“You two better not have gotten in any trouble,” Coop points at us. “We leave you alone for one goddamn night.”
Eva laughs a little. “Everything’s good, but I did almost get run over by the red pickup truck outside of Swillerbees this morning.”
“You serious, Eva?” Coop asks. “You say it like it’s nothing.”
“Serious, Coop,” I answer for her. “But that’s not the best part.”
“There’s a best part to almost getting run over?” Beck raises his eyebrow at us.
Eva and I both start laughing. I can’t stop laughing. She can’t stop laughing either. This all suddenly seems so crazy that my mind is finding it hilarious and I can’t react normally.
Coop and Beck glance at each other through our fits of laughter.
“You two high?” Coop asks. “Would explain quite a bit right now.”
Eva stands up, clutching her stomach as she laughs. “Not high.” And then she laughs again. “But my god that would make this whole situation a lot less crazy. Can either of you arrange that? Because I have someone who can arrange that.”
I pull her back down onto my lap. Her arms wrap around my neck as I say, “Eva Calloway, I do not want to hear about you knowing someone who can get us high, and I don’t want to think about you getting high with other people. Okay?”
She pretends to zip her mouth and throw away a key. “Will not be spoken of from here on out.” Then she laughs again.
“You two going to keep this shit up?” Beck asks. “Or are you going to clue us in on what the hell happened this morning?”
I push the hair out of my eyes and calm down my laughter. “We’re going to clue you in. Eva? Would you like to do the honors of telling the guys who the driver of the pickup truck is?”
“Eva knows who the driver is?” Beck questions.
“Eva knows who the driver is,” I nod.
“Of course she does,” Coop throws his hands up. “Fuck Daphne, she’s like Nancy Drew herself, or maybe Buffy.”
“Buffy the Vampire Slayer?” Eva busts out laughing. “I don’t slay evil demons and blood thirsty vampires in my spare time. But I did almost get run over this morning by the one and only red pickup truck, and I got a very clear view of him as he sped away and almost took off my toes.”
“And?” Coop presses. “Who is it?”
She looks up at me and is no longer laughing. Her face is serious and a bit pained. She puts her hand on my cheek and kisses my forehead, then turns to the guys. “It’s Bodhi’s dad.”
The guys are staring at us. The silence is so strong, I actually believe I can hear the fish swimming in the water below us.
“What. In. The. Actual. Fuck?” Coop then states.
“He was also seen on my street the day my dad’s office was broken into,” she tells them both.
“Bodhi’s dad?” Beck exclaims. “Bodhi’s dad is following him? Almost drove him off the road? Almost ran you over? Broke into your dad’s office? The same guy who hasn’t been a part of Bodhi’s life, ever? The same guy who disappeared over a decade ago? You sure you aren’t high? Smoking something stronger? This is ridiculous.”
“It’s true,” Eva whispers. “It’s him.”
“Beck, I believe her,” I say. “We just need to find out why he’s here. It’s obviously not to check in on me, see how I’m doing or some shit like that. He could have done that already.”
Beck’s shaking his head. “I’m starting to buy into Coop’s bad guys coming out to play bullshit.”
I glance between him and Coop. “I’m starting to realize that Eva’s been right, that my dad, her dad, Mr. Channing, Owen Edwards … they’re all connected, and if it’s the money shit, okay. That makes sense, but why would my dad be involved with that?”
“Unless he knew,” Eva says, looking up at me. “What if your dad knew all along who your mom was?”
Beck puts his head in his hands and shakes his head again. “We don’t even know for sure that Lenora was indeed Phoebe Rialson.”
She nods in agreement. “You’re right, we don’t, but if she was, and if Bodhi’s dad knew, if he somehow told Owen Edwards—”
“That’s a lot of ifs there, Eva,” Coop points out.
“I know,” she mumbles.
The guys don’t say anything else. Eva suddenly gets off my lap and goes over to an empty seat away from all of us. I feel like Coop and Beck are ambushing her, and I’m actually getting defensive and pissed. I know what I need to do to make this stop. I point to Coop, and motion for him to come take over the wheel. He does, and I go sit next to Eva, who puts her head on my shoulder.
