Page 73 of Hearts Adrift
“What do you mean?” I ask Heather, squirming against her vice grip.
“You and Theo made up,” she says with a happy sigh into my ear. “Now you can be friends even if you won’t get back together.”
“And we’ll have ‘Wolfe-It-Down Wednesdays’ at the Parrot,” carries on Brooke, “with bottomless fries …”
“I wouldn’t exactly say Theo and I ‘made up’ …”
“I know, I know,” she grumbles at me. “You and River are it, Theo’s in your past. But now I can feel less guilty if I wanna meet up with him for drinks now and then.”
“You could’ve met up with him before,” I throw right back. “I wasn’t stopping you.”
“Yeah, but now I don’t have tohideit.”
Brooke grunts as she pushes the chair River was using back into place, then eyes me. “Wait, does this mean River is leaving the bungalow early? Like, is he heading back to the West Coast now that he’s done with the Gulf Coast?”
“Oh, I didn’t think of that,” admits Heather, coming to a similar pensive pause as she continues clinging to me.
That seems to drain all the fun from the room, the three of us staring off at nothing, lost in our thoughts. Apparently none of us took the time to consider what comes next.
WhatwillRiver do now that he’s freed?
I don’t have long to mull it over. Just as the silence of the room threatens to smother us, footsteps echo down the stairs as River returns. It isn’t my imagination that he looks ten pounds lighter on his feet, practically bouncing, with his hair tousled from dragging his fingers through it over and over again—a habit of his when he’s on the phone for too long, I’ve learned. “I swear, it feels like a twenty-ton weight rolled off my damned chest,” he says as he hops off the last step and comes up to me—or ratherus, as Heather and Brooke continue to smother me. “Should I take us out to eat somewhere on the island? My treat.”
“Dad’s making sandwiches,” says Heather, then dryly adds, “even one for you.”
“Hmm … still a bit raw about the headache I’ve caused all of you? How about this.” He taps on my chest—or more specifically, the mesh tank I’m still wearing. “I’ll give your favorite ex-boyfriend of Finn’s a lovely autograph straight across the chest in my finest gold ink.”
Heather purses her lips, then shrugs. “There is a slim chance that that … may buy you a few brownie points …”
Brooke rolls her eyes on the other side of me. “Ignore her and just join us for a mediocre sandwich or two while you spill all of that tasty tea you’ve got.”
River beams at her. “Sounds perfect. And I’ll settle for a brownie point or two,” he adds to Heather, whose eyes already seem to be warming up to him.
It’s a scene I could not possibly have imagined would be happening so soon, to be seated around a table with my dad, both sisters, and River, enjoying tasty sandwiches and laughing our asses off over all the insanity of the past few weeks. My dad and Heather are filled in on all the sneaking around they missed out on—something that Heather insists in hindsight would not have freaked her out as much as Brooke and I presumed, though we’re left fairly skeptical whether that’s true.
When Dad launches into questions about the movie, River shares about one of the calls he made. “Filming will resume as soon as they replace the director. But that won’t be for a little while, so …” He gives a light shrug. “I guess it seems like I’ll be stickin’ around a bit longer.”
Brooke next to me elbows my ribs and wiggles her eyebrows. I offer a diminutive smile back at her.
The truth is, despite how happy and relieved everyone looks and sounds right now, something is still weighing on me—an inevitable thing no amount of victories over Trent Embers can fix.
The fact that River is still on his way out.
Maybe not right away. But eventually.
And each time I notice how relaxed his shoulders look, or the way he laughs with his whole chest every time one of my sisters says something funny, or how his eyes shine like he’s finally allowed to be human again … I can’t help but wonder what other reasons inspire his joy.
And if those reasons include him imagining his life back in LA.
Embracing the cameras he once loathed.
Attending prestigious awards shows and premieres.
The red carpets.
And I’m sure he’s looking forward to reuniting with his dear friend, both of them having had separate journeys of their own through this hard time, journeys that began so many years ago when they were humble actors fighting for a chance to have their name on the big sign.
River isn’t staying here for good.
