It's About Time (Hunt Family #5) (6 page)

I felt that same buzzing sensation in my chest, like a colony of bees had taken up residence in my torso.

I smiled and shook my head shyly. "You're not sad," I said, glancing downward but maintaining my smile. "Tomorrow's the first day of the rest of your life."

"It's yours, too," he said smiling.

"Yeah, but what I'm saying is that tomorrow's gonna be an adventure—airplanes, and a new bed to sleep in."

"It's really my old bed, but I see what you're saying."

I smiled nonchalantly as I reached out to give him a basic goodbye hug.

Cupcake was positioned between us, so it was slightly awkward and too far away. "I'm glad you came in for a haircut today," I said, patting his shoulder. "I had fun hanging out with you."

He stared at me with a tiny smirk playing at the corner of his mouth. His dark eyes appeared black in the dim lighting. "I guess it's kind of pointless for me to say I like you, Annabel, but for what it's worth, I like you. I had a lot of fun with you tonight. I wish we would have figured this out a lot sooner."

"Probably better this way," I said, shrugging.

"Dang, Annabel, I guess this is goodbye," he said in a tone that seemed sincerely regretful.

"You'll be back sometime for Christmas maybe. We can exchange homemade cards or some figgy pudding."

"Maybe," he said.

I tugged on Cupcake's lead, and we all walked off of the porch and onto the sidewalk that led to the driveway. I expected him to go to his car, but instead he walked me to mine. I opened the back door and let Cupcake get her spot before closing it behind her. I stood up and faced Evan. The rain was coming down a little harder now, and drops continually fell between us as we stood there and stared at each other.

"Aren't you afraid of getting wet?" he asked.

"Not really," I said, smiling a little as I stood there. "Night," I said, after several silent seconds.

"Night," he said.

I turned to grab my door handle, and he put out a hand to stop me. "Can I just get one right here?" Evan asked. He turned his face to the side, and pointed at his cheek.

There was no mistaking that he was asking me for a kiss on the cheek, and I was not about to refuse him. He didn't have to say it twice. I popped onto my toes and puckered my lips just in time to let them hit his cheek as he lowered it in my direction. It was his left side, and my mouth hit the area below the scar. The touch of his warm cheek on my lips made me feel an aching sensation in the pit of my stomach. I could not bear to let it come to an end after only a split second.

"Hang on," I whispered when he started to straighten up again. I tugged on his shoulder as I reached up and put another kiss right on the top of his cheek where the scar was. He held still during the brief seconds that my mouth was on the beautifully torn part of his cheek. I felt his chest rise and fall as he took a breath.

Evan pulled back and looked at me like he might ask me to explain my reasoning for doing such a thing, but before he could, I smiled and said, "Bye, Evan." I opened my door and sat inside my car with another big smile aimed at him.

"Bye, Annabel," he said with one last wave.

Chapter 7

Evan

Evan was questioning everything when he left Annabel Riley's house that evening. He had never been around a girl so comfortable in her own skin. Well, maybe his sister or other family members were, but that was because they were family and they let their guard down around each other.

Annabel was a rare breed of person who knew exactly who she was and didn't make apologies for it. She had an almost child-like honesty about her that Evan found intriguing and attractive. Her face was animated, and she had this uninhibited way of making these hilarious expressions when she told stories or talked to her dog. It had been a while since Evan had so much fun, and he left her house feeling confused about whether or not he was making the right decision in moving back to California. He had a satisfied feeling in his soul with Annabel. Unfortunately, this was no time to doubt his next move. He still had packing to do, and his flight for California left the next morning.

***

Evan went back to L.A., and day-by-day, it got easier to push the girl in Carolina out of his mind. Okay, in all honesty, the memory of her still nagged at him, but he pushed it away as much as he could and went on with his regularly scheduled life—the one he'd been working so hard to build and maintain.

His agent did what agents do, and suddenly, the new Evan was the hottest thing going. The fact that he'd been in a motorcycle crash only added to his bad boy marketability, and he went right back into traveling for photo shoots and speaking out for his environmental group. His days were full, and time passed quickly.

Evan told himself his life was full, too. Everything was back on track, after all. He was making good money and was still contributing to causes he believed in. Annabel was right when she said his life had just been on hold. Nothing had been stripped away. So why, then, did he feel like something was wrong? It was like whatever he had connected with during his darkest times had changed him in such a way that he wasn't quite content with what he thought was his plan A.

