Page 36 of Be Your Anything
Lotsof someone elses.
A waitress comes over and takes our order, thankfully providing enough of a distraction that Paige looks away from the table at the other end of the restaurant.
The Hermosa Beach Yacht Club, with its large windows and elegant dining, wouldn’t be my normal selection for a weekday lunch, but when Paige called this morning about getting together and found out I’d be at the club for a business meeting, she voluntold me to book us a table for lunch.
“The Bloody Marys at the YC are bangin’,” she said, “and that’s exactly the kind of goodness I need in my life right now.”
I almost chuckle, remembering her enthusiasm, but as she jabs her straw into her drink with an unusual level of violence, I wonder if pushing to go somewhere else would have been a better choice.
“So, how do you think things are going with Hannah?” she finally asks, and I breathe a silent sigh of relief that she’s willing to move on from Giroux and Nadine.
“Good. Really good. We hung out Sunday night and then she came to breakfast yesterday.” I shrug a shoulder, and Paige purses her lips in irritation. “What do you want me to say, P? It’s been two days. I’m making more of an effort, but she has a job, and friends, and she also has a boyfriend now.”
Paige rolls her eyes. “You’re an idiot sometimes.”
My brow furrows.
“She’s your sister and she wants to spend time with you, and youclaimto want to get to know her better.”
“Claim? It’s not a claim. Idowant to get to know her better,” I say, my tone heavy with indignation.
“So? Make. The. Time. She works because she has nothing, Lucas. You have all the money in the world. I’m sure you can rearrange your plans with Otto or nights out to accommodate her schedule.”
It’s hard to find honesty around here, but Paige has always had it in spades. She doesn’t care who’s listening or what it is that’s being discussed. She’ll tell it like she fucking sees it.
It’s something I appreciate about her, but it’s no fun to have someone rub your own self-absorption in your face.
“I spent Sunday evening with her, she went out with Wyatt yesterday, and we’re planning on going to dinner together tonight. Tell me, oh wise one, what else I could possibly do to take up any more of her free time.”
I say it sarcastically, but when Paige snaps her fingers and points at me, I know she’s decided to take me seriously.
“You should see if she’d like to learn how to surf. Could be a good way to bond with her over something you love. She totally bombed down the dunes when we took her a while back. Did you know she could do that?”
“No clue.” I shake my head with amusement as I think back to the night six or seven weeks ago when we took Hannah to the sand dunes in Manhattan Beach. We had a bonfire and some music and drinks, and Hannah tore down that sand on a snowboard like a total fucking badass.
It absolutely blew my mind.
But even knowing my sister might be a savant on a board, I don’t know if surfing is the way to go. Not because I think she wouldn’t enjoy learning to surf—I actually think she might love it. She has that calm vibe you need in the water, and she clearly has the ability to balance on a board.
No…the reason I wonder if it’s a good idea is because the person who taughtmewas…our dad, a man who came and went as he pleased when I was a kid until he just disappeared.
Paige sips on her Bloody Mary and pretends she isn’t watching Giroux and Nadine in her peripheral vision while I sit in silence, considering the idea.
Part of me feels like it would be wrong somehow to take up surfing with Henry Morrison’s daughter. And yet, at the same time, it’s possibly one of the best things we could do together. Hannah knew our dad so much better than I did, and yet she had no idea he knew how to surf.
Maybe this can be a way formeto introduceherto something new when it comes to him.
“That might be a really great idea, actually.”
Paige preens. “See? I’m always full of amazing advice. Now, what else can I help with?”
I’m tempted for just a minute to talk to her about Lennon, about that feeling I had in my chest last night, but I let that pass, instead choosing to flip the mirror and point it at Paige.
“How’s the job search going?”
She groans and drops her head into her hands.
“Ah, so it’s going well, then?”
