by Brooks, Abby
The thing was, he was right, though not in the way he intended. I did leave part of myself in Florida—my heart and soul, in the capable hands of Caleb Hutton. The only person in the world who knew all of me, who understood me, and didn’t need me to sacrifice anything to prove my worth to him. When our paths crossed in that tiki bar on the coast, I reconnected with myself, with the parts of me that mattered, the bits and pieces I had ignored over the years because I deemed them irrelevant.
They weren’t irrelevant, though. Even if they didn’t fit into this perfect little box of how I wanted successful to look, they were the most important parts of who I was, buried beneath a veneer of designer clothes and meaningless connections.
Lombardi was still talking, continuing to insinuate my fall from grace was eminent as I lost my edge. He buried digs at my self-worth inside fake concern for my well-being, then full on threatened my job if I didn’t rediscover my control and return to the straight and narrow.
“There’s no room for mediocrity at Shift, Ms. Brown. Whatever you’re going through, get through it. Pick yourself up. Dust yourself off. And get back on track.”
His words hit me hard, though again, not in the way he meant them to. I was off track. Everything I had built for myself was like a funhouse mirror view of what I wanted to do and who I wanted to be.
Wrong side of the country.
Wrong people surrounding me.
Wrong apartment.
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.
The only thing right about my life was waiting for me back home…and the crazy thing was, when I thought about home, my mind went straight to Key West.
“You’re right, Mr. Lombardi.” I smiled brightly as my thoughts came more clearly into focus. “It’s time I stopped messing around and got my life back in order.” There was nothing fake or forced about my expression. I was genuinely pleased by what I was about to say, which in itself felt unnatural. How many times had I put on a pleasant face for people when I felt anything but? How many times had I done it…and not even realized I was doing it?
“Good.” He gave a curt nod and a satisfied smile. “I’m glad to hear that. It’s hard to watch someone as talented as you self-destruct.”
“Well, then you’ll be happy to hear that I quit. Consider this my two-week notice.” As his jaw dropped, I made my way out from behind my desk, grabbed the picture of Caleb and me off the bookshelf, and left.
Caleb would ask me to move back to Key West before he left, I was sure of it. Like me, he was relentless in going after what he wanted, only he took a more relaxed approach than I did. But because I knew that about him, I knew he wouldn’t leave without trying one more time to keep us together. And this time, when he asked me to come home with him, I would say yes.
* * *
Caleb
As the day I would have to leave Maisie and head back home fast approached, I came to several conclusions.
One, I hated it in Los Angeles.
Two, I couldn’t face life without Maisie.
Three, I was willing to put up with a little of what I hated in exchange for a lot of what I loved.
And so, after Maisie left for work that morning, I spent the day perusing apartments and looking for jobs. Nothing leapt out at me as a career I could see myself in long-term, but I had a list of bad ideas that might grow into the one good one that brought everything together. And that was a start, which was more than I had a few hours ago.
I wasn’t going back to Florida. We wouldn’t have to learn how to breathe without each other because I would be staying. Indefinitely. No more shallow breaths. We would be swimming in oxygen. That night, when she got home from work, we would have a reason to celebrate.
Using all of my newfound cooking skills, I made us a spaghetti dinner with homemade marinara, complete with a salad, garlic toast, wine, and candles on every surface. Maisie’s schedule had become fairly predictable, so when she walked through the front door, wearing a surprised look on her face, dinner was on the table, the candles were lit, and I slipped a wineglass into her hand as I led her to her chair.
I cupped her face between my hands and kissed her. “Welcome home, beautiful.” As her questioning eyes locked onto mine, I realized this would be part of our new normal once everything was said and done. And that soothed the uncertainty of moving to a city that didn’t suit me.
“What’s all this about?” Maisie asked, looking shell-shocked as she clutched what looked like a picture to her chest.
“We have reason to celebrate.” I took my seat beside her, trying to untangle the look on her face. She seemed nervous. And keyed up. Oscillating between a smile and what might be panic, her expressions changed faster than I could keep up.
“We do,” she replied with a bob of her head. Her response was a statement, not a question, and that put me off my guard. How did she know we were celebrating tonight?
I had intended to make it through dinner before I clued her in on how I spent my day, but considering her strange reaction, I decided to jump right in. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and I’m not ready to say goodbye to you again.”
“That’s funny,” she replied. “I’m feeling very much the same way.” Her smile had an expectancy about it, which only served to further throw me off my game.
“So…I’ve decided to move to Los Angeles.”
Her reply nearly overlapped my statement. “Yes, I’d love to.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, her brow furrowed and she tilted her head. “Wait, what did you say?”
I slid off my chair and kneeled at her feet. “I can’t leave you again, Maisie. And I can’t keep asking you to give up your life so we can be together. Having to go home has been on my mind from the minute I got here, and I just can’t do it. I can’t. I spent the day looking at apartments and brainstorming ways I can make a living out here.” I pulled my phone out of my pocket and showed her the list. “I don’t exactly have the answer yet, but we’re smart people…we can make this work.”
