One in a Million (10 page)

Tanner looked at Callie. He would’ve liked to pull her in close and see if she’d melt against him like she had yesterday, but they had a young, impressionable audience watching them with avid curiosity.

And then there was the fact that Tanner had walked away from what he and Callie had started. Which made him an idiot. “I need to unload these provisions,” he said, and gestured to the bags in his hands.

“Don’t mind me,” she said. “I was just out for a walk. I’m headed back to do more work.”

Tanner was standing in the boat’s galley putting things away when he heard the voices.

“Just neighbors, huh?” Troy said.

“Yep,” Callie replied, emphasis on the “p” sound.

“You didn’t look at him like you were just neighbors,” Troy said. “And you stared at his leg.”

“I hadn’t seen his scar before,” Callie said.

“He got it in a fire on the oil rigs,” Troy told her. “He nearly died.”

There was no sullenness in the boy’s voice, Tanner noted. No negativity at all, in fact.

“I’m glad he’s not still working out there,” Callie said.

“I’m not sure he can,” Troy said. “You’ve seen him limp.”

Tanner winced but it was fact. He limped. He probably always would. Realizing he was straining to eavesdrop, he attempted to ignore them and unloaded the bags.

“His limp isn’t that noticeable,” Callie said. “And the Tanner I know wouldn’t let anything stop him from doing what he wanted to do—” She broke off at the sound of a text coming through. There was a beat of silence and then she snorted.

“What?” Troy asked.

“It’s my work, from a bride. She says: My shoes are at least a shade off from my dress—exclamation point, exclamation point, exclamation point. The wedding’s going to be ruined!” Callie sighed. “My poor, overwrought, overly emotional bride.”

“You’ve got brides texting you?” Troy asked.

“It’s my job to deal with them,” she said. “I don’t know why I do it.”

“Why do you?”

“Well,” she said thoughtfully. “We all do things we don’t necessarily want to do.”

“Yeah,” Troy said, sounding mopey. “Like mopping a boat. But you’re a grown-up. You get to do whatever you want.”

Callie laughed. “That’s so not true. There are consequences to everything, you must know that. And responsibilities, which only grow as you get older. We all end up doing things that we don’t always want to.”

“Like?” Troy asked.

“Like your dad didn’t necessarily want to be out there on the rigs.”

“Yeah, he did,” Troy said. “Just like he’d rather be working in South America for the winter on some big diving job instead of here with me.”

“I think you’re wrong,” Callie responded, her voice far more serious now. “He could’ve taken a job in South America but he’s here because he wants to be. He wants to be with you.”

Tanner strained to hear Troy’s response, but if the teen said anything more, he didn’t catch it. A few minutes later he made his way above deck and found Troy alone, back at work mopping.

Callie was halfway up the dock.

Tanner called out to her and, feeling Troy’s eyes on his back, headed her way. She’d stopped and was watching him.

Tanner rarely gave his leg much thought other than the fact that it ached like a sonofabitch, but in that moment he’d have paid big bucks to have a normal gait. “Hey,” he said.

“Hey yourself. Your son’s a great kid.”

“He’s got his moments.”

“So you’re okay with me hiring him to babysit Lucille?” she asked.

“If he wants, sure.”

“He said he does.” She tilted her head to the side. “You okay?”

The leg, she meant. “Fine. Are you going to brave the bakery for breakfast?”

She arched a brow.

“What?” he asked.

“Well, first of all, you’re not okay. You’re frowning. You’re frustrated, and your leg is bothering you.”

“What does that have to do with breakfast?” he asked, baffled.

“It doesn’t. But I asked if you were okay and you said fine. When you’re clearly not fine,” she pointed out, sounding perturbed.

He paused. “I know you’re speaking in English but—”

“Never mind.” With a head shake, she started to walk off.

He stared after her, wondering when the hell they’d taken a turn into Crazy-Ville. “Callie.”

“Gotta go.” Halfway down the dock, she turned to him, still walking. “I’m having breakfast with Olivia and Becca. And then I’m getting a new coffeemaker. I’m going to be making my own coffee from now on.”

Yeah, that didn’t sound like it boded well for him. “How about the doughnuts?”

“I’m just giving them up.”

“Cold turkey?”

“Cold turkey,” she said. “They say that’s how it’s best done.”

Something was off.
They
were off—which was his own doing. He opened his mouth to somehow try to fix things but she turned away again and walked off.

And he let her.

He walked back to the boat where Troy was leaning on the mop watching him, shaking his head.

“What?” Tanner asked.

“She’s into you.”

“We’re…”

“Neighbors?” Troy asked, heavy on the dry.

“Yeah.” Tanner rubbed a hand over his face. “Sort of.”

