Page 48 of Two Is Better Than One

"We squashed this one from making the news, but I don't know if it's the only one out there. I don't know how good her publicist is or if they even care about it, but it's already too much on our end. I'm sure you understand that having your face on worldwide tabloids is a safety concern."

"I do see that," Casey said, sliding the picture back into the envelope. He set it on the bench where he had been sitting.

"I know my son, and I know you're smart enough not to get caught. This is you saying you're done, and I don't blame you. I wondered if that injury would make you rethink things. You've got other sources of income, so really the only reason to stick with this is because it's a passion, and if you can't say that, you bow out gracefully."

"What's going to happen? Am I fired?"

"The Bureau wants to offer you some other work, but I'm sure you'll turn it down. Dave's calling you in a few minutes to discuss your options. I told him I'd break the news. He thinks you're going to be devastated, but like I said, I know you well enough to know that we're in this situation intentionally."

"It's not about being done with work," Casey said. "I wasn't thinking about my other sources of income."

"So, it's the girl?" Max asked.

"Yes."

"What's her story? It looks like she likes you enough to risk PDA on her end."

"It was a few seconds," Casey said.

"Well, those seconds got caught on film. We just can't risk it."

"I know," Casey said. Casey was fully aware of the risks when that happened in the pool. This conversation was a relief, and Max's willingness to whistle on the day he delivered this news told Casey everything he needed to know. The disappointment Casey had been dreading was not happening. Even now, Max stared at his son with a look of peace and patience.

Casey had decided he loved Summer. He knew in his heart that this moment would come with his work, but he honestly didn't know it would be right now or that Max would make it so easy on him.

"I love you, Dad," Casey said, surprising even himself. "I love everything we've done together, and I'm still going to be in your life even though I won't be at work."

"I don't see you much anymore at work, anyway, son." He put his hand on Casey's shoulder and looked him in the eyes. "I love you, too. And I'm proud of you and thankful for the years of service. I don't know what Dave's going to offer you, or what you'll work out with him, but I wanted to be the one to tell you."

"I'm sorry we got caught," Casey said.

"Are you? Are you sorry?"

"Not for leaving, but for leaving you, yes."

"You're not. You'll love retirement, and we'll see each other all the time. I knew there was a chance of it when you got your injury. A brush with death can make you reevaluate things."

Casey nodded, agreeing with his dad even though it wasn't about the injury. It was about Summer, one hundred percent.

Chapter 19

Summer Stockton

A week later

I was down to my last days in Miami. I would be leaving to head home to Charleston as soon as I was done shooting the last scene. It had been ten days since I had seen Casey, and it felt more like it had been a hundred and ten.

I worked for a couple of days after he left and then I had some time off. Now I had made it to my final four days in Miami, and for all of them I would be working again, filming my final movie scene.

I had been writing music during the days I just had off. I wrote so many songs that I basically didn't leave the suite. I wrote twelve songs, and all of them were melancholy ballads that I may or may not ever release. It was one of those raw times in my life when songs were art and art was therapy. I needed therapy at the moment. I had only known Casey for a short time, and yet it felt like I suffered great loss when he left. I also sensed my sister slipping through my fingers, and I felt so desperate about both things happening at the same time that it made me delirious.

Last night, I decided to release a song on YouTube. It was the one I wrote when we first got to Miami. I had played it for everyone to try to figure out the tempo. In addition to writing twelve more songs lately, I played that song a lot. I missed Casey and I remembered looking into his eyes when I sang it. I worked it up to a place where I loved it, and last night, at midnight, I felt like it was a good idea to release a recording of it.

I uploaded a video of myself singing it as a ballad on YouTube. My label had control of my Spotify account, so I had to settle for a YouTube account that I hadn't used in a few years. It would be way too long before my next album was released, though, so I put it out there myself. The video had a hundred thousand views by the time I went to bed at one in the morning.

I wished one of those views was Casey. I posted that song as a cry for him. I was praying and hoping that it could somehow draw him back to me. I hoped it would make enough waves that Casey would hear it and come back.

It was currently the following morning. I had just woken up and was in the process of checking my phone in case there was a miraculous text message from him.

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