A Spot at Starlight Beach (Spotted Cottage #3)

Thirty-three

There were dozens of films on Liam’s website. Mackenzie told herself she’d stop after one more, then another, and another. Some were shorter, two or three minutes. She watched those multiple times.

The longest was half an hour. It opened with a shot of a woman standing in a chapel, wearing a knee-length white gown, flowers hanging at her side.

“He should be here any minute.” Her voice cracked. “Right?”

A stone sunk in Mackenzie’s stomach. This was Liam’s sister. She saw the resemblance immediately, and as much as she wanted to shut the laptop and walk away, it was impossible. Mackenzie sat there and watched, weeping all the way until the end.

“I suppose it’s lucky, in a way,” Liam’s sister said, sitting with a cup of tea. “Some people go through a whole marriage before they find out the person they love is a git.”

Liam’s laughter burst out from behind the camera. Mackenzie jumped, sure for a moment he was in the room with her.

“So you’ve saved yourself some time, then?” he asked.

“I have.” She looked to the side, her eyes searching. “He’s the one missing out. All of it and, for him, all the time in the world won’t help. I may look pathetic right now, being left behind, but it’s him who’s pathetic. He’s the one who ran away. He’ll always be the one who runs away.”

The screen went black.

Tears dropped from Mackenzie’s cheeks and onto Derby’s head. He sighed, leaning into her, his eyes closed.

Mackenzie didn’t want to be someone who ran away. She wanted to apologize, to tell Liam she’d been wrong.

But how could she? How could the word sorry encompass how sick she felt? Not just for believing Cameron over him, but for entirely missing who Liam was, every day not seeing the man in front of her?

She stood and dusted the fur off her lap. “Enough laying around,” she announced.

Derby yawned, putting his head down, his round eyes peering up at her.

“Not you, Derby. I’m talking about myself.”

The idea clapped into her mind all at once. It was like nothing she’d ever done before.

She pulled out her phone and took a deep breath. It was time to make a call.

“Hello?”

“Russell. It’s Mackenzie. We need to talk.”

“Sure. What’s up?”

“Where are you?” She flew down the stairs and stuffed her feet into her shoes.

“I’m at home. Is everything okay?”

“I’ll be there in two minutes!” She hung up, sprinting along the path to Russell’s house.

The front door was unlocked, so she let herself in. Her mom sat at the kitchen island.

“Mackenzie!” She stood.

Mackenzie gave her a quick kiss. “Hey, Mom. Can’t chat right now.”

“Oh, okay.”

“I found something, Russell. I mean – I discovered someone.”

Russell cocked his head to the side. “Discovered?”

“Yes! Liam. Look!” She slammed her laptop onto the kitchen island and hit play.

It was the video with the dime. She watched their faces light up with frowns, then laughter.

“That’s only one of them,” Mackenzie said as soon as it was finished. “He’s got tons. He’s incredible.”

“Not to be pedantic,” Russell said. “But technically, I discovered him.”

She sighed. “You saw Liam’s films?”

“Yeah. Why do you think I asked him to make a documentary about Lottie? The guy’s got talent.”

She could scream. She thought they had spent all their time talking about wolves. She’d assumed Russell was, well, careless. “Why didn’t you tell me about these?”

He put his hands up. “Another ball dropped. I’m sorry. Why does it matter?”

“He deserves recognition! He should have been discovered years ago.”

“Well, I’d hoped the Lottie documentary would bring him some attention. If attention is what he wants.”

“Of course it’s what he wants! He’s just horrendous at advocating for himself.”

Russell smiled and looked at Sheila. “I know someone else like that.”

Sheila scoffed. “Leave me out of this!”

“I don’t think he’s going to finish the Lottie documentary and it’s my fault,” Mackenzie said. “I can’t explain. How do I get him noticed? Can we email this to one of your friends?”

Russell sighed. “You can, but it wouldn’t help. His best bet would be to submit these to a few film festivals. Some of them are so short they’d probably waive the fee.”

Mackenzie’s eyes widened. “Film festivals? And he’d get discovered?”

“I think so, yes. He has a lot of talent and a history of telling exceptional stories.”

She opened a blank document on her laptop. “Give me the top five. No – the top ten film festivals. I’m going to submit for him.”

Russell grinned. “Sure.”