Page 6 of King of My Heart

And yet, the idea of reuniting them stuck in my head like a bad song. Maybe it was guilt. Maybe it was boredom. Or maybe, deep down, I just wanted to prove—to myself, more than anyone else—that I was the kind of person who did the right thing. That I could still be decent, even when it didn’t benefit me.

It wasn’t about Julian.

Not really.

It was about me.

With a sigh, I pushed my plate away and pulled out my phone. It I was going to do this, I needed a plan.

***

I allowed myself to sleep in until nine the next morning since the drive to Hilton Beach wouldn’t be too long, and I wasn’t in a rush now, anyway.

I booked a tiny house at Hilton Beach’s camping ground and planned to stay there for two weeks. It would give me enough time to meet Caspian and see if I could get closer to him. See if I could ask him about Julian.

But even if my plan failed, I would enjoy my two weeks in that tiny village.

Hilton Beach seemed nice to sit and look at the water.

The drive took me almost an hour, with a short break at a gas station to buy myself a snack. Once I reached my destination, I drove by all the small houses to investigate the village before checking into my stay for the next two weeks.

I saw a general store on my way to the camping ground and decided to return once I got the keys to the house. I would come back to grab some food.

Theresa, who showed me the tiny house, looked nice but annoyed. I watched her for a while as she explained the hot water situation to me, and when her eyes met mine, she raised a brow with a questioning look. “Why are you here?”

I pursed my lips and shrugged. “Vacation?”

“Is that a question?”

“No, I’m here on vacation.” Which was partially true.

“You’re a horrible liar.”

Rude.

I couldn’t tell her the truth though, could I?

She probably knew about Caspian. I mean, why wouldn’t she know about him when he literally lived here?

Unless he didn’t, and the woman at the restaurant lied to me.

“Why are you here?” Theresa asked again, her arms crossed over her chest.

I could go ahead with my plan and keep it a secret or tell her the truth and possibly get kicked out of the village.

Hard choices.

I looked around the kitchen and living area before my eyes met hers again. “Does Caspian King live here?” I asked in return.

“Who are you?”

Damn.

One dry question after the other.

“What do you mean?”

“Do you know Caz?”

---