His face is right in hers, his hands still on her. I can feel my muscles bunching up.
“Yep. Here I am.” She gives him a weak smile.
“You here to stay?”
She shakes her head. “Just the weekend. But I only live fifty minutes away, up in Culver City, so I can visit anytime.”
Visit him without me. Over my dead body.
I don’t mind Base. He’s a cool guy, but I won’t hesitate in busting up his face if he doesn’t stop touching what’s mine.
Mine?
But that’s just it. Evie isn’t mine, and she hasn’t been for a long time.
“Fucking A!” Base yells, hugging her again.
I swear to God, mine or not, if he doesn’t get his fucking hands off her, I’m going to—
“How are you doing over here?” Grady steps up beside me.
“I’m good,” I answer through gritted teeth.
“So, you’re sleeping with Evie again,” he says in a lowered voice.
What the hell?
My eyes flick to his. I hold his stare for a long moment, mine challenging him, but he doesn’t back down.
I look away and let out a sigh. “Yeah, I am.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
“No, not really.”
“Look, I don’t want to interfere because that’s not my bag, but you’ve become like a son to me over the years, and I love Evie a whole lot. I don’t want either of you getting hurt. I know how bad things were for you after she left. I don’t want you going back there. And things like this usually end up going only one way—south.”
My chest is tight again. It happens every time Grady calls me son. It’s the same when Richard calls me it, too.
I’ve either got serious daddy issues, or I’m heading for a heart attack. And the way I’ve been feeling around Evie lately, I’m thinking it might be the latter.
“Neither do I.” I meet his eyes. Then, I look back at Evie. “So, how did you know that I was sleeping with her, old man?” Subtly has never been my specialty, but I didn’t think I was doing anything outwardly obvious.
He lets out a laugh. “I might be old, but I’m not fucking blind. You haven’t taken your eyes off her since you walked through the door, and right now, you look like you’re about to rip Base’s head off at any second.”
“Yeah, well, he’s being a handsy motherfucker, and he needs to be taught some manners.” I scowl over at Base.
He’s finally taken his hands off Evie, but he’s got her attention, talking to her about something that requires him to move his hands a lot, and she’s laughing at whatever it is he’s saying.
She’s laughing.
My chest starts to ache again.
I haven’t heard her laugh once since she came back. Now that I think about it, I definitely haven’t seen a real smile from her. I’ve seen plenty of forced smiles, fake smiles…and sad smiles but not the real thing.
And right now, she’s smiling and laughing with him, and I’m jealous.
Yeah, I’m that guy.
Because I want to be the one to make her laugh and smile.
But then I’d actually have to be a human being to her to get her to even smile at me, and being human around Evie feels like a huge task that I don’t know I can manage.
I know if I want that from her, then something has to change. And I have to be the one to make that change.
I just don’t know if I can—or if it’s even a good idea.
“Take it easy, son. He hasn’t seen her in a long time, and he’s just happy to see her. That’s all. And I can’t have you fighting in my store. My insurance won’t cover it.”
“I have my checkbook with me.” I give him a slow grin.
“Funny. Now, come on, let’s pry your girl away from Base, so I can take you both to lunch.”
We take our seats at Plate—me next to Evie, Grady sitting across from her. I was surprised when Grady said we were eating here. He’s more of a pizza-and-beer kind of guy than healthy organic food.
“So, you going healthy on me, old man?” I say, grinning over my menu at him.
“No, you’re paying, and this place is pretty pricey. I always wanted to try it.” He smirks at me. “And the doc did tell me to cut back on the fatty foods, so I figured that spending your money and eating healthy is a win-win for me.”
“Doctor?” My alert goes up a notch. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, kid. Just a checkup. The doc has been telling me to lay off the fatty food and beer for years. I haven’t, and I’m still good, still out surfing every day.”
I stare at him for a long moment. Nerves twisting in my gut.
“So, what can I get everyone to drink?” the waitress asks, appearing out of nowhere.
“Beer for me,” Grady says.
I raise a brow at him.
“I said, cutting back, not giving up.”
“Sparkling water for me,” Evie says.
“Same for me,” I say.
“So, Evie Girl”—Grady leans over the table toward Evie and takes her hand as he looks her in the eyes—“I want to hear all about what you’ve been doing since I last saw you. How are your dad and young Casey?”
“She’s not young Casey anymore. She’s eighteen now and about to start UCLA. She wants to be a nurse.”
I watch the pride in her eyes as she talks about Casey, and it pulls in my gut.
And that’s how lunch goes. I sit there, mostly listening to them catch up on the last ten years. I don’t miss how she’s cagey about certain things, but Grady’s careful and only asks the right kind of questions.
I learn more about what Evie’s been doing all this time than I have in the last few weeks since she’s been back.
And that gaping hole in my chest widens, making me feel lost.
Then, lunch is over, and we’re dropping Grady off back at the Shack.
I watch as he and Evie say their good-byes, and she promises to come back and see him soon.
He comes around to my side of the car. “I’m guessing you won’t be out surfing in the morning. So, I’ll see you next weekend.” He pats my arm, which is resting on the door. “See you soon, Evie Girl, and not in another ten years, okay?”
“Okay.” She smiles at him.
I watch him go into the Shack, and then I pull away from the curb. “So, what do you want to do now?” I ask her.
I didn’t really think this through, that I would be left with all this time with her after Grady had to get back to work. He couldn’t leave the store all day.
She turns her head, resting it against the headrest, and looks at me. “I was thinking…well, I brought a sketchpad with me. I was thinking I might go to the beach and try to draw, see if anything comes to me. I did most of my best pictures on that beach.”
“Yeah, you did.”
I decide to go surfing even though the tide is low while Evie sketches. It’s either that or sit and watch her drawing up on her old rock.
That’s a sight I can go without seeing at the moment.
It’s hard enough to see when I come out with my board, and she is already up there, sketchpad in hand with her face tilted up to the sky, her hair blowing in the breeze.