Boone knew there was trouble the moment he’d heard Vivien’s gasp inside the theater. He’d run in. Seen the carnage. The entire set destroyed. The lights shattered across the stage floor.
The wrecked look on her face. She’d gone into a frenzied panic and somehow, he’d left even-keeled behind when Gordy came storming in—blaming her.
So, yeah. Boone had seen red.
He should have taken a breath. Stepped back. Separated Gordy’s anger from his accusations.
Instead, just like in Kellogg, everything unraveled. At least he’d stopped before he’d sent Gordy all the way to the ground.
And then the sheriff walked through the door.
Kyle took in the blast zone of wreckage before him and Boone, standing there with Gordy in a straight-arm bar, and it was all over for Boone.
“Let him go, Boone,” Kyle said in a law enforcement voice.
Right. Fine. Boone released Gordy, stepped back, his hands up. “He was out of control,” he said.
Gordy rounded on him. “I’m not the one out of control!” The man shouted, his face bright red, his eyes narrowed. He pointed toward the debris. “Do you know how much money and time my family has put into this building? Do you know what it means to us?”
Boone turned to Kyle, still breathing hard. “This isn’t what it looks like.”
“I want to press charges.” Sweat beaded on Gordy’s brow, turning his receding hairline dark. “This man—” He pointed at Boone. “This man threatened and assaulted me.”
“I didn’t threaten you!” Boone drew in a breath. Stop talking.
“So, you admit to assaulting me.” Gordy straightened his shirt and tugged his sweater back over his robust middle.
“That wasn’t an assault—that was a control hold.” He, too, could use his cop voice. He turned to Kyle. “And, really, the guy had it coming. He’s acting like a lunatic.”
“I’m the lunatic? I didn’t throw anybody against a wall.”
“You came after me!” Boone said, but honestly, it happened so fast—
He might have grabbed Gordy anyway, the way he was lashing into Vivien.
Boone looked to Vivien, who stood, her hand on her forehead, her eyes blinking. Saying nothing. She just stood there, letting Gordy tear into him.
Looking at him as if he’d destroyed her world.
And frankly, her expression looked so much like the one PJ Sugar had given him the night he’d let her take the blame for the country club fire, it felt like a punch, right to his heart.
He couldn’t fix this. Perfect. He’d wrecked another woman’s life. Maybe he was exactly what Kellogg thought about him. And the realization that maybe he really couldn’t change who he was sucked the air from his lungs.
Kyle held up a hand. “Gordy, I think everyone needs to take a step back.”
“No. I won’t. I won’t back down from this bully. I want him arrested. Right now. And, you know what? You’ll hear from my lawyer too.”
Kyle blew out a long breath and nodded for Boone to step aside.
Boone followed him. “Listen—”
“I think it’s best that you go.”
“Fine. I’ll be at the cabin if you want my statement.”
Kyle gave him a grim-faced shake of his head. “No. I mean head back home to Kellogg.” Kyle’s jaw was tight. He lowered his voice. “I think that’s really the only chance you have of getting Gordy to back down right now. He’s hot about what happened and he’s a powerful man. If you push him before he cools off, there’s no telling what kind of destruction it will do.” He looked toward Gordy, who was rubbing his arm and shoulder. “I’m going to see if I can do some damage control.”
Boone rubbed his hands over his face. Leave? Right Now?
Kyle stepped away and then paused. Turned. “Really, I don’t want to see this blow up into something that hurts your career and destroys your chance for the promotion. You belong in Kellogg.”
He didn’t need to say anymore. Boone could fill in the rest. You don’t belong in Deep Haven.
And as much as Boone wanted to fight it, maybe Kyle was right.
Especially when Gordy piped up and threatened Kyle’s future as a sheriff.
“Fine. I’m gone.” He shot a look at Vivien, whose eyes widened.
Then, his heart banging hard against his chest, he stalked out of the theater toward his car.
“Boone! Wait!” Vivien scrambled out behind him and he could hardly stand to see the look on her face. She wiped tears from her cheeks. “What are you doing?”
