Page 6 of Me and Mr. Just Right

“Oh, believe me, you can’t make me do anything I don’t want to do.”

They all knew that was true. As the oldest brother, Haydn was generally used to giving the instructions, and not the other way around.

Bennett loped down the stairs, leaving Haydn alone with the mess. Now that there was no one to see him, he frowned. See? His brothers needed him. He couldn’t be moving to the lower forty-eight and abandoning them. Right now, his houseboat was docked in Ketchikan, near the larger airport, but he could easily bring it to Petersburg for a few weeks or months. Get his family settled again.

He slipped his hoodie off and threw it over the stair railing, then grabbed a trash bag from under the sink and started to clean.

Chapter 3

Liacaughtherbreathas the house on the island came into sight. It was even more gorgeous than the pictures online had shown.

It was made entirely of redwood planks, with a light gray trim at the peak of the steeply pitched roof. A railed porch circled the house, with a recessed porch area on either side of the front door. She squinted and could see a white swing bench beneath the overhang. It was close enough to the ocean that the house would have amazing views, while being just set in enough that she wouldn’t have to worry about waves.

Best of all, though, were the floor-to-ceiling windows surrounding the house. She pictured herself sitting by them, taking in the gorgeous scenery while strumming her guitar. She hugged the case to her, relieved she’d brought it. She’d walked out of her house without it initially, but then made her driver pause last minute so she could run inside and grab it.

She couldn’t let them ruin music for her.

Lia and Bo had met when he’d opened for her on her last tour. They’d immediately clicked—he’d been so charming—and it hadn’t taken long for them to start collaborating. Their duet single hit the top of the charts, as did their next one. It only made sense when their relationship slipped seamlessly from professional to personal, and the unwieldy beast, Borelia, was born. Their fans went wild, and their relationship increased both of their fame exponentially.

She could see now that Bo was using her. Gwen too. She’d started out as one of Lia’s back-up singers four years ago, and they’d become fast friends after touring together. Gwen was the one who’d encouraged Lia to invite Bo to open for her. How long had they been seeing one another behind her back? Had they planned on stealing her songs all along?

And which idea was worse: that they’d planned this from the beginning and none of it was real, or that they’d really loved her once but chose to betray her anyway?

Lia had written music long before Bo and Gwen came into her life, and she’d continue now they were out of it.

If only they werereallyout of it. That would be much better than the lies they were spreading about her. She’d never trashed a hotel room or refused to pay her dancers. And though she sometimes wrote songs about past relationships, she’d never once stalked a past boyfriend or sabotaged a new relationship he was in.

Yet people loved drama, and they could twist her words to mean something she didn’t intend. Bo had to know it was a bad look for him to be caught cheating on Lia. Plenty of people didn’t like her music, but there was a reason she’d been photographed for the cover ofFame Sensation Magazinelast spring with the headline “America’s Darling.”

Now she saw headlines claiming she was “Unsteady in Life”—a play on her most downloaded song, “Unsteady in Love.”

Stop, Lia.She’d come out here to forget her worries for one week, to be off the grid in a way her life never allowed for. She eventually needed to go back home, talk to her label about pushing back her album’s release date, rewrite an album’s worth of songs, and reclaim the narrative somehow.

So, you know, just some small, no-big-deal things.

But before she tackled any of that, she needed this week in the same vital way she’d always needed music. She breathed chords and melodies the same way everyone else breathed oxygen.

“This is one of my very favorite places on earth,” Rose yelled out over the sound of the engine. She held her nose up in the air. “And that scent of pine trees along with it? Divine.”

“It’s gorgeous!” Lia yelled back. She couldn’t wait to pull her mask and sunglasses off and let the sun hit her face fully.

They pulled up alongside a homemade dock, and Rose hopped out and tied the dinghy to it. Lia took her outstretched hand for balance as she climbed onto the dock next. “Let me give you a quick tour.” Rose motioned across the waterway, where Lia could see a few other houses in the distance. “These are your closest neighbors. Most of these residents only come here seasonally. That one is owned by a man who likes to vacation out here when he can get off of work, and he may or may not be there this week, but I wouldn’t plan on it.”

The houses were all weather-beaten and damp but stunning in their own right. One was bright green, another bright blue.

She recalled what Mr. Ruggedly Handsome said on the plane:The greens are greener, and the blues bluer.She understood now what he meant. The magic of the mountains and the clear Alaskan air transformed even the mundane into something spectacular.

“This is the Forest Chateau.” She turned back to the house Lia would be staying in for the week. She pulled a phone from a clip on her waist “Before I forget, here’s the SAT phone. It’s mostly for emergency use. That said, don’t hesitate to use it if you need to.”

“Okay.” Lia shivered. From excitement? Nerves? Maybe she was adjusting to the cold, coming from a Tennessee summer to an Alaskan one. She’d never been so disconnected from the world. She’d always been the kind of person who needed people. Yet trustworthy people were in short supply these days.

“I have the numbers for the closest neighbors in the notebook by the phone, so you can call them if you need anything. Also, my number is on there as well. Let’s see … here are the check-out instructions.” Rose rifled through her pack and pulled them out. “I’ll be by to pick you up Sunday.” She looked out at the horizon. “It looks like a storm is heading this way.” She bit her lip. “Are you sure you don’t want me to leave the dinghy?”

“How would you get home?”

“Good point.” Rose blew air out from between her teeth.

“I don’t know how to drive it anyway,” Lia assured her with a shrug. “And I have no plans of going anywhere.” She wanted to sleep the entire week away, if possible.

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