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"Did you include my rider?" he asked, leaning in to pluck the stack of papers from the table.
"Only divas have riders." She rolled her eyes and then leaned in and grabbed his coffee from the table. "And this now belongs to me."
She took a sip and then got back to her feet and smoothed her skirt with her free hand. "Okay, tell me if you have any questions. The fun stuff starts next week. Don't mess it up."
"When have you ever known me to mess anything up?" he asked.
In response, she only quirked her eyebrow and walked away.
* * *
When Shay stepped through the little patch of grass and onto the sandy shore that night, it was with one goal in mind—to clear her head.
The salty ocean breeze whipped her black hair around her face, and she breathed deeply, careful to take in every last drop of the serenity. Exhaling, she started off toward the sunset, watching the orange fade into red and purple in the sky as she got closer and closer to the horizon.
This was the sort of thing she should have been focusing on. The nature surrounding her, the beauty of the little white blossoms of the trees along the shore. After all, how often was a girl in Hawaii?
Still, even as she tried with all her might to force her mind in one path, it veered off again. Wondering how she'd never noticed that Matt's eyes were exactly the same color as grass. Wondering if she ever really noticed just how broad his shoulders were before today.
She shook her head. Come on, sunset. Look at the sunset.
The sunset that was exactly the same scarlet of Matt's old uniform. Damn, could he fill out a uniform.
She swore internally, and her walk became something more akin to a march as long, purposeful strides carried her along the shore.
Just when she was about to stop, she spotted two silhouettes in the distance and, noticing the familiar wave of Andy's brown mane, she made her way over. The closer she got, though, the more she realized that Andy and, as it turned out, Derrick did not want to be overheard.
The two were standing only inches apart, taking turns muttering in low voices and glancing over their shoulders to check for intruders. When it was Derrick's turn to look, Shay panicked and jumped behind a huge, flowering bush so quickly that she shook half the petals from the plant.
At first, she was sure she'd given herself up, but then Derrick turned back to his sister, and nodded thoughtfully.
Great. Just great. She glanced through the bushes at the pair and silently wondered how she'd talk herself out of this one. If the tug on her scalp was any indication, she likely had a full-on bird’s nest in her hair, and a sting on her knee let her know that wasn't her only problem.
Still, if she popped out of the bushes, they'd know she was listening. Except she wasn't. Or at least she hadn't been.
"I know what you're saying." Derrick's deep rumble carried further than his sister's quiet, careful tones. "I just think... I don't know. You know and I know. Why shouldn't Matt?"
Shay stiffened. This was wrong. She shouldn't be listening. But then...
She focused harder, willing her ears to catch the lilt of Andy's voice in the wind. "He's going to try to find her. You know it and I know it. We're all better off without that happening, don't you think?"
Her? Who was her?
She racked her brain, trying to remember any tidbit about lost love or old girlfriends, but as far as she could recall, Matt had never settled down with anyone long enough to plant any emotional roots. He was more of a tumbleweed. A slutty, slutty tumbleweed.
"That's not up to us. She's his mother, too," Derrick answered, and Shay's heart stopped beating.
Mother. They—Andy and Derrick, that was—knew where their mother was? And they were keeping it from Matt? For some odd reason, angry betrayal coursed hot and hard through her veins, running up the back of her neck.
The Archers, as far as she'd been told, had never had much of a mother. Even when Evelyn Archer had been around, it was never for more than a catatonic bout on the couch or in bed. The birth of Andy had been the last straw. When she was only a week old, her mother up and split in the middle of the night, never to be seen or heard from again.
Or so Shay thought.
Andy covered her mouth with her fist and then said something Shay couldn't understand. Still, she caught herself leaning closer. If she moved even a hair out of place, she knew they'd find her out, but it was too much to bear. She had to know more.
"Because she contacted me. Again." Derrick answered the unheard question. "She wants to see us."
"I still don't understand how she found you," Andy said, but her brother only sighed.
