Beauty and the Beach (25 page)

“Maybe.”

“Maybe? Ooh, there’s a really hot passionate romance for you. Come on, is this payback time or something? You’ve been worried about me for so long, and now you want me to worry about you as I go off to school?”

Isabelle didn’t say anything. She was afraid she’d start crying if she opened her mouth.

“Did I get it wrong? If you don’t have any feelings for the guy, if it was a miserable experience with him, then I guess it worked out for the best, didn’t it? I mean, the guy’s heart is broken, and all, and he’ll probably never get over you. But that’s not your problem.”

“You don’t know his heart is broken.”

“You just said he goes to the hospital trying to see you. He asks Dad about you. And I didn’t tell you this, but he came into the restaurant where I work. He asked how you were doing. I changed tables with one of my friends so he couldn’t ask any more questions. I was sort of embarrassed to see him if you want to know the truth. He changed his order to go.”

Isabelle lifted her head. “He came in to see you?”

“Yeah. But I thought maybe he wanted to yell at me or something. I mean, he only asked the one question. But you could’ve called him yourself if you wanted him to know how you’re doing, so it was obvious that you were avoiding him. So, I ditched his table.”

Courtney studied her for a long moment, and then patted her hand. “If there’s nothing there, there’s nothing there, right? You’re doing the right thing. It’s better to just cut him off cold turkey. I’m sorry you had to live with him all that time. I mean, he’s sort of ugly and all, what with those scars. And he limps. And he seems so old. He has to be at least thirty, right?”

Isabelle sat up. “He’s not ugly!” she said fiercely. “And thirty-one isn’t old.”

“Aha! You defended him! You do like him! So why haven’t you called him?”

Isabelle sank back into her chair. “Why didn’t you talk to him when he came into the restaurant?” Isabelle countered.

Courtney shrugged. “I was embarrassed. I worried he’d say something others would overhear.”

“There you go. I feel embarrassed, too.”

“Because of me?” Courtney looked stricken. “And Dad?”

Isabelle sighed. “It’s more complicated than that. Let’s just say I wish Adam and I had started dating on different terms.”

Courtney’s brows pulled together. “Izzy, what if he’s the one for you and I ruined everything by losing that necklace? You have to call him. You have to date him. Otherwise, he might be the one who got away. The one you think about, even when you’re with someone else.”

Courtney placed a hand on Isabelle’s shoulder and shook it gently. “I can’t have that on my conscience. What if you got married to someone else and you pined for Mr. Wilder for the rest of your life? I mean it, Izzy. Call him. If it doesn’t work out, then it wasn’t meant to be. But you have to at least try. For my sake.”

Isabelle laughed at Courtney’s dramatics. “I’ll think about it.”

Chapter Thirteen

ADAM WON.

Again.

He couldn’t help but think of the idiom, lucky at cards, unlucky in love. As soon as he pictured Izzy’s face, he grimaced, and tried to focus on shuffling cards rather than on the stabbing pain that accompanied thoughts of her.

He glanced up to see his friends looking at him, then at each other. “What?” he asked.

“I didn’t want to say anything earlier,” said Jeff. “But I can’t help wondering where Izzy is tonight.”

“That’s Isabelle to you,” snapped Adam.

“I wasn’t wondering that,” said Charlie. “I was wondering when the last time was he showered? I mean, dude, seriously, you have stains on your shirt.”

“Okay,” said Brandon. “Where is Isabelle?”

Adam shrugged. “Are we here to play cards or are we here to talk about girls?”

Sean grinned. “I’m always ready to talk about girls.”

Adam snorted. “I saw that one coming.”

“Is she okay with you having poker nights here?” asked Charlie. “Because if she’s mad at you because of us, we can meet up at my place.”

“She couldn’t care less where we play poker.”

Sean shook his head. “Then where--”

The doorbell rang in the distance, and Adam was glad for the interruption.

“I got it,” said Brandon. As he jumped up, he grabbed the pile of money they’d pooled, and headed into the house.

Charlie, Sean, and Jeff stared at Adam until his brows slammed together. “What?”

“Maybe we should wait for Brandon,” said Sean.

“Wait for what?”

Charlie leaned forward, his elbows against the round table. He looked at the other guys, and then took a breath. “This is a…what did you call it, Jeff?”

“An intervention.”

“An intervention?” Adam leaned back and crossed his arms. “What are you talking about?”

Brandon came through the kitchen doors, three pizzas in hand. “I told you not to start without me,” he placed the pizzas on the center of the table and handed out paper plates.

“Start what?” asked Adam, his voice low and impatient. “I don’t drink to excess. I don’t do drugs. The worst I do is gorge myself on pizza. But if you’re worried about it, I promise to let you all have your fair share tonight.”

Jeff eyed him dispassionately. “Isabelle.”

Adam flinched. “What about her?”

“Where is she?”

Adam took a breath. “I didn’t bury her in the basement, if that’s what you’re thinking. She’s gone, okay? She doesn’t want anything to do with me anymore.”

“We already figured that from the way you’ve been acting,” said Charlie. “You were a lot more fun when she was around.”

Adam’s jaw tightened. “Thanks. Thanks a lot.”

“Did you guys have a fight or something?” asked Jeff.

“No.”

“What happened? Did you insult her cooking?” asked Sean.

“No!” Adam roared, getting fed up. “Do you think I’m an idiot?”

“Okay, then,” said Jeff.

“Why don’t you go to her place or to her work or something and take her flowers,” said Brandon. “That’ll give you an excuse to talk to her.”

Feeling foolish over his temper tantrum, Adam picked up the deck and shuffled the cards again. “She doesn’t want to see me. I’ve left messages on her phone and she hasn’t called back.” As the weeks went on, he was starting to wonder if she’d moved out of her father’s place without asking for his help. “If she doesn’t want anything to do with me, then I’m not going to stalk her.”