Plan A was the goal, right?

Evan had been back in California for over six months when he finally realized that might not be the case.

It was the following May when it hit him.

Mia and Nico were in Charlotte for the week, so Evan had the house to himself. He had made some good friends through modeling and others through his cousins, Logan and Charlotte, who'd been established in California for most of their lives.

It was a beautiful day, and Mia and Nico's pool area was just begging for some life, so Evan sent a few texts, and several people, both guys and girls, came over to swim. One of them was a girl he hung out with sometimes. Nothing had ever happened between them aside from kissing (which, if you're in your 20's and beautiful in Hollywood is the same as nothing).

The girl's name was Heidi, and one of the things she brought, along with several girlfriends, was a 4lb dog that she carried in her purse. It had been running around the backyard all afternoon, which Evan didn't mind, as long as it didn't destroy anything. They were all leaning against the side of the pool when one of Heidi's friends asked about the collar the dog was wearing. This prompted Heidi to proudly state that she paid ten thousand dollars for it.

"Just imagine what it would cost to have one of them made for a Great Dane," Phillip said.

Evan's heart was in the process of dropping at the mention of that particular breed of dog when Heidi said, "I would
never
have a dog that big. That's just ridiculous."

"Logan's got a German Shepherd," Phillip said, "and that's as big as a Great Dane."

"I don't see how anyone would want to have a gigantic dog like that. It's like keeping livestock in your house. It's gross. They stink." Heidi turned to the side of the pool where her little, shivering, bug-eyed, glorified rat with a ten thousand dollar collar was running back and forth non-stop. "That's all the dog you need, right there," she said, making everyone laugh.

That was the moment it happened.

That was the exact time when Evan suddenly realized that he did not want to kiss Heidi any more—not just because of her tendency to like small dogs, either. He just had a feeling in the pit of his stomach that this wasn't the life he was meant for. A wave of something washed over him as he stood in the pool that afternoon—it felt physically like cold sweats, but there was a mental shift that took place—one he couldn’t deny—one that told him he had gotten a taste of what his new 'plan A' should have been, and he ignored it because he thought he knew what was best. His heart was back in Carolina, and it took a ten-thousand-dollar dog collar to make him finally see it. Evan swam to the ladder and climbed out of the pool without saying a word to anyone.

"Where are you going?" Heidi asked.

"I need to use the phone," he said. He dried his hands but didn't bother drying the rest of his body before picking up his phone and pushing the button to call his sister.

Everyone else stayed in or around the pool, but Evan walked into the backyard so that his conversation couldn’t be overheard.

The dog yapped at him from her place on the patio, but it thankfully kept its distance.

"What's up, brother? Whatchu doing calling me?" Mia said, picking up the phone.

"I was thinking about taking you up on the offer to move into your guesthouse for a little while," Evan said, feeling short of breath at the sheer speed in which his brain was racing.

There was a fairly long silence as he paced the backyard waiting for Mia to speak. "Evan you
live
in my guest house," she said, tentatively like she thought he might be on drugs.

"I'm talking about the one in Charlotte," he said.

"You wanna move back to
Charlotte
?" she asked, seeming flabbergasted.

"I'm thinking about it," he said. "I was thinking maybe I could scope out a few locations for that taco place I was telling you about."

Mia and her husband had talked to Evan about his retirement plan of opening a restaurant, but his career was going so good in Los Angeles that she couldn’t imagine why he'd want to 'retire' right away—and certainly not in Charlotte.

"If you're homesick, why don't you just come visit for a little while," she said. "You didn't get to come home for the holidays. It's been a while since…" she hesitated. "When
did
you come home last?"

"It was last fall after my accident," he said.

"You're probably due for a visit," she said.

"You can look at it as a visit if you want to, Mia, but I'm pretty sure I'm moving back home."

"Why?"

"Why not?"

"Because you're killing it over there," she said as if stating the obvious.

"It's not just about money, though," he said.

"What's it about?"

"I don’t know," he said. "I guess I just sort of feel like I should have stopped and realized that maybe my life got put on hold for a reason," he said. "I thought I was being open to that all this time, but I don’t think I was. Maybe the detour was the destination."

