by L. P. Dover
My phone rings in my purse, but I’m too pissed and upset to look at who it is. The regatta should be over by now so it could easily be Max. I have no clue if he won, and right now, I don’t care. All that matters is that I get away from Newport fast.
“Want to talk about it?” Kim asks.
I toss my bags into the trunk of her car and she does the same. “Let’s get on the road first. I want to get away from here.”
We’re both supposed to work at the yacht club tomorrow, but I called and quit. I refuse to be around Max and his yuppie friends and family who think they’re better than everyone else. I have to exclude his mother and Mark from that. Kitty tried to get me to stay for the rest of the race, but I couldn’t stomach being around Alyssa and hearing her talk about how Max proposed to her last night, followed by an extravagant night she’s too ladylike to talk about. It took all I had not to rip her fake hair extensions out and smack her in the face with them. I’m not a violent person, but being around her enraged me. I’d give anything to put her in her place one good time.
Once Kim and I are in her car and on the highway, I breathe a sigh of relief. I want to forget everything that just happened. Getting away for a few days will help. Who knows, I might decide to stay away a lot longer than that.
“All right, London, spill. If I quit my job for you, the least you can do is tell me what happened.” She glances over at me, her eyes sad. It takes all I have not to break down. I can’t give Alyssa and Max’s bitch of a stepmother and father the satisfaction. Even though they can’t see the damage they did to me. Why do I even care? The answer’s simple…I fell in love.
Her pitying stare makes my heart hurt worse. I turn toward the window and peer out, ignoring my reflection in the glass. I hate myself for being weak, for falling for a guy I knew was bad news. My phone rings again, but I reach into my purse to shut it off.
“What happened at the regatta, London? You were so happy when you left.”
I scoff. “Yeah, until Alyssa Worthington shows up parading around with a ten-pound engagement ring on her finger. Apparently, Max was with her last night.”
Kim gasps. “Seriously? What an asshole.”
The anger comes back with a vengeance. “Oh, and that’s not all.” Clenching my fists, I turn to her, my cheeks hotter than fire. “His dad had the gall to say I was nothing but a minimum wage waitress used as a fuck buddy to quell his son’s needs before walking down the aisle.”
Kim’s mouth gapes. “Holy shit. I’d love to ram a hot ass poker up his ass and say it quells my need to punish him for being a dick. What kind of man says that crap to someone?”
“A man like Sheldon Richmond,” I say through gritted teeth. Tears form in my eyes. They burn, but I refuse to let them fall. “Things were going great there for a while. I was sitting with Kitty and Mark, drinking mimosas, and having a good time. Max’s mother is so sweet.”
Kim huffs. “Obviously, he didn’t get the sweetness from her.”
“Exactly,” I scoff.
Closing my eyes, I replay it all in my head. I don’t want to, but it’s like it’s on a rapid loop through my brain. I’m sitting there laughing and smiling, watching Max on the water. Everything feels right. But then it all goes to shit when Sheldon and Brandy Richmond show up with Alyssa. I’ve never hated anyone in my life, but I loathe them. They’re bad people. You can feel their toxicity oozing off them in droves. How miserable do you have to be to cut someone down the way they do?
I shrug. “I feel like such an idiot, Kim. Why would Max use me like that? How could he do it?”
“Because men suck major assholes, my dear friend. Sometimes I think I need to be a lesbian. Women know what other women want.”
She has a point, but something tells me it doesn’t matter if I’m with a guy or girl. There will always be complications. Love is never easy, especially with my luck. I have one failed marriage under my belt, and I’ve been used by another man who I thought cared for me. Guess it goes to show how naïve I am.
“I’m going on a detox while we’re away,” I say in all honesty. “A man detox.”
Kim giggles. “So, will I. Then again, I don’t think we’ll have much of a choice in Maine. Your parents live in the middle of nowhere. There probably isn’t a man our age in sight.”
After everything that happened at the regatta, the only place I knew I could retreat to was Maine. My parents are ecstatic to have me and Kim stay at their house for a few days. They think we’re coming there for vacation, but in all honesty, I’m running away. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to go back to Newport. My job is gone, which in a way, really sucks. I won’t get the management position now. All that hard work was for nothing.
“We’ll be fine,” I promise her. “Remember, a man detox. Maine is a beautiful state. We can go to the beach and go hiking in Acadia National Park.”
“How long are you planning on staying? I need to head back to Rhode Island in a few days.”
How long? I don’t know exactly. I look over at her and sigh. “I’ll stay as long as it takes.”
Even though Maine isn’t where I grew up, it feels like home. Then again, my parents are probably laying on the charm pretty thick because they want me to stay. I can’t complain though. I’ve missed them.
They bought a small farmhouse on a couple acres of land. It’s not much, but they’re really happy with it. They have a chicken coop in the backyard, a beehive where they raise their own bees for honey, and an empty barn that could house several animals. In a way, I hope it stays empty or else they’ll have me out there mucking the stalls. I never thought my parents’ dreams were to own a tiny farm in the middle of nowhere, but it’s what they wanted. At sunrise, I went out to the chicken coop with my mom and helped her grab all the eggs while my dad mowed the lawn. Kim stayed asleep the entire time which didn’t surprise me.
