Chapter Two
Miles
For the last decade, Miles had hoped the next time he saw Avery, they’d be alone so he could apologize.
After which, they’d spend hours catching up.
As entrepreneurs, they had a lot in common.
But thinking time had lessened her pain had been foolish, assuming she’d accept a general apology was arrogant, and calling her Pepper hadn’t been the flex he’d imagined.
She’d seemed annoyed to see him, but there had been flirty moments when a familiar buzz arced between them.
She’d blushed when he’d caught her checking out his forearms. At the mention of Dante’s Inferno, a warm tingle had rippled through his chest. The promise of feeling that way again was the silver lining urging him to keep trying.
His ten-mile run earlier in the day had only heightened his confusion.
Right now, he wanted to talk through the confusion with someone.
It had been a couple of months since he’d seen his therapist, and contacting her on a Sunday was out.
Searching for a friend who understood his past, he scrolled through his texts.
B&E Production Assistant: Remote fine. Please confirm for Tuesday
After selling CashCache, the app he’d written to help people get out of debt and start saving, Miles had taken a part-time gig as a financial correspondent on Bright and Early, a national morning television show hosted by another former Montressa employee, Victoria Evans.
This Tuesday, he’d been assigned a segment on the effects of rising interest rates on student loans.
He could film remotely from the lodge, which had better internet and less construction noise than the Red House.
Wes: Welcome back. I will text you every day until you pick countertops. Seriously, pick something!!!
The past winter, Miles had hired Montressa’s head of maintenance, Wes DuCharme, as his contractor.
Miles flew up from New York as needed to follow the progress of the renovation and answer Wes’s questions.
For weeks, a box of granite samples had sat gathering dust in the Red House’s unfinished kitchen.
Wes wanted to wrap up before Montressa opened, but Miles hadn’t realized choosing finishes would be so hard.
He could’ve hired a decorator, but he’d used one for the Manhattan apartment he’d purchased after the sale of CashCache and hadn’t liked the results.
Despite its feature in Architectural Digest, the space felt cold and impersonal, as if he lived in a museum.
Nate: Dad doing well, ready for surgery tomorrow.
Nate: Thank you for the jet and use of your tricked-out apartment.
Nate: Your couch. WTF! Is it supposed to be a nest?
Miles chuckled. No one knew Miles like Nate Cooper did.
They had been best friends since preschool and had grown up on the lake together.
But Nate had fielded enough questions about Avery over the years.
Now Nate was engaged to Lily, Avery’s best friend, and no engaged couple should have to deal with unresolved, simmering tension between their best man and maid of honor.
Besides, bothering Nate while his father waited for coronary bypass surgery was selfish.
The obvious choice was his Manhattan friends—former child actors Hayes Preston and Anna Catherine Page.
He and Hayes had been playing phone tag all week.
They needed to discuss plans for their project: a bereavement camp for grieving families, with counselors and various professionals to help navigate the loss of a loved one.
Like Miles, Hayes also lost his mother at a young age and had become a trusted sounding board.
Miles had his eye on the perfect spot: an abandoned corporate retreat.
Linden Lake’s loose heart shape mimicked the leaf of a linden tree, from which it got its name.
The north shore resembled the top of the heart, with the Red House in the point between two half-moon coves.
Montressa occupied the entire western cove, Bramble Beach sat on the eastern side.
Past the end of the beach sat the retreat.
It wasn’t for sale, but his goal for the summer was to purchase it.
The wood floors squeaked as he walked through his empty house.
His mother had always said creaking floors were how Maine lakeside cabins said hello.
The sound made him feel at home. He opened FaceTime and called Hayes.
Anna Catherine answered before it rang. Perfect.
He could wish her a happy first Mother’s Day and get some advice.
“Anna, that was a faster pickup than a Kardashian at an NBA game.”
“The Kardashians have moved on to rappers, Miles. Catch up.” She sat bathed in the sunlight of their den, propped up with pillows all around.
“Happy first Mother’s Day.”
“Thank you. I love being a mama, even if meals take forever because Lennox insists on nursing after I spoon-feed her solid foods.” Anna smiled and dropped her gaze to her nursing baby.
“Mother’s Day must be a hard day for you.