Troy snorted. “Did you not see the way she looked at you? Jeez, even I know what that means.”

Tanner had to shake his head. “You usually avoid talking to me and suddenly you’re all chatty, and
this
is the conversation you want to have?”

Troy shrugged. “I like her.”

“I do too.”

“But you’re screwing it up.”

“No, I’m not,” Tanner said.
Yes, you are…

Troy just looked at him. “You know a lot about a lot of stuff,” he finally said. Tanner didn’t have the time to enjoy the compliment before Troy went on. “But I don’t think you have much game.”

He actually sounded pretty disappointed about this, and Tanner found himself coming to his own defense, ridiculous as it was. “I have plenty of game.”

Troy didn’t look impressed so Tanner repeated it, like he was fifteen too. “I do.”

Or he used to anyway. He eyed the dock. The empty dock. Because Callie was long gone. And that’s when he realized it was true.

He had absolutely no game.

I
n the good news department, Troy spent the next several afternoons with Callie’s grandma and was earning his pay. The first day when she picked him up from the art gallery to drive him home, he came out to the car, slouched in his seat, and said, “Yeah, she’s crazy. And also she’s dating some guy who’s older than dirt.”

“Mr. Wykowski,” she said. “He’s nice.”

“Yeah, he pulled me aside and said he’d double my salary if I sabotage her run for mayor.”

“What?” Callie squeaked.

“Don’t worry, I don’t have to do anything illegal. Just go around and take down the posters she puts up, the ones that say ‘Lucille for Mayor of Lucky Harbor and Beyond!’”

“Oh my God.”

Troy grinned and for a moment he looked so much like his father that it had taken her breath.

She missed Tanner. Badly. Silly to miss a guy after three breakfasts and one kiss, but she missed him with an ache that suggested she’d put far too much importance on what had turned out to be just a renewal of her silly crush. “Did my grandma make you tell her all your secrets?” she asked Troy.

“Every single one,” he said with a sigh.

“It takes practice to learn to resist her,” Callie told him. “You’ll do better as time goes on.”

“What’s going on?” Becca asked Callie at breakfast three mornings after she’d met Troy and scared Tanner off but good.

“Nothing,” she said, and quickly dove into her pancakes.

Becca and Olivia exchanged a look that Callie chose to ignore. She’d learned that was her best tactic because if she gave an inch, her two new friends took a mile.

Or two.

“You sure?” Olivia asked.

“Mm-hmm,” Callie said, nodding, shoving in another bite of pancakes. She was starving. This was what happened when you closed yourself in your apartment and worked for three straight days without coming up for air.

“You know we really like you, right?” Becca asked.

Callie chewed, swallowed, and nodded. “Yep. Sure.”

“She doesn’t know,” Olivia told Becca.

Becca sighed. “Okay, Callie, I need you to listen to me. You’ve got all that really great strawberry blond hair with those natural curls that look effortless, and you have the kind of naturally fit body that doesn’t require hours of torture in the gym, and you don’t even need makeup, and women everywhere probably line up to hate you, but I can’t do it. I can’t hate you.”

“Me either,” Olivia said. “In fact, we kind of want to be you.”

Becca nodded.

Callie stared at them both. “Did you both lace your orange juice with liquor?”

“You get to work from home with your PJs and Shrek slippers,” Olivia said. “I’m so jealous of the slippers. But back to the point.”

“Yes,” Becca said. “The point. Let’s start with the evidence, shall we?” She set her phone on the table so that both Olivia and Callie could see the screen. “Earlier in the week you managed to spill your coffee, your purse, and your pride all over the bakery floor and get onto Instagram as Lucky Harbor’s cutest but most klutzy bachelorette.”

“That pic was supposed to be taken down,” Callie said.

Becca swiped her finger across the screen and brought up another picture, the one of Callie and Tanner.

“Okay,” Callie said. “That’s a little deceiving.”

“And this one?” Becca accessed the next pic. It was of Eric and the blonde leaving the bakery. “It says he’s your ex-fiancé, who left you at the altar.”

Well, wasn’t this fun. “I…didn’t see that one.”

“I’m glad,” Becca said, her usually mild-tempered eyes hard. “He’s an ass. A good dentist but a complete ass.” Becca shook her head. “I’m sorry you had to run into him like that when you were alone. I’d have liked to be with you.”

Callie shook her head. “It wasn’t a big deal. He just…startled me.”

At this Becca reached out and squeezed her hand. “I’d like to startle him into next week.”

Callie smiled because it wasn’t so far off from what Tanner had said. She couldn’t deny that it felt good to have people care enough about her that they wanted to defend her honor. But she could handle herself. Probably. “Not necessary,” she assured Becca. “It was all a long time ago.”

