Chapter 35
Chapter Thirty-Five
Derek
“If you could take a vacation anywhere, where would you go?”
Hunter looks up at my question, his eyebrows low, and he glances around the plane as if checking to make sure it’s him I’m talking to.
Janie is locked in on her computer with headphones blocking out any sounds—she’s a nervous flier—so it’s just us.
He still seems confused as he stares at me. “What?”
Yes, this question is out of the blue, but I badly need a distraction from the fact that Moab is slowly getting farther away as the jet I chartered takes us back to Los Angeles. “Anything in the world. What would you do?”
Donovan asked me the same thing as we were saying goodbye at the airport, and I didn’t have an answer for her. The conversation that followed is still on repeat in my head.
“Remember when I told you that Hunter needs a break?” she asked me. “He’s not the only one.”
I laughed. “You clearly don’t know what my life is like if you think I can take a break.”
“You’re only proving my point.”
“But—”
“You’re the best thing out there, Superman. The world can survive without you for a week or two. Trust me; you’re worth the wait.”
I kissed her then. Not the way I wanted to because I wouldn’t be able to stop if I did, but in a way that hopefully told her how much this last week meant to me. “So are you.”
“Maybe a wine tour in Tuscany,” Hunter says, pulling me back to the moment. “But why are—”
“That’s a good idea.” I smile as I imagine my mountainous bodyguard sipping wine at the edge of a sunbathed vineyard. He would have the time of his life, especially after what he endured for me this last week. What he’s endured for years. “I think you could use a vacation.”
The color drains from his face. “A…a what?”
He looks so horrified that I burst into laughter, and my body relaxes for the first time since getting on the plane.
It won’t last long, but I’ll take some peace wherever I can get it.
“Would you calm down?” I say, wishing I had something to throw at him.
“This isn’t some veiled punishment. You genuinely deserve a vacation after what I’ve put you through.
” I look over at Janie and the furrow in her brow. “You both do.”
“But what about you?”
I’m not sure if he’s asking if I’ll take a vacation as well or if he’s worried about my safety if he leaves.
Either way, that’s for me to worry about.
Giving him a smile, I pull my phone from my pocket and brace myself for what’s coming.
Now that I’m in the air, I don’t have any excuses to ignore the work waiting for me.
Donovan is the first person I text, even though she warned me that she was going to have to find her phone first and plug it in, since she rarely uses it, so it might take a while before I get a response.
Derek:
I’m warning you now that I haven’t been in a solid relationship before now, and I’m more than likely going to be a clingy boyfriend and overdo everything.
I miss you already. I love you. If anyone gives you crap on the river, only you can decide if it’s worth intentionally flipping the boat they’re in to show them who’s in charge, but I like the idea of telling people my girlfriend has a perfect rowing record.
Also, I told Mason and Thiago to inform the other guides that I will happily pay all of them to keep overconfident men away from you so you don’t have to deal with them yourself if you don’t want to.
I love you, and I plan to keep you unless your feelings about me change.
Yeah, that was definitely too much, but I send it anyway.
Donovan’s seen me at my worst, so I’m hoping nothing I do will scare her off at this point.
That says nothing about what my mom might do with Hot Scoop if she figures out that, despite her intervention, I’m still very much interested in Nova Tate.
But Donovan is strong enough to handle anything that’s thrown at her.
Besides, the goal is to eliminate that problem before Donovan’s rafting season ends, which leads me to my next text.
Derek:
Any word from your PI friend?
Hank:
He’s retired, but he said he’ll do what he can. If anyone can find what you’re looking for, he can. I’ll send you his contact info.
Derek:
Thanks.
Hank:
Are you going to tell the rest of us what you’re looking for?
Derek:
Not until it’s fixed.
If I said something like that to Freya or Cole, they would push until they got answers, but Hank has the most level head of any of my friends. He also understands the value of discretion, though I’m sure he’s curious.
And since Bonnie is married to him and probably reading our conversation right now, I send a text to the group.
Derek:
I know I promised to explain what’s happening, but until I have more to tell you, just know that I’m handling it.
Elliot:
With my help.
Cole:
Wait, Elliot gets to know but we don’t?
Elliot:
Family privileges, Evanson.
The texts keep coming as Cole argues that no one has known me longer than he has, and Bonnie brings up our fake relationship as a sign that she’s spent the most time with me, and Freya reminds everyone that she’s my sister-in-law.
Kasey, Carissa, and Hank don’t defend their positions in my life, as they all married into the group, but they have as much of a place in my heart as anyone because they brought love and happiness to my friends.
Without them, we would all be worse for wear.
“You good, Derek?” Hunter asks.
“All good,” I assure him. “And I was serious about that vacation. If you guys want to go, you should go.”
“Together?” His face turns scarlet as he glances at Janie, and I have to fight a grin when Janie looks up and blushes equally pink.
Is that a new thing? Or have I just been painfully unobservant and far too absorbed in my own life to notice what’s happening around me?
“That’s up to you,” I say with a chuckle and turn back to my phone as Hunter tentatively moves to the seat next to Janie’s.
Derek:
I keep a lot of things to myself that I shouldn’t. I’m working on that. For the record, I didn’t ask for Elliot’s help, though I’m grateful for it, and if there was an easy way for the rest of you to help, I would welcome it. But this is something that’s simply going to take time to fix.
Bonnie:
Derek, are you okay?
There are a lot of ways I could answer that question, and I try to decide what will calm my friends the most. I’m still reeling from my encounter with my mom and frustrated that I haven’t found the answers I need to stop her.
I’m pretty sure I left most of my heart back in Moab and have no idea how I’m going to endure the next few months without that missing piece of me.
But for the first time in a long time, maybe ever, I do feel okay.
There’s a light at the end of a very long tunnel.
I can do this.
Derek:
I’m okay. I promise. As long as you all agree to be nice to Donovan when I bring her out to LA in a few months, I’ll keep being okay.
Liam:
NO WAY
Carissa:
Wait, so we weren’t reading into things between the Hot Scoop stories? You really went to Utah for a romantic liaison?
Bonnie:
Since when did you start dating Nova Tate???
Derek:
Since today.
Cole:
Start talking, Riley.
Derek:
I went to Utah to do research for a movie and met her by happenstance. Nothing in that story about her is true, by the way.