“You heard Kyle. I have to go.”
“Go where?” She got between him and his car and gestured toward the theater door. “We have to fix this.”
“I’m leaving for Kellogg.”
“Now? You can’t leave now. The playhouse is a wreck and we only have a week to find a new location and rebuild the sets and—”
He put his hands on her shoulders, cut his voice low. Even. “No, Vivie. It’s not going to happen. I have to go.”
“You don’t!” Her voice shook and tore a piece of his heart. Her beautiful eyes filled.
“You know Gordy’s going to ruin my career. Ruin my chances for the promotion if I stay.”
Her breath hitched. “I thought…I thought you weren’t going to take the promotion.”
And he could read it in her eyes. I thought you were staying.
Yeah, well, him too. The thought hit him like a punch. He’d wanted to stay. To build a new life here, with Vivien.
And his temper had screwed that up too. He took a breath.
“That promotion is all I’ve got. And I’m certainly not going to put Kyle’s career at risk.” He stepped away from her and dug into his pocket for his keys.
She blinked at his words, openmouthed, as if slapped. “What about the…the play?”
“The sets are destroyed, the playhouse is out of bounds again, and your male lead has to drop out. I don’t think there’s going to be a play. I’m sorry.”
And now he really hated himself.
Tears streamed down her cheeks. “You’re not going to fight for it?”
He swallowed and looked away. “What is there to fight for? Everything’s gone.”
His words turned his throat to acid, and he tightened his jaw. He needed to leave, now, before he did something stupid.
Like cry.
“I trusted you to help me pull this off.” She was really crying now, her voice broken.
Aw. And he didn’t know where the words came from, maybe the desperate attempt to pull them both back from the jagged emotional edge, but—“Come on, Vivie. Don’t be so dramatic. Look at my life. It’s no surprise, is it?”
Her eyes widened.
“Happy endings are fiction. Fairy tales.” He pushed past her, opened his door. “I don’t belong here and I should have figured that out long ago before I let myself get involved in some stupid play.”
She sucked in a breath. Blinked. Her arm wrapped around her waist, the look on her face…gutted.
Oh no. “Vivien—you know I didn’t mean it like that.”
Except, tears freely flowed down her cheeks. He reached for her.
She shrugged off his hand, sparks in her eyes. “You just go on. Because you’re right. You should go. You don’t belong here and you most certainly don’t belong with me.”
He stood staring at her, at the brutal look on her face.
You don’t belong with me.
His jaw tightened. “Nope. I guess not.”
She stepped backwards onto the sidewalk while he got into the car, her breath gasping with sobs again.
He didn’t look at her as she wept. Couldn’t.
Not even a glance in the rearview mirror as he drove away.
Vivien tucked her head when she entered the VFW two hours later, willing the evening chatter to continue. The faces to not look in her direction. The last thing she wanted was to be in the Deep Haven spotlight. She pressed down the roil in her stomach brought on by the smells of food.
She’d grab the dinner she’d promised to pick up for Ree and then break the news.
She was leaving Deep Haven.
She’d made the decision on her drive back from Boone’s cabin. His empty cabin. He’d left town at the speed of Superman.
Or a thief in the night, because he’d certainly stolen something from her.
Her future. Hope, even.
Signe Netterlund stood at the cash register, retying her blonde hair into a high ponytail. “Hey, Viv.”
“Hi. I’m here to pick up an order for Ree Zimmerman.”
“Sure.” Signe nodded. “That was two burgers and fries, right? With one onion ring?”
“That’s the one.” She shoved her hands into her pockets.
“Let me check. We’re a little shorthanded right now.” She pointed at the Now Hiring sign for a cook. “It should be almost ready.”
She disappeared into the back and Vivien tugged her ball cap down. Ignored the sting of the memories. The fact that the last time she’d been here had been with Boone talking to Kyle about the case.
She especially ignored the ache in her heart when she’d gone to his cabin to apologize, only to find it empty.
He’d bailed on her.
