AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It was the perfect cut place,” I said, chuckling. Dad lowered the camera and then passed it to me. We stood on the dock, the waves rocking us slightly, and watched the replay of the video. When it ended, I glanced around at the people who meant the most to me. “What do we think?”
“I think you did a wonderful job, Son.” Dad gave me a hug as did Kimmy.
“What about you?” I asked Gibson. “Are you ready to be Elias Lake’s squeeze?”
He captured my face between his hands and led my lips to his.
“One word frees us of all the weight and pain in life. That word is love.” He searched my face for a long moment as I tried to not get hung up on the L word being used. But I couldn’t quite move past it. Did he mean he loved the idea of being my boyfriend, or did he love me? “Socrates said that, and it still holds true today. My heart has not been this light for years, Elias. You’ve brought love and laughter into my life. Yes, I am ready to be your boyfriend.”
I grinned so widely my cheeks ached. Then I kissed him so hard he had to take a step back to counter my weight slamming into his chest. We both nearly went ass over teacups into the water. Dad and Kimmy roared as we flailed and helicoptered our arms.
He gathered me into his arms, hugging me tightly while peppering my face with little smooches.
“Get a room,” Dad called, breaking up the love fest. Gibson’s cheeks grew red above his beard.
“Got any suggestions?” I parried as Dad waved at the inn behind us. We all laughed.
“Okay, so this is it. When I hit post this goes live on all my social media sites. Are you one hundred percent sure?” I asked my loved ones.
Gibson nodded and so, with a firm pointer finger, I hit post. My video was now flying out to the world, unfettered, kind of like how my spirit felt now.
“Okay, now that you have that on the winds we’re going to go pack our shit and head back to L.A. I have about ten thousand calls and meetings waiting for me. You’re not my only client, you know,” Elle teased as we walked back up the slight hill to the inn. The pool was doing a brisk business today. Kids shouted and splashed as their parents lounged poolside, sipping cocktails.
“Do you need me out there?” I asked, taking Gibson’s hand in mine, my sandaled feet following the tidy path to the rear of the inn.
“No, not right now. What I would like you to do is give some hard thought to your house in the hills. If you’re going to be out here on the East Coast, we can bring in a cleaning crew to close it down like we did when you were away on long shoots. Or we can rent it out,” Elle tossed out, then stopped at the rear entrance to the inn. Her sunglasses were big, round, dark things that sat well on her pert nose. Katy was at her side, squinting out to the sea as if she would never witness the ocean again.
“Or I could sell it,” I offered. That got me some shocked looks from the small group making chit-chat. “What? If everything that I’m now hoping to do is here on the East Coast, what reason would I have to maintain a house in California?” Gibson looked as if he wanted to say something, but he flattened his lips and merely nodded. “It’s just a thought.”
“Well, think it over. I have a plane to catch,” Elle stated.
I glanced at Katy questioningly. “Are you not going with?”
“No, I wanted to visit my grandmother in New Hampshire while I was out here. She’s getting pretty wobbly, and it’s been ages since I saw her.”
“That’s sweet. I’m sure she’ll love it. Will you be checking out today then?” Dad asked, always the innkeeper.
“I will yes. Once I get Elle off, I’m going to call for a cab to take me to the mainland then I’m renting a car to drive to Grammy’s,” Katy explained.
We said our goodbyes, the ladies heading up to pack, Dad and Kimmy going inside to tend to the inn. Which left Gibson and me standing on the back porch, shaded from the blistering sun, fingers meshed, and staring at each other. My phone hummed. Then buzzed. Then vibrated. The video was getting some attention.
“One second,” I said to my new boyfriend—didn’t that sound grand?!—and turned off my phone, shoving it into my back pocket. “No news from the world today. Did you want to bike around the island and do some lunch?”
“I’d love to, but I need to get to the shop. I have a class in an hour.”
“Of course. Oh, how about I walk you to your bike? I’ll hang out until the girls are ready to go, and I’ll take Elle to the airport to save her from calling a cab. Then I’ll come to the tip. I wanted to see if I could sneak into the theater to see how the work is coming along. We could eat dinner in town if you want?”
“Perfect. Meet me at the shop at five.” He lifted our clasped hands to his lips, then kissed each of my fingertips softly. “Parting is such sweet sorrow that I shall say goodnight until it be morrow.” His face puckered. “That’s not a great fit, but the parting bit is true enough.”
“I love the way your mind works.” I rolled our hands to pepper his knuckles with kisses. “Now be off temptation lest I pull you into one of the empty rooms and have my wicked way with you.”
“Again?” He winked, leading me not to an empty room—damn it—but to the newly installed bike rack out front. My idea. A subtle way to encourage people to use bikes and not cars. The rack was full.
Gibson eased his ride out of the rack, pecked me on the lips, and set off with the wind in his face. Once he was gone from sight, I heaved a happy sigh and moseyed back inside to give Kimmy a hand at the front desk. We whiled away an hour or so doing paperwork, sipping tea, and not discussing the furor that was probably erupting online. Elle and Katy came down the stairs, bags in hand, looking rather glum.
“Let me run and get the truck. I’ll take you over the bridge to Augusta,” I told Elle. She thanked me while Katy was paying her bill. Off I jogged after lifting the keys from a rack behind the check-in desk. With no cares whatsoever, I felt light as the osprey gliding over the shoreline. I stopped to watch the bird of prey dive once into the sea only to come up emptyhanded. Then I hustled around the storage shed and unlocked the door.
The old gal cranked right over. I eased her out of the tight building, turned on the radio, and slowly crept around the inn to find Elle. Coming around the soft bend, I found my agent all right. In a lip-lock with my trainer. My foot slid off the gas. The truck backfired, then stalled. Both women leapt a foot into the air, spinning when they landed to glare at me staring at them.
