Maine thought about the hard things he and Orchid had already accomplished together. He’d loved working alongside her, listening to her talk about her daughter and the school projects she did. “So what do I do? Show up at her house and ask if she saw the news this morning?”
“Yeah, why not?” Honey asked. “I followed Tyrone to Corpus Christi and refused to leave his hotel room until he would talk to me. I apologized. I told him I loved him. I told him our son needed him. That I needed him. People want to feel loved, and women especially want to know you need them.” She tapped the brim of her sun hat. “Take it from me.”
Maine nodded, his thoughts swirling again. yes, Honey had hit a rough patch in her marriage a year or so ago. Her husband had left for a few months. But they were making things work.
Maine could make things work with Orchid too. He’d done hard things before, both on the football field and off. “I don’t have her number. I don’t know where she lives.”
“Her brother-in-law isn’t hard to find,” Honey said. “Right? Didn’t you say he owns Explore Getaway Bay? Let’s go there, and you can demand to call her sister.” Honey stood up as if she’d drive him there right now.
“Now?” he asked.
“What are you waiting for?”
“It’s four-thirty,” he said. “I have a meeting with the owner of the Orcas in an hour.”
“Ninety minutes,” Honey said. “How long do you think a phone call takes? You get the info you need now, go to your meeting, and get Orchid back by morning.” She beamed down at him. “Now come on.”
Maine knew better than to argue with his sister. He also didn’t want to stay away from Orchid or wait for her to come to him.
He got up and followed her, nervous the entire way over to the Explore Getaway Bay headquarters, which she put in her phone to find. Inside the lobby, he stalled. “I don’t know, Honey.”
“I do.” She marched on, going right up to the desk. “Hi, my brother here needs to get in touch with Eden Holstein. It’s a matter of extreme importance.”
The woman there looked from Honey to Maine, who took the last couple of steps and stood next to his sister. “Hey,” he said, his whole chest trembling. “I’m Maine Fitzgerald, and I said some really stupid things on the news this morning. I need to find Orchid Stone, and Eden is her sister.”
The woman’s mouth dropped open. “I saw you on the news this morning. You’re Maine Fitzgerald.”
He nodded, this woman’s reaction fairly typical for him. “Yeah, I said that. Didn’t I?” He looked at Honey and smiled before turning back to the receptionist. “Would it be possible for you to put me through to Eden Holstein? I’ll stay right here and talk to her.”
“That won’t be necessary,” a woman said behind them, and Maine turned to find another blonde standing there, oh-so-familiar though he’d never met her in person. “I’m Eden Holstein. Did you need something?”
He gaped at her until Honey elbowed him. Then he strode toward her, his hand extended. “Hello, Eden. I’m Maine Fitzgerald, and I’m in love with your sister.”
Chapter Fifteen
“I don’t want to go out tonight,” Orchid said, holding her new phone to her ear with her shoulder while she washed her lunch dishes. Tesla had gone back to school, but Orchid still had a few days before she was scheduled to return to Petals & Leis. Her singles cruise should’ve still been going strong, and she felt so removed from that time. From that person she’d been before boarding the ship.
“Come on,” Eden said. “You’re slipping back into oblivion, Orchid.”
“I am not,” she said. “I’m doing fine.” Better than ever, in fact. She’d started looking into what it would take to finish her nursing degree. She’d started a long time ago and being out on that island and needing some medical skills had reminded her how much she enjoyed taking care of others.
When she served others, she didn’t have room to focus on her own problems. And really, hers were first-world problems like running out of hot water because Tesla spent too long in the bathtub in the morning or opening the fridge to find they were out of chocolate milk.
Her sister sighed loudly into the phone, but Orchid didn’t care. “I’ve been eating out for every meal since I got back,” she said. “I already put a roast in my slow cooker, and I’m staying home tonight.”
She knew the sacrifices her family, Eden especially, had made for her over the years. She often went along with most of what they wanted. But the fact was, she wasn’t the same woman she’d been even two weeks ago.
It had been twelve days since the tsunami. Eleven since the storm. Three since she’d been home. Maine had not attempted to contact her, as he only seemed to have time for interviews and reunions with his family.
She couldn’t begrudge him that, and she knew her obsession with searching the Internet for any news story about him was unhealthy. And yet, she couldn’t seem to stop herself from doing it.
“What will it take to get you to the steakhouse?” Eden asked.
“Why is this so important to you?” Orchid asked. “If you want to come over, come over. I’m not going to stop you. There’ll be plenty to eat.”
“It’s not that.”
“Well, I’m not getting a babysitter so I can go to dinner with you and your husband.” Orchid turned off the sink and held the phone properly, a kink forming in her neck. “You don’t want me there anyway.”
Scuffling came through the line, and Eden said, “I have to go, Orchid. Talk to you later.” The line went dead a moment later, and Orchid practically threw the phone into the sink. But last time she’d started tossing things around, she’d broken her favorite coffee mug. She’d just gotten this phone, and she didn’t want to buy a new one.