Apparently, their time together hadn’t meant anything to him. Apparently, he didn’t feel the raw, gaping wound in his heart the way she did in her own.
And, apparently, he really had meant the words I don’t belong in some stupid play.
Had she roped him into things he hadn’t wanted to do?
She’d been a fool to try to compete with his dream promotion. To let hope latch on to her heart.
No. Even as her heart warred for her to go after him, to call him, to beg him to come back, she wouldn’t.
Couldn’t.
Because that’s exactly what she’d done to her dad. Cried. Clung to him. Begged him not to go.
Don’t be so dramatic.
Boone had made his choice. She tugged a tissue from her purse and wiped her nose. Vivien didn’t need him.
Right.
The truth scraped her raw the entire way back to her house with her bag of burgers and fries. Well, she hoped Seth was available for lunch because she’d lost her appetite.
She’d failed.
Again.
Only this time, she hadn’t just let herself down, or let strangers in New York City down. No, this time, she’d let her friends down. Beth. Ella. Courtney. Adam. All the time Mona had put into helping promote it. The businesses who’d put up money to sponsor the show. Evergreen Resort. Wild Harbor Trading Post. Java Cup.
There was only one place she could run to in order to get away from Deep Haven.
Ree was making tea in the kitchen when Vivien came in and dropped the food bag on the counter. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” Vivien looked away. Tried to remember some happy thought that might dam up the tears she hadn’t shed.
“Viv?” Ree reached out a hand, squeezed Vivien’s shoulder. “What is it?”
“He’s gone. Boone left town, the theater’s wrecked, and I am the biggest failure Deep Haven has ever known.” She walked to the couch and slid down on it, wrapping her arms around a throw pillow she pressed to her chest.
Ree sat next to her. “Do you want some ice cream? We can skip the burgers and go straight to comfort.”
“No.” She never wanted to eat ice cream again. “I’m not hungry.”
Ree stared at her. Blinked. “What happened?”
“The theater was completely wrecked. Like, someone totally destroyed it.”
“Oh no!” Ree covered her mouth with her hand.
“Yep. And Gordy blamed me. Can you believe that?”
“What?”
“And then Boone tried to step in, which should have been nice, but then that went all kinds of sideways and he grabbed Gordy. And then Kyle showed up. And then—” She shook her head. Clenched her jaw. “It doesn’t matter. Because even if some part of it could have been salvaged, Boone said awful things. I said awful things.”
“Oh, Viv.”
“I went to his cabin to apologize, but he’s already gone.” She waved her hand, as if she could dismiss her feelings. “He’s probably still in love with his ex. Couldn’t wait to hit the highway and head back to Kellogg.”
“That’s not fair. Boone really did want to help you.”
“Hardly. He called the play stupid. A stupid play. Well, wow. Tell me how you really feel.”
Ree took her hand. “He was hurt, angry. He didn’t mean any of it.”
“I thought maybe he was too. So, I went to talk to him. But he’d already left. Packed up and drove straight out of town.”
“That doesn’t mean—”
“Why are you siding with him?” Vivie sat up. “He’s probably already got the Chief of Police plaque ordered for his desk.”
Ree gave her a look. “C’mon, Viv.”
“I’ve failed. Again. I mean—how many times will I completely screw it up?” She stood and moved to the middle of the living room. “I used to run home to Deep Haven. And now? I don’t have a home anymore. This time, I’ve failed right here, in front of everyone who’s ever known me.” She blew out a breath. “Fine. I’m going back to New York. Because if I’m going to fail, at least there I can disappear into the plethora of has-beens and wannabes.”
Ree got up also. “You’re not a has-been or a wannabe, Viv.”
But Vivie shook her head, pulled out her phone from her pocket, scrolled through her contacts, and hit Send.
“What are you doing?”
He answered on the second ring. “Hello?”
“Ravil?”
“Viv!” Ree said, reaching for the phone.
Vivien turned from her. “Is there still a role for me?”
The abrupt question had him pausing and for a second, her heart sank. Then, “Of course, sweetheart. How soon can you be here?”