“Good,” Olivia said. “But that’s not even the most interesting part.”

Oh great, Callie thought, having a bad feeling that she knew what was coming next.

“True,” Becca said. “That honor goes to the fact that it’s rumored you’re no longer going to the bakery because you’re holing up with—” She looked at Olivia. “What did they call him?”

“Mr. Sex Walking,” Olivia said helpfully.

Callie grimaced.

“Mr. Sex Walking,” Becca repeated, and burst out laughing. “Tanner’s going to love that.”

Olivia grinned too. “No, he’s not.”

“No, he’s not,” Becca agreed.

Callie sighed and reached for the syrup. She was going to need a lot more sugar to get through this. “It’s a very long, very boring story.”

“I love long, boring stories,” Olivia said.

Great. “Okay, well…I had a crush on him in high school,” she admitted. “A big-time crush.”

“Tanner’s pretty crushable,” Becca said, and when Olivia slid her a look, she shrugged. “What? I’m engaged, I’m not dead. Those dark eyes, that hard body.” Becca sighed dreamily. “His body language always seems to say that he’s been badass before and he has no problem being badass again if the need arises.” She shook herself. “The man is hot.”

“Yes, well,” Callie said, “he’s also out of my league.”

“Don’t make me set down my fork to smack you,” Olivia said. “Because I don’t want to stop eating but I’ll totally do it.”

“I mean it,” Callie said. “Look, I was the nerd in school. You know, the girl that guys like him paid to do their homework. And I know it sounds stupid, but when I see him sometimes my tongue gets all tied up like it used to.”

“Because he’s hot,” Becca said. “Not because he’s out of your league. Honey, whatever you were, you’re the equally hot girl now. Brains are in. Own it.”

Callie smiled at her. “You’re sweet.”

“Yes,” Becca said. “And I’m smart too, so believe me.”

Callie did. Maybe she’d felt a little invisible at first, but that had been before Tanner had brought her doughnuts.

And kissed her.

She hadn’t been invisible then. Tanner had been as gobsmacked by their chemistry as she. Nope. She no longer felt invisible at all.

Now she just felt…longing.

“Okay, so now that that’s settled,” Becca said. “Explain the bakery breakfasts.”

Fine. This was easier anyway. “I was there first and Tanner came in and took the only empty seat.” She paused. “Next to me.”

“Three times?” Becca asked.

Hmm. Maybe not so easy. “Well, the first time anyway,” she said, diving back into her pancakes. “Maybe the next two times I sort of saved a seat for him.”

Becca and Olivia grinned at this, and Callie sighed. “We told each other we were sitting together in order to not have to socialize with anyone else.”

“Interesting,” Becca said slowly.

“Very,” said Olivia. “Which do you find more so, the evasion technique or the out-and-out lie?”

Callie rolled her eyes. “It was stupid. Hanging out with him renewed my stupid high school crush. And then he saw the whole thing with Eric, which was mortifying. So I didn’t go for coffee the next day. And…

“
And
?” Becca and Olivia asked in unison, leaning forward.

“And…” Callie grimaced. “Tanner showed up on my doorstep with coffee and doughnuts.”

“What kind?” Becca asked.

“An entire baker’s dozen. Assorted.”

Her avid audience sighed dreamily.

“No,” she said, pointing her fork at them. “Don’t do that. No sighing like that. It wasn’t cute.”

“No,” Becca said. “It was sexy.”

“Sexy as all get-out,” Olivia agreed. “I heard the whole thing as it happened.”

Callie stared at her. “What? Then why did you ask me about it? And how? How did you know?”

“No insulation,” Olivia said.

“Oh my God,” Callie said. “I’m calling our landlord!”

“Good luck,” Olivia said. “And I swear I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop. At least not at first. Cole and I were in bed and then you two started talking, and before we knew it we were trying not to listen with our ears pressed against the wall.”

Becca grinned.

Not Callie. “Cole heard?” she asked on a moan. “Oh, God.” She dropped her head to the table and thunked it a few times, which didn’t help whatsoever. “Okay, you know what? It doesn’t matter. It’s done. Seeing Eric reminded me that no good comes from crushes. Or relationships. And since Tanner agrees, subject closed.”

Becca’s expression went from amused to troubled. “He said that?”

“Didn’t have to,” Callie said. “He left in a pretty big hurry after the kiss.”

“There was a
kiss
?” they both screeched together.

Callie went back to thunking her head on the table.

“It’s okay. I know how to fix this,” Olivia said.

Callie lifted her head. “We wipe Cole’s memory?”

