Chapter Twelve

Leanne looked over her dad’s shoulder as he worked on his computer. “What’s that right there?” she asked, leaning over him and pointing to the screen.

He pushed her back, spluttering. “Your hair went in my mouth,” he said, clawing at his tongue like he could remove whatever invisible germs might be there.

“Sorry,” she said with a grin, rubbing her hand over his smooth head. There had been hair there, once upon a time. Or so he claimed. “But you’re not explaining anything to me, you’re just doing it. How am I supposed to take over and run this place if you don’t show me how?”

Her dad glanced back and tossed her an amused smile. “You’ve been back, what, a couple of weeks and you’re ready to kick your mother and me out?”

“You’re twisting my words to make it sound as awful as you can.”

“I know.” Leanne could still hear the smile in his voice. Her dad’s attention returned to the computer. “But frankly, I’m a little surprised at how eager you are to run this place. What happened to becoming a world-famous screenwriter? You never did tell us why you left LA.”

Leanne released a sigh. “That’s because it’s sappy and boring and lame. I’m still trying to come up with a reason that will make me seem a lot cooler than I actually am.”

Her dad didn’t respond, his fingers typing across his keyboard, and she wondered for a moment if he’d heard her. “See right here?” he asked, pointing to a column of cells on the spreadsheet he’d opened up. “These are the sales for the month. Now, I know there are some fancy programs people use to do this kind of stuff, but it’s better if you do it yourself. Keeps the mind sharp, you know. Plus, if you program doesn’t work—”

“It’s because I missed you, okay?” Leanne interrupted. “I missed you and Mom and Jules. And Starlight Ridge. And how Jessie and Erwin are always getting mad at each other for stupid stuff. And surfing, definitely surfing.” She shook out her legs and arms. They were feeling a lot better. She’d probably even be able to go out that weekend.

“And Isaac?” her dad asked, swiveling his office chair so he now faced her.

Leanne gave a noncommittal shrug.

“Your mom is worried that we haven’t seen him around here.” He paused. “And there have been rumors.” Her dad waited a beat, maybe hoping she’d be able to shed more light on the situation. Leanne had already assumed rumors would start circulating, considering no wedding date had been set yet, and she and Isaac were never seen together. “When your mom asked Jules about it, your sister high-tailed it out of there, claiming she was late for an appointment she’d forgotten about.”

Leanne smirked. “So Mom set you to the task of pulling info out of me?”

He laughed. “You can’t blame a guy for trying. She thought you wouldn’t expect me to ask those kinds of questions and you’d be more likely to accidentally spill whatever you have bottled up in that heart of yours.”

Leanne’s smile faded. “Well, you can tell Mom that—”

Jules burst into their dad’s home office. She skidded to a stop and her gaze bounced from Leanne to their dad, and back again. “Um…” She smiled, as if she hadn’t just exploded into the room. Jules wasn’t fooling anyone though, and her obvious anxiety put Leanne on edge. “So…”

“Well, what is it?” Leanne asked, willing her heart to calm itself. With the way her sister was acting, Leanne wouldn’t be surprised if someone had just suffered a tragic accident. Or half the town had burned down. With her imagination going wild like it was, might as well make it a tsunami.

Jules stepped forward and leaned in toward Leanne. “Someone’s here to see you,” she said, her voice low. “Says it’s important.”

She obviously hadn’t spoken soft enough, because their dad didn’t even pretend to not have heard. “Who’s here?”

“Just someone who hadn’t been able to officially welcome Leanne back to town,” Jules said, waving a hand through the air like it wasn’t anything he’d be interested in.

Their dad wasn’t going to let it go that easily. “Who? She’s been back two weeks and we’ve had a dozen welcome baskets, including from people I didn’t even know lived in this town. And I know everyone.”

Jules just smiled and pulled on Leanne’s arm, leading her out of the room. “I promise I’ll return her to her business lessons,” she said, even as she shut the door on their still protesting father.

“What is going on?” Leanne demanded, pulling her arm from her sister’s grasp.

Jules’s gaze darted down the hallway, as if making certain they were alone. “Isaac is here. He seems super stressed out and says he needs to talk to you.”

Leanne’s heart stuttered and her mind turned fuzzy. “Isaac is…here? As in, at the bed and breakfast?” She peeked over her sister’s shoulder, like he would materialize behind her.

“Yes, but he said he’d meet you outside in the children’s garden. Didn’t want to make a scene with Mom and Dad.”

“That I can understand,” Leanne said. Her feet stayed planted where they were, however, not seeming interested in taking her to meet her ex-boyfriend.

Jules held out her arms and gave her a look that said, Well, what are you waiting for?

Leanne took a step forward but paused. “He didn’t say what was so urgent?”

“Does it matter?” Jules fixed her sister with a hard stare. “There is a hot surfer waiting for you in the backyard, who obviously wants to sneak around behind your parents’ back. Isn’t that reason enough?”

