Million-Dollar Consequences

“Poorly shaven and grouchy at all hours of the day? Sorry to inform you, but she’s not.”

Max didn’t so much as crack a smile. “She might define success differently than you do. Ambition is on a sliding scale. Not everyone wants ten times more in life.”

Isaac started to argue how ridiculous that sounded, because who wouldn’t want to be famous and crazy wealthy? Then he shut his mouth as he realized he was looking into the eyes of one man who didn’t.

“I can’t stay in Dunn,” Isaac said. “What’s on the line is too important to me.” And leaving Meghan behind meant leaving behind an interlocking piece to his current life’s puzzle. He needed them to stay together. At least for a while longer.

“So don’t. Go back to LA after the show wraps. Do the auditions we both know Kendall will line up for you. In the meantime, Meghan will do her thing. Hollywood relationships rarely work out. Bloggers far and wide will report on the inevitable ending, and your fans will eventually forget you two ever dated.”

A spike of regret lanced Isaac’s chest. Ending his relationship with Meghan sounded even more bleak when Max said it.

“It’s too soon,” Isaac argued.

“It’s not your place to tell her to leave Dunn, especially now that she and Kendall have reunited. Have you talked to her about her brother?”

Isaac nodded. She’d mentioned Quinton again since the first time he’d asked. The wound was a big one. Meghan had told him how hard it was growing up without Quinton, and how closed off Kendall had been for the years following his death. When Kendall went to LA, Meghan had felt incomplete. A lot like Isaac had felt without Max.

“Kendall and Meghan have grown closer since Kendall’s moved here,” Max continued making his very valid point. “You might have a plan for your life, but you have to let Meghan do what’s best for her, even if it means you’re compromising.”

Isaac wondered if his brother was talking about himself, as well. Max had walked away and had done what was best for him.

“You agreed to temporary with Meghan. What’s it matter when it ends?”

“It just...does,” Isaac answered lamely. She had become an integral part of this chapter of his life. He was making a comeback and she fit. When he’d lied about the girlfriend he didn’t have on that talk show, he didn’t expect to find a woman to slot into his life as seamlessly as Meghan. He liked coming home to her and seeing her on set. She had been supporting his dreams and goals from the beginning. Now it was all ending. The show, the relationship with Meghan. Isaac was returning to LA soon, and leaving his brother in Dunn. Everything was being ripped away.

Again.

Isaac watched the fire for a while, considering. He wasn’t happy about the idea of leaving Meghan behind. He liked being with her. She made him better, more focused. He had a built-in support system. He could count on her sunny smiles and good-natured ribbing to brighten his day. At least that’d been the case before they’d had that stupid argument about LA.

He’d made the decision to convince her to come with him no matter the cost, but not speaking to the woman who turned him on both physically and mentally was too high a price to pay.

So, what the hell was he supposed to do? Giving up wasn’t an option. But neither was continuing to argue with the one person who had his back.

“You okay?” Max asked.

“Yeah.” Isaac nodded, knowing what he had to do. Rather than continuing to discuss his feelings, he opted to lighten the mood. “Just thinking about how full of shit you are.”

“Oh, yeah?” Max, picking up on Isaac’s easy tone, raised one eyebrow in challenge.

“No matter how you frame it in your head, you’re famous, too. You’re living in a town your fans named after you.”

Max smiled easily. “Fine. You got me. You and I are both blind with ambition. Happy?”

Not yet. But Isaac would be. Just as soon as he apologized to Meghan for behaving like a horse’s ass.

Kendall, after Meghan had pointed out how little time they’d been spending together, booked a spa day for them. Massages done, they were folded into fluffy white robes, green mud masks drying on their faces, their feet soaking in individual bubbly tubs meant to detoxify the bad juju in their bodies.

Meghan was full of bad juju, she wagered, given she and Isaac had been living together like ambivalent roommates for the past few days. Rather than actively argue with him, she’d been making excuses to leave the house or be busy with work whenever he was home. She slept next to him in bed, feigning fatigue and lying awake for hours before eventually falling asleep.

She hated it.

“Isaac wants me to move to LA,” Meghan told her sister, unable to hold her tongue any longer. She’d hoped relaxing would help her forget why she’d been so upset, but he’d been the only thing on her mind during her shiatsu massage. “He wants us to—” Noting three other women in the room in various stages of pampering, Meghan censored herself. “He wants us to be engaged in LA.”

“For real engaged?” Kendall whispered, and then her eyes widened as she caught Meghan’s actual meaning. “Oh, oh. Got it.” With an exaggerated wink, she continued. “Might as well live together until the wedding.”

“Tone it down a little,” Meghan whispered back. “I’m not going to LA.”

“Why not?” her insane sister asked.

“Are you kidding? Wasn’t it you who told me to ‘be careful’?”

“Are you enjoying yourself?”

“Of course. Just...not in the same way you and Max enjoy yourselves.”

Kendall’s smile softened. “You could be.”

Meghan automatically shook her head. “That’s not what I want. I want to move to Dunn. Near you. My podcast is more profitable than ever before. Thanks, by the way.” It was hard to admit when her sister was right, but Kendall had kicked open a door that could have taken months or years for Meghan to crack open by herself.

“I’d miss you, but you could find a lot more celebrities to interview in California. You could skyrocket your podcast into something monumental.” Kendall’s eyes sparkled with excitement. Her sister saw potential everywhere. That belief made Kendall a great talent agent.

“Is success all that matters to you?”