Maisie laughed lightly, barely giving my phone a glance. “I thought you were going to ask me to move back to Florida with you.”
“I couldn’t ask you that. Not again. That would be too selfish…” Her words sunk in, with her response to my revelation chasing behind like a puppy bounding through a field. I told her I was moving to LA and she replied with I’d love to. “Wait.” I straightened and stared down at her, blinking as if my vision was the reason things weren’t quite computing. “You thought I was going to ask you to move back home with me. And you said yes?”
“I quit my job today.” Laughter tinged her words and happiness danced through her eyes.
I dropped into my chair, certain I had misheard her. “You did what?” Now I was the one looking shell-shocked, because that was exactly how I felt.
“I quit my job, Caleb. Having you here has been such a wakeup call. This isn’t the life I want.” Maisie shrugged. “It’s like this apartment. All perfectly fine and expensive and exactly what the rest of the world would consider a dream come true, but it doesn’t suit me. You suit me.” She dipped her chin toward her shoulder. “I’m not exactly sure what happens after I move home with you, but I’m sure the rest will fall into place, as long as you’ll have me.”
Happiness spread through my veins like fire devouring gasoline. “You quit your job?” I stood, pulling her out of her chair right along with me. “You actually quit your job?”
She held out the framed picture of the two of us that had been clutched in her hands since she walked in. “I took the one thing that mattered to me and walked out the door. This picture had been pointing to the truth all along. Look around you, Caleb. Of all the things in my home and office, the only thing that ever mattered was you. I’ll have to tie up some loose ends with my clients, of course. But…yeah.” She let out a short breath. “I’m all yours if you’ll have me.”
“Oh, I’ll have you, alright. Again and again. Over and over.”
For the rest of my life, if I
had my way…
Thirty-Three
Maisie
In a way, Caleb’s decision to make the move to Los Angeles was the final straw in my decision to move to Key West. Sure, I had already put in my two weeks’ notice, but one frantic call to Lombardi would have reversed that in a heartbeat. He was screwed without me, and we both knew it.
It was Caleb’s selflessness that solidified things. He didn’t belong in Los Angeles, but he was willing to drop everything just so we didn’t have to say goodbye.
For one, I couldn’t let him do that.
And for two, I didn’t belong in Los Angeles either.
I belonged with him.
We decided to skip all the usual relationship stepping stones and move in together instead of me finding my own place to live. On one hand, we knew it was fast, but on the other, we had some time to make up for. Besides, there was no denying what we had. He and I were designed to be together, our paths diverging long enough to teach us important lessons about who we were and what we wanted, then reconnecting at the perfect moment.
Over the next couple days, he helped me box up my things as we decided what would make the trip and what I needed to sell. Not much was coming with me because I hadn’t accumulated much that mattered.
“I have enough savings to support me while I figure out how to make money,” I said one night over dinner—Chinese takeout, a treat I very rarely allowed myself.
“Maybe you can start an agency of your own,” Caleb suggested around a mouthful of moo shu pork. “You’ve got the drive. And the talent. You’d be a great business owner.”
“I’m not sure Key West is the best location for that. Miami, maybe. But the Keys?” I shrugged. “Besides, I’m not sure this is really my calling. I’d like to find something better, you know? I set out with the great idea of helping people and I still feel that purpose inside me, looking for a way out. I really want to find a way to make life better for the people who need it most.”
What we were doing was crazy. We knew that. Me, quitting a job so many people would kill for without another prospect on the horizon. Him, moving a woman he technically just met into his home. But no one made it big on safe bets and sure things. We didn’t know how it was going to work out, just that it would.
Over the course of the next few days, I sat down with my clients and explained what was happening. Most of them took it in stride, wishing me well while they were already figuring out their next move. My little budding starlet actually cried when she thanked me for everything I had done for her, and swore she would find a way to make it up to me. I saved Collin for last and his reaction wasn’t at all what I expected.
He perched on the edge of the couch in my office, his elbows on his knees and his gaze on the floor. “Is this because of me?” His voice was solemn and I saw a glimpse of the quiet man who first walked into Paradigm Shift Talent Agency, looking like he’d just won the lottery.
“Honestly? A little. But even more honestly, not at all.” I explained my change of heart regarding the industry as a whole, keeping everything at a super high level so as not to drag anyone’s name through the mud. “And…I fell in love,” I added, once it was all said and done. “Which just made me realize all the more how…hollow…all this was.”
Collin bobbed his head. “I’ve been thinking along similar lines myself. When that friend of yours”—he glanced up as he made air quotes —“got me all spun up about you taking some personal time, I had to take a long hard look at myself. I mean, you got me a part in a movie for God’s sake. Me. In a movie. The kid who grew up bullied for his hair and his music and all the things that made him different, was gonna be on the big screen and somehow, that wasn’t good enough. That’s not me. Or at least it wasn’t.”
Lost in the nostalgia of those first few days with Collin, I stared at the man in front of me. It was one of those times when you knew, you really, really knew you had something special on your hands. “You’re right, it wasn’t. The man who signed with me was completely flabbergasted at what was happening to him. God, your energy was so inspiring.”
