Chapter Thirty-Five
I drove for days in silence. Every song reminded me of him. I grimaced when I got an email indicating he’d canceled my reservation at his cottage, refunding me money I wasn’t even worried about. I winced again when I saw our dorky roadside selfie as the lock screen on my phone. I full-on ugly cried when I found his book on my back seat. I clutched it to my chest, praying I’d see him again.
Luckily, I’d already scouted out good hotels for my way back, so I knew where to stop, but each night I’d go straight to my room, too scared to wander around. It was the oddest feeling. I craved people, but they also scared me.
Kaylee would send me photos occasionally. She got really sunburnt, which I’d warned her about. Aside from that, it looked like they were having a blast on their honeymoon. After about two days of vague responses, she caught on and called me around midnight.
When I answered the video chat, I prayed my hoodie hid my neck as I put on a brave face. Luckily, my eyes and lips were mostly back to normal. Kaylee looked like a goddess in a flowy white dress, her hair braided in a crown around her head like a Swedish milkmaid. Behind her, a trellis of hot-pink flowers crept up the white stucco wall of her villa.
“What are you doing? Isn’t it like 9 o’clock in the morning in Greece.”
“Exactly, and it’s the middle of the night there. Why are you up?”
I got up from the bed of my hotel room, finding a place to prop up my phone on the desk so I could fold myself into the chair in front of it.
Kaylee’s eyes darted around the screen, watching me. “Maze, babe, what’s wrong? Are you okay? I can feel something is up.”
I blinked back tears. Just being in her virtual presence tore down any walls. It was always someone you truly loved who could make you fall apart by just showing up for you. “I’m okay. I really am. I don’t want to dump on you while you’re on your honeymoon.”
“Oh, sweetie, you wouldn’t be. I promise. I could use the distraction honestly. I adore Harley, but we’ve been in this love bubble for almost two weeks. I’m touched and talked out. So is he. I sent him on a fishing trip with one of his cousins for the day, you know, man shit.”
I sniffled with a little laugh. “Kaylee, please, let’s just talk about this when you get home.”
She walked inside her villa, setting the phone down somewhere to point at me. “Don’t make me bust out my tarot cards! They will tell on your ass!”
This was the downside to having a hella psychic best friend.
Kaylee went on, “Oh, before I forget, does this have something to do with you losing that necklace I gave you right before the wedding? I had a dream you lost it, so I found you this.” She held up a shimmering chain with a sun pendant, not that different from the one she’d originally given me and a good match for the silver moon one she wore. Inspecting it, she grinned. “When I saw it at a market, I just had a feeling to buy it for you.”
That was the crack that broke the dam. My face instantly scrunched up as a heaving cry overtook me.
Kaylee patiently waited for me to collect myself, making little sounds of sympathy as she took her own seat, getting comfortable by tucking her sundress around her body as she sat in a lotus pose like a yogini. “Take a big, deep breath with me and hold it at the top of the inhale for three seconds before the exhale,” she instructed.
We breathed together. I already felt better.
After a sip of her coffee, she folded her hands in her lap. “Now, tell me everything. We can figure it out together,” she stated in a calm tone.
So I did. I explained how Dane and I had danced at the wedding, and from there I transitioned into an all-out story time. She’d already known about the creepy drink situation and my ticket from Boyd pulling me over, but I filled her in on the note he’d left me and how I’d run into him at the parade while trying to close out my tab at Tilly’s Tavern. She got all swoony when I told her about Dane pulling a knight and shining motorcycle situation and wanted all the naughty details about hooking up with him.
She wiggled her light eyebrows. “So it’s safe to say he lives up to his reputation?”
“Absolutely. I was walking differently.” Since we had been friends for so long, we’d given most of our boyfriends nicknames over the years because so many had come and gone. She had an ex called Vlad the Impaler, and I had already dubbed Harley as lumber daddy. “I’ve already thought of a nickname for Dane.”
“Do tell!”
“Dane the Satisfier.”
She threw her head back with a cackle and clapped her hands. “I fucking love it!”
“By the way, he gave me a nickname, too.”
She squealed. “Tell me!”
“Tornado.”
“Oh, that’s fucking perfect! So where did it all go wrong? It sounds like you were getting dicked down on the beach, which is honestly great. I can contest to that.” A playful glimmer lit her eyes.
“Oh!” I said, holding up a finger, gathering my thoughts. “Did Harley ever mention anything to you about Dane’s past?”