Leanne laughed. “We’re not teenagers anymore. And I doubt he wants to do the things we used to do when we sneaked out at night.” She glanced through the window at the end of the hallway and her smile faded. “I doubt anything he has to tell me is good news.”

“He seemed really nervous,” Jules said, pushing Leanne toward the back door to the house. “I bet he wants to tell you how wrong he was, how he can’t live without you, and how he wants to marry you on the spot.”

If only that was something she didn’t want—that she didn’t hope for. But there was no use pretending. Isaac had always been the only one for her. The best friend she couldn’t do without. The man she wanted to grow old with.

Then she left him.

And she was afraid that this conversation could only go one way—her last strand of hope, destroyed.

Once Jules got Leanne to the back door, she opened it. “It’s going to be fine. I’m sure of it. Just…fix this. Please.” She then gave Leanne a final push out onto the deck, then shut the door behind her.

The lock clicked.

Leanne sucked into a long breath. She’d need to have a little chat with her sister later. Leanne’s gaze swept the sprawling yard below her. Palm trees grew along the periphery of the lush grass, giving their guests a sense of privacy. A few chairs and tables were set up, offering the chance to dine outside. And then there was the children’s garden, built around a small creek that ran through the yard. The garden was large, taking up almost half of the space back there, and was mostly enclosed to allow children the freedom of exploring, while giving parents the assurance that the little ones wouldn’t easily scamper off. Leanne’s mother had even built a small maze out of hedges.

It was there that Leanne caught sight of a bobbing head of dark hair. It moved through the maze until it reached the entrance of the garden and Isaac’s full form came into view. He paused and glanced in her direction. Their eyes met and they both stared for a few seconds before he tilted his head, inviting her to join him.

Leanne steeled herself for what was to come, then slowly descended the stairs that would lead her into the yard. Her steps across the grass, still moist from an early morning drizzle, felt like a funeral march. The sun now shone bright, all signs of the rain clouds gone, but it didn’t help her mood. When she reached the entrance to the children’s garden, Isaac turned and motioned for her to follow. She did so, but grudgingly, not liking all of this cloak and dagger nonsense. It wasn’t his usual style, and it put her even more on edge.

When they reached a small metal table and chairs meant for children a quarter of their size, Isaac sat down. Even Leanne’s nerves couldn’t stop her lips from quirking up as his body spilled over the edges of the chair, his knees scrunched up to his chest.

“Are you comfortable?” she asked, not able to stop the teasing lilt in her voice.

Isaac seemed surprised by her attempt at banter and even he wasn’t able to stop a slight smile from forming. “Yes, quite. Thank you.” He didn’t say anything else right away, and Leanne began to wonder if Jules had been exaggerating the urgency of Isaac’s arrival. He didn’t seem to be in a hurry.

Leanne had just turned and taken a step toward a hedge that bordered the maze when Isaac finally spoke. She glanced back over her shoulder at him and was surprised by the intense concern that was etched in his features.

“They know,” he said.

Leanne turned back to Isaac and waited for him to continue, but he was looking at her like she should know what he was talking about. “Okay,” she said, slowly. “About…” He was going to have to give her more to go on than his two-word speech.

“Us. Breaking up.” Isaac looked like he was getting impatient, as if he were having to spell it out to a two-year-old. But he wasn’t exactly giving her a lot of information to work with, considering he had upped his word count to five.

And then what he was trying to tell her sank in. Breaking up. They hadn’t ever officially called it quits. But those two words—they made it sound so…final. And awful. Leanne thought she was going to be sick. Literally. She ran to the nearest hedge and clutched her spasming stomach. She waited a moment, but relief wouldn’t come.

When Leanne finally felt like she could breathe again, she turned back to Isaac. He was watching her, a pained expression etched in his features. She wondered what part of the situation, exactly, was causing him pain. Was it having to be near her, even for these few minutes?

“We knew people would find out eventually,” she said with a lift of the shoulder, as if she didn’t think it was as big of a deal as he was making it. Inside, though, she was totally freaking out. This made it real. Once the town knew, there was no going back.

She and Isaac were officially over. If that hadn’t already been clear.

Oh gosh, what if her mom found out from someone in town? Jules had kept her promise and not told their parents, but Leanne would never hear the end of it if she didn’t get the chance to tell them first. That had just moved up the priority list of things to do that day.

“I don’t think you understand how serious this is,” Isaac said, beginning to look a lot more agitated.

This was starting to feel a bit weird. Isaac wasn’t the type to freak out. That was Leanne’s job.

“What were we going to do, tell everyone the wedding was postponed indefinitely? They’d start to wonder around year five.” She smiled at her own joke. Because the town had already been wondering at day five. They couldn’t have kept it up much longer.

“They blame you, okay?” Isaac said, his voice raised. “They say it was your fault for going to L.A. and that you should never have left.”

Leanne blinked. “They’re…taking sides?”

That wasn’t like the Starlight Ridge she knew. Everyone supported one another—they were family.

But she was now beginning to see it as they did. She hadn’t just betrayed Isaac—she’d betrayed everyone.

