“Sure, why wouldn’t I?”
“Because you’re the Navigator! You’re Jacob Arrowood, that’s why!”
I laugh. “I’m just Jacob. The Navigator is a role, one that I love and am honored to play, but here in Sugarloaf, I’m just Jacob, and you’re a cool kid who likes to fish.”
Sebastian tries to reel in his excitement. “Right. I mean, we’re just two cool guys who are hoping to get dinner caught.”
“Exactly. So, tell me how it’s been since you moved to Sugarloaf.”
Sebastian sighs as he casts his line. “I want to like it here. Melanie does, but . . . the only thing I love to do they just cancelled.”
“What’s that?”
“They cancelled the play.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
He shrugs, but I can see he isn’t so accepting of it. “I was excited because this year they were doing Grease.”
“And what role did you want to audition for?”
I can totally see him as wanting to play Danny. It’s always the role that most want. It wasn’t mine, but . . . I was never really a conventional guy. The side characters get to have fun and none of the criticism the main roles get.
He smiles. “Kenickie.”
I definitely didn’t expect that. “Really?”
“Yeah! He’s the coolest, even if he’s sort of a jerk.”
“It’s a good role. It’s actually what I played in college.”
“Wow. I didn’t know that. I don’t need to be a main character yet. I want to learn and be good before that.”
“Very smart. I did the same thing.”
I laugh, remembering how uncomfortable I felt at the time. I was supposed to be studying finance because that was what I thought I should do, but there was this calling to be on stage. I signed up for a few drama classes, thinking I would hate it and realize that it was finance that was my passion.
I was terrified before the first time I stepped on stage in front of a live audience and thought I would pass out, but the minute the lights were on me and I fully enveloped the role, I thrived.
I loved being on stage.
“Did you always want to be an actor?”
I shake my head. “No, it was luck and a lot of being in the right place at the right time. I thought I’d be like Declan and go into business, but when you feel the lights, hear the clapping . . . I don’t know, there are some of us who are just meant for it. It was a really amazing time for me when I found the stage.”
“It sounds like it, but it won’t happen here. It’s another thing that I have to give up.”
“Why did they cancel it?” I ask. If I remember Mrs. Finnegan is still the drama school teacher for both the middle and the high school. She’s . . . beyond passionate about the theater and was always up our asses about auditioning, but since I was much too cool back in the day, I brushed it off.
“Mrs. Finnegan fell and broke her leg. She needed surgery, and there’s no other teacher that will fill in.”
“That sucks.”
He nods and adjusts his line. “I wish you could help. You’re a real-life actor who could probably direct the play better than Mrs. Finnegan or anyone else in the world ever could. It would be so cool, and it would make so many of us ‘drama geeks’ really happy.”
Oh shit. How the hell do I extricate myself from this? I got this pretty awesome kid who loves drama, just lost his dad, and was forced to move, and this would make things better for him. I really don’t have a good reason to say no. I’m not doing shit for the next few months anyway.
“Well, how about we see if I can help?”
“Are you for real?” Sebastian asks.
“Absolutely.”
Chapter Six
Brenna
“I hope it’s okay that I stopped by,” Devney says from the doorway.
“Of course, it is, but didn’t you just get home from your wedding today?”
What is it with this family and stopping by after the airport?
“Yes, but . . . I needed a break from the house. Sean is unpacking while on the phone with his agent. Austin is grumbling about schoolwork he missed, and I wanted to return this.” She holds out the casserole dish that I gave Jacob.
“Thank you. Would you like to come in?”
She looks over my shoulder and into the house, and I see the hesitation in her eyes. This was her brother’s house, and I suddenly feel guilty for suggesting it. Before I can speak, Devney smiles and nods. “I’d like that very much.”
We go inside, and her smile widens. “Wow, you did so much to it already. It looks amazing.”
“It’s just a bit of paint.”
She turns, her eyes are a little watery. “It’s beautiful, and I’m really happy to see it.”
I release a heavy sigh. I understand grief so much. “It hasn’t been too long since you lost them.”
Devney shakes her head. “Some days, it feels like years.”
I nod. “And others like it was just yesterday.”
She wipes at her tears and laughs a little. “I’m sorry, I’m not normally overly emotional, but . . . I found out while we were on our honeymoon that I’m pregnant, and . . . well, I keep crying.”
“Oh! Congratulations!”
“Do you know that you’re the first person I’ve told?” Devney asks with amusement. “I haven’t said a word about it to anyone, and here I am, blurting it out. I almost wonder if it’s not because I’m . . . because you’re in what was my brother and sister-in-law’s house.” I don’t have to be a psychologist to know that her showing up here was about more than a casserole dish.
She smiles ruefully. “Maybe that is why, although, it wasn’t a conscious reason.”
“Sometimes the unconscious reasons drive us more than we’d like to admit.”
“Spoken like a therapist.”
“Guilty as charged.”
Devney looks around the room. “How are you guys settling into Sugarloaf?”
Such a loaded question. It’s one that most people think they want a truthful answer to, but they don’t. “We’re doing our best,” I say, settling onto the couch as Dev takes the seat across from me.
“I guess that’s all any of us can do.” She eyes the table where Luke’s picture sits. “I didn’t know him that well. Sean probably knew him the best of everyone, but . . . I’m really sorry.”
I release a low breath. “I appreciate that. We’re all really doing okay.”
Most of the time.
“You don’t have to put on a brave face with me. I know you don’t know me, but I promise that there’s zero judgment here. I went through hell the last few months, and . . . I’ll never be the same as before, how can we be?”
“There are days where I’m fine. Others, well, they suck.”
“How’s today?”
I think about all that happened in the last twenty-four hours and smile. “Today is good.”
She eyes me curiously. “I’m glad.”