“So … my mom,” I say to the guys. “I’m pretty sure she was this Phoebe person.”
Eva looks up at me, her eyes are wide. “Bodhi. It’s okay …”
I shake my head and turn back to Coop and Beck. “My mom, she left me a lot of money in a trust fund. A lot of money, guys. More than she would ever have had by doing photography.”
Neither one of them say anything at first.
“Maybe she saved it all this time, put a little aside each month,” Beck suggests.
I can’t help but laugh. “There’s no fucking way. There’s no way she saved all this money working at Funky Pelican and doing photography.”
Coop takes his eyes off the water for a minute. “How much money are we talking about, Bodhi?”
“Enough that my grandchildren won’t have to worry about money. Maybe their grandchildren too.”
“Bodhi?” Beck questions. “How much?”
I sigh and close my eyes as I blurt out, “Close to thirty million.”
Coop turns the boat off and leans back in his seat. We’re all rocking with the movement of the water, letting the current drift us down the Halifax.
“Thirty million?” Beck questions quietly.
I nod my head.
“Jesus Christ, Bodhi!” Coop exclaims. “You’ve just been sitting on this news?!”
“Your parents know. We found out during that meeting with the lawyer.”
“And Eva?” Beck remarks. “You obviously knew.”
She takes in a deep breath. “Bodhi told me yesterday.”
“It doesn’t matter who I told first. I wasn’t going to keep this shit from any of you,” I make clear.
Silence. Coop and Beck don’t say anything.
“Listen guys,” I say to them. “Yes, I told Eva first. The time was right, so I did it. I was waiting for the right time to tell you two, and here we are. That time is right now. Regardless of if Eva is right or wrong about why my dad is back, or if my mom was Phoebe Rialson, or how much money is sitting in a goddamn trust fund at some bank, you have to admit that Eva’s theories make sense.”
“A little,” Beck agrees.
“We know Mr. Channing got an inheritance from Paul Channing,” I continue. “We know Paul was the nephew of Kenneth Rialson. We know Mr. Channing has been worried over some letters, and someone named Phoebe Rialson. It only makes sense that Mr. Channing is worried about losing his money.”
“But what if this has nothing to do with you, Bodhi?” Coop asks me. “What if you’re digging into this shit, for no reason?”
“But what if it does? How else would my mom have millions of dollars stashed away in some secret trust fund? Unless she got part of that inheritance somehow? I don’t think we need to question if Eva is right or wrong, we need to question why my mom would give Mr. Channing all that money, instead of keeping it all for herself, and why she never told me.”
“This is going down as the most insane summer we’ve ever had,” Coop announces.
Beck looks up from his hands. “Are you sure it was Bodhi’s dad?” he questions Eva.
She nods her head on my shoulder, but doesn’t say anything else. I’m sure she’s tired of confirming this over and over again.
“Well, screw it,” Beck shrugs his shoulders. “If you say it was Bodhi’s dad, then it was Bodhi’s dad. Add it to the list of shit to figu
re out,” he points to Coop.
“Yes sir,” he remarks. “But, Bodhi, your dad. What’s he doing here, and why hasn’t he introduced himself or something? He hasn’t even gotten out of his truck.”
“He did,” Eva blurts out. “Or he was going to at least, this morning.”
“What?” I look down at her.
She lifts her head up to me. “You didn’t see that? He had his door opened and was halfway out of his truck before we both saw you and he jumped back in.”
I shake my head. “No, I was too busy watching you.”
Beck raises his eyebrows. “Did he say anything to you, Eva?”
“No. But—but for a minute there, it felt like he might have known who I was.”
“Shit, Eva,” I say. “What do you think he was planning on doing?”
“I don’t know,” she says. “But the whole thing just made me uncomfortable. I don’t think he was getting out to introduce himself or to give me a hug or anything.”
