Page 100 of On the Run
“Of course you did, baby.” I ruffled his hair. “That’s why your nod to history does you credit.”
Fenn came over to wrap his arms around Mason from behind and drop a kiss on his head. “Heya, Loafers.” A rain of glitter fell off his hair and landed in Mason’s lap.
“Ack.” Mason brushed the glitter away. “Fenn Reardon, have you been having Zoom unicorn parties with my niece again?”
Fenn rolled his lips together and blinked guiltily. “Possibly?”
Mason shook his head. “Was it magical?”
“Obviously.” Fenn grinned. “I’m getting a drink. You want your usual?”
Mason nodded, and Fenn kissed him again before heading to the bar. Mason turned to watch him go, and an unmistakable smile played around his mouth.
When he turned back, he gave Toby a knowing smile. “You’re naming the bridge after Beale, aren’t you? No, no!” He held up a hand. “Neither confirm nor deny. I’m your best friend, and I know the truth. You’re in love, so it just makes sense. You know, at first I didn’t see you two together, and that was my fault. Sometimes the weirdest pairings just… work.” He looked over his shoulder at his glittery boyfriend. “I’m so glad you’re here, Toby.”
“Me, too,” Toby said softly.
“Welcome to Whispering Key.”
When Fenn came back, Toby and I excused ourselves to go try out the dance floor, and holding him in my arms as we spun to the music was every bit as amazing as I’d hoped it would be. Thanks to the martinis, Toby couldn’t stop himself from grinning goofily up at me, and if he hadn’t been wearing a blue jumpsuit that cost nearly as much as a mortgage payment, I would have said the man in my arms bore hardly any resemblance to the guy who first washed up on Whispering Key.
He crooked a finger up at me, and I leaned down so he could whisper in my ear.
“I have a secret to tell you.”
“Oh, yeah?” I held him tighter and breathed him in. Coconut lime Toby. Delicious.
“The night of Mason’s party, when Mase and I were talking, Fenn walked in and he gave Mason thislook.”
“A look.”
“You know, alook-look. Like Mason was the most important person on the planet. That kind of look. And I wished someone would look at me that way.”
I pulled back just far enough to see his face. “You mean the way I look at you? Like I know you better than anyone and love every single thing I know?”
Toby’s mouth opened and shut wordlessly for half a minute before he managed, “You think you know me that well?”
“I know I do. You might be the king of trivia, but I am the king ofTobytrivia.”
“Pffft.No.Pffft. That’s not even.Pfft.”
I laughed. “For example? I know that a minute ago when Dale said he was giving us supplements to improve our prowesses, you were thinking that if our prowesses were any more prowessful, we’d die.”
Toby coughed weakly. “That… was a lucky guess.”
“Uh-huh. And I know that when you said you wanted to name that bridge Goodman Bridge, you weren’t thinking of naming it after my dad, even though you care about him, or about Resolute Goodman, even though you’re real devoted to the history of the island.”
“Oh, yeah? You think Mason was right, then?” He gave me an arch look. “You think I wanna name it after you?”
“Mmmm.” I ducked my head back and forth. “Kinda.”
He sank his fingers into my hair. “You think I love you or something?”
“I do think that.”
And I knew for sure I loved him. I loved that he accepted all of me. I loved that he saw me clearly. I loved that he would always be tender, and prickly, and hilarious, sometimes at the same time. I loved that in some ways he was my total opposite and in some ways he was my mirror image. I even loved that he’d kept Jayd’s secret because it was the right thing to do. I loved him the way I loved my family, and the Key, and Marjorie—instantly and irrationally, not despite their faults, but because of them—except I loved him more.
He wasn’t the soul mate I’d have picked for myself, but he was exactly,exactlythe one I’d needed.
