“Gavin,” she says, her mouth slightly ajar. It’s the effect I wanted, but I fear I’m raising her expectations. If she agrees to a second date, how will I ever top this? “This is…”
Cam comes down from the office buildings in front of the pier. “Hey, you two.” His gaze shifts from me to the boat and back to me. “Nice, right? I told you I have connections.” He places his hand on my shoulder.
“Seems you do. Thanks.”
“Cam, what the hell? Who did you bribe to get a boat like this to come here?” Posey sighs and walks toward it.
“We get affluent people up here too.”
She gives him a bored stare and shakes her head. “You might be able to fool him.” She thumbs in my direction. “But you can’t fool me. Tell me you’re not selling drugs or something.”
My eyebrows shoot up. Why would she assume that? The last thing my reputation needs right now is to be tied to a dealer.
“Shit, Posey, you think I’d get involved in that? Fisher’s my best friend—he’d kill me before the cartel had a chance.” Cam walks with us. “It’s a friend of my dad’s. He travels up here as soon as the weather breaks. Big fisherman. They had their son’s wedding, so they docked here for a bit before they fly back. When I mentioned this was for Gavin Price, he was more than willing to let us use it. There’s just the one thing…” He eyes me. “That thing we talked about.”
“What’s that?” Posey reaches the front of the boat and turns around to face us.
Cam puts out his hand. I groan and pass him my phone.
“What’s going on?” Posey asks.
Cam walks back a ways.
“Why don’t you go stand with Cam? You shouldn’t be in the picture,” I say to her.
She gets a sour look on her face. Might as well chalk those words up to another fucked-up thing I did on this date. Who knew dating in a small town is so difficult? Most women in Los Angeles knew the deal if I asked them to step aside for a picture to be taken.
“Let’s make it fast.”
“You got it.” Cam positions the camera and I hear Posey whispering to him, but I can’t hear what they’re saying from the breeze and the sound of a fishing boat five docks over. “Ready?”
“Yeah.”
I plaster on the fake-ass smile I perfected more than a decade ago and bring one hand up to cup the back of my neck so that my arm now covers Marla’s pin. Cam takes a few pictures, then he and Posey walk back over to me.
He hands me my phone. “You can pick the best one, just make sure you tag the business.”
I nod and pocket my phone. “Got it. Thanks again, Cam.” I put out my hand, and he shakes it.
“Now that that’s out of the way, I do feel like I need to give you a disclaimer,” he says. “Mess with Posey and I will have to kick your ass on the principle that she’s a Greene and kind of like my little sister.”
“Oh please,” Posey says and takes my shoulder, turning me toward the boat. “Bye, Cam, you’ve crashed my date enough already.”
“You two kids have fun!” Cam shouts.
Posey slips off her heels once we board, and I notice her cute green polished toenails. I find it endearing that she doesn’t wear the typical pink or red.
The captain and a few service people are waiting for us with glasses of champagne. I politely accept mine, but don’t sip it. They show us around and the captain tells us that we’ll be leaving the port shortly and to enjoy the view on the way. Dinner will be served once we’re on open water.
“This is way too much. What did you have to agree to?” Posey asks.
I wait for her to sit on the cushions toward the front of the boat, then I join her. “Just to show off that it’s his boat and tag him on my social media.”
“Amazing what fame can bring you,” she says.
The server, Serena, comes over and I hand her my champagne, asking for a water with the top still sealed. Posey asks for a white wine and Serena disappears back to the inside.
“You don’t drink?” she asks. Of course, she probably already knows. Although it was rumored that I went to rehab, no one found actual proof, but people aren’t stupid.
“I’ve been sober for about two years.”
Her eyes widen. “I didn’t know that. How did you hide that from the press?”
I shrug. “My manager said that one day it would give me an edge—a feel-good story about the kid who got his shit together and made himself a star again—so he squashed the press at the time. But I guess there’s too many of us now, so it’s not interesting.”
“It must be hard,” she says, genuine concern in her tone.
I shrug. “Everything has its pros and cons.”
She doesn’t say anything but turns to stare out at the water. Her red hair flows in the wind. “This really is amazing. Thank you, Gavin.”
“I should be thanking you for joining me.”
Her gaze falls to me, and she chuckles. “Oh jeez, I forgot you had this.” Reaching forward, she takes the pin off my sweater. “You have my mom’s pin on you still.” She sets it between us on the leather couch. “She’ll love that you wore it in a picture.”
Guess she didn’t notice how I strategically covered it. That only makes my guilt feel heavier.
“About your mom running for mayor…” I broach the subject that I should’ve mentioned earlier—before I allowed them to put a pin on me that endorses another candidate.
“It’s something she’s always wanted. You know she ran against Sam Klein before he got reelected? I’ve never seen her so happy as when she was able to step into the role after Sam vacated his post.”
Serena returns and hands us our drinks. Posey thanks her, but quickly goes back to talking about her mom with so much enthusiasm that jealousy coils inside me because of the horrible relationship I have with my own mother.
“You’ll find this out if you don’t know already, but my dad cheated on my mom, which is when we moved here. She fell in love with Hank, who is my dad’s cousin.” Posey flings her hand like, who cares about that. “But before she met Hank, she was always so sad. Always crying but trying to act like she wasn’t. She never worked when she was married to my dad—he forbade it when we were younger. She’s constantly telling us to make sure we have our own goals separate from any partners we might have.” She sips her wine, and I open my mouth to use the break so I can come clean about running against her mom for mayor, but she keeps going before I can get the words out. “So she has her goal now, and I agreed to be her campaign manager.” She cringes as though she’s nervous, but it’s clear that her excitement is through the roof.
“That’s great.” I feign enthusiasm. This is one of those times being an actor pays off, because she doesn’t seem to notice that anything is off with me.
I’m not sure how I move on from here. Great that you’re her campaign manager, but I’m running for mayor too.
“There’s so much that needs to happen in Sunrise Bay. More tourism for sure. The schools need more supplies to catch up to the other areas. Have you looked at the cobblestone downtown? One day someone is gonna trip and fall. Sam Klein was all ego and no action. I know my mom will make the changes needed.” She sips her wine and sort of cringes. “I’m sorry. I’m just excited. She’s sacrificed so much for our family all these years and now that Rylan is fourteen, it’s her time to do something for herself. I love that I get to be part of it with her. To know that maybe I helped her a little bit since she’s done so much for me.”