Page 79 of No Words

“Nothing.”

Will raised his eyebrows. “So how is your father going to get around when he moves here?”

“My dad’s not moving here. I’m looking at places for him farther north, in the Orlando area.” I risked a glance at him, though it meant picturing him naked again. “Where’s all this concern for my dad coming from?”

“Because you don’t seem to have really thought through how to take care of yours, who seems like a good one. At least if he moved here, he could walk nearly everywhere he wanted to go. This is a small island. Your dad wouldn’t have to drive anywhere.”

While a lot of unexpected things had happened since my arrival in Little Bridge—having a heart-to-heart with (and then kissing) Will Price on his yacht; watching Garrett Newcombe disappear himself into the Gulf of Mexico—discussing my dad’s future living plans with Will had to be one of the weirdest.

“Um,” I said, as we pulled up in front of the hotel, “I appreciate your concern. But I suspect the real estate prices here in Little Bridge might be a little out of my dad’s”—meaningmy—“price range anyway.”

“You don’t have to buy,” Will said. “Renting first is always a good way to tell if you like an area. Then you can buy later, once you know your way around the local real estate.”

If someone had told me a week ago I’d be spending any amount of time with Will Price discussing Florida real estate, I think my head would have exploded. Now it simply seemed... normal.

Will had slid the car into the space in front of the hotel markedLazy Parrot Inn Guest Drop-Off/Pickup Only.Now he got out, walked over to open my door, and said, “After you.”

“Uh, thanks. And thanks for the real estate tip. I’ll keep that in mind.”

Maybe people with no parents really liked discussing other people’s parental problems, I thought, as I watched Will go up to the young guy who was managing the hotel desk, lean an elbow against it, and say, “Hello. We were wondering if we could have the room number of one of your—”

Whoa. I darted forward and snatched Will by the arm.

“Nope,” I said to the guy behind the desk. “Nope, no, we weren’t. We’re fine. Have a good night.”

Both Will and the front desk guy looked startled.

“Very well, miss,” the front desk guy said. “Have a nice night, yourself.”

As I hustled Will out of the lobby and through the living and dining rooms, out into the courtyard, he whispered, “What are you doing?”

“What areyoudoing? You can’t just go up and ask the guy at the front desk for Garrett’s room number. He might tip him off that we’re on our way! We’ve got to besubtleabout this.”

Will looked taken aback. “But then how else are we going to get his room number?”

“I already know his room number,” I said. I had my arm wrapped around his as I hustled him around the edge of the pool. “I checked into this place at the same time he did.Don’t you remember? I was standing there in the airport yesterday morning holding a sign with both of your names on it. I know you saw me. You looked right at me and dropped your bag in fright.”

Will froze, nearly catapulting me into the pool, because while he’d stopped walking, I’d kept on going, and my arm was still hooked through his.

Not anymore, however. Now we stood in the middle of the courtyard, which was empty of guests as well as hotel employees, and totally silent except for the gurgle of the hot tub and the musical chirps of crickets and frogs.

“I wasn’tfrightenedto see you,” Will insisted. “I was simply a little surprised.”

“Well, I don’t know why. You’re on the festival board. You knew I was coming.”

“Yes, but I didn’t know what time your flight got in. And I didn’t know you’d done that to your hair.”

My hand went reflexively to my head. “I thought you said you liked my hair this way.”

“I did. I do.” The only light in the courtyard was from the lamps outside the doors to everyone’s rooms, and of course the pool lights, which gave everything a blue, out-of-this-world glow. Still, I could see that Will looked upset—upset enough that he’d stuffed his hands deep into the pockets of his trousers, as if he were trying to stuff down something else... his emotions, maybe. “It was just a shock. You looked so different from when I’d last seen you... not in a bad way, just different. I’d heard from a few people that you’d been upset about what I said in theTimes”—people? What people?It could only have been Rosie, who’d probably run into his agent in Aruba or wherever it was all agents hung out when they weren’t in New York, making deals. I was going to kill her—“and I was worried—”

“About what? That I’d dyed my hair black because ofyou?”

Actually, I had, although not directly. Midnight Black matched the way I’d been feeling for months about my career, my love life, and most of all, Will Price.

“No! No, not at all.” At my derisive eye roll, he said, “Well, all right, maybe. I knew I had to apologize, and I wanted to do it right. I’d been rehearsing what I was going to say when I saw you. I didn’t expect our first meeting to be in the Little Bridge Island Airport, though, so I’ll admit, I ran. It was cowardly, but you looked”—he swallowed—“angry.”

I tried to suppress a grin, remembering how I’d been about to spit on the whiteboard and erase his name from it. Then something he’d said hit me. “Wait a minute. Yourehearsedwhat to say when you saw me? On the beach the night of the meet-and-greet—youpracticedthat?”