InHap*pily Ever After (Incidental Happenstance) (58 page)

            She went into
the kitchen and took the paper out from the back of the silverware drawer. She
stared at it for a long time, even picking up her phone twice and starting to
punch in the number. Bo did have a way of making her feel good, but after the
way they left things in California, there was a chance that she was the last
person he wanted to hear from.  Frustrated, she tossed the paper and her phone
on the counter and went to lie down.

            By Tuesday
night though, she was getting sick of herself. There were only so many hours a
person could sit and stew in self-pity, and she’d well exceeded that. So she’d
lost her fiancé. And her job.  And soon, she’d probably lose her best friend. 
Once Tia moved out west, things would change. They’d been inseparable since
they were twelve, but soon there’d be a thousand miles between them, and Tia
would forge a new life for herself. A damn good one, at that. She couldn’t help
but worry that, through no fault on either part, they’d slowly lose touch;
which made the loneliness that pushed down on her even now feel like an
ever-growing chasm.

            What she
really needed to do was to reinvent herself. She needed to start looking at the
possibility that there might actually be a silver lining above the dark cloud
that currently hung heavy over her life. She had been complaining about the
weather in the Midwest for years; maybe it was time for a move. At least if she
was in a different city, she wouldn’t have to worry about running in to Ryan
and his new freaking girlfriend. It was an exciting yet daunting prospect. She
was still young, newly single, and she had enough in savings to keep her afloat
for at least a year while she was settling into a new place and looking for a
job. She pulled a road atlas out of the drawer in her home office and studied
the US map. For the next hour, she crossed out states. Too cold, too hot, too
crowded, too expensive, too rural…and her eyes kept falling back to the same
place. Colorado. Damn it.

            She needed
some clarity—some perspective—to get her mind off her issues. Finally, after
giving herself a huge pep talk, she punched in all eleven digits, and hoped
that Bo wouldn’t hang up on her.

*****

            He felt so
much better. In the four days he’d been on the island he hadn’t had a single
headache, his arm hadn’t ached despite the vigorous workout he’d dealt himself
on the kayak the past few days, and his tension had nearly melted away. The
days were already starting to fall into a pattern; he woke up whenever he
wanted, usually by 7:30, walked down to the beach to greet the day, and then
hiked up the steep path that led to a crumbling roadway and a forest trail.  It
was a good couple miles round trip, and the exercise and fresh air were doing
wonders for both his physical and emotional states. When he got back to the
house he made himself a smoothie with tons of fruits and vegetables, a little
bit of yogurt, some protein powder, and some chia seeds. He’d sit on the deck
and watch the water for a while; letting his body process the nutrients, then
he’d kayak out to one or two of the little outcrops that dotted the bay. It
took him a while to get the rhythm right with the vessel; the first day he came
back soaking wet from leaning too much with his body as he tried to steer the
thing; but he was really getting the hang of it now. It was an incredible
feeling, being so close to the surface of the water and skimming silently
across its glassy surface. Twice he’d seen harbor seals almost close enough to
touch, and he’d followed the flight of a bald eagle back to its enormous nest
in a dense clump of trees just above a rugged shoreline. The place was rich
with life, and it made him feel alive just being part of it.

            Usually after
his kayak trip he’d nap on the swing on the deck, then take a soak in the hot
tub before showering and grilling up something for a late dinner. He was barely
five minutes into his soak on Tuesday when he heard his phone ringing from
inside the house. That was one thing he didn’t miss when he was out in
nature—he left the phone behind, and only checked for messages while his dinner
was sizzling on the grill—he ignored it and sank deeper into the heat and
pulsating water.

            Not another
five minutes passed, and he heard the drone of an engine, the slam of a car
door, and then the front door creeping open.

            “Bo, are you
decent?” Joi’s voice rang through the screen door.

            Bo sat up,
surprised. “I’m on the deck,” he called back, standing up and reaching for the
towel that hung over the back of one of the patio chairs.

            Joi slid open
the screen door and stepped out, looking him up and down. “Not only decent, but
looking mighty good, my friend. You been working out?”

            Bo ignored her
question and asked his own as he rubbed the towel over his body. “What are you
doing here, Joi? I mean, it’s your place, and you have every right, but I
thought…”

            Joi collapsed
into a chair and took a deep breath. “Ah, there was a fire. Electrical, they
think, but I won’t know for sure until they do their investigation. Talk about
an interruption to my winter holiday.”

            “Holy shit,”
he said, wrapping himself in a robe to ward off the chill and taking the seat
across from her. “No one was hurt, were they?”

            “No, no,” she
said with a dismissive wave of her hand, “but I couldn’t salvage anything. I
had to come back and regroup—get some things and figure out where I’m hiding
out for the rest of the winter. It’s going to be a bitch trying to find a
rental at this time of year, but my assistant is working on it. God, I could
use a glass of wine. Will you join me?”

            “Uh, sure.” 
He took the couple minutes she was gone to recover. He’d been pretty much in
isolation since he’d gotten here and aside from a quick call to his mother to
tell her that he was doing just fine without her nursing him, he hadn’t talked
to another person in days. In fact, the only human voices he’d heard, aside
from his own when he was talking to the seals and the little crabs he found on
the beach—and they were damn good listeners, he thought—were Dylan’s and Ty’s;
and those were only recordings of songs to which he was trying to work out some
beats before they went back into the studio. He always enjoyed Joi’s company,
but it threw a bit of a kink in his proverbial chain.

            She strolled
back onto the deck with a huge smile on her face; two glasses and a frosty
bottle of chardonnay cradled in her arms. “Don’t look so panicked, Bo—I’m going
to pack some things up and I’ll be out of your hair by tomorrow afternoon at
the latest.”

