Page 15 of Made For You

“As long as you are dressed, yes,” I tell them, and Cooper and Erika go with them.

“What do you know about your neighbor?” my father asks me when Cooper closes the door.

“Matthew,” my mother scolds, shaking her head. “Don’t start, please.”

“I’m not starting anything, Karrie.” He shakes his head. “I’m just asking.”

“I don’t know anything about him,” I admit. “I know he has a dog, and two days ago, he helped me tie my boat.”

“He looks familiar,” my father says, and I roll my eyes. “I’ve seen him before.”

“You say that all the time. Literally, each time we go somewhere you think you know someone.”

“And I usually do,” he says, walking to the back door and I see Xavier get on the dock. “I know him or I’ve met him.”

“Or you’ve seen him onAmerica’s Most Wanted.” My mother laughs. “OrDateline. Or48 Hours, or…”

The sound of Xavier’s boat fills mine as he starts it. I look out, seeing him untie the lines before walking over and disconnecting the water and electricity. “I don’t recognize him,” my mother says, standing beside my father. “I mean, he looks nice.”

“He isn’t,” I mumble, and my father turns back to look at me. “He is.” I shake my head. “So what is in the bag?” I try to change the subject. “We should set up something for breakfast and eat outside.”

My father never moves from the window. “Yup.” He nods. “Definitely know him.”

“Matthew,” my mother chides, “can you please help?” He turns, coming toward us. “You go upstairs and entertain your guests.”

I laugh at her. “You’re my guest,” I remind her as I walk to the door and slide it open. I take a step outside and up the stairs, just in time to see Xavier’s boat pull out.

CHAPTER10

XAVIER

I closethe sliding door behind me. “What did I tell you about talking to strangers?” I ask Beatrice, who just looks at me. I look back out the big window, seeing the man on the dock again. “Is that who I think it is?” My head is spinning right now. When I opened the gate to walk in, I was hoping I wouldn’t see Vivienne. What I wasn’t expecting was to turn onto our dock row and see her there with a man. I slowed down my pace, and if it wasn’t for Beatrice, I might have turned around and hightailed it out of there.

I was hoping to just walk by and nod politely before walking on my boat. But what happened? “You betrayed me.” I look at Beatrice. “Not only did you talk to strangers, you went on her boat.” Beatrice looks at me. “Not cool.” She huffs and turns around, walking to her dog bowl, seeing it empty. She looks back at me. “That’s what you get for not listening to me,” I mutter, walking over to her dog bowl and picking up even the water bowl.

“I swear that is Matthew Grant. Even the guy who came outside after him looked so familiar,” I recount, as I turn the sink water to cold. “It has to be Cooper Grant,” I say to her. “He had a baseball cap on, so I couldn’t really see his face, but it had to be. Which would make sense since Matthew Grant was there.” She just sits there waiting for me to fill her bowl so she can eat and drink. “Matthew Grant.” I shake my head. “You know, he was GM for the other New York team.” Beatrice yawns as I tell my story. “He was huge.” I look down. “He is huge.”

I look up for a second, straight out the window in front of me to see a guy walking up to the top of the boat with a woman following him. She sits in the captain’s chair as the guy looks down at her, smiling before kissing her. Someone says something because the guy looks over at the stairs. “Wait a fucking second.” I squint to look at the guys. I gasp when I see the guy’s face. “That’s Brad Wilson,” I say. Then a guy comes up the steps saying something to him, and they both laugh. He’s followed by a girl who walks forward to the front of the boat. “Am I really spying on my neighbor?” I mumble and then see the guy from before coming up the steps, taking off his hat and I now know that it’s Cooper Grant. “Why the fuck does she have the fucking Dallas roster on her boat?”

I look over at Beatrice as my heart starts to beat a touch faster. “Okay, it’s time to ship out,” I announce. “You’ll eat in a bit.” Walking outside, I hope none of them look over at me. It is one thing for Matthew Grant not to really know who I was, but Wilson will know me for sure. We’ve gone toe-to-toe a couple of times. I walk to the back of the boat, undoing the electricity and water. I roll up both cords, walk into the cockpit, sliding open the back window so I can look out when I take off. I start the boat, turning before jumping back off and untying my lines. I rush back to the boat hoping that I don’t attract attention. I get into the captain’s seat and make sure everything is okay. I look at Beatrice. “Place,” I command her and she walks over to her bed and sits down. “Here we go.” I pull out of my slip before I start the thruster to turn. I look at the back seeing that all eyes are on me. It’s a good thing I’m inside and they can’t really see me. I make my way out of the marina, going slow until I reach the end and can open it up a bit. I sit down, looking straight out at the open water. Every single time is like the first time. Every single time the minute I look out into the horizon of nothing, I feel this calmness over me. “What do you think?” I look over at Beatrice, who sits looking out the back of the boat. “Want to anchor and spend the day on the water?”

She barks at me. “And we are going to have a little chat, me and you,” I tell her as I make my way over to a spot I found last year. It’s away from everything, in a little cove area. I stop the boat as it moves side to side, walking out to the side of the boat and going to the front. I press on the anchor button and then hear the clinking of the chain as the anchor reaches the bottom. I look over the railing before glancing around us to see if we are still drifting. “We are anchored down. Now do you want to eat?” I ask her and she barks at me. “Is that so?” I laugh as I fill her bowls with food and water. “Good to know we are on the same page.”