It wasn’t like other people didn’t move out. Adeline went away for college, and others had left and not come back. When Leanne had received her acceptance into the apprenticeship, the whole town had celebrated her success.

But that had been when she had planned on returning three months later. To marry Isaac. The beloved son the entire town had taken under its wing when Isaac’s parents had left town and moved to the city. He hadn’t wanted to leave, he’d wanted to stay with Leanne in Starlight Ridge.

And then Leanne had broken his heart.

“Wait, how did people find out?” There hadn’t been many people who had known they weren’t together anymore. Only her, Isaac, Jules, Caleb, Bree, Adeline…okay, she understood how the word got out.

“It was me.”

Leanne had to put a hand against the hedge to steady herself. “I’m sorry?” She’d figured it had been Caleb or Adeline…someone else.

“I was cornered by Jessie at the sunset stroll last night. I don’t know how it happened, it just came out,” Isaac said, his words now tumbling out. “And then Erwin walked past and heard and then he asked Jules about it—”

“Wait, Jules knew that you had told people? And she didn’t tell me?” Her sister was lucky she’d locked that door, because once Leanne got back inside, they were definitely going to exchange some choice words.

Isaac shook his head. “That isn’t the point.”

Leanne studied him for a moment. “What is the point then? That everyone is taking your side, which proves that you were right all along, that I messed up everything?” She folded her arms across her chest and blew a strand of hair out of her face. “Okay, I admit it. It was my fault. I shouldn’t have left. And I shouldn’t have stayed away. And I’ve screwed everything up. Happy?”

No, Isaac didn’t look happy. In fact, he stood up from the small chair so quickly, it flew back behind him, hitting a bush. “How could you have stayed here when your dreams were directly in front of you, calling to you? How could I have lived with myself, knowing I’d kept you from that?”

The power in his voice startled her, and from the startled expression on his own face, Leanne wondered if he’d even known that was what he’d intended to say. “But I didn’t come back when I said I would.”

Isaac’s expression softened and he took a step toward her. “Why is that?”

Leanne’s gaze dropped to the ground. She’d supposed, even with how things had been between her and Isaac, that he’d eventually want answers. “It always felt like my big break was just around the corner. Frederick is one of the biggest names in Hollywood. People practically worship him, and he believed in me. He pushed me to be better, to constantly improve my craft and make the connections I’d need to finally get noticed.” She lifted one shoulder. “It felt nice to have someone believe in me like that.”

“I believed in you,” Isaac said, his voice soft.

Leanne’s gaze lifted, and she was surprised to see him standing so close—only a couple feet in front of her. “I know,” she said, allowing herself to look him in the eyes. They swirled in a mixture of varying shades of brown. She’d forgotten how hypnotizing they could be.

“But it isn’t the same,” he said, guessing at what she was thinking. “When someone who loves you says they believe in you, it isn’t like a critic finally seeing talent they can appreciate. Your mom will always love everything you do—Frederick, not so much.”

Leanne nodded slowly, surprised by how much he seemed to understand. And he said it without judgment. Isaac must have seen the confusion in her features, because he gave her an embarrassed smile and his gaze dropped.

“I’ve had a lot of time to think about things.”

“Which seemed to make you more angry at me,” Leanne added, and then snapped her lips shut. She shouldn’t be reminding him that he was mad.

To her relief, Isaac’s gaze lifted and he chuckled. “Most of the thinking that matters has happened since last night when I realized that the entire town was about to demonize you. I was trying to understand your point of view. I don’t know a lot about what you went through over the past two years, but I’d like to.”

“It will take more than a few minutes,” she said.

Isaac stepped forward, closing the gap. “I have time.”

The way he was looking at her—so soft, like he cared for nothing in the world but her. It was like the old Isaac had returned to her. “Should I start with how Frederick hated the sundress my mom gave me, or the end where I told Eli Hunt that his Olympic size pool didn’t compare to the ocean in my front yard?”

Isaac gaped. Leanne assumed that he was shocked that she’d actually met the famous Eli Hunt, but he instead said, “The sunflower dress your mom got you as a going away present? I love that dress.”

Desire ignited within her. She knew it was silly for something as little as him remembering a dress, and caring more for it than her famous connections, to be the source of the sudden and intense attraction. But that had always been something she’d loved about Isaac. He was down to earth, and didn’t care for the superficial.

“I know, right?” she said, her voice coming out hoarse. She cleared her throat. “But I was stupid enough to believe him when he said it would hurt my chances at a career in screenwriting. I didn’t wear it for the entire two years, right up until the evening before I came home.”

Isaac cocked his head to the side, his brows furrowed. “Really? Because Frederick didn’t like it?” He seemed to be having trouble reconciling the event with the woman who stood before him.

Shame settled in her stomach. “Small town and Hollywood don’t mix well.” She straightened and forced a smile. “Thank goodness I realized the error of it…even if it was too little too late.”

Isaac watched her for a moment, emotions flicking so quickly that Leanne had a difficult time determining which one he’d landed on. “Maybe it doesn’t have to be.”