She stared out the window, at the sun setting over the lake, blood red across the waves. “I’m sure I can get a flight out tomorrow if one of the girls will let me crash at their place for a few nights.”
“Done. Text me your flight information and I’ll pick you up at the airport.”
Vivien hung up, her hand shaking only a little.
Ree was standing with her hands on her hips. “You can’t be serious, Vivie. Ravil’s a jerk, role or not.”
“Let’s be real. People only love me when I’m someone else.” She moved into the bedroom and tugged out a suitcase.
Ree followed her into the room. “I think you’ve told yourself that story since you were a little kid.”
“It’s always been my experience.” She threw the suitcase on her bed and flipped it open.
“You’re wrong.” Ree put her hand on the makeup bag Vivien had turned to grab, holding it in place.
“Well, it doesn’t matter. I think Boone’s still in love with the idea of his ex.”
Ree released her grip on the bag. “No way.”
“Yes. I really do. I think I am exactly what I tried to set him up for—a summer fling. A distraction.” She tossed the makeup into her suitcase and began tugging clothes from her dresser drawers.
“You weren’t a fling.”
“Let’s see—he said he doesn’t belong here. He was more worried about his promotion than the play he’d committed to. Ultimately, it all came down to appearances. He didn’t want to look like the bad guy. He didn’t want anything to tarnish the reputation he’d worked so hard to build and earn his place in his father’s life. That’s the whole reason he left Kellogg a month ago. To let the dust settle.” She shoved a stack of T-shirts into the suitcase.
“I don’t think that’s true. I think maybe that’s how it started—but I think he came to want to be here. Honestly, Boone doesn’t strike me as a fling kind of guy.”
Vivien threw her hands into the air. “Well, a guy doesn’t get over his first love. Not when he’s pined for her for that many years.”
Ree stilled. “Seth did,” she said quietly.
And now Vivien was the jerk. “Sure. Of course, Seth did. But, Boone, he’s different.”
Ree stooped to pick up a pair of jeans that had fallen to the floor and gently folded them. “You’re wrong about him. Just because they love deeply and profoundly doesn’t mean they can never love another. It just takes the right time, the right set of circumstances.” She set the jeans onto the bed.
“I shouldn’t have said what I said, Ree, but I didn’t mean Seth.”
And, even if Boone had spoken out of anger and frustration, it didn’t matter. He’d also spoken out of his heart. She’d convinced him to go along with the play. Begged him when he was so set against it. So, really, why would he think her play was anything but stupid?
She shoved the remaining pairs of pants into the suitcase and leaned her weight onto it to close the latch.
“I need to buy my ticket.” She didn’t even try to make her half smile convincing.
Ree remained silent and Vivien pulled up her airline app and punched in the flight details. “Look at that—I can get a flight tomorrow.” She tabbed through the ticket purchase. One way to the Big Apple. Her thumb hovered only a moment over the Buy tab.
Then, “Done.”
Ree shook her head. “Whatever. I’ll take you to the airport.”
Vivien nodded and reached out to squeeze Ree’s hand. “Thanks. I need to make calls to the cast. Let them know the show is off. Apologize to the sponsors.”
“I’ll help.”
“Thanks, but I think I need to tell them myself. It’s my fault.”
“It isn’t your fault, Viv.” Ree wiped tears from her face. “I’m gonna miss you.”
“Me too.” But Vivien would not cry. She found her faux smile. “Hey—don’t be sad. This is what I’ve always wanted. I mean, how many times have you seen me off to New York City? This time, it’s gonna stick.”
“Yes. I know.”
Vivien riffled through the clothes still hanging in the closet. “Are you okay with me leaving stuff here for now? I’ll be back to pack it up as soon as we have a break in production. Probably Thanksgiving, if not sooner. I’ll cover the rent I owe.”
“Sure.”
And that was that. She knew exactly where she was going. Because, the truth was, she’d played the game of what-if and lost. And she didn’t plan on ever doing that again.