16. Reece
16
The clock on the bedside table moves agonizingly slow, the number seemingly at a standstill as I check and recheck my outfit for tomorrow. My phone vibrates from somewhere on the bed, and I have to hunt through the discarded clothing items to find it.
Snatching it up from under a pencil skirt, I gasp as I read and reread the message.
MADDOX: There was a fire at Cakeology
REECE: WHAT?! I’m on my way!
MADDOX: NO
REECE: What the hell do you mean NO? Is Marigold okay?!
MADDOX: Smoke inhalation but she’s okay—refused to go to the hospital
REECE: But she’s okay? I can’t believe you didn’t make her go
MADDOX: Believe me I tried
MADDOX: But I need you to do something for me
REECE: Anything
MADDOX: I have more to do at the shop but I fucked up with Marigold—with how I handled it
REECE: Shocker (eyeroll emoji)
MADDOX: Yell at me later
REECE: Sorry—it’s so rare you admit you’re in the wrong
MADDOX: Can you focus?
MADDOX: Her shop is a mess and is going to take heavy renovations to get it back up and running.
REECE: That’s so awful—what can I do? Is she at her apartment? I can go now.
MADDOX: Logan is with her—the guy who works there
REECE: I love Logan! He’s hilarious
MADDOX: FOCUS
REECE: I’m multitasking. I’m texting him now for an update
MADDOX: Fine. Whatever. Just go over tomorrow and make sure she’s okay. I put a call in to the Probie’s parents—they’re going to let her use their place to do her baking—we’ll take care of the cleanup here. Probie is bringing the dumpster in the morning
REECE: Jace is the Probie, right?
MADDOX: Does it matter? Yes. Just tell Marigold it’s all taken care of.
REECE: You DO have a sweet side! She’s going to be so happy you did that.
MADDOX: You have to tell her it was you.
REECE: What? Why?
MADDOX: Because. I. Fucked. Up.
REECE: Well, don’t wait too long to un-fuck up
MADDOX: Thanks for the advice
REECE: I’m serious. She’s amazing and so are you. You deserve amazing.
MADDOX: I gotta go
Figures. Just when I’m trying to get it through his thick skull. I’m about to type back a snarky response when three little bubbles appear and then disappear before a message pops up.
MADDOX: Love you, Sissy.
REECE: Love you even when I don’t like you for hurting Marigold
MADDOX: I’ll fix it
Sighing, I throw my phone onto the bed beside me. Isaac is closing the bar tonight with Vienna while I was supposed to be preparing for my meeting with Mr. Gomes. I was supposed to get my thoughts in order and make a plan.
Instead, I had nothing but time to think about Isaac and wonder if I could honestly walk away again. Tension with my brother—and my parents—all seems so trivial after news of the fire.
I just want to see my friend with my own two eyes and make sure she’s okay. I want to help her rebuild her dream. And I want us both to get our happily ever afters.
Setting an alarm so I can grab coffees before I see Marigold, I text Isaac a quick update before turning off the light. With any luck, everything will be clearer in the morning.
ISAAC
“Seriously, what is the matter with you?” Vienna asks as we stack the chairs onto the tables.
“You’re going to have to be more specific,” I say as the exhaustion sets in following messages from Maddox and a couple from Reece. Honestly, it was hard not to close the bar down and race over there once we heard the sirens.
But Maddox would have been pissed at the distraction and not so subtly reminded me I know better.
“You’re just going to let Reece leave. After everything y’all have been through, sneaking around and being all in love,” she says pointedly.
“It’s not that easy and?—”
“Oh for fuck’s sake, you moron—yes it is. She’s the happiest I’ve ever seen her, and you have done nothing but fall all over yourself being the best damn unofficial boyfriend the South has ever seen.”
“You really know how to build a man up,” I say wryly. Vienna rolls her eyes with a huff.
“Are you just going to let her go? Are you not going to fight for her?”
“I can’t make her stay, Vienna,” I say a little louder than I intended, but she just squares off with me, hands on her hips and a glare that would make most men cower in fear.
Too bad I’m not one of them.
“Did you ask her?” I press my lips into a firm line and she scoffs. “Or maybe you’d consider moving with her?”
“This bar is?—”
“Not keeping you warm at night.” I open my mouth to retort, but she doesn’t give me the chance. “It’s also not giving you babies, or walking down the aisle to you, or sucking your cock so expertly that your girlfriend’s roommate has to wear earplugs to bed when you’re over.”
My cheeks heat, but I can’t deny anything she just said.
Also am I really that loud? I mean, Reece totally is…
Vienna snaps her fingers in front of my face, jolting me back to the present.
“I have never seen two people so completely oblivious about what’s in front of them. You love her, Nowak; don’t let her go.” She picks up a chair and pushes it into my arms. “And if you do, maybe you should think about going with her.”
We stare at each other for a minute before I nod. “I’ll figure it out.”
“Good. I’m going home so I can prepare for whatever shitstorm y’all stir up.”
“You really have a way with words, you know that?”
“It’s my superpower, and we’re either going to need champagne or tequila after tomorrow.”
“What about you?”
“What about me? I’m enjoying my fling and saying goodbye when it’s over. It’s what I want, and I’m happy with it being temporary, but what I have? It’s not what you have. Stop trying to make it be more complicated than it is. You love her, Isaac. Show her what that means.”
It’s not until Vienna is gone that I realize I’m still holding the chair. Mind racing, I place it on the ground and drop into it like the weight of the world is resting on my shoulders and look around.
All I’ve ever wanted was to run this bar—to bring joy to tourists and locals alike—and to keep the things I love most about Love Beach front and center both as a businessman and neighbor.
And I’ve done that.
But it’s never come close to how I feel when I’m with Reece. Vienna was right, about more than I’d like to admit, and I know what I have to do.