Getting Lucky (The Portland Pioneers Book 2) (38 page)

Cal rolled his eyes. “If you didn’t have bottomless pockets. . .” He threatened.

“Yeah, okay,” Noah retorted because he knew the truth. His house had long since ceased to be business and had become more of a personal pet project for both of them.

“Hey,” Cal said, glancing up at the doorway. “Isn’t that Jack Bennett?”

Noah’s head whipped around so fast it would be an actual miracle if he was able to move it tomorrow. Sure enough, grinning like a total fool, Jack was standing in the entry to the Café, his arm around a slim woman with long dark hair pulled back in a ponytail. Crap, was all Noah could think, Jack had come here
and he’d even brought Izzy.

“That shithead,” Noah muttered. “I can’t believe he actually came here.”

“Oh, you used to play with him, didn’t you?” Cal asked casually, as if Noah’s entire world wasn’t about to fall to pieces. Jack was obviously here to convince him retiring was a bad idea, and Noah couldn’t believe how dumb he’d been to not even suspect something like this might happen.

“Yes,” Noah said shortly. “Ignore him though. He’s an asshole.”

“Foxy!” Jack’s voice, loud normally, rang out over all the breakfast chatter in the Café. “God damn, it really is you.” Noah refused to look up as Jack dragged Izzy across the crowded dining room to the booth he was sharing with Cal.

“You fucker,” Jack said cheerfully, smiling down at Noah like it was going out of style. “You don’t even look the slightest bit pleased to see me.”

“Hello, Jack,” Noah said, plate finally empty, leaning back in the booth and glaring up at his best friend. “I’d ask why the surprise visit, but let’s just dispense with the bullshit, okay?”

Jack just shrugged unrepentantly.

“I’m sorry, Noah, I tried,” Izzy inserted, smiling sadly over at him. “You know how difficult he is when his mind is set on something.”

“It’s good to see you, Iz,” Noah said, sliding out of the booth, and wrapping her in a big hug. “I’ve missed you.”

Jack’s mouth snapped into a flat line. “Fine. I see how it is.”

“You look good,” Noah said to Izzy when he’d released her, deploying one of his more charming smiles. “I see this idiot hasn’t managed to drive you away yet.”

“Not quite yet, no,” Izzy said, her own smile growing in response.

“Excuse me,” Jack said loudly. “Stop flirting with my future wife.”

Noah could only gape at how insanely blunt Jack was. Like they were totally going to have to talk about that in private, later. “Um, uh,” he stuttered, glancing over at Izzy to see her reaction. But she just rolled her eyes and smiled over at Jack indulgently, and it only took a moment, but Noah realized just how much he’d really missed them. In so many ways, the two of them had brought him back to life after Tabitha, had convinced him that love was possible again and not just some bullshit spouted by users who only wanted something from him.

If Jack and Izzy hadn’t shown him every single day that he was wrong and love wasn’t bullshit, Noah might have missed the best thing that had ever happened to him.

“This is awkward,” Cal announced.

“Oh,
so
sorry,” Izzy said, turning to him with an apologetic smile on her face. “My boyfriend and I are rather insane.” She stuck her hand out towards him. “I’m Izzy Dalton.”

“Cal Keller,” he said, shaking it. “I’m helping Noah remodel his house.”

“Oh, so
you’re
Maggie’s friend,” Izzy said pointedly.

“Guilty as charged,” Cal responded.

“When do we get to meet Maggie?” Jack inserted eagerly. Subtlety, Noah thought, was
still
not his strong suit.

“She’s really busy right now,” Noah said, and was glad that this was actually the entire truth. Maggie had already told him that with New Year’s Eve tomorrow, she’d barely see him for the next few days. He’d been trying not to pout about it, even though he understood, but now with Jack and Izzy’s arrival in town, all he could feel was relief. Noah wasn’t quite ready for real life to intrude into the fairy tale and for the careful bubble he and Maggie had created to burst.

“Maggie’s hosting her very first dinner here at the Café, tomorrow night. For New Year’s Eve,” Cal explained. “So she’s a little busy.”

“Oh, Jack,” Izzy cried with delight and sent her boyfriend a pleading look. “We should stay. I hear the food here is amazing.”

“It’ll be a good party,” Cal said, and Noah wanted to tell him to
stop talking
but it was already too late, because once Jack realized Izzy wanted something, he had only one reaction: to get it for her as quickly as humanly possible.

“Let’s stay,” Jack announced, as if this had been part of his brilliant plan the whole time. Noah rolled his eyes.

“You are so whipped,” Noah said, as if he wasn’t just as bad.

Jack just grinned. “Absolutely. And it’s wonderful. I say embrace it.”

Cal turned to Noah. “Here I thought you were just weird because you were you. But apparently it’s not just you, it’s a Portland thing.”

“Jack is way weirder than I am,” Noah said and shot an apologetic glance over to Izzy. “Sorry, Iz, but it’s true.”

She held her hands up in mock protest, laughing. “I’m practically living with the man. Trust me, I know.”

“I’m right here, you know,” Jack whined.

“And I love you,” Izzy said, leaning over and pressing her lips against his, her expression so soft and affectionate Noah couldn’t help thinking again
just how much he’d missed being around them. He’d healed a lot since October, when he’d left Portland because he’d started go stir crazy around their super loved up relationship. But now he could look over at Jack and Izzy and feel a sense of satisfaction that two people who happened to be perfect together had actually managed to find each other and make one life out of two separate ones.

