Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
Edie stood in the empty gallery, her imagination easily filling up the space with large, colorful canvases that stretched floor to ceiling. She could picture the whole thing: from the artwork adorning the walls to the hue of the tablecloths to the taste of the food.
They’d been working on it for several weeks now, and in her head, she’d nailed down every last detail.
Which would be fine if she was the only one running the show.
But with three people came three differing opinions. And while Edie found herself in agreement with Cal at times, other times she leaned toward siding with Josh.
Sure, both men had their respective roles. Cal as the lead artist of the event and Josh as the food and wine curator. He’d teamed up with Morgan from the bakery, and together they were ironing out the catering menu, with Edie’s input whenever needed.
The fact that this art and wine event was equal parts both meant that Cal and Josh had equal say. And often, Edie found herself nominated as the unofficial tiebreaker.
It wasn’t a position she liked, coming between these two men creatively. And while they tried to harken back to their high school days of group projects and collaborative efforts, sometimes things didn’t go so well. Not everyone was a team player.
“I just don’t think it will pair well with the Chablis, that’s all I’m saying.” Josh shrugged at Cal dismissively, thumb rubbing over the divot in the middle his chin. “It’s not personal.”
“It is absolutely personal when I’m the one who painted it.”
It had been Josh’s idea to pair each piece of artwork with its own varietal of wine, an idea that Edie thought was a stroke of genius.
Gala attendees would be given a complimentary wineglass etched with the event’s name and would peruse the venue, sipping on different blends that coincided with the works of art currently in view.
It made the whole thing an immersive experience, one Edie knew everyone would enjoy and be talking about for days. Exactly their goal.
“I think we should go for something a little more fruit forward for your piece. That’s all I’m suggesting,” Josh said again.
“The painting was literally inspired by a photograph from the French vineyard I visited while in Chablis. I’m not understanding how the wine wouldn’t pair perfectly with it.”
“I’m not understanding how this is a vineyard,” Josh deadpanned.
“Maybe it’s time for a break,” Edie butt in the moment she glimpsed Cal’s right eye twitch. “We’ve been at this all morning, and I don’t know about you, but I could use a bite to eat.”
“I could eat,” Cal quickly agreed. His answer was for Edie, but his focus remained narrowed on Josh.
“I’m supposed to head to the bakery to try a new dish Morgan’s working on for the gala,” Josh said. He broke away from Cal’s intense stare down. “But I’ll take a raincheck.”
Edie breathed a sigh of relief as she retrieved her windbreaker from the hook near the door and shouldered into it.
She found she quite enjoyed each man’s company but was quickly learning she preferred them one-on-one as opposed to both at the same time.
Honestly, their competitive spirits almost felt juvenile or even animalistic, like two stags fighting over a doe.
Cal and Josh seemed to hook antlers at every turn.
“Thank you for that,” Cal uttered near her ear once Josh was out of range and out the door, heading to his own vehicle parked in the gallery’s lot. “I needed a break from that guy.”
“My invitation to lunch was for both of you.”
“Sure, but you knew he had to go to the bakery, right?”
Had she known that? Maybe at one time, but all of the bickering and arguing had pushed that thought to the back of her brain. The men very nearly made her crazy.
And she knew a large part of that had to do with her confusing feelings for them both.
She’d been involved with Cal romantically before, and spending all of this time with him recently only resurfaced the feelings she’d thought were long gone.
He was charming. Charismatic. And hands-down the best encourager of her creative work.
Twelve years her junior, he had a zeal for life that Edie felt like she’d bypassed when she was his age, a single mother too busy caring for her young daughter to trouble herself with having any fun of her own.
And boy was Cal fun.
But Josh had come into her life in the most unexpected way: as the first guest of the neighboring Getaway House.
And when the truth came to light about his ties to Camille and Tabitha and his relation as their half-brother was revealed, Edie felt that bond immediately.
There was a familiarity with Josh that she couldn’t explain, like her heart recognized him before her head did.
They’d both lost the love of their lives, and somehow, that tragedy also created a bittersweet kinship, this camaraderie of heartbreak.
She liked Josh.
She also liked Cal.
But she didn’t like this triangle she found herself in, the one where each man vied for her affection while growing more and more at odds with one another.
“This is just a working lunch, Cal,” she stated when he led her gently by the elbow to his car, opening the passenger side door for her in the most chivalrous way.
“I actually heard the opposite. That you needed a break from work and suggested lunch as that break.”
“Fine. Whatever.” She waited until he had skirted the car and climbed into the driver’s side. “But it’s not a date. Just so we’re clear.”
He clicked his seatbelt into place. “We’re clear.” He caught her eye across the cab. “You’re not dating right now.”
