No Place Like You Read online

  “Not huge,” Zach said. “But I don’t cook. So I figured I’d buy the food.”

  “You might have trouble finding one of the island caterers free. Everyone will be booked up for the weekend. Lou would be happy to help,” Faith said. “Me too.”

  “Lou does too much. So do you.” He smiled at her. “If no one on the island can do it, then I’ll get someone from the mainland.”

  “So where are you planning on holding this shindig?”

  “I thought I’d ask Billy. I don’t think he and Eli have anything planned for the Fourth. Eli said Nina was going to come over if she could but she’s got some big case going on, so he didn’t think it was likely she’d make it. If not, then I can ask Danny. Or Shane. It’s not like we’re lacking for houses around here.”

  Faith’s nodded, her expression odd for a moment. “Danny’s loaned his place out for the weekend.”

  Zach nodded. “Okay. Billy it is. I’m sure he’ll be okay. Never one to turn down a party. And I get the feeling he’s getting a bit antsy.”

  “He’s touring after CloudFest, right? He always gets nervous before a tour. I’m surprised he came here.” Faith said. “Normally he chooses somewhere with a bit more distraction.”

  “Pretty sure his main reason for choosing Lansing was trying to find a place where Eli will rest,” Zach said.

  “Which means Eli is bored out of his mind too?” Faith said.

  “Heading in that direction,” Zach admitted, with a grin. “I’ve distracted him for now, he’s helping me chase down some guys for my band.

  “You’re going to have your set ready for CloudFest then?” Faith asked.

  “Yes. Don’t worry, I won’t be pulling out.”

  “Good,” Faith said. “Because if you did, I’d have to hunt you down and do things you won’t enjoy.”

  “Which I would deserve,” Zach said. “But you won’t have to.”

  Faith grinned at him. “All right. You going to ask Sal and Caterina to this party?”

  “I’d like to. Leah said she was having a family lunch but I’d like them to come to the party too. Only trouble is that Leah isn’t so keen on them knowing about her and me.”

  “Ah,” Faith said. “Well, maybe I can help you out a little with that. I can send the invites. Then as long as you play it cool on the night, then you and Leah can slide under the radar for a while longer.”

  “You think Sal would be weird about it?”

  “About Leah seeing someone? No. About you. Maybe.” She studied him a moment then made an apologetic face. “Sorry, but he’s like the rest of us. He doesn’t want to see her get hurt again. And you’re not sticking around.”

  He didn’t want to have this conversation again. So he just nodded. “All right. Quiet then. You send the invites, I’ll do the rest. I’ll talk to Billy today and we’ll take it from there.”

  chapter thirteen

  When they came out of the ocean, Leah couldn’t stop laughing as she wrung seawater out of her hair. She collapsed back onto the sand, trying to catch her breath. She and Zach had, as he’d promised, driven around to Shane’s house, which fronted onto one of the smallest but best surf beaches on the island, and spent the afternoon surfing and fooling around. She’d be sore in the morning—she was out of practice with her board—but it would be worth it. Zach in lazy, relaxed, silly mode was irresistible.

  “C’mon, lazybones,” Zach said, when he caught up to her. “No lounging around on the beach all day.” He leaned over and offered her a hand.

  She pouted at him, ignoring the hand. “Why not? It kind of fun to have it all to ourselves. And it’s my birthday, so shouldn’t I get to decide what we do?” She twisted back to look back up at Shane’s house. It had always been her favorite of the Blacklight houses. Not as extravagant as the Harper house, not as cutting-edge Architectural Digest–darling as Danny’s. It was stone and weathered wood and glass that curved around the land as if it had grown there. It was a pity it was empty most of the time. She couldn’t remember the last time Shane or any of his family had been to Lansing. “It’s nice here. Peaceful.” No chance of being interrupted. Zach had been right about today. Mina was on duty at search and rescue—Fourth of July being one of the island’s busiest times of year outside of CloudFest—and Faith and Caleb were spending the day with Lou and then going to the fireworks. She’d had a nice birthday lunch with her parents at Jin’s diner and then headed out to see Zach. Nearly the perfect day, in her book. All that she needed to top it off was a couple of good orgasms, and she’d be one happy birthday girl.