Squeezing it extra-hard, she let out some of her frustration that way. Tesla wouldn’t be finished with school for a few more hours, and then Orchid would have something to fill her time with. The insane idea to drive by the Getaway Bay Orcas sports complex ran through her mind—again. She’d been thinking about going there early in the morning and parking, waiting and watching to see if Maine showed up.
Surely he would. He’d been sequestered by his coach and personal trainers the moment he’d stepped up onto the rescue yacht. He’d said he wasn’t due to show up for training until after the cruise, but the storm had changed everything.
“Absolutely everything,” she murmured to herself, staring out her back windows at the water in the distance. She’d always loved this view, because she and Henry had bought this house for its spectacular view of the ocean out these windows. Tesla loved the beach and the ocean, and when Orchid couldn’t take her, they could stand here and at least see it.
She turned away, having had her fill of the scene before her. At least now she had indoor plumbing just down the hall.
But she didn’t have Maine.
His words from the beach rang in her ears. Promise me you’ll call me.
She wasn’t sure how he’d expected her to do that. Then he’d said he’d call her. She wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do. She knew she missed him terribly, and she wanted his strength in her life. She wanted his reassurances. She wanted to share her fears and her triumphs.
Deciding she had to be the Orchid from the island the way she wished he was, she grabbed her keys and headed for her car. The Orcas had built an indoor training facility on a corner of the stadium property, and she knew that was where all the administration efforts for the team took place.
Maine might even have an office here. He was their starting quarterback. Maybe he had a dressing room the way celebrities did. She wished she’d had the foresight to ask him during one of their many conversations on the island.
As it was, all she could do was walk into the building and glance around like a tour guide would appear out of nowhere. No one did, and only the hum of the air conditioning overhead met her ears.
The building had been open, so she assumed she could go wherever she wanted. A museu
m of sorts sat to her left, and she went that way. The Getaway Bay Orcas were only a few years old, but there was obviously plenty of paraphernalia to fill the room. Trophies and medals, jerseys, shoes, and signed footballs.
She came to a life-sized picture of Maine himself, that cocky smile on his face. She stared at him, trying to find the man she knew within his face. He was there, that shy smile taking over his arrogant one. That handsome face as he looked at her and considered what she’d suggested. Those strong arms that held her at night.
Her heart pinched, and she didn’t know what to do to stop it. She’d fallen in love before, and it had been wonderful. She’d never doubted her feelings for Henry, nor his for her. They’d been married quickly and spent only several months together before she’d become pregnant with Tesla and he’d died.
That kind of heartbreak she wouldn’t wish on anyone, but at this moment in time, she felt all kinds of new cracks inside her chest, all originating in her heart. They spiraled out, infecting everything, and a sob gathered in the back of her throat.
She left the building without seeing anyone, thankfully, and drove to the elementary school, the first car in the pick-up line because she was so early. Didn’t matter. She could take a nap here or search for more news articles quoting Maine. Why she wanted to torture herself with those, she wasn’t sure.
Nothing new popped up in her search, and she ended up laying her chair down and closing her eyes. She woke when Tesla opened the door and said, “Mom, guess what?”
“What?” She sat up, her mouth feeling like someone had stuffed it full of cotton.
“We had an assembelbly. An assemelly—”
“An assembly,” Orchid said, raising her seat to the right position to drive.
“Right. It was the football team you and Grandpa like. They did all these cool tricks.”
“Really?” Orchid said, her heart beat skipping over itself. “What kind of tricks?”
“Not really tricks,” she said. “They threw footballs into baskets and stuff. They never missed. It was fun.”
“Hmm,” she said, pulling into the line to get out of the drive-through lane. “What else did you do today?”
“We had mashed potatoes and gravy for lunch.”
“Of course you did,” she said. “It’s Thursday.” She smiled at her daughter. “And you’re going to your watercolor class this afternoon. And swimming lessons.”
“And Grandpa is taking me for sushi.” She cheered, as Tesla loved sushi. Orchid did not, so she appreciated her father exposing Tesla to some things she simply didn’t want to.
Orchid smiled at her daughter as she drove toward the recreation center. Tesla usually rode an after-school bus there, but since Orchid wouldn’t be back to work for a few more day, she got to do it.
She liked picking her daughter up after school. Liked listening to her talk about the things she’d done, and seeing her bright, full-of-life face right as she finished for the day. “Sweetie, I’m thinking about going back to school.”
She looked at Tesla, who turned toward her with wide, innocent eyes. “I was studying to be a nurse when your daddy died. I’m thinking I’d like to do that again.” She had no idea what it would take to do that, but she knew she couldn’t work full-time at Petals & Leis. Maybe Burke would let her keep the job but allow her to work more flexible hours.
Determined now, she nodded at Tesla. “Things will change a little bit.”
“That’s okay,” Tesla said, and Orchid wished for her childlike attitude.
She pulled up to the rec center and said, “Got everything?”
Tesla put her school backpack in the back seat and grabbed the bag she’d put there that morning. “Yep. ‘Bye, Mom.
“Love you,” Orchid said, watching Tesla get out of the car and skip toward the front doors. She joined another girl and her mother at the entrance, turning back to wave to Orchid one last time before disappearing inside.