“What made you want to come home so fast?” my mother asks. She flips the last pancake and scoops it onto the plate with the others. When she looks at me, I turn my focus to the massive spread in front of me. I don’t want her knowing anything about Max and what happened.
“I figured it was time for a visit,” I lie even though there’s some truth to it. I really did want to see my parents.
She sits down at the table and scoops some eggs onto her plate. “How long are you staying?”
I fill up my plate with eggs, bacon, and two pancakes. “At least a couple of weeks. I had some vacation time built up at the yacht club that I needed to take.”
She grins. “Nice. You must like it a lot there.”
If she only knew how much I hated it now. The last thing I want to do is go back and have to serve Max and his new fiancé. Luckily, Kim strolls in, still in her pajamas, and waves. “Morning.”
My mom laughs at her. “It’s practically afternoon for us. We’ve been up since the crack of dawn.”
Sheepishly, Kim looks over at me and I nod. “It’s true. We have. After breakfast, you and I are going hiking. Hope you’re ready for that.” It’ll be nice to get some fresh air and time to think.
Kim’s stomach growls and she clutches it. “I’ll be ready as soon as I eat. I’m starving.” Mom and I laugh at her as she fills her plate completely.
“Don’t you ever eat?” my mom asks her teasingly.
Kim scoops a bite of eggs into her mouth and moans. “Yes, but the food back home isn’t as good as this.”
I roll my eyes. “That’s because she’s never awake when I cook,” I say to my mom.
My mom pats my hand and winks. “I taught you well.”
“Yes, you did,” I agree. Being around her makes me realize how much I really do miss spending time with her.
As soon as we finish breakfast, Kim and I clean the dishes so my mom can go outside and help my dad in the yard. I can see them through the kitchen sink window, laughing as they pull weeds out of one of the flower beds in the front yard.
“Think we’ll ever be that happy?” Kim wonders.
I thought there was a chance I could be, but I was totally wrong. “I hope so.”
She dries off the last dish and hands it to me. “All right, girlie, let me get dressed and we’ll get out of here. You need to get in a better mood.”
Can’t argue with her there. She disappears down the hall and it doesn’t take her long to get dressed. One of my old backpacks is in the hall closet so I pull it out and fill it up with waters and snacks. When we get outside, the weather is perfect. No clouds in sight. It’s the middle of September and the high for today is a breathtaking seventy-two degrees.
“Has Max tried to call you?”
I open the car door and get in, tossing my backpack into the backseat. My phone is in the bag, but I have yet to turn it on. I’m scared to see what messages I’ve missed, or if there are even any messages at all. It’ll gut me either way.
“I don’t know,” I confess. “I’ve been too afraid to turn my phone back on.”
Kim starts up the car and we head on our way to Acadia. “I understand. I’ve kept mine off too. I’m sure our boss has left me quite a few nasty messages for quitting.”
“You didn’t have to quit. I could’ve come up here by myself.”
She snorts. “Please. You’re my best friend. You need me right now. Besides, I really hated my job. You’re the only reason why I stayed. I knew if you became manager things would get better.” And now I’m not. I threw that opportunity away.
It doesn’t take long to get to Acadia, and today, we’re going to hike the Bubbles Trail. It’s a moderate hike that features a vast abundance of wildflowers. I need some serenity right now. Grabbing my bag out of the backseat, I slide my arms through it and tighten the straps, so it fits snugly across my back.
Kim pulls out her phone and sighs. “All right, I’m turning this thing on. The suspense is killing me.” As soon as she turns it on, there are a gazillion beeps. She scrolls through her messages and cringes her face. “Yikes. Yeah, there are some pretty harsh messages on here. Remind me never to use our boss as a reference for future jobs.” She continues scrolling, but then her eyes widen in shock.
“What is it?”
She bites her lip and looks at me. “I got a text from Max. Several in fact. He’s looking for you.”
My heart flutters for a quick second, but then reality steps in and I embrace the anger. I refuse to let him break my heart. Who am I kidding? It’s already broken. “Don’t reply,” I warn her.
She agrees with a nod and puts her phone in her pocket. “You don’t think he can track where you’re at, do you?”
Knowing Max, he can probably do anything. He knows the right people. “Dear God, I hope not. If he’s smart, he’ll leave me alone.”
Kim chuckles but there’s no humor in it. “Something tells me that’s not going to happen.”
Eight
Max
It took me five days to track London down. It should’ve been sooner but her best friend, Kim, is like a vault and wouldn’t tell me anything. In fact, she made me work for any minute detail, and each time she gave me a morsel, it was to throw me off their path. First, she told me London was at work—which wasn’t true because I had camped out in front of the restaurant waiting for London to come to work. Then, Kim told me London was at their house—nope, another fabrication. And then it was, we’re at the mall in Providence—so I hightailed my ass there, only to realize that mall is ginormous, and I would’ve never found London, even if I believed Kim to telling the truth.