  “Exactly. It’s your birthday.” Zach said. “And I have things planned.”

  “What things?” she asked suspiciously. But she held out a hand so he could haul her to her feet.

  “Things you’ll like.”

  She grinned. “I would’ve thought we had plenty of time for those things later.”

  “Other things you’ll like, woman. You have a one-track mind.”

  “You like the track my mind is on just fine, rock boy.”

  “True, but as you said, plenty of time for that track later on.”

  “Okay, then.” She ran a hand through her hair, which was pretty much a mess of tangles and salt water even though she’d tied it back. “Do I get a chance to shower before we try these things?”

  “I think that can be allowed,” he said.

  * * *

  The shower, back at Zach’s, turned out to involve some of the things her one-track mind had imagined. Well, he couldn’t really blame her for that, could he? After all, he’d come into the bathroom in just his wet shorts to bring her some towels when she was just starting to run the water. Half-naked Zach and a shower was too promising a combination to resist. And he hadn’t resisted too hard. Still, by the time they were done and then dried off and dressed it, was nearly six.

  “Do your plans involve dinner?” she asked as she came back into the kitchen.

  “I’ve known you a long time, Santelli. And I’ve seen you when you’re hangry.” He shuddered theatrically. “So yes, I planned on feeding you.”

  She stood on tiptoes to kiss his cheek. “I knew there was a reason I liked you.”

  “If you’ve been won over by my culinary skills then you’re setting your standards too low,” he said. He pulled a bandanna out of his pocket and waved it in front of her nose. “But before we get to the food, you need to put this on?”

  “Dude, I thought you said the special things had to wait until tonight. And we just did it like thirty minutes ago.” She was teasing. Mostly. She wasn’t adverse to the idea of Zach and a few knots and a blindfold. Just hadn’t expected it right this minute.

  “Mind out of the gutter, Santelli. This is so you don’t spoil the surprise.”

  “I bet you say that to all the girls.” But she reached for the bandanna, folded it into a strip, and tied it around her eyes.

  “You’ve done that before,” Zach said.

  “Too many games of blind man’s bluff as a kid.”

  “I don’t remember those.” He came ’round behind her to tug on the knot.

  “We didn’t play it with stinky boys,” she said with a smile, trying to get used to the sensation of darkness. She could feel Zach behind her, the warmth and the scent of him. It was tempting to press herself back against him and see if she could distract him some more. But if he’d gone to all the trouble of actually making plans, it was kind of sweet, and it would be unfair to ruin them.

  “I wasn’t stinky.” He pulled on the knot again. “Are you sure you can’t see anything?”

  She felt the air move in front of her face. He must have reached around to wave a hand in front of her face.

  “Total darkness, I promise.”

  “Good.” He moved away from her and she turned, trying to follow the sound of his footsteps. Too late she remembered he was barefoot. And that he could be awfully stealthy when he wanted to be.

  “You had stinky phases,” she said, hoping to pr
ovoke him into talking so she could figure out where he was from the sound of his voice. But apparently he was stealthy and sneaky because she heard nothing for a minute or so until there was the sound of something thumping onto either the kitchen table or the counter. “If you’re filming me standing here looking like an idiot, I’m going to be pissed.”

  Zach laughed then, the sound closer than she’d expected. “Patience, grasshopper.”

  “You’re not the one standing here blindfolded.”

  “Easily bored, are you?”

  “When I’m blindfolded, yes.”

  He laughed again. There were a few more mysterious noises, and then his hand slipped into hers. “Ready?”

  “As I’ll ever be,” she said, curiosity burning. “Just don’t let me walk into anything.”

  “Trust me,” he said, and she had to fight a shiver.