“And I lost that. Quickly.” He dragged his gaze off the floor to meet mine. “I’m not proud of it.”
“We all make mistakes, Collin. If letting the glitz and chaos of being suddenly famous go to your head is the worst thing you do, I still think you’re gonna be okay.” I made a sweeping gesture, as if to encompass all the years stretching ahead of him. “You know. In the broad scheme of things.”
He offered me a wry smile. “I’m sorry I was an asshole.”
“And I’m sorry I got you a bit part in a movie.” I dropped him a wink and we laughed, standing to say our goodbyes.
“Best of luck to you, Maisie. I’ll never forget what you’ve done for me. I hope you know that.” Collin offered me his hand and then seemed to think better of the idea, pulling me in for a brief hug instead.
“You take care of yourself,” I said, after he stepped back. “You’re on a wild ride. Let it shock you each and every day. Promise me you’ll stay flabbergasted.”
He nodded, shoving his hands into his back pockets. “Each and every day.” He gave a decisive nod then walked out of my office, pausing in the doorway to flash me a smile that somehow made me feel like he was going to be alright.
Thirty-Four
Caleb
Living with Maisie was easy. She slid into my life like she had always been there, bringing the light right back with her. The water sparkled again. The volume was turned back up. Anything and everything was better with her around.
She hadn’t found a job that called to her yet, but it turned out between her savings and mine—plus the considerable amount of stock she owned in Shift—there wasn’t a whole lot of pressure on her to settle on something that wasn’t a good fit. She spent a couple weeks running tours with me and was a wonderful asset, her vibrant personality playing nicely off my low key style. But Maisie needed something of her own. I knew that much.
One bright July day, Wyatt and Lucas asked me to come to The Hut for a meeting. When Maisie and I arrived, Cat and Kara swooped Maisie off—one of them leaning in to ask, “Are you really friends with Collin West?” I watched them disappear around the corner in a cloud of celebrity-fueled fandom, then headed to the office, where my brothers waited for me. Lucas managed to look commanding from his place behind the desk and Wyatt stood behind him, his back to me as he stared out the window.
“I thought I was coming in to talk with my brothers.” I pulled out a chair and took a seat across from Luc. “Somehow this seems more serious than that.” The atmosphere almost reminded me of being called in to talk with Dad, and I didn’t like that. Not one bit.
Both my brothers bobbed their heads, and their solemn moods set off a little blast of nerves in my stomach. “We need to talk to you about something,” Lucas said as Wyatt pulled up a chair to sit beside me.
“It’s kind of a delicate matter,” he added.
I sat up a little straighter, running through every possible delicate matter I could think of, and came up with exactly nothing. “Okay…”
“Do you remember when you were in here a couple months ago and we told you the hotel was doing better than we could have hoped?”
I nodded and Lucas took over where Wyatt left off.
“Well, that’s even more true now than it was then.” A broad grin broke across his face, one that echoed my own. It felt good, knowing the family business was doing well. “And I’m sure you remember how much The Hut was involved with charities and stuff when Dad was around.”
Dad’s philanthropy was the one decent thing he did, though I still swore Mom had a lot more to do with it than she let on.
“Well, now that we have a handle on how to run things around here, we’d like to continue that Hutton tradition.” Wyatt leaned forward, his gaze on mine. “And maybe even expand on it a little.”
“That sounds wonderful.” Happiness lightened the stress in my stomach. I missed knowing our s
uccess meant other people had a better chance, too. “But I’m still not seeing how any of this is a delicate matter.”
“Prepare yourself.” Wyatt sat back in his chair, visibly readying himself to drop a bomb. “The person who keeps coming to mind to run with that project is Maisie. She has the energy. And the drive.”
I straightened enthusiastically. The idea couldn’t have been more perfect. “She’s always wanted to devote herself to helping people.”
“Exactly.” Lucas sat back, crossing his ankle over his knee.
My brothers’ solemn moods still didn’t compute. They were going to offer the woman I loved her dream job, and somehow they weren’t comfortable with things? “I really don’t see what’s delicate about any of this. Maisie will be thrilled.”
Lucas cleared his throat and rubbed a hand across his mouth. “Well, you see…if she took the job, she’d be tied to our family in a pretty permanent way.”
And still. I wasn’t seeing the problem. Because of me, Maisie had always been tied to our family. If recent events hadn’t made that clear, I wasn’t sure what would. “Yeah? So?”
My brothers exchanged an exasperated look. “Are you really going to make us spell this out?” Wyatt asked.
“Apparently I am. I can’t come up with one good reason why Maisie isn’t already tied to our family in a pretty permanent way.” I lowered my voice, widening my eyes and waving my hands as I mimicked their word choice.
Wyatt eyed me like I might be stupid. “What if you guys don’t work out, Moose? What if this burns hot and fast and she’s out of your life just as quickly as she fell into it?”
I laughed, finally understanding my brothers’ trepidation. “That’s funny. I didn’t even think about her leaving because…well…it’s just not gonna happen. I figured you two, of all of us, would understand that, after how you met your wives. When it’s real, you know.”