I put down her food and water, stepping out onto the back deck and look up at the sky, seeing not a cloud in the sky. “Looks like it’s going to be a beautiful day.” I walk back in and start the generator so I can get something cooking. I whip up an omelet and then walk outside to eat it on the back table. Heading back inside, I grab some juice. “What are the odds?” I ask Beatrice, who lies down next to me on her side. “That the girl who buys the boat next to me is related to Matthew Grant?” I shake my head, almost in disbelief. I eat my omelet as my head is going around and around with all the questions. Even when I get up to wash dishes, I’m still thinking about it.

“Want to go lie in the sun?” I ask Beatrice, who just lies in the shade and doesn’t even acknowledge me. I run down to my bedroom, grabbing my laptop before walking out and feeling the heat of the sun run through me. I sit on the massive sun pads, putting the laptop next to me.

I stare out into the horizon, seeing that it looks like the ocean never ends. “Peace,” I say to myself, “this is peace.” I grab my laptop and open it, waiting for it to connect. Beatrice comes over and lies next to me. “Are you here to find out who she is also?” I chuckle when I open the internet browser and type in Matthew Grant.

I press enter and the first thing that pops up are his stats with the NHL. I look over to the side where there are six pictures and his Wikipedia page. I scroll down the list where they tell you where and when he was born. His height and then salary and I whistle out, “Definitely made a fuck ton of money.” I laugh. “He’s worth a fortune. I told you he is big time.” My eyes roam down to siblings and then wife and kids. “He has four kids.” I gasp when I see Vivienne’s name third. “What the hell?” I click on her name and a picture of her pops up and she is fucking beautiful. I bring the laptop closer to my face to see it better. Her hair looks to be curled or something, the makeup around her eyes lets the green pop out. “Look at her.” I click her picture and then my whole screen fills up with pictures of her. Pictures from when her father won the Cup to pictures of her when Cooper won the Cup with Dallas. “Holy shit!” I exclaim when I see her next totheCooper Stone. “Cooper Stone is her grandfather.” Beatrice just looks at me. “He’s a hockey god. Like, think of Old Yeller.” I put my hand up to the sky. “That’s how big he is.” I shake my head as I creep on all her pictures. “Look at her dressed up in this one.” I turn the laptop to show her as she wears a long gown. “It was at a foundation dinner for Max Horton.” I gasp, “Holy shit! She’s also related to Michael Horton and Dylan Stone.” I shake my head. “And the up-and-comer, Matthew Petrov.”

I don’t even bother looking at anyone else, my eyes are just for her. I put the laptop down and get up, going to get my cell phone. I walk back out to the sun deck. “Okay, Beatrice, let the creepy stalking begin.” I pull up Instagram. “Do you think she is on Instagram?” I ask Beatrice, and when I type in her name, I press it and see that she’s private. “Hmm, she’s private.” I put my phone down. “It doesn’t say what she does for a living.” I look at Beatrice. “What the fuck am I doing?” I close the laptop. “It’s a total invasion of privacy.” I rub my hand over my face. “What the fuck is wrong with me?”

I get up, grabbing my laptop and my phone. “That was not cool,” I huff and walk back inside. “Not fucking cool at all.” I put down the laptop. Beatrice comes into the living room. “I’m going to be the first to tell you I was wrong in doing that.” Beatrice looks at me. “You deserve a cookie,” I tell her, walking over and grabbing her one of the cookies Vivienne bought her. “Okay, fine, maybe she’s a nice person.” She tilts her head to the side as I wave the cookie in front of her, not doing it on purpose. “If anyone would understand me wanting to keep my shit to myself, it would be her.” I hold out the cookie for her. “This doesn’t mean we have to be best friends with her,” I inform her, holding on to the cookie from my end while Beatrice holds on to the cookie from her end. “We still don’t talk to strangers, and I would really like you not to get all excited when you see her.” Beatrice just looks at me, probably telling me to shut the fuck up and leave her cookie alone. “Heck, I don’t even know if I’m going to be nice to her. Jesus, can you imagine if they recognized me today, how she would have all the questions the next time she saw me? They probably don’t even know the real reason I left the league. I mean, come to think of it, even when I left and told the owners and the GM why I was leaving, none of them said,what can we do to help? Nope, they just looked at me and were kind of relieved that they didn’t have to deal with me anymore.” I groan inwardly, letting go of my end of the cookie. Beatrice turns around with the cookie in her mouth and walks over to her bed. “Thanks for the talk.” I put my hands on my hips while she chews her cookie.

I take a deep inhale. “You know what today needs?” I walk over to the cabinet where I keep my books. “It’s a good time for a great book.” I look at the shelf in front of me. “Where should we go today?” I ask as I look through the long list of books. “This one.” I pull out the book that I must have reread over fifty times. “This one is always a good one.” Walking out to the sun pads, I sit down and open my book. “This is just what I need today.” I look at the water and then back at the book in my hand. “Just what I need,” I sigh, trying to make me forget about the girl who has not only moved in to the boat next to me but has now taken over space in my head. Space that needs to stay empty. Space that has no place for Vivienne Grant.

CHAPTER11

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