I take a drink of the water and stare out at the ocean. “He’s a loser. And he won’t get out of my life.”
His jaw tightens. “What do you mean?”
“He just told me that he didn’t know if I was the one for him or not. And I guess that was his excuse for hooking up with my sister.”
Cal’s jaw drops and then he closes his mouth. Then he shakes his head in disbelief. “What an asshole.”
“Yeah. And now he’s mad that I’m finally choosing myself, and he can’t be a leech anymore.”
“Can you just ignore him?”
I snort. “I wish. He works for our company, and apparently, still lives in my apartment. But my team is evicting him right now, and he doesn’t like that because that’s where he’s been shacking up with my grifter sister.”
Cal’s eyebrows shoot up as if he can hardly believe my words. It’s pretty outlandish for sure, but alas, it is my life. Ugh.
“We can go to New York tonight,” Cal half-jokes, scowling. “I can throw that fucking loser out for you.”
I laugh and try to picture Cal in my world in New York City. And...I kind ofcanpicture him. Whoa. Where did that thought come from?
Friends, girl. He’s your friend.
“I mean it. You think I can take him?” he jokes, bumping my shoulder with his, trying to make the conversation lighter. I have noticed that he’s good at that.
“I think you could definitely take him. He’s about, maybe five-eight. He plays golf and drinks beer as a hobby.” I joke as I glance over at Cal. He’s well over six feet tall. More like six-four if I had to guess. He’s built and has what looks like muscles on top of muscles. And his tattoos...damn, I really need to stop looking at him.
He smirks but then looks intently at me. “I’m going to tell you something, Silvie. Listen. Most guys? We know within the first ten seconds if we like someone. And we know in the first month if they’re wife material. That guy knew he couldn’t measure up to you. It was his problem, not yours.”
I blink and look at him, my breath hitching. “You’re very insightful for a hot surfer.”
His mouth quirks. “You can stop calling me that anytime now.”
“I absolutely cannot.”
He smiles and says, while looking out at the ocean, “Silvie, you’re wife material. And that asshole? He wasn’t worthy.”
My skin prickles with awareness. The waves roll in and the sun keeps shining, but something in what he just said shifted things between us. A thousand thoughts flip through my mind, sending a thrill shooting down my spine.
For the first time in a while, the shitshow I’ve been dealing with back home doesn’t feel like it’s drowning me anymore.
10
Cal
The bar isn’t sobusy at the moment. It’s that sweet spot between dinner and chaos where the glasses clink, and I can catch up. I’m behind the counter at Cocktails & Chaos, wiping down the counter that’s already clean. It’s a habit and something I do to stay busy and listen to what’s going on around me. My hands know this place by heart. But my head is somewhere else. I’m thinking about Silvie.
Surfing with her started out innocent enough, but as our morning together waned on, I felt myself hanging on her every word. Revealing parts of me while learning parts of her was intimate. Her ex is a grade-A douchebag, and I meant every word about her being wife material.
I just wish I was thinking about her as wife material, generally speaking, and not as wife material for me. My heart thuds a little too hard in my chest and I rub absently at it.
Jonah sits at the bar with fish tacos, a plate of fries with aioli sauce, and his usual Coke. Jonah’s not one to drink, even though he ironically owns the most popular bar on the island. He’s never said why, and most people know little about Jonah. The man’s a quiet guy who doesn’t let many people in. He comes in for dinner a few times a week. I think it’s more about having the limited social interaction he craves but won’t admit to as the unofficial town grump.
“You seem distracted,” Jonah says, not looking at me as he takes a bite of his food.
He has no idea. I’m distracted by one thing. She plagues my mind and haunts my dreams. It’s getting ridiculous.
“I’m working,” I say, evading the truth. “I’m focused.”
He snorts. “You’ve been polishing the same spot. You’re going to wear a hole in the counter.”