“Why not?” asked Charlie.

Adam scowled. “Because it’s illegal, that’s why not.”

“Only if the girl calls the police,” said Jeff.

Adam sighed and set the cards down. “Don’t think I haven’t thought about it.”

“Seriously, man. You need to snap out of it,” said Jeff. “If she’s MIA, you need to come up with a plan of some kind.”

“What if you went to the hospital where she works,” said Charlie. “You could pretend you’re sick. Girls like to fix guys up.”

“And you would know this how?” Adam sneered.

Charlie laughed. “I hear stuff. I watch movies. I’ve been injured before.”

“And what happens when everyone finds out I’m faking? Then I look like an idiot.”

“Well,” said Sean. “We could shoot you in the arm if you want. Give you a flesh wound or something. You could say someone tried to mug you.”

“Pass. For your information, I already went to the hospital. I tried to do the casual thing and make an appointment to see the doctor. When I called, the other nurses booked me for the same time Isabelle worked. She never came into the room. I did it twice. The doctor asked me if I was a hypochondriac.” He shrugged. “So I’d say she basically let me know she doesn’t want anything to do with me.”

Adam took a breath and let it out. “The other nurses also told me she’s looking for a new place to live. That was a week ago. She’s probably already moved. I told her I’d help her.” He shrugged again. “Apparently, she doesn’t want my help.”

Sean leaned forward. “What if--”

“Look, I don’t want to talk about Izzy anymore. Let’s just eat.”

No one moved.

“Does she have a pet? We could kidnap it and then you could save it,” said Charlie. “She’d be really grateful.”

“No pet.”

“You could have her arrested for something, and then bust her out,” added Sean.

Adam narrowed his eyes. “Get real.”

Jeff drummed his fingers on the table top. “We could go into town and stage a bar fight. When you get arrested, you could call her to bail you out. Then you’d be in her debt. Girls dig that.”

Adam actually considered that one for a moment before dismissing it with a shake of his head.

“She has that sister,” said Sean. “Maybe she could help you?”

Adam considered the fact that the sister did owe him. She was the one who’d lost the necklace, which in turn lost Adam his chance at doing things the normal way with Izzy. “How would I get her sister’s phone number?”

“Pay an investigator?”

“Wait outside her house?”

“Do you know where she works?”

He actually did. He’d gone to her place of employment, only to have her avoid him. All the waitresses had stared and he’d quickly left. But it might be worth another try.

“If the sister doesn’t want to help, maybe you could bribe her with jewelry or something?”

Adam had no desire to give that girl more jewelry. He still needed to clean up the piece she’d lost and basically handed off to a cat.

“Maybe we’re looking at this all wrong,” said Charlie. “On the bright side, there are always other fish in the sea, right?” He glanced around the group for support.

Other fish? Adam smiled humorously. Caitlyn had come by the other day, to give him one more chance and to downgrade Isabelle while building herself up. He’d practically thrown that nosy, interfering witch off his property. Apparently she’d received the message, shrieking abuse at him, calling his scars revolting, and questioning his parentage as she’d left. He wasn’t doing especially well with the opposite sex lately. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”

“You have to talk about it,” said Brandon. “If you don’t, two or three years from now you’ll be lying on some therapist's couch and saying, I wish I would have talked to my good buddies about what happened so I wouldn’t have to be lying here talking to you.”

Adam shook his head. He sighed. “Look, girls, she isn’t coming back. I have to deal with it. I don’t have to talk about it, too.” At least not with people who knew Isabelle personally. She’d really thank him for that.

But maybe he could call Isaac Beckman later and see if he could give him some perspective. No one knew more than Isaac when it came to women.

“Don’t worry,” said Charlie. “We’ll set you up with someone else. Someone better. My cousin is still single.”

Yeah, sure. That sounded great in theory, but the reality was that there just wasn’t anyone better than Isabelle. Not for him.

~~~

Later that night, with his house feeling incredibly empty, Adam called Isaac’s number. When he answered, Adam said, “Hi, it’s me.”

“Hey. I’ve been thinking about calling you. How goes it?”

Adam laughed without humor. “Oh, you know. Business is pretty good. I had the Starfire stolen and--”

“What?”

“And, now it’s been found again.”

“I can’t believe you didn’t call me! Seriously, man. What happened?”

So, Adam told his friend everything. About Isabelle, his manager borrowing the necklace for his daughter’s prom, about how Isabelle ended up being the oldest daughter of his manager, about her moving in, and about the necklace being found around a cat’s neck up in a tree. He even told him about how he’d considered keeping the necklace so he could keep Isabelle.

By the end, Isaac was laughing his butt off. “Dude. That is the funniest thing I’ve ever heard! You found it up a tree?”

Adam was able to laugh a little. “The girl who owns the cat must’ve been around seven or eight years old. Her mother had to drag her away as she continued to claim ownership while we all stood there in shock.”

Isaac laughed harder. “Oh man. I wish I could’ve been there. Seriously. What happened with Isabelle?”

“She left me about an hour later.”

Isaac finally stopped laughing. “I’m sorry, man. I can tell from your voice that’s not a good thing. But maybe it’s for the best? I mean, with all this between you, maybe finding another girl would be a better option.”

“There isn’t another girl.”

“But--”

“I don’t know how many times I’m going to have to say it tonight. There is no one else.”

“Hmm. Believe it or not, I actually do understand.”

Now it was Adam’s turn to be surprised. “You’re with someone? No way. I didn’t think you’d ever be ready to settle down.”

Isaac snorted. “I can’t believe you can say that to me. When was the last time you were serious with a girl? Laura Smitty in the twelfth grade?”