Cal repeated the line, almost rehearsed.
She’s said it to him on more than one occasion lately. And uttered those same words to Josh.
She wasn’t dating. Wasn’t going to date. Had no plans to date.
No, Edie’s focus was on this gala, and she was determined to zero all of her energy into getting it right.
Because if they hit this out of the park like she planned, the venue’s owners said they could use the space whenever they wanted, so long as they received a cut of the proceeds to the tune of twenty percent.
It was the sweetest deal that came with the sweetest view.
That was what got Edie so excited, the fact that while three of the walls were a stark white—the perfect display for artwork—the remaining wall of the rectangular establishment was nothing but a stretch of windows that framed in the Pacific Ocean like its own painting.
For Edie, that big expanse of blue was the ideal backdrop for her seascape photographs, particularly her work done with her macro lens. She one day hoped to showcase her own exhibit within the space, an opportunity she did not wish to squander simply because two grown men couldn’t get along.
“Will you at least let me buy you lunch?” Cal cast her a brief look across the cab while he merged onto Highway 1, his vehicle picking up speed to join the flow of traffic.
“That sounds precariously close to becoming a date.” Edie made a face.
“I respect your boundaries, Edie. I do. I was just offering to pick up the tab since you did last time. That’s all.”
She breathed out slowly through her mouth. She needed to stop doing this. Stop analyzing every gesture, every conversation.
“I’ll let you buy,” she conceded. “But I’m picking the place.”
“You do realize you picked the place where we had our first date.” Cal moved his napkin over his mouth, giving Edie a pointed look across the table.
“What?” She nearly choked on her big gulp of ice water. “This is not where we had our first date.”
“It is. Maybe not inside the actual restaurant, but outside of it.” He motioned with the tines of his fork toward the window that looked out on the pier.
Edie glanced over her shoulder, following his movements.
Cal was right.
They’d come here all that time ago to paint part of the mural that adorned the exterior wall of Fin and Flounder.
It was the first time Cal had given Edie a real nudge with her creativity.
Given her permission to express herself in a way she never had.
She knew Cal was the catalyst for this lucrative career she currently found herself in.
Fate in the form of a hummingbird landed her on the doorstep of his gallery, and things—both professionally and romantically—took off from there.
“Do you think it’s still there?” Cal cocked a brow. “Our contribution to the mural?”
“Hank?”
He just nodded, his eyes softening at the memory.
Goodness, Cal was handsome in such a carefree, almost unruly way.
From his shaggy hair that always appeared windswept, to the smatterings of paint that constantly speckled his forearms and clothes.
He was a living, breathing visual of the way Edie wanted to live: with abandon and a confidence she’d only recently tapped into.
“We should check out the mural once we’re finished here,” he suggested, maintaining eye contact for so long it made Edie’s heart quicken.
She tugged her eyes away again, immediately feeling the loss of that connection. There was something so magnetic about Cal, this energy she was constantly drawn to.
“Can I ask you something?” He moved his napkin back to his lap. “Something personal?”
“Yes,” she replied without hesitation. Communication was always number one in her book, especially since it was a lack of communication that had led to their breakup in the first place. “Of course.”
“Is the reason you’re so opposed to the thought of this being a date because it’s with me?” he asked boldly. “Or because it’s not with Josh?”
“Cal.” Edie tilted her head. “I’m just not in a place where I’m wanting to date right now.”
“Is that it? Or is it that you don’t want to make a decision on who to date.”
“Maybe a little of that, honestly. You two aren’t making it easy, you know.”
In the way that only Cal could do, he leveled her with just one tender look. “I’m sorry. I know I’ve been putting the pressure on. It’s just that I’ve lost you once, Edie. And I’m not about to let that happen again, not if I can help it. And certainly not to some other guy.”
“Josh isn’t just some other guy. He’s family to Camille and Tabitha. And he’s become a good friend to me.”
“And I’m all for that. For the two of you just being friends. But that’s not it entirely, is it?”
Cal wanted her to admit that there was something more. But could she even do that? Truth be told, Edie didn’t know what to make of her feelings lately. They were a roaring tempest, a storm of emotion that she got swept up in each time she thought of the men.
“We’re friends.” She was going to leave it at that.
“And what are we?”
“Complicated,” she returned.
Cal ran his thumb down the condensation on his glass. “I’ll take complicated over just friends. I can live with complicated.”
Edie was grateful to hear it but wasn’t sure she could say the same for herself.
This love triangle was a limbo she couldn’t live with much longer, not for the sake of her own sanity.
But for the sake of her heart, she supposed she’d have to remain there a little longer.