Page 66 of Can't Get Enough

“This was one time when the truth wasn’t the right thing to do—not for him. If letting him believe a lie brought him any peace at all, it was worth it. A kernel of peace was better than the whole truth.”

She’s quiet for a beat. “You’re right. I read about it. They call it therapeutic fibbing. In the moment, I just forgot and blurted that he was gone. But what good does it do for her to know? She could forget again tomorrow.”

“And even though it’s not the first time she’s heard it, it willfeellike the first time every time you try to convince her the worst day of her life actually happened. Maybe she keeps going back to a time when he was still with her because more than anything that’s where she wants to be.”

“Yeah,” Hendrix whispers, sniffs, and draws a sharp breath. “I hadn’t thought of it that way.”

“Is she okay?” I drop down to sit on the sand, elbows propped on my knees and the phone pressed to my ear.

“Now she is. I talked to Aunt G a little after she got Mama settled. She said sometimes there’s nothing you can do and you just have to ride it out, but sometimes you can distract them either with an activity or a different memory.”

“That’s tough. This is a lot, Hen.”

“I know.” She exhales slowly. “I’m definitely getting into one of the support groups you sent.”

“That’ll be good, and just relax. Carve out some time for yourself. I know you’re busy.”

“Look who’s talking, Mr. Big Time.”

“I work hard and rest harder. I got shit I enjoy outside of work.”

“Like surfing?”

I grin, tasting the salty air and relishing the subtle ocean breeze that makes this property in my portfolio the one where I spend the most time.

“Yeah, like surfing. Been stalking my socials, have you?” I ask, inordinately pleased if she has.

“Black boy surfing,” she teasingly scoffs.

“I could teach you. Lemme get you on a board in my backyard Pacific here in Cali.”

There’s a silence in the wake of my invitation. I didn’t mean it like that, but now that I’ve said it, I can’t shake the image of her under me on a slick board early in the morning, droplets of water beading on her gorgeous radiant brown skin. She would be luminous and lush at sunrise. Should I check my rapidly growing fascination with Hendrix? Hell, yeah. Her proximity to Zere is a problem. Not so much for me, but for Hendrix and her business interests. I won’t, though. I know I’ll keep finding ways to see her. My whole life is a calculus of risk and reward. It’s undeniable that pursuing Hendrix involves risk, but the reward of possibly having something with her outweighs the pitfalls we’d inevitably have to negotiate.

Pursue her? Is that what I’m doing? It’s tickled the back of my mindmaybe since the moment I saw her leading half my party in the electric slide. It slowly bloomed in my thoughts as I’ve watched her devotion to her mother under shitty conditions and her commitment to the Aspire Fund. Hendrix is an exceptional woman.

“I, uh, better go,” she says, breaking into my thoughts.

“Yeah, all right,” I say, but still search for another conversational lure to cast and keep her a little longer. “I’m glad you’re coming to Colorado.”

“I don’t think I have much choice. Nelly and Kashawn are determined. They think it’s a good idea.”

“And you don’t?”

“I think…” She pauses, and all the reasons it may not be a good idea for us to spend more time together seem to accumulate in inches, in the silence. “Maybetheycould come and I could skip because—”

“No, that’s not how this works.” I harden my voice. “If you don’t come, no one comes.”

“Maverick, that makes no sense.”

“Those are the conditions.” She can read that however she wants. “So next week. Is that too soon?”

“I’m sure they’ll clear their schedules to accommodate,” she says with half-hearted bitterness that tells me she might just want to see me as badly as I want to see her.

“My people will coordinate with your people then,” I tell her.

“My people and your people can’t seem to be in the same room for two minutes without devouring each other,” she says with a laugh. “You can let Bolt know Skipper won’t be coming on this trip. And I mean that in every way you could interpret it.”

“I’ll make sure he’s prepared…” I pause, weighing the words before I say them because I know they will show a bit more of my hand. “I don’t care if Skipper comes or not, as long as you do.”

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