Olivia ignored that and turned to Becca. “I really thought out of the three of us, I was the most screwed up and that you took second place.”

“Hey,” Becca said. Then she sighed. “Okay, true.”

“But it’s her,” Olivia said, and looked at Callie. “You’re the most screwed up.”

“Gee,” Callie said. “Thanks?”

“Oh, no worries,” Olivia said. “We can fix this.”

Becca nodded.

“Fix what exactly?” Callie asked warily.

“Well, Tanner’s in a bad head space,” Becca said. “He’s had a lot on his plate and it’s all about the people he cares about. It’s time for him to do something for himself for a change. And you’re perfect as that something.”

Callie opened her mouth but Becca kept talking. “And you. You work for crazy people and don’t get out much. You need something for yourself too. Tanner’s that perfect something. So together, it’s all perfect, you see?”

Olivia was nodding her head. She saw.

Callie did not. “Listen, I don’t think—”

“Go with that,” Becca said. “Don’t think. We’ll do the thinking for you.”

“And our plan is…?” Olivia asked Becca.

“Get Tanner to crush on Callie,” she said like she’d just solved world hunger. She was beaming. “It’s perfect.”

“Not quite,” Callie said. “He’s not the type to crush. And I’m not—”

Olivia pointed her fork at her. “If you finish that sentence, I will totally stop eating to smack you. I swear it this time. You’re totally crush-worthy. In fact, I have a crush on you. If I swung that way, we’d rock the hell out of a good mutual crush. Now just leave this to the masters.”

Becca nodded. “That’s us. The making-a-guy-crush-on-you masters.”

Since Callie couldn’t imagine anyone making Tanner do anything he didn’t want to, she left breakfast secure in the knowledge that things would remain status quo.

The next day when she picked up Troy, he wasn’t scowling. He looked a little proud of himself.

“Oh, crap,” Callie said. “I know that look. She talked you into trouble. What did you two do?”

“Huh?” He shoved his hands into his pockets and slouched. “Nothing. I just helped her with a little camera work.”

“Camera work for what?”

“Her new blog.”

“For…the art gallery?” Callie asked.

“No, she said this was her personal blog.” He paused. “It’s a YouTube channel.”

“Oh my God.” Callie gave him a quick glare. “You were supposed to keep her out of trouble!”

“Hello, have you met her? No one person can control that old lady. And she moves fast!” He shrugged. “And anyway, you should be thanking me. I talked her out of her first idea.”

“I’m afraid to ask,” Callie said.

“She wanted to do
Live from the Gym
, where she planned on interviewing guys with their shirts off.”

“Oh my God.”

“But I talked her into doing a
Live from Bingo Night
thing instead.”

Callie sighed. “Good. That was really good.”

“Worth a raise good?” he asked.

Callie laughed. “No. You get her to close her Tumblr and Instagram, then we’ll talk.”

“She’s pretty crafty,” he said. “She’d probably just reopen them under a different name. Oh, and there was a little toaster ordeal.”

She glanced over at him again. “A toaster ordeal?”

“She put four pieces of bread down even though she said her toaster could only do two at a time without catching fire.”

“What?”

“Yeah,” Troy said. “And then the fire alarm went off, but don’t freak. There weren’t any flames, just smoke. I unplugged it right away, but the firefighters and sheriff still came. She insisted.”

“Not the pretend fire thing again,” Callie muttered.

“Uh-huh. And a firefighter named Jack told your grandma that the next time she pulled another stunt like that, they might arrest her. And she said she hoped it was Sheriff Sawyer Thompson who arrested her because she had a thing for a man with handcuffs.”

Callie groaned and decided she needed a doughnut. Maybe two. “And then what happened?”

“The sheriff came. He said that he was going to call you to tell you that you needed to get her hormone levels checked or he was going to be sorely tempted to arrest her.”

“Did she behave after that?”

“Well, you’d have to define
behave
,” Troy said. “But she did promise to try to be good. No one looked all that convinced though.”

Tanner’s day had been a shit pile. Troy had gotten in trouble for hacking into his teacher’s computer to change a grade. The thing was, he hadn’t been changing his own grade but someone else’s. The principal wouldn’t say whose, but she did admit that the teacher had entered the grade incorrectly in the first place.

Troy refused to discuss it. Shock.

Then Sam had made an offer on a second boat for Lucky Harbor Charters, a boat they’d been eyeing for a long time and wanted badly, but they’d been a day late and a dollar short—the boat had sold yesterday.

And then as a topper, Tanner had been halfway through a swim to clear his mind when a vicious leg cramp had nearly done him in.

When he’d limped out of the water and collapsed on the rocky beach, gritting his teeth in pain, he discovered he had a witness.