Now, I’m sitting in my car, down the road from the farmhouse London’s parents bought. Thanks to Kim turning on her location services, I’ve been able narrow down a location for at least Kim. I figure since she quit her job as well, they would be together. Still, I haven’t seen hide nor hair of either of them. Every few minutes, I contemplate driving down the long driveway and knocking on the door. My problem is, I’m not sure if London is there and I don’t know what I’d say to her parents. If I tell them I’m looking for her and they haven’t seen her, this might alert them into thinking she’s missing. And if she is there and she’s told them about everything that happened last week, her father will likely chase me off their porch with a shotgun, which I probably deserve.
I look down at my bandaged hand and sigh. My knuckles hurt, but still I flex them to keep them from stiffening up. After I left the reception last weekend, I went right to London’s. I banged on the door until my knuckles bled. As if that wasn’t enough damage, when I returned to my boat that night, Vance had the nerve to call London a cheap fuck. One punch to his smug face landed him in the water. For years, I’ve overlooked Vance and his power trip, but no more. When he spewed those words, I couldn’t take it anymore. He knows nothing about London and looks down on her because she’s a waitress.
When I didn’t find London at my boat, I had no choice but to give up for the night. I figured she went to another friend’s but assumed she would show up for work the next day. In the morning, I parked outside the restaurant and waited. When the lunch shift started and London wasn’t there, I asked her manager, who told me she up and quit.
She quit her job.
Because of me.
Talk about feeling the lowest of lows. When her manager said that, I felt like I had been sucker punched. London was working her ass off to become manager, it was her goal, and then I offered her the chance to run the restaurant at Dawson’s Marina. Everything London had worked for was going to come to fruition and then Alyssa happened. No wonder London quit. I’d quit this damn place too if I had a choice.
A truck comes down the road and I slink down in my seat. Of course, my car sticks out like a sore thumb around here. I’m sure whoever drove past is probably calling the cops. This spurs me into action as I right myself and press the button to start my car. I put the car into drive and pull forward the length of the split rail fence, until I turn onto the dirt driveway. I cringe each time I hear a rock hit my car, undoubtedly leaving dents, or chipping the paint.
It’s just a car. It’s just paint. The prize is in that house.
That is what I tell myself until I finally come to a stop. From the outside, everything looks quiet. I don’t know if I expected something different, maybe the door opening and slamming shut or children running around, which is odd to think because London is an only child and unless she lied to me, she doesn’t have children. But the fact that I can envision children running around this place is eye opening.
I shut my car off, get out and walk with confidence to the front door. Up the small flight of wide planked steps, I knock rapidly on the wooden screen door. Voices rise as someone comes to the door. It opens and a woman, who looks identical to London stands there, holding a towel.
“Can I help you?”
“Mrs. Bauer, My name is Maxwell Richmond and I’m here to see London.” I have no idea if London is even here, but I figure if I state my point matter-of-factly, she’ll let me know whether London is here or not.
She turns her head slightly, without taking her eyes off me. “London, sweetie. Come here.”
My eyes steady on the hall, waiting for London to appear. When she does, they widen at the sight of her and my heart leaps from my chest. As soon as she recognizes me through the mesh screen, her steps falter.
“Wh—how did you find me?”
“Sweetie, who is this?” her mom asks.
“He’s no one, Mom.”
Ouch, that stings, but it’s deserving.
“Can we talk?” I ask as I point to the porch swing. It takes a moment, but London steps forward and places her hand on the screen. She hesitates before pushing it open and stepping out. I back up, giving her a wide berth. London glances at her mom and in a silent exchange, her mom nods and shuts the door. I appreciate the privacy even though I haven’t earned it.
No, I take that back. I have. What my dad, stepmom and Alyssa did to London is on them, not me. I’ve been completely honest with her about how I feel and how I feel about that side o
f my family. I’m nothing like Yates and Vance, which I suspect she probably thinks isn’t true.
London sits down and as much as I want to sit next to her—as much as I can picture us on this swing together, watching the sun go down—I rest against the railing. I want to pull her into my arms and apologize for everything that happened on Saturday, but I’m afraid that if I try to touch her, she’ll run.
We sit in silence for a bit, with her rocking back and forth and staring off, while I look down at the decking. I’ve cleared my throat a couple of times but am having trouble finding the right words to start my diatribe.
“You came a long way just to sit on my parent’s porch,” she finally says. “I’m not even sure why you’re here or why I’m sitting outside with you. I don’t like liars and I definitely don’t like rich boys.”
I nod. “I’m not a liar, London. I have never lied to you. The rich boy part, there isn’t anything I can do about that.”
She scoffs. “How did you even find me?”
“Kim,” I tell her.
“Kim? Kim texted you and told you where I was?”
I shake my head. “Her location services are on.”
“Stalker,” she mutters.
“I am.” I agree wholeheartedly with her. “And that should tell you something.”
“Just tells me you’re a stalker, following me all the way from Rhode Island to Maine. If you think I’m going to be some side piece, you’re crazy. People like you disgust me. You think you can have your cake and eat it too. That you can have your fancy house, trophy wife, with your prefect kids while you bang the waitress down the street and pay her rent to keep your dirty little secret at bay. That’s not me.” She points to her chest. “I deserve better than that.”