“Change how I use my platform, I think. Use it to bring awareness for what I’ve been through. Teach kids how to be safe online. Warning signs of problematic people. Charities, that kind of thing.”
“So does that mean you’re giving up vlogging? As it is now?”
“I’m not sure. I have to work it all out, and I have to figure out how to do it all.”
“Does that mean you’ll stay?”
“Stop asking me things I don’t know the answer to!”
We both laughed.
I toyed with the stem of my wine glass. “My sister lives in New York. It would be a big change, but I’m not going anywhere anytime soon. I’m here for at least a month, so I have a lot of time to plan.”
But my gut already knew the answer. Even if it meant finding an actual rental property, that’s what I would do. I didn’t think I was ready to leave Creek Keys until I’d found my footing again.
Which opened my world up to a thousand possibilities.
Not least romantically.
But I wasn’t going to say anything yet. Not to Blaire, not to Charity, not to Theo. I would keep that inside and let things run their course the way they should.
Until then, I would figure out my own life.
Theo and Alex joined us, both out of breath like they’d run a marathon.
“Never. Again,” Alex wheezed. “I need the gym.”
Theo nodded. “Same.”
I frowned. “I’ve seen you shirtless. You go to the gym.”
Blaire wiggled her eyebrows. “Shirtless, eh?”
Theo gave her a withering look. “She decided to throw a glass of ice water over me. Was I supposed to stay sitting in a wet shirt?”
“No, you should have gone outside in the sun for thirty seconds and kept your abs to yourself.”
I disagreed with that, but whatever.
“So, Elle, you were the poor person who had to plant all Ari’s seeds. She keeps talking about them and how she’s going to feed me tomatoes,” Alex said wryly. “I bet that was fun.”
I laughed. “I only did it because Theo had to work.”
Theo frowned. “I didn’t have to work.”
Wait, what?
I shifted to look at him. “She told me you had to work, and that was why she came to ask me to help her plant the seeds.”
“I didn’t have to work. Well, not that much. Just check in with the current residents and confirm future bookings. Nothing that would have taken the amount of time she was with you for.”
Blaire looked between us. “So, Elle, what did you and our very own Pinocchio talk about?”
“Um.” I shuffled in my seat. “It’s personal?”
“You’ll have to do better than that to get it past Blaire,” Alex said.
I figured.
“Okay, fine. We’ve already kind of talked,” I said, motioning to Theo. “And you obviously know something.” I motioned to Blaire. “She came over and asked me if I like Theo. I said sure, he’s a great guy, and tried to avoid going further because, well, it’s not my place to have any kind of talk with her about you dating.” I glanced at Theo, then looked at Blaire. “Then she told me she heard you, Blaire, tell Alex that you thought the reason I wouldn’t tell Theo I… potentially have feelings for him is because of her.”
“Wait, what?” Blaire balked.
“Whoa, hold on,” Theo said. “That’s what she told you?”
I nodded.
“No, girl, I didn’t say that. I told Alex I thought Theo wasn’t telling you he potentially had feelings for you because of Ari. Because of obvious reasons.”
“That’s what she told me,” Theo said slowly. “That she overheard you say that.”
“Then why would she tell me it the other way around?”
Alex grinned. “Because she’s trying to play you off. Let me guess: she saw something she shouldn’t have.”
“She might have seen us after I kissed her,” Theo said vaguely.
I blushed.
God, I felt like I was playing Truth or Dare.
“She gave me permission to kiss Elle, like she was my mother.” He fought back a laugh.
“Oh, my God. She did the same to me!” I swatted his arm. “This is ridiculous.”
“I agree,” Blaire said, picking up her glass. “But then you already know what I think about the two of you.”
“Blaire,” Alex said in a low voice.
“Oh, I know! Why doesn’t Ari come and sleep over tonight? Then you can sort it out.” She winked at me.
“Blaire,” Alex repeated. “You cannot force two people to be together just because it’s what you want.”
“I know, but I can try.”
I covered my eyes with my hand and laughed. “We’ve barely known each other two weeks, and he didn’t even like me for one of those.”
“I bet he wanted to screw—”
Alex didn’t even bother saying her name this time. He just leaned over and covered her mouth with his hand. “Problem solved.”
Theo laughed and nudged me under the table. “She’s hardly lying.”
I blushed again.
“Ah-ha!” Blaire said, triumphantly removing Alex’s hand from her mouth. “I knew it. We’ll take Ari tonight and—”
“For someone who told me he never gets a break, that’s the second time in a week someone has had Ari overnight,” I teased Theo.
“She’s only doing it because she thinks I need to get laid,” he muttered.
“You do need to,” Blaire shot back.
“I think it’s time to pay and go,” Alex said, raising his hand for Charity to get us the check. “With Adalyn,” he added. “Only Adalyn.”
Blaire pouted, but she didn’t say anything else.
Now was the moment to say that I thought I’d stay, but I didn’t.
I kept it to myself, because for now, I just wanted to breathe.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN – ELLE
Three Weeks Later
“If your phone rings one more time, I’m going to throw it into the ocean.”
“Hey,” I said, taking the phone from Theo with my dirty hands. “You’re the one who said you weren’t going to plant on these seedlings.”
“No, because I’m the one who had to buy seventy-five pots from the bloody garden center,” he muttered.
Emily’s name was on the screen, and I rolled my eyes at him before I answered. “Hello?”
“Hello? Hello? I’ve called you fifteen times! Bethany a thousand! Not to mention Ben and your agent and your publicist!” she shrieked. “Nobody can get hold of you!”
“Okay, stop yelling,” I said, dusting my hand off on my bare thigh and walking into Theo’s house with both him and Ari staring after me. “What’s wrong? What’s happened?”
“What’s happened? They’ve found that rotten, sleazy, no good sonofabitch!”
I froze, a chill going over my entire body. “What?”
“They found him. He went into Canada, took out a shit ton of the money, and came back into the US. He’s been hiding in a place in Vermont under a fake name.”