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As someone in the hospitality industry, Avery knew that was damn near impossible. Her first appointment was tomorrow evening, and she was actually looking forward to it.
Between the developments and changes in her life, and her completely unhealthy obsession with Keaton Savage, it was clear that she needed professional help.
Jacob sighed loudly as he picked up a stick. His shoulders dropped as he poked around at the rocks. Her mom-spidey-senses told her he was worried about being with his dad which she understood since he’d never gone on a trip alone with him before.
“You guys are going to have so much fun!” Avery made sure to infuse genuine excitement in her voice even though she was not comfortable with the thought of Jude taking him for a week.
To say that Jude had been a hands-off dad was an understatement. In the first year of Jacob’s life, he’d only been home nine weeks, and none of that had been consecutive. If it hadn’t been for her mom showing up and helping her, she wasn’t sure how she would have made it through.
“Is Celeste going to be there?” Jacob asked.
“Yes, she is,” Avery assured him.
A huge smile spread on Jacob’s face. “When are we going home?”
“I don’t know.” Since Jacob’s birthday missed the cutoff date for him to start Kindergarten this year, and she’d handed in her resignation, there was nothing pressing she needed to return to California for. “Do you want to go home?”
“No. I like it here.”
So did Avery. Which is why she was crossing her fingers, toes, and eyes that Anne Perkins could fix whatever was short-circuiting in her brain so she didn’t have to leave the only town that felt like home over a man who she barely had a past and absolutely no future with.
* * *
Today was an off day from filming, which meant the men and women were separated. The guys were being held in the south end of the property where the library and gym were. The women were in the north end where the spa and restaurant were located.
Keaton was happy that he had access to the gym. Although he preferred running outside, he’d taken advantage of having a treadmill and spent the last hour trying to wear himself out. He wasn’t allowed to have his phone which had his workout playlists on it, but there was Spotify available through the gym sound system. Vic pulled up a classic rock station and “Barracuda” by Heart was currently blasting through the room.
Sweat dripped down his back as he ran at ten miles per hour on an eight incline. He just wanted to exhaust himself and try and wring out the tension and stress that being on the show caused in him.
His Aunt Laney always said when she was raising her kids the days were long but the years were short. Being on a reality show was sort of like that, except the hours were long and so were the days. But somehow the week flew by. The schedule was basically the same every day. They woke up and had breakfast. The women got a few hours to get ready while the men waited in a holding area. Then there was a challenge, and after that, they were separated again. Next up was getting ready and going to dinner, then an after-dinner cocktail. Lastly, they separated again to get ready for bed before heading into the main sleeping quarters that had five queen-sized beds in them.
Keaton had never gone to camp as a kid, but he had a feeling this was sort of the adult, reality television version of camp.
The only time he’d lived with anyone as an adult was with Camilla. They’d lived together for five years. During that time in his MMA career, he was traveling more than he was home so it didn’t really feel like he’d lived with her although he’d been on the lease and paid the rent. Since moving to Whisper Lake, he’d lived alone. He wasn’t used to being around people twenty-four seven. He needed some space.
He felt like he was suffocating.
Keaton was hoping his workout would burn off some of the pent-up anxiety he had. The digital clock turned to sixty minutes on the treadmill and both the incline and speed decreased. He cooled down walking at four miles per hour for ten minutes. He grabbed a towel and was headed to the weights when the door opened and Iris walked in.
She had a strange look on her face and he wondered if something was wrong. Had something happened with Kennedy or Laura, who were both pregnant? Was Aunt Laney okay?
Alarm bells went off as he started across the gym in her direction. His strides halted when he saw her lift her hand in the universal symbol of stop and tilt her head toward the back door like she wanted him to meet her outside. Then, without saying a word, she turned on her heels and walked back into the hallway.
He had no clue what all this cloak-and-dagger shit was. Why hadn’t she just asked him to follow her? With a sigh, he turned and walked out the back exit that led to the cliffs. When he got outside, he looked around, but she was nowhere to be seen. No one was.
Then, he heard a familiar sound. It was the tinkle of Mojo’s collar. He knew that sound anywhere. A smile was pulling on his face when his five-pound nugget of a dog came around the corner and raced toward him at full speed. Mojo was not a runner. He was a stroller at his most excited. Seeing his pup's enthusiasm proved to Keaton that his usually aloof canine companion had actually missed him.
Keaton felt himself getting emotional as he bent down and scooped Mojo up in his arms.
Iris, who had followed Mojo, looked behind her like they might have been followed before turning back to Keaton and whispering, “I snuck him in. I talked Heather into getting a massage at the spa, so you have one hour before she’s going to come looking for you to be at dinner. I’ll meet you back here for the drop-off. Go somewhere thatno onewill see you. Do you have a place?”
“Yep.” Keaton smiled widely. He knew just the place. He and Avery had found a private beach when they’d been out on a walk and, as far as he knew, no one knew about it.
“Here.” She handed him a walkie talkie. “Keep this on channel fiveonly. If I call you with a code red, that means you need to get your ass back here ASAP. And remember, donotlet anyone see you.”
“Got it.”
Iris double-timed it as she walked back the way she came, and Keaton was faced with a moral dilemma. He had sixty minutes of unsupervised time and he wanted to use it to go to the carriage house and explain to Avery what was going on between himself and Zara, which was nothing. But if he did that, there was a very good chance someone would see him, and Iris might get in trouble for smuggling Mojo onto the set.
