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DREW
Iwas screwing this up, big time. Sadie couldn’t get away from me fast enough when I tried to ask her about staying longer after the festival. And she had to have seen the Everetts on her way to the restroom.
She could have finished writing the damn article about them on her phone for as long as she’d been gone. That or she’d come down with some kind of gastrointestinal illness.
Could we make something long-distance work? What would that even look like? Her making trips to Kelly Bay between assignments? I hadn’t done any kind of significant travel since my accident. I’d hardly even done any before the accident. The idea of dealing with crowds of strangers and TSA screening at an airport made me ill.
The thought of never seeing her again was worse.
Did she even want something more serious than a vacation fling? I’d been assuming yes after everything we shared with one another, but maybe I was way off base.
When she finally came back to our table, it looked like she’d reapplied an entire face full of makeup. That was a waste of time. She looked gorgeous when she was bare-faced and natural.
“Did you know they were here?” She pointed a thumb over her shoulder, holding my gaze.
I swallowed and glanced out the window, as if someone on the street could offer me advice for how to navigate this situation. But I couldn’t lie to her. That was one thing I hadn’t done yet and wasn’t about to start. “Yeah, they slipped in through the side door.”
She folded her arms and leaned back in the booth, pinning me with a hard look. “Were you planning to mention they were here?”
I had other things on my mind, like trying to keep her from leaving me. “Probably not.”
“So if I hadn’t gone to the restroom, I never would’ve known they were here.”
“You can’t write about them.”
She made a face as if I’d slapped her. “And why is that?”
Because I want you to stay and it’d be nice if you weren’t the town pariah because you ousted the local celebrities for a quick buck.
But I couldn’t say that. Could I? Fuck. Why was I so bad at this shit?
I was about to repeat the same mistake I made with Gwen. Going big on a future only one of us wanted. Sadie and I met a couple of weeks ago. It would be crazy to ask her to risk her job to stay in the good graces of Kelly Bay’s townsfolk for my sake.
So I settled on a different approach.
“Because they deserve their privacy, like anyone else. It’s common decency. It’s not like they’re out and about in New York or LA. Clearly, they came here because they wanted a place where they could live their lives in peace. Is it worth invading their privacy so your website can get a few more clicks?”
Her jaw hung open. She snapped it shut and narrowed her eyes. “Did you know they were here, in Kelly Bay, when I asked you earlier?”
“No.” I clenched my fist on the table. The accusation stung. I’d never done anything to make her think I was a liar. “This is the first time I’ve seen them. Like I told you before, I haven’t been keeping up with town gossip.” I relaxed my fist and tried a different approach. “But since I’m trying to repair the damage I’ve done by acting like a grade A asshole for the last five years, it would be nice if I wasn’t known as the guy who led a reporter straight to the town’s worst-kept celebrity secret.”
“Right.” It was her turn to avert her gaze out the window, her expression shuttering. “Don’t worry. I’m not planning to confirm they’re here. I may have to hint that they could be here, but I’ll do my best not to come right out and say it.”
That wasn’t very reassuring. “It’d be better if you didn’t say it at all.”
“Yeah, well, until I find a new job, I kind of need to keep the one I’ve got,” she snapped.
Despite her tone, hope expanded in my chest. “You’re planning on looking for a new job?”
She let out a bitter laugh. “Yes. Turns out I agree with you. I’d like to stop chasing celebrities around, invading their privacy. But since I’m not independently wealthy, I need to hang on to this job for now.”
I wanted to ask her a million questions about what kind of job she wanted so I could find her exactly what she needed closer to me. Or hell, just tell her to move in with me permanently. I sat on a giant pile of money from my settlement I’d barely touched.
But I held my tongue to avoid scaring her off. There was a way to salvage this. I knew there was. I just needed some time to figure it out.
Teri, the other waitress working this morning, dropped a black check holder on the table without pausing on her way past.
“Shit, I never got the chance to order your sandwich.”
“Forget it. I lost my appetite.”