"I did not understand what you just said," Mia said after a short pause.

"I don’t even know if I understand it, really. I just got this feeling that I should come back and see what's going on in Charlotte. I think I'll enjoy opening a restaurant, and I have enough start-up to do it. I can still take a few jobs and work with the EOC when I can, but I just feel like I should be back home."

Mia paused. For as long as she could remember (ever since they were tiny kids) Evan had been chomping at the bit to be anywhere but home. He left Charlotte the second he graduated high school, and had barely been back since. She didn't understand his change of heart. "Are you sure you're feeling all right?" she asked.

"I'm fine," he said. "Better than ever. I know it must seem weird to hear me saying all this, but I promise it's gonna be all good. I'm not giving up on myself or modeling right now. I'm doing what I should have done months ago, and realizing that sometimes you're led somewhere new for a reason."

"That's deep, Evan," she said, making her brother laugh.

"It's pretty deep," he said. "But it translates into having to make plans and take some action. That's why I'm calling. I wanted to make sure you were okay with me moving in at your Charlotte place for a little while."

"Of course we're okay with it," she said. "It's the same as you living at our L.A. place. We'll get to see you half-the-time either way." She paused. "It's mom who's gonna be pumped—and Dee-dee. Did you tell them?"

"No, you're the first person I called."

"Oh, my gosh, Mom's gonna freak out when she hears."

"I'll call her later, I just need to decide what my time-frame is. I think I'll want to get a truck to move my things from here. I used to live out of a duffel bag, but I've accumulated quite a bit in the last three years. I'll probably need to make moving arrangements."

"Moving arrangements mean you're serious," she said.

"I'm totally serious," he said. "I feel like a weight's been lifted off my chest since I decided." (He didn't add that this was only about two minutes ago.)

"That's awesome, brother," she said. "I'm happy for you. I'll be thinking about good locations for your taco place."

"Thank you," he said. "I'm excited."

Evan almost said goodbye and hung up, but the next words that came out of his mouth were, "Hey, does that girl still work for you at the salon?"

"What girl?"

"The one from the biscuit place. Annabel."

"Oh, of course," she said. "We love Annabel." A couple of seconds passed before Mia added, "That's not what this is about, is it?"

"What? No, why?"

"Okay, because she's seeing someone. I just saw them together last night."

Evan pulled the phone away from his ear. He held it in front of him, staring at it like it was something that had just fallen off of a spaceship—a foreign object that was saying all sorts of things he didn't approve of. It seriously took all of his strength to refrain from making a perfect overhand throw and landing his phone directly into the swimming pool. He was so mad, he felt like he might break into an instant sweat.

"Did you hear me?" Mia asked.

"What?"

"I said Annabel's seeing som—"

"I heard what you said, but my moving back has nothing to do with her," Evan said.

"Okay, I was just making sure," she said defensively.

Evan wanted to drop the subject and hang up with his sister, but he couldn't stop wondering if she'd been seeing that guy last fall when they hung out.

"How long has she been with that guy?" Evan asked, unable to contain his curiosity.

Mia sighed. "I don't know, since about Christmas, I guess. He was with her when she came by at Christmas, but I think that was the first time I met him."

"You're talking like he's your best friend or something," Evan said, irritably. "One second, you act like you
think
she might be seeing someone, and now you tell me he's coming to Christmas at my house."

Mia laughed. "You're trippin' Evan. One second, you tell me you're moving here, and now I'm starting to think it's not just about opening a restaurant."

Evan was quiet for several long seconds while Mia sat on the other end, waiting to hear how he'd respond.

"Nico's yelling at me from the other room," she said, finally. "I'm happy for you to come back to Carolina no matter what's bringing you here, Ev. I don't want you to think that's not the case. Mom and Dad aren't gonna care what made you decide, they'll just be glad to have you back."

"I appreciate it," he said. "And I didn't mean to overreact. I guess I'm glad you told me she was with someone, even though it doesn't really matter."

"Oh really?" she asked in that teasing tone only a sister could use. "I'm glad it doesn't really matter."

"It doesn’t change the fact that I'm coming back."

"Well, good. I know Mom will be excited."

Evan told his sister he loved her and said goodbye, and one week later, he was on a plane, headed for Charlotte.