“It’s not hopeless. But you’ve ignored Jamie for almost three years. I don’t know if she can forgive that.”
He frowns. “Who’s Jamie?”
Is he for real? I’m trying to figure out if he’s being sarcastic or if there’s a chance he really has no idea what his own son’s name is. I should answer but I’m only managing to gape at him.
“Who is this guy? I saw her about a month ago at a restaurant with a Hawaiian dude who looks like a banker. They were pretty cozy. I wanted to rip his fucking head off. Is that Jamie?”
Okay, I need to take a step back and challenge all my preconceived notions…like the one where Griff received Britta’s letter advising him that he was about to be a father.
I scrub a hand down my face and stare at my brother. Shit. I hope like hell I’m not about to betray Britta, but I think Griff has a right to know.
“Jamie is James Tucker. His birth certificate says he’s a Stone. But it should say Reed. He’s your son. He’ll be three in July.” I whip out my phone and scroll through my pictures until I come to the ones I took the other night of him smiling while he played with his toy trucks.
Griff grabs the phone, looking stunned and stricken and so fucking confused.
Goddamn it, I should have known that he wasn’t the sort of man to completely ignore his own flesh and blood. Now I really regret not confronting him about this a long time ago. I’ve done both my brother and my nephew a disservice.
“I… My son?” He’s grappling for words, staring at the picture like he still can’t fathom what he’s seeing, fingers hovering over the screen as if he wants to hold his son badly.
“Yeah. He’s adorable. Smart. Stubborn. Loved.” I swallow. “Britta tried to tell you, I swear.”
“She was pregnant when I walked out?” He closes his eyes and shakes his head, rubbing at his temples and looking as if he’s fighting tears again. “I had no idea. Did she?”
“I don’t know. She told me about a week after you’d gone.”
“I have to talk to her. Now. Where is she? I know she moved after I walked out. I don’t know where she went.”
“She didn’t have a choice. She couldn’t afford the apartment you two had,” I point out. And I can’t help the scolding note creeping into my voice. “Besides, Britta wanted a house with a yard for Jamie. I’ve been helping her with rent since she found this place.”
He stands and throws fifty bucks on the table. “Thanks. I have to go. Where can I find her? Please tell me. I’m helping you with Keeley, man. Don’t shut me out.”
“This isn’t necessarily a quid pro quo situation. When you didn’t respond to her news—”
“I didn’t know,” he insists.
“But in her eyes, you just didn’t care. You left her to give birth and raise a child alone. She says she’s moved on. I don’t know this for sure…but I’m pretty sure she got engaged tonight.”
Griff slaps his hands on the table between us, looking somewhere between agonized and enraged. “Where. Is. She?”
I think hard. I keep coming back to one conclusion: Britta loves him. And it looks a whole lot as if he still loves her, too. At the very least, a son deserves to know his father and decide for himself whether he wants the man in his life. Besides, if Griff hadn’t been willing to come forward to talk to me about Keeley, I’d still be a miserable son of a bitch.
Sighing, I whip out a pen and one of my business cards. I write an address on the back and hand it over. “Go gently. You broke something in her. She’s not the same woman. And I doubt she’s alone.”
Griff snatches the card out of my hand and claps me on the shoulder as he runs for the door. “Thanks. I’ll call you early in the morning.”
I pick up my phone from the table and pause over my open iMessage. Tell Britta she’s got incoming…or not? Give her time to put her defenses up…or let whatever is going to happen between my brother and my assistant unfold naturally?
I slide the phone back into my pocket and head to my condo with a little smile.
I have my brother in my life once more. Soon, I’ll be with Keeley, too. And this time, I plan to make sure she never wants to be apart from me again.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Keeley
My head knows why I’m back in Maui. My heart still isn’t sure.
The weather in Phoenix was sunny, warm, and much less humid. I had amazing Mexican food there—a must for me. The visit I shared with my mother did me so much good. She’s happy with my stepfather, Phil. She even stopped wearing the locket with my dad’s picture. She kept it because she’ll always love him. But she also said she had to give her current husband equal devotion. The sentimental part of me wanted to argue with that logic, but I can’t. She also said she tucked the locket away for another simple reason.
Living in the past isn’t moving forward.
She’s right, and that best explains why I decided to leave Phoenix for good.
Oh, I had options to stay. Mom and Phil claimed they were traveled out for a while after their amazing South Pacific trip and offered to let me live in my childhood bedroom until I got on my feet. The day I arrived, I was convinced I should. I could be permanently closer to family and my roots. I could even see some friends from high school. It wasn’t as if I’d always planned to live on Maui for the rest of my life. Since my existing professors were great about working with me during my absence, I could have easily transferred my credits to Arizona State University and finished my degree as a Sun Devil. After that, I’d have been able to get a job in Phoenix that didn’t involve tourism and came with better hours.
Best of all, if I’d stayed, I wouldn’t have Maxon Reed around to break my heart again.
But my mom is right. Living in the past isn’t moving forward.
I don’t belong in Phoenix anymore. The bittersweet week I spent there clarified that.
So here I am, back in paradise. Lost.
I’m glad that Maxon and Griff finally made up and decided to work together on the Stowe estate. They’re already marketing the property jointly to prospective buyers and getting a lot of interest, according to the younger of the Reed brothers. That’s great news. They will finally be on the road to whole hearts. My work there is done. Their future is looking up.
Where is mine?
I was really trying to decide that while I was in Phoenix. I started to miss the ocean and trees and the sultry breeze on my skin. I missed the incredible Asian food, the lazy pace of the days, and the quaintness of Maui. I definitely missed Griff—one of the best friends a girl could have. We talked nearly every day on the phone…but it wasn’t the same.
I didn’t want to think about the sheer beauty of my adopted home—or that tall, infuriatingly ego-driven, looks-like-a-god Realtor I’m mad for—but I couldn’t seem to think of anything else. I still can’t. No matter how I try to shove the memories out, they creep back in. Maxon kissing me on the beach. Maxon holding my hand as we toured the amazing plantation-style house with the endless views, where I swore I could picture our future. Maxon trying to karaoke and leaning on me like a trusted partner and friend. Maxon making love to me on his bed that final, fatal night.
I think he loves me…in his way. But being second to his ambition, to his need to win at all costs, isn’t something I can accept. I hope he understands.
I’m disappointed that I haven’t heard from him since the night of the brothers’ reunion. Griff says Maxon was devastated about our breakup and even volunteered to give up the Stowe listing to prove how much he cares about me. That shocked me…and gave me a glimmer of hope, I admit.
Maybe that’s the real reason I decided to return to Maui. No denying how badly I want to be with him. I’m still afraid
that I’ll surrender myself and he’ll break my heart once more. But my future isn’t in Phoenix…and the romantic in me can’t stop wanting Maxon to love me enough to put me first.
Yes, I know expecting him to change is unrealistic, which is why I’m as confused and conflicted as I was three days ago when I boarded the plane back to Maui. Since landing, I’ve picked up my phone a million times to call Maxon. And I’ve put it down again