  Trust him? It sounded easy. It sounded simple. She would love to trust him. Love to believe he’d always be there. But that would be beyond stupid. Because he was leaving. CloudFest was rapidly approaching. Then Zach would be gone. So she had to be smart. But still, that didn’t mean she wasn’t willing to let him take her by the hand and take her wherever he wanted to go. At least for tonight.

  * * *

  She’d half-expected Zach to lead her back toward the main house and put her in his car. But instead, they walked into the garden, Zach directing her carefully once they reached the grass. It made more sense, she supposed. Why leave when the whole purpose of this weekend was to hide away and enjoy the solitude.

  After a few more minutes, her feet crunched back onto a gravel path, and she wondered if they were heading back to the beach. Unless she’d completely lost her sense of direction with the blindfold, they hadn’t headed inland. The sound of the ocean, which was almost always a background noise on most of the Harper estate, was growing louder, which confirmed her theory.

  But then they crossed onto grass again instead of continuing down to one of the beach paths.

  “Almost there,” Zach said encouragingly. He guided her for a couple more minutes, keeping her hand in his, fingers tangling together. It was foolish that his touch and the way he’d made sure she hadn’t so much as stumbled warmed her heart. But she was going to live with foolish for now.

  “Okay,” Zach said. “Just stay here for a minute.”

  He let go of her hand and, for a second, she mourned its loss. But then she heard a rustle and curiosity won out again. She strained her ears, trying to hear. But apparently one rustle was all Zach was giving her. She gave up and stood still, focusing on enjoying the warmth of the early evening and the sea air ruffling her hair, knowing that Zach would be back with her soon enough. Apparently that was all she needed right now to be happy.

  “Ready,” Zach said, and she realized he was standing in front of her. His hands undid the knot of the blindfold and she opened her eyes cautiously, shielding them against the light.

  At first all she could see was Zach, but then, as she caught a glimpse of white out of the corner of her eye, she knew where she was. On the small patch of grass behind—or in front of, maybe—Mina’s lighthouse. With a view of nothing but the ocean rolling out in front of them in endless blue.

  “Here?” she said.

  Zach smiled. “Remember?”

  “Oh, I remember.” She stared at the spot. She hadn’t been here for a long time. Possibly not since the night of her eighteenth birthday, in fact. A night that was hard to forget.

  A night that she suddenly remembered …

  * * *

  It had nearly been the perfect night. Leah surveyed the marquee from just inside the entrance. Her eighteenth birthday party. Or the tail end of it. An hour or so ago, just before midnight, her parents and the younger kids and the rest of the adults had all left, leaving the tent and the music to Leah and her friends. For anyone else it would totally have been the perfect night. A stack of presents taller than she was waited for her to open in the morning; the cake had been a wonder of cream and chocolate and sugar; her dad, Sal, had managed to make a speech that was funny without being completely humiliating, and everyone had had a great time.

  Nearly perfect.

  So close.

  But not quite. Because there was just one more thing that Leah wanted for her birthday.

  She scanned the tent again. On the dance floor, Faith was dancing with Eli, the two of them lost in the music. A few others were up and dancing too. The rest were talking in groups at the tables or, she suspected, had sneaked out to see what nooks and crannies could be found on the Harper property to make out in.

  Ivy was sitting by the bar, talking to the bartender rather than drinking.

  The one person she couldn’t see was the only one she was looking for.

  Zach.

  Faith’s older brother. The one boy—man, these days—she wasn’t supposed to want.

  The one man she really, really did.

  Crap. Had he left? It didn’t seem likely. Zach liked a party and really, this party was partly a farewell for him and Faith too. They were headed out on the road to play their first shows in one short week. Neither of them had wanted a going-away party, despite their dad wanting to throw them one. Leah suspected that might have been part of the reason that Grey had offered to let Leah throw her birthday party here on the Harper estate. Which was big and right on the beach. A far prettier location than her parent’s backyard or the town hall. Not that she would have minded having her party there either. But it had been nice of Grey to offer—after all her dad had worked at the Harper Inc. recording studio here on the island for twenty years as the main sound engineer—working on all of Blacklight’s albums over that time.