Orchid sighed, put her car in drive, and went home. It was too quiet, and she hated being there alone. Maine’s words from the interview suddenly made so much more sense.
I’m just glad I wasn’t alone.
Well, Orchid was alone, and she didn’t know how to remedy that situation.
A few hours later, just as she lifted the beautiful pot roast out of the slow cooker and onto her plate, someone rang the doorbell. It wouldn’t be someone in her family, as they all just came inside whenever they wanted.
It was too early for Tesla to be finished with her activities and sushi, and besides her dad hadn’t texted to say they were on their way home yet. He always did that.
Before, she might have been afraid. Tonight, though, she remembered she’d stared down a wild boar and then climbed fifty feet up a rock wall to get away from it. She could answer the door and not know who stood on the other side, just as she could look up what classes she still needed for her degree and open her application to the nursing program again—both things she’d done that afternoon after dropping her daughter off.
She crossed through the house, her stomach rumbling for food, and opened the door.
Maine stood there, and he looked up from his phone, hastily shoving it into his back pocket. “Orchid,” he said, and all the carefully crafted lies Orchid had been telling herself about him evaporated.
They just looked at one another, and she could see the man she’d fallen for right there in front of her. “You were right,” she said.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“You had to go back to being a version of Maine Fitzgerald I didn’t know.”
“I don’t know him either.”
Orchid’s pulse trembled through her body it rippled so fast. “How did you find me?”
“I tracked down Eden,” he said. “I introduced myself to her, and I told her I was in love with you, and I needed her help.” He smiled, but it was that hesitant, vulnerable grin she loved so much. “But she couldn’t get you to the steakhouse. So I’m here.” He glanced over her shoulder. “Something smells amazing.”
I told her I was in love with you.
Orchid stared at him, no words coming to her mind.
“Can I come in?” he asked.
She still didn’t move. “I’m sorry.” She blinked and shook her head. “I need you to back up a little. You tracked down Eden, and….”
Maine looked at her with those eyes she loved so much. “I told her I was in love with you.” He took both of her hands in his. “Because Orchid, I’m madly in love with you. I—love—you. I don’t want to do anything without you. I actually can’t function without you. I’m quite pathetic, but I’m trying to hide that until you take me back.”
Orchid gazed up at him. “You said you were just glad not to be alone on that island. You’ve never mentioned me at all.” She didn’t want to show him he’d hurt her, but she’d never been great at hiding how she felt.
And he should know anyway. So she pulled her hands away from him and backed up a step.
Chapter Sixteen
Maine watched Orchid close herself off to him, the same way she’d done at the Battle of the Sexes Trivia night.
“I know,” he said. “And I have a good explanation for that.”
“I bet you do.” She folded her arms and cocked her hip, and Maine’s blood only ran hotter at the sight of her.
“I didn’t want to put you in the public spotlight like that,” he said. “Not without your permission. Do you realize what would’ve happened to you, your family—Tesla—if I’d said we were dating?”
She opened her mouth and shut it again.
“Maybe I should’ve said something,” he said. “I don’t know. So much of those interviews came from my public relations specialist, and I don’t know.” He exhaled, because he really didn’t know. He knew he’d had to earn Eden’s trust and that had taken a day or so. He knew he’d been frustrated since the moment he’d stepped foot back on this island. He knew he needed to earn Orchid’s love and trust—and then Tesla�
��s. And he was willing to do whatever it took to do that.
“You rescued me,” he said, his voice almost breaking. “I actually miss the island, because I could just be me, and you were just you, and I loved her. I loved the me I was out there. I want that again, and the only place I’m going to find it is with you.” He nodded behind her. “Can I please come in? I feel like all of your neighbors are watching.”
She backed up, and he went inside her house and closed the door. “Thank you.” He took a deep breath, getting the scent of that delicious meat, with the floral undertones of Orchid’s skin. He knew that scent well.
“I saw your reunion with your mother and sisters,” she said.
He growled and glared around at the house, because he wasn’t really angry with her. “That was exactly the type of thing I was trying to protect you from,” he said. “My private life isn’t very private, and we never really talked about that out on the island. I don’t know if you—you might be uncomfortable with that, and you should get to choose if you want me—and everything that comes with me—in your life.”
There, he’d said it all. He’d followed his dad’s and Honey’s advice by finding Orchid. He’d done what Eden had said and led with how much he loved Orchid. He’d done what he felt was right, and that was telling Orchid the absolute truth.
“I love you,” he said again. “And I’ll do whatever you want me to do, even if that’s leave and never come back.” His whole heart rejected that idea, but he couldn’t force her to choose him.
She had to choose him.
She looked at him, and he felt very much like she was evaluating him with those eyes that missed nothing. “I don’t have hamburgers,” she finally said. “But this pot roast is pretty stellar, and the potatoes weren’t cooked in a fire. If you want to stay for dinner, I wouldn’t mind.”
Maine chuckled, the laughter growing when Orchid finally smiled too. She giggled, and in the next moment, she launched herself into his arms. He caught her as she wrapped her legs around his torso and cradled his face in both of her hands.
Stranded with the Quarterback Page 10