I shake my head and bring her hand into mine. I need to find him, my dad, and find out why the hell he has shown up in Flagler after so many years gone, and what he was planning on doing with Eva in the middle of the goddamn street.
“Let’s find him,” Coop suggests. “I don’t think it’ll be hard. We’ve seen him every day over the last three days, right? Better if we all find him together, instead of some bullshit happening like it did this morning.”
I agree with Coop, but Eva shakes her head.
“I think he’s going to find us,” she says. “It kind of seems like he knows where we are anyway. I bet if we wait, if we don’t go looking for him and lay low a little, he’ll find us. Then that’ll prove to us all, that he’s following us.”
“Sneaky,” Coop replies. “I like that. I like the idea of laying low too. This twilight zone shit is exhausting.”
“Laying low sounds good,” I agree. “And meanwhile, maybe tonight we can get Calvin to tell us how he knew Owen Edwards? And your mom, Eva. If Owen was the one who told her that Calvin was my grandpa.”
Eva nods her head. “Do you guys want to join us at Calvin’s for dinner tonight?” she asks the guys.
“Oh, I won’t miss a dinner at Calvin’s,” exclaims Coop. “I’m in.”
“Same here,” Beck replies. “In fact, I’m starving. Let’s go get some food or something.”
Eva stands up and heads over to the cooler. She walks it over to Beck. “Help yourself.”
Beck peeks inside. “You made us lunch?”
“I did.”
“Coop,” Beck looks over at him. “She made us lunch.”
“Well goddamn, Eva,” Coop laughs. “The way to our heart has always been food.”
“It’s only been three years, Coop,” she replies. “You don’t think I remember all the times you guys would bitch and moan about being hungry on the bike rides back to my house?”
Coop and Beck both bust out laughing. I stand and walk up behind Eva, putting my arms around her stomach and pulling her closer to me. Every day I love her more, which isn’t possible because my love for her has always been infinite.
She puts her hands on mine and leans her head back on my shoulder. “I could go for some fish,” she announces. “I know a place we can pull the boat up to … you guys hungry enough for two lunches?”
“Hell yeah,” Coop answers through bites.
“You know a place?” I smile.
She looks up at me and says, “I might have gone here once or twice a week, for the last couple years?”
“By yourself?”
“Sometimes I needed to be by myself,” she shrugs. “Besides, they know me there, so I wasn’t really by myself. Turn us around, Coop! We’re heading in the wrong direction.” Coop starts the boat back up and Eva spins around to face me. “You have your phone on you?”
“Yes.”
“Good,” she smiles. “You can connect it to the Bluetooth speakers and be our DJ, while I go over there,” she points to the front of the boat where she was earlier, “and work on my tan, or take a nap, probably a nap. If you’ve got a good playlist going, you can always join me.” She gives me a kiss before walking away. “Let me know when we get close to the bridge on Moody, guys!” she calls out behind her.
I watch her walk away, and I continue to watch her as she lies down. I then head over to Coop and Beck who are now navigating us down the Halifax, back towards High Bridge.
Coop puts his hand on my shoulder as I play around with the playlists on my phone, and says, “Thirty million, man?”
“I don’t want it to change—”
“Shit,” Coop interrupts. “It’s not going to change anything, right, Beck?”
“Right,” Beck agrees. “Except we make you pay for lunch, and dinner, and breakfast, forever.”
I laugh. “I can do that.”
“So, you and Eva,” Coop smirks. “Dude, you don’t even have to tell us. We know what you two did last night. It’s all over your beautiful glowing face.”
I turn bright red. “Wasn’t planning on telling you guys anything.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Coop replies. “So, she’s it, right? She’s your girl? No more watching you hook up with girl after girl and destroying them when you don’t call them the next day?”
I look up at him. “She was always the only girl for me, and I was an ass. I was stupid. I shouldn’t have done what I did this last year.”
“Bro, no need to hash this out,” Coop declares. “We get it. You were just passing the time until Eva came back. I’m happy for you, happy you’re happy. It’s been a long time.”