Now, he could look at them and think that everything they had was everything he wanted with Maggie. Everything you already
have
with Maggie, Noah reminded himself smugly.

“You want to see the house?” Noah asked. “Cal and I were just going to head over after breakfast.”

“Of course I want to see it,” Jack said. “That’s why we’re here.”

Noah shot him an incredulous glance but didn’t say a word. He knew exactly why Jack was here and he was not at all eager to have the conversation that his best friend had come here to have.

“Let’s go then,” Noah said, pulling out his wallet and dropping some bills on the table. “You can follow me up the hill.”

Later that afternoon, after the four of them had spent what felt like hours going over all the details of the house—every tile, every shade of paint, practically every fiber of carpeting and blade of grass in the backyard—Jack finally shot Izzy a knowing look and announced they were heading over the hotel to “rest.” Noah smirked, but was secretly relieved that he’d managed to keep both Izzy and Cal around and also keep Jack suitably distracted enough to avoid the conversation he didn’t want to have.

The chances of avoiding it completely were pretty much nil, but he thought he’d be okay if he just had a quiet moment to steady himself.

He was standing outside on the partially constructed deck, wishing it wasn’t cloudy so he could take in the sunset, when Cal opened the back door and walked over to him. “They finally left?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Finally,” Noah said.

“Was the point to tire them out with endless remodel talk?”

Noah shrugged but it didn’t much matter because Cal had already figured it out. Somehow they’d become good enough friends that they could guess each other’s secrets and Noah hadn’t thought that would ever happen with anyone other than Jack.

Jack and Cal were so fundamentally different that it didn’t make much sense that Noah would form friendships with both of them—especially because Noah knew that he kept most of the world at an arm’s length distance. He didn’t let people get close, and hadn’t even before he made it big playing baseball, but once he had, he knew he’d gotten even worse. He had what felt like a million acquaintances and very, very few real friends. Jack had been one, almost from the beginning, mostly because he’d been so persistent that Noah hadn’t felt like he even had a choice.

Cal, though—Cal had snuck up on him. One day it seemed like they still disliked each other, and the next, he was part of the reason Noah wanted to call Sand Point home.

“You want me to talk, fine I’ll talk,” Cal said, breaking the silence. “But you can’t tell Maggie any of this and that’s why I didn’t want to tell you. I didn’t think you’d like that.”

Noah glanced over at him. “I don’t like that. Why can’t she know?”

Cal’s shoulders hunched over awkwardly. “I want to wait to tell her when the time’s right. She’s going crazy with this dinner right now and she needs to focus on that. If I tell her. . .she’ll flip out.”

“But you
will
tell her,” Noah countered and Cal nodded. “Okay then,” Noah relented. “Tell me.”

“I’m leaving Sand Point,” Cal said quietly.

“What?” Noah couldn’t help his surprise. “Why?”

“I never wanted to stay,” Cal admitted. “Not like Maggie. When my dad got sick, I came home to help him with the business. I’d gotten my degree and had been working in the city, and I never wanted to leave. But this business . . .this business, he was so damn proud of it. I couldn’t just let it die. Then
he
died, and Maggie moved back and I helped her start the Café and it never occurred to me that I was settling, going through the motions, but I was. For a while I thought maybe Maggie would be worth staying for, if we got together, but I realized after you showed up that I’d never loved her like that. She was a convenient excuse to stay, because I was too afraid to leave.”

Noah was quiet for a minute. Cal had said a lot and it was tough to process. “When I came here,” Noah finally offered, “I was a wreck. Not over Tabitha. That had been over for a long time and I was holding on to the anger because I couldn’t let myself get angry about losing baseball. And it was scary as fuck to take the first step to come here, to come and try to do something else, to be
different
, but it was worth it. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t, but nothing can ever happen if you don’t try.”

Cal didn’t say anything and Noah spoke up again. “So yeah, that’s me telling you that if you want to leave, if you think you
should
leave, then do it. No matter how much Maggie freaks out.”

“That’s the thing,” Cal said. “I know it’s the right thing to do. I’ve known for a month. I went home that first day when we started your house and I knew that this would be my last project in Sand Point. I started applying for jobs in the city that night.”

Suddenly, so much made sense to Noah. “And you’ve got one? That’s why you’re leaving.”

Cal nodded. “It’s a great opportunity, I wouldn’t turn it down even if I wasn’t desperate to take it.”

“Good for you.”

“Maggie won’t feel that way,” Cal pointed out, chuckling ruefully.

“Maggie loves you,” Noah said. “She wants you to be happy. But yeah, she’ll miss you. The good news is that you’re not exactly moving to the moon.”

“What about you?” Cal said. “What happens if you do decide to retire?”

“I don’t know,” Noah admitted. “Yeah, it would be nice to know what I want to do in the future, but things aren’t always ideal.”

“Would you . . .” Cal hesitated, “would you ever want to do what I do? Like with other people?”

“Like remodel houses?” Noah asked in surprise and Cal just nodded.

“Shit,” Noah said. “You
have
been thinking about this for a while.”

“You always said you were handy.” Cal smiled over at him. “Just think about it. No pressure.”

“Okay,” Noah said even though he’d really had no intention of agreeing. It
was
something intriguing and he told himself it would be stupid to turn it down without even considering the idea. But the truth was, with every second that passed, the more sense it made—and the more he wanted to tell Maggie, to talk it over with
her
.

“Just don’t tell Maggie until after New Year’s,” Cal asked. “I don’t want to ruin this for her.”