I never met your mom, but she raised you, so I’m honoring her today too. ”
His throat tightened. Maisie Magrum had been amazing. Eleven years later, he still missed her hugs, her laugh, and her worn-out Birkenstocks by the back door. For the rest of his life, not a day would go by without reminders of her.
Good actors knew how to let a moment sit, and Anna Catherine quietly waited out his sadness. The compassion and safety of their friendship meant the world to Miles.
“Thank you, Anna.” He smiled as he wiped away a tear.
“How’s Sam?” she asked.
“Stable. I came back to Maine to help at Montressa, and you won’t believe this. Avery’s here.”
“Wait! What? Tell me everything.” She looked off screen. “Hayes, get in here. Miles … Avery … oh my God!”
Hayes appeared on screen, leaning his head close to Anna Catherine’s.
“When I got here yesterday, I went over to check on Montressa and survey the waterfront. And there she was, standing at the end of the old dock.”
“And did she look like all your dreams?” Anna Catherine asked. “Please tell me you said hello.”
“She looked great. Like she did that summer. She has gorgeous reddish-blond hair that glimmers in sunlight. Her eyes are this deep gray. They change color depending on what she wears. She’s mesmerizing.
” Miles rubbed his stubbled jaw and shook his head.
“I couldn’t keep my head straight and I called her ‘Pepper,’ which made her uncomfortable.
It got worse from there. She used to be fun to joke with, but I may have been obnoxious. ”
He’d had ten years to plan that moment. Tell her he had missed her so much he often searched for her in crowds.
Thank her for suggesting he get therapy to help him deal with his grief.
He should’ve called her after she’d left Maine a decade ago, but he’d waited too long.
So long, it felt like time had run out. Each passing month of doing nothing made the fear he didn’t deserve her come true.
Despite having accidentally become a popular plus-one in Manhattan’s social scene, there had been no one else.
He stopped at the sheet of loose plywood currently serving as his kitchen counter and opened the box of granite countertop samples to distract himself.
He placed a green tile next to the red cabinet, immediately thought of Christmas.
Wrong season. Like most lake houses, the Red House was a summer house.
He set the green tile in the rejection pile.
“She hates being surprised.” He held up another sample and thought of Avery’s warm hand splaying across his chest, stopping his hug on the dock. “Things got contentious quickly.”
“No.” Anna Catherine lifted a hand to her mouth.
“I get her reaction,” he said. “I don’t remember much about our breakup except that it happened right after I saved Max Perry’s life. I froze up inside and got so panicked, I said things I didn’t mean. Whatever I said was terrible enough she left without saying goodbye.”
“Miles.” Anna sighed. “Saving a child from drowning is a trauma. I can’t imagine how she felt seeing you again, but deep down, she must know you weren’t thinking clearly when you broke up with her.”
“Well, yesterday she told me to go back to the City after she brought up the second circle of Hell and I pointed out that circle is lust.”
“No!” Hayes covered his eyes and shook his head.
“I couldn’t help it. I needed to ease the tension, and she used to love light teasing.” Miles rubbed the back of his neck. “Maybe I should come back to the City until she’s gone. But they need my help at Montressa.”
Before Sam’s heart attack, Miles had planned to spend the summer at the Red House.
Now, he wanted to help the Coopers, who had been there for him countless times during his mother’s illness and later, after she passed away.
Leaving Maine also delayed plans for the bereavement camp.
He looked out his back window, across the lake to the corporate retreat.
Two people in yellow neon vests stood on the shoreline.
Maybe a survey crew. His realtor might know.
“Miles, you’ve wanted another chance for a long time.” Anna Catherine brought him back to Avery.
“I know, but I ruined my chances a decade ago.”
“You were young,” said Hayes. “And understandably lost.”
True. But now, their best friends were engaged, and they needed to get along. The last thing he wanted was to cause a scene at Lily and Nate’s wedding. The Avery he knew wouldn’t want that either.
“It’s one sighting,” Anna said. “Make a plan for next time. First, no bringing up lust.”
Miles chuckled and told them every detail of the dock encounter. When he got to the end, Hayes and Anna Catherine stared at him. What felt like minutes of silence passed.
“I should leave, right? I don’t want to upset her. It’s foolish to think of getting back together.” He dropped a granite sample onto the plywood counter in frustration.