            Bo grinned.
“It’s not panic, darlin’; it’s just surprise. It’s always great to see you. But
it’s me who should get out. This is your place, you certainly shouldn’t…”

            She waved her
hand again, a dozen bracelets clinking together and reflecting the late
afternoon sun. “Are you kidding? I can’t work on my tan here—not at this time
of year. No, this is my summer destination, not my spring one. Whether you were
here or not, I’d pack some things and make a quick exit.” She tilted her head
and narrowed her eyes. “Didn’t you get my messages? I’ve been calling you all
day to let you know I was coming.”

            Bo shrugged.
“I like the quiet here; helps me clear my head. I heard the phone ring a bit
ago, but I’d just gotten in for my soak.”

            “So you’re
feeling pretty good then? No more headaches?”

            “Not since I
got here,” he smiled. “Something about the air, I think.”

            “Glad to hear
it. What I want to hear now is that whatever’s cooking on the stove is enough
for two. I’m famished.”

            “Then you are
in for a treat, my friend, because those are my special recipe ribs tenderizing
in the pressure cooker and my nearly famous homemade barbeque sauce infusing on
the counter. I’ve got hickory chips soaking, some potatoes we can bake up, and
I picked up some fresh asparagus this morning. Plenty for two.”

            “Now you just
made my day,” she smiled, tipping her wine glass in his direction. 

            Bo stood and
hung the towel over the back of the chair to dry. “They’ll be ready for the
coals in about a half hour or so. I’ll just hop in the shower real quick, and
we can catch up while we feast.”

            “Anything I
can do?” Joi asked.

            “There’re
salad fixins’ in the fridge…you could put that together if you want.”

            She gave him a
warm smile. “It’s good to see you back to your old self, Bo,” she said. “You
really had us worried for a while there.”

            He kissed her
cheek. “Thanks. I’m glad you’re here. It’ll be nice to have some company
tonight.”

            Joi was
slicing a green pepper when she heard drum beats thump against the counter.
Smiling, she picked up Bo’s phone and tapped the screen. “Hello…Bo’s
phone…he’s, um, indisposed at the moment…this is Joi; can I take a message?”

            “Oh, uh, I’m
sorry…I must have the wrong number,” Lexi said, punching the screen to end the
call and then collapsing onto her couch. “Well, there you go,” she said out
loud. “So much for Bo making you feel better.” She crumpled up the paper with
Bo’s number on it and tossed it in the trash, grabbing a bottle of wine from
the fridge and yanking out the cork. Oh God, it was going to be a long week.

            “Oh my,” Tia
breathed as they turned another bend in the road and the house came into view
for the first time. They’d rolled through a winding wooded drive, past the “Big
D Ranch,” sign and through an ornate gate that opened when Dylan hovered his
finger over a print reader. She’d expected the place to be magnificent, but she
wasn’t prepared for the incredible structure that would become her new home.  

            “Welcome home,
baby girl,” Dylan said, stopping in the curved driveway. Tia was out of the car
before Dylan could even undo his seatbelt, and she just stood and stared at the
immense log cabin with floor to ceiling windows and wrap around decks.

            “This is a
house?” Tia joked as Dylan reached her and wrapped his arm around her waist. “I
would’ve guessed ‘hotel,’ or ‘ski lodge,’ but not house.”

            “Home sweet
home,” Dylan replied with a half-smile. “I have a makeshift studio here, and
some rehearsal space, so when we’re getting ready for the tour, the guys come
stay here. Believe me, it doesn’t seem so big when they’re all here taking up
space.” He swept her into his arms and carried her toward the walkway that led
to the front door. “I know it’s not official, but I’m planning some
consummating in the very near future, so…”

            Tia threw her
arms around his neck and giggled, kissing the tip of his nose. “Funny, I was
thinking exactly the same thing.” They hadn’t been together in nearly a month,
and she’d been thinking a lot about making love for the first time in what
would be their marriage bed.

            Dylan turned
the knob and swung open the unusually tall front doors, setting her down to
stare gape mouthed at the interior. She was only in the foyer, but a sparkling
chandelier hung on an incredibly long chain from three stories up, passing two
levels along the way that looked over the entryway. Dylan put his hand at the
small of her back and led her into the living room and her breath caught
immediately. It wasn’t the three story stone chimney or the view of the
mountains through the enormous windows that caught her eye first; it was the
painting that Kelley had given her at Christmas hanging over the fireplace that
took her breath away. It was perfectly at home there among the rustic stone, as
the vineyard had been staggered on a hill with vines separated by stone much
the same color. It was at home there, and instantly, Tia knew she would be,
too. “It’s perfect,” she smiled, pulling Dylan into her arms and resting her
head on his chest. “I don’t need to see anymore to know that I’ll love it.”

            “I can’t tell
you how relieved I am to hear that,” Dylan smirked, scooping up her legs to
cradle her in his arms again. “I was worried I was going to have to do the
whole five dollar tour before I got you to our bed.”

            “The tour can
wait,” she winked, “take me to our bed.”

            It was good to
be home. Even better, it was good to have Tia home. Life on the road wasn’t all
it was cracked up to be, and although they were making a base in Chicago, after
months in hotel rooms and tiny trailers, it was good to be in his own bed,
especially with the love of his life opening her arms to him. Ah, how many
times had he imagined her right here, her dark hair splayed over his pillow,
languid limbs awaiting his caress? “So beautiful,” he said softly as he ran his
hands up from her waist to the curve of her breasts, releasing the buttons of
her blouse with one hand while running the other through her her hair.