuck around our preserve to handle the excess visitors from the other property and any concerns they had about the use of the cabin. Shrimping was more my thing.

  Dean didn’t say anything for a long while and Cassie looked like she regretted bringing him here at all. Maybe it was too much for him
—us country folks and our Neanderthal ways. I felt a well of frustration rise up.

  “How is it any different than animals—or in your case, insects—being studied in a lab for science purposes?” I said and Dean’s head snapped up. His eyes remained fixed on mine, wary.

  “The way I see it, we were placed here on this earth for a reason that maybe we don’t understand yet,” I said. “If we are to advance as a human race—to eat, seek shelter, live more comfortably—then we’re going to use the resources we were given. Which means some of them get destroyed in the process.”

  “But there needs to be a threshold for those resources,” he argued. “The rainforests, the jungles...”

  I held up my hand. “I think we agree more than you’re willing to admit. The idea is to treat whatever you touch humanely and with dignity. And that absolutely does not mean depleting it.”

  It grew quiet around the fire as Cassie and Billie watched Dean and me guardedly.

  “You’ve got a point, Callum.” Billie lay prone on the grass and stared up at the night sky. “How are we supposed to explore those other worlds in fancy spaceships if we don’t use our resources to advance our knowledge?”

  He looked so young and sincere lying there, as Bullseye adjusted his legs and lay down beside him, his nose resting in the crook of his arm.

  Dean cracked a smile at Cassie and me and it was infectious. I couldn’t help grinning back.

  He leaned over to get a better view of Billie. “Do you by chance follow a physicist named Stephen Hawking?”

  Billie sat up suddenly. “Shut up, he’s amazing. One of his theories is that there are no boundaries in our universe.”

  “Still?” Cassie mouthed to me, because Billie had been following the scientist loyally for a couple of years now.

  “Don’t let Grammy hear you chattering away about him,” I said around a smile. “You know Stephen Hawking doesn’t believe in a supreme being.”