“Damn, Coop,” Beck says. “That’s like two sincere things you’ve said this week alone.”
Coop shrugs. “You two shitheads are my brothers, and she,” he points over to Eva, “she’s always been one of us. Things are complete now that she’s back.”
“Make that three sincere things,” I say, hitting play on my phone as the music comes on through the speakers. “And thanks, bro. You two shitheads are my brothers too. Think you both can handle the boat for a bit?”
“Yes, sir,” Beck replies. “But keep it PG, please.”
“Yes. PG, or I might have to tell Ma and Pop what you were really up to last night,” Coop winks.
I flip them both off with my middle finger and go join Eva, wondering how even when my life seems to be in complete chaos at the moment, it also seems to be totally perfect.
chapter twenty-nine
Eva
B odhi’s fingers are slowly moving up and down my stomach as we lie on the sundeck to my boat. At first, when he cuddled up beside me, I immediately put my head to his chest. I might have dozed off for a second or two. We stayed like that, me sleeping and he holding me in his arms, until he started running his fingers over my stomach. This sent a few random chills throughout my body and startled me awake.
Here we are now, his fingers drawing circles around my belly button as I smile into his neck. His hand wanders further up, and he starts to trace the sensitive skin right in between my breasts. I gasp and grab his hand, weaving my fingers in with his.
“Bodhi. Now is not the time to pick up where we left off.”
He kisses my forehead and rests our hands back on my stomach. “The guys,” he looks down at me. “Did they piss you off earlier?”
I laugh. “I can handle them.”
“Oh, trust me, I know you can. I just don’t want you to feel like they were ganging up on you.”
“The bromance you have with those two, is adorable,” I grin. “They were protecting you, I get it.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. It’s not a competition. Me, versus them, with you. We can all love you.” I lean over and give him a kiss. He sighs. “What?” I question him.
“You. Sometimes I love how much you want the guys to be involved in everything we do, and sometimes I want you all to myself.”
I sit up a little and look into his eyes. “You had me all to yourself, last night.
All of me, and you can have me all to yourself whenever you want, trust me on that. But don’t forget about them,” I point to Coop and Beck. “They’ve been here all along, when I wasn’t.”
His face falls a little, but then he pulls me down so our lips connect. His hand goes to my back where the strings of my bikini rest. He starts to jokingly pull a little as I swat his hand away.
“PG guys!” Coop yells. “We can see this!”
“We don’t want to see this!” Beck shouts.
Bodhi’s laughing now as he rolls out from under me. “Got it!” he yells to them, waving his hand in the air.
I sit up and stretch my legs out in front of me, leaning myself back on my elbows and lifting my face towards the sun. Moody Bridge isn’t in view yet, but we’re getting close.
“Eva?” Bodhi questions.
“Hmm?”
“Were you scared of my dad this morning?”
I can lie, but he would know right away because this is Bodhi, the guy who can read me like an open book, so I tell him the truth. “Yes. Something about him scared me. I don’t know what, just something.”
He nods his head and leaves it at that, but I can tell this is making him upset, so I do the only thing I can think of right now. I squeeze myself in right next to him and put my head on his shoulder. He brings both of his arms around my body and we stay like that, perfectly silent and listening to his playlist, until the bridge comes into view and gets closer. I stand and pull him up with me, giving him a quick kiss on his lips. I grab my dress that’s thrown over a chair and toss it on before walking over to the guys.
“Alright Captain,” I say to Coop. “My turn.” I motion for him to stand and relinquish his boating duties.
“Yes, ma’am.”
I pull us in under the bridge and straight to the boat slips on the right where Hidden Treasure is located. A secret restaurant few people are aware of because of its location right on the water and under the bridge. Once you’ve been to Hidden Treasure, you always come back though. I see the same people eating here every single time I come.
“One of you boys want to tie us off?” I say, guiding my boat to an empty spot. Perfect fit, like a glove. Coop and Beck both jump out and start securing us to the cleats.
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