“Not really. I mean, he was completely orphaned by the time he was in his mid-twenties or something. I know he moved away from Pine Bluff for a couple years. He was a tattoo model down in Boston, came back to town all inked up. I guess the grannies at the knitting circle in town started a rumor he was in the mob.”
“They’re not wrong.”
“What do you mean?”
“Dane is a felon.”
Her eyes bugged out as she jolted her in seat. “You’re fucking with me!”
“No, he was arrested trafficking a fuckton of weed into Maine with a stolen car. Oh, and transporting a gun that wasn’t his across three different state lines. Like a little dumbass. He was barely 18.”
“Stop!”
“Yes!”
“So when he went away, he was locked up?” she asked conspiratorially.
“Yes!” I hissed.
She gasped at the scandal. “This explains his obsession with Breaking Bad .” We both snickered at her joke. “Oh my god, Maisie, you fucked a felon!”
I smacked my lips. “Oh, bitch please! Like you haven’t!”
She tilted her head in consideration, stroking her jaw. “Yeah, fair enough. Okay, so wait. You were on a road trip fleeing from a cop with a felon. I take it when you found out that little detail, you left?”
“I wish it were that easy.” I scrunched my lips to my nose in consideration before I launched into the rest. “So Dane drives me back to Pine Bluff. We go to his shop for our final goodbye, and he insists he didn’t lie to me about the whole felon thing, just swears it didn’t come up.” I roll my eyes. “Which to be fair, is a good point.”
“In my opinion, you normally wouldn’t care, but since you were running from a cop and your safety was in his hands, it’s kinda different,” Kaylee interjected.
“Exactly. So he professes his love to me. Begs me to stay, offers up the cottage and everything. And I just . . . bolted.”
“Oh, Maisie,” Kaylee said in a hushed tone.
“Yeah, I’m not proud of it. So I ran away from him and headed to Tilly’s, then on my way to the hearse, Boyd attacked me.”
She unfolded her legs, lurching closer to the phone. “What do you mean?”
“He tased me and I think he hit me over the head with his baton.”
“What?!”
I sped up my story, barely taking a breath because if I did, I’d have to live in the details. I didn’t want that. I couldn’t do that. Kaylee knew me well, so she followed my speech patterns and references, barely stopping to ask details. We both knew that would require a long talk in person, not like this.
When I finished recounting the attack, she sat in silence, wiping tears from her face with my truth.
“Say something,” I said, feeling sick to my stomach.
She dabbed her eyes. “I’m so glad you’re okay. Honeymoon or not, I would’ve been there. This is huge!” She started to walk around her villa.
“Don’t you dare try to come here. You have another two days on your honeymoon, and I’m already somewhere in Tennessee.”
She grumbled under her breath, sitting back down.
“I’m fine. Really. Azalea took care of me.”
Her bottom lip trembled. “I’m glad she was there when I couldn’t be. God, I feel so awful.” She glared skyward, fighting back her emotions.
“Hey, look at me,” I said. She pulled her gray eyes back to mine. “You’ve made a nice life for yourself up there in Maine. Even Rosie gave a statement about Boyd for me. You’ve surrounded yourself with some really nice people. I’m happy for you.”
“Well, that’s just it. When are you going to grant yourself something similar. If you love Dane, you should find a way to be with him. The man literally killed for you.”
“I know he did. I tried to talk to him again, after everything. He said he couldn’t trust that I wanted to be with him of my own free will and not out of guilt.”
Kaylee swirled her coffee around in her cup, wrinkling her nose. “You’d never be with him out of obligation. That’s just not your style. When you love someone, you love them hard.”
I shrugged, feeling drained from recounting the entire tale. “What happened was a big moment in his life, too. I’m just trying to be understanding and patient. You know, giving him space to work through it.”
She sipped her coffee pensively.
“Everyone has left Dane. I’ve realized now that’s my biggest mistake. We belong together.”
“Well, Maisie,” she said, her tone more playful as she rolled her lips to wrangle a smile. “If there’s one thing I know about you, it’s that you always have a plan.”
My entire body hummed in the potential of finding a bright spot in such a dark time. I needed lightness around me. More ease, laughter, silliness. I’d stewed in hard truths for too long, and my best friend knew that. Thank God.
Kaylee’s smirk morphed into an all-out grin as she watched me fidget with my hoodie. “So, little tornado, tell me, what’s your wild plan?”