  It was a pretty cool place to have a party. The Harper house was beautiful, as were the gardens, and the weather had cooperated and been spectacular. The day had been warm, but not too hot, and now the night was gorgeous, the sea breeze keeping everyone cool.

  Of course, nowhere on Lansing was really far from the ocean, and even her house, in Cloud Bay, was only a ten-minute walk to the beaches that curved around the harbor. But the beaches up here on this part of the island, more private and a little wilder than those in town, were her favorite.

  And, she realized, that she probably knew where Zach was. She closed her hand around the neck of the bottle of very nice champagne—well, she assumed it was nice, she wasn’t much of a drinker and tonight she’d limited herself to one glass, wanting to keep her head—and tried to ignore the nervous energy sliding around her stomach.

  Now or never.

  A simple choice.

  Leave the tent and go find Zach and tell him what she had in mind, or stay here and be safe and watch him leave in a week’s time and never know.

  So. Brave or safe?

  She was eighteen today. She’d spent almost all of her life on this small island. Who knew, maybe she’d spend most of the rest of it here too.

  So screw safe.

  There was going to be plenty of time for that. She swigged a mouthful of the champagne—a little extra courage couldn’t hurt—and walked out into the night.

  No one saw her go. And she didn’t pass anyone on the path that led from the garden down to the old lighthouse that guarded the headland. The Harpers kept the building maintained and the light operational, but no one lived here.

  But the view from the small yard in front of the light looking out over the ocean was amazing and it had always been one of Zach’s favorite places.

  Her steps slowed as she walked around the lighthouse. For the first time, it occurred to her that if Zach was here, he might not be alone. She stopped, listened. No voices. Then, as she waited, the sound of an acoustic guitar—very soft—floated into the air.

  She recognized the song. One of Faith and Zach’s.

  Seemed like everywhere she’d turned for the last few months she’d heard it. Faith humming the melody or practicing the piano part. Or this sound. The sound of Zach’s fingers bringing a guitar to
life.

  He was playing it slower now, so that the melody twined around the sound of the waves in the distance, the rhythmic whoosh of them forming an odd sort of backbeat. She paused to enjoy it, wondering idly how she’d mix it, if she could capture it in the studio. But that thought brought back reality a little too fiercely. In a week Faith and Zach would be gone, and then in another month she’d be going to live in L.A. for a year to do an intensive course in audio engineering before coming back to Lansing to work at the Harper studio with her dad. She’d been helping him unofficially for a long time and hanging around the studio since she could toddle, but he’d insisted that she go get an actual qualification.

  Just in case, he kept saying.

  She wasn’t sure what the scenario was he was imagining. Her wanting to leave the island? Go get a job somewhere else? Even then, with Harper Studios on her resume and being able to say she was trained by Sal Santelli, she figured she’d be able to get work without the piece of paper.

  But she was still going. Partly for the challenge of it, partly to live somewhere else for a little while—though that part made her stomach churn—and partly because she’d figured that maybe if she was away from here, it wouldn’t be so obvious that Faith and Zach were gone too.

  Zach had been gone before. At college in New York because Grey, like Sal, had been big on education. Leah still wasn’t sure how Faith had managed to weasel her way out of going this year. At a guess, she’d promised that she’d go next year. But somehow, Leah didn’t think that was her plan. But even from the East Coast, Zach had managed to come home regularly, turning up randomly on weekends.

  Easy enough when you were as rich as the Harpers. He’d been home for every holiday and even spent most of the summers here when he wasn’t at a music festival or tagging along with the Blacklight juggernaut if the band was touring. But this. This was different. If Faith and Zach were successful—and why wouldn’t they be?—then they’d have a whole new life outside Lansing. One that didn’t involve her.

  Lifting the bottle, she took one last mouthful. No thinking about tomorrow. Tomorrow was not the Leah of tonight’s problem. The future Leah could deal with that one.