Page 69 of Love Unexpected
“Yeah? What does a shark’s tooth actually look like?” I asked. This was good. Exactly what I needed. To think about something as joyful and simple as time on the beach with my favorite four-year-old.
“They’re shiny on one end, but rough and dull on the other,” he said. “And they’re pointy like this.” He held his fingers up into a triangle right in front of his face, framing his grin.
“Got it. So do we just dig through the shells to find them?” I asked.
Max shook his head. “Nuh-uh. We squat down like this and watch as the water runs back into the ocean. And when we see one float by...wegrabit.”
It seemed hard to believe that shark’s teeth would just randomly float by, but Max seemed pretty confident in his knowledge of how the hunt worked. The way his inflections rose and fell like Jade’s, it was likely she was the one who had taught him how to find them. And Jade was Charleston born and raised. She’d know if anyone did. I crouched down next to Max, shining the flashlight onto the shells and sand swirling under our feet, watching the push and pull as the waves rolled in and then receded.
Max dropped his hands into the water, his chubby fingers sifting through the shells. “Isaac told me that you have to be patient.”
I looked up at Max. “Is he the one who taught you how to hunt for shark’s teeth?”
Max sniffed, his tiny nose pink from the chill in the air, and nodded. “He broughted me to the beach while my mommies went to pick up Nora.”
My heart squeezed at the thought of Isaac spending time with Max, helping Jade and Diedre out in such a personal way. And I was willing to bet not a single second of his time with Max had made it on camera. I’d meant what I said when I told Isaac I wouldn’t be okay with every aspect of his personal life making it on the airwaves. But had I jumped to conclusions about just what that meant? I’d seen ample evidence of Isaac respecting boundaries, investing in the people around him and not just in his show. Would I truly not be willing to give him a chance? Assuming he even wanted one.
“Got one!” Max shouted as his hand darted out of the water. He held up his prize, a shiny black shark’s tooth about the size of my thumbnail.
“Already?” I asked, surprised that he’d found one so quickly, and in the first place we’d stopped.
Max huffed like he couldn’t believe I’d doubted him. “I told you I know how. Come on. Now you find one.”
I dropped my gaze back to the beach, one hand sifting through the moving shells like Max had done while the other held my phone, flashlight shining down on the sand.
“Open your eyes bigger,” Max whispered. He used his fingers to open his eyes really wide. “Like this,” he said.
I barely suppressed my laughter, knowing Max needed me to take his lessonveryseriously. “Got it. Eyes are open.” It hardly mattered that my feet were going numb, both from the chilly spring water rushing over them and the hunched position I’d assumed.
Minutes passed in silence as I looked and sifted through the shells and sand. When a particularly chilly breeze whipped across us, blowing my hair into my face, I stood, stretching my back. “I don’t think I’m as good at this as you, kiddo.”
Max shook his head. “Don’t give up yet! Isaac says half of finding a shark’s tooth is believing you’ll find it. Maybe you just aren’t believing hard enough.”
I ruffled my hand across his hair. “I’m sure Isaac is right. But I think we need to come back out when it’s daylight.”
He sighed a giant kid sigh. “Okay.” He held up his hand. “Here. You can have the one I found. It can remind you to believe.”
I took the shark’s tooth and cradled it in my hand, unexpected tears welling up behind my eyes.Oh, geez.I wasnotcrying over a shark’s tooth. Only, it had been an overwhelming couple of days. I’d been all over the emotional map—fear, anger, resentment, bitterness, hope, elation. I’d felt all that and more. Max giving me a shark’s tooth was so simple, so genuine, it was just enough to push me over the brink of reason. “I’ll keep it forever,” I said, my voice cracking. “Thank you, sweetie.”
We walked hand in hand back up the beach to where the others were shaking out blankets and gathering up the remnants of the impromptu ice cream picnic we’d had earlier. Max darted off to Diedre, who had his socks and shoes at the ready. I turned my face back to the ocean and closed my eyes to the cool breeze blowing off the water, grateful the moonlight wasn’t bright enough for my friends to see the evidence of my mini meltdown.
By now, Isaac had surely discovered who Ana really was. The fact that he hadn’t called or texted, or even that my mom hadn’t messaged filled me with unease. What did he think? Had he been disappointed? Relieved? Excited?
Worse to think about: had I ruined everything by telling him I’d never be okay with his very public life? I’d meant what I said. At least, I thought I had. But I was beginning to think it was also possible I hadn’t given him enough credit. Isaac had a relationship with Max that was never on air. A relationship with his sister that had very clearly defined boundaries. And he respected them. Was I truly so certain that he couldn’t do the same thing for me? For any woman he loved?
I sighed and turned back to my friends. Maybe it didn’t even matter.
Maybe I’d already ruined the only shot I’d ever had.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Isaac
I stood on Ana’s front porch and wiped my hands down the front of my pants. The house was older and bigger than I had expected, in a mature neighborhood with lots of stately trees and driveways full of practical cars that looked like retirement. It was not the kind of house I would have expected a twenty-six-year-old web designer to be living in.
Tyler stood behind me, camera rolling. I’d debated whether or not I wanted to film the first moments I was finally face-to-face with Ana. Especially after everything that had happened with Rosie. She didn’t think I was capable of having boundaries, of keeping some parts of my life private. But that wasn’t true. I wouldn’t take advantage of anyone, put anything on air that made anyone uncomfortable.
But she had been right about me losing sight of what Iwanted. Too often, Ididthink too much about whether or not the things I did, the choices I made, made for good entertainment. The lines between what I was and wasn’t willing to do, to share, in order to entertain my fans, and, let’s be honest, make a buck, had clearly gotten muddied.
