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“Right.” I chuckled and shrugged to concede the point. “I guess it’s not so bad. Will you always have to travel that much?”
“For a while, but once I learn about every part of the business, I’ll probably just go on a couple of big trips a year. That’s what my dad does now.” He down-shifted through the curves in the road and the engine rumbled. I really wasn’t into fancy things, but it was undeniably an impressive car.
“Did your dad travel a lot when you were growing up?”
“Yeah. He was gone most of the time. One time, when I was about four, he tried to hug me after he’d been away for two months and I cried because I thought he was a stranger.” He chuckled, but there was something else in the tone of his voice that made it seem like it was a painful memory. “My mom likes to tell everyone that story. It’s her way of complaining that he wasn’t around.”
“Are you closer to your dad now that you work together?”
“It’s getting better.” He nodded pensively. “I think I’ve figured out how to impress him.”
“Has he figured out how to impress you?”
Mason licked his bottom lip and seemed uncomfortable with the question. He finally said, “I don’t know,” and accelerated to pass a row of slow-moving cars. The engine revved as we sped effortlessly along the twists of the highway. Once we had left the other traffic behind, the engine quieted and we slowed down. “Sorry,” he said.
At first I wondered why he apologized but then I realized I’d had my eyes clenched shut and my fingers clamping my knees. “Oh. No. I’m fine.” I relaxed and exhaled. “Actually, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked such personal questions about your dad. We hardly know each other.”
“Personal is good. You can ask me whatever you want. Seriously, I’m so tired of shallow conversations and superficial people. Tell me more about your dad. You must miss him.”
I nodded and sighed. “I do. Desperately. We were very close and I would do anything to have just one more day with him. You’re lucky you and your dad still have the opportunity to grow even closer.”
He concentrated on the winding road, gripping the steering wheel tightly. Even though he said he was okay with the deeper, personal conversation, he really didn’t seem to be. Eventually he asked, “What was it like to grow up in Britannia Beach?”
“Life in a tiny roadside village is not fascinating enough to be considered a conversation topic I don’t think.”
“Try me. Tell me something you used to do as a kid.”
“Um, let’s see.” I skipped over most of my good memories because they all included Trevor. I definitely didn’t want to go on about him to Mason. It took a while, but I eventually came up with one. “On hot summer days I used to set up a lemonade stand in the parking lot in front of the Inn. I made so much money from tourists going by on the highway that my dad opened up a bank account for me. I still have all the money. It’s part of my university fund.”
“How entrepreneurial of you.”
I gestured to showcase the features of his car. “Well, I didn’t make quite enough to afford a luxury McLaren.”
He laughed. “Neither did I. My dad gave me the car.” His eyes shifted sideways and met my gaze. “I think I would like to spend more time in Britannia Beach.”
“I’m pretty sure you’ll be begging for an airplane and a hotel room in a foreign country after a couple of hours.”
“Not if you’re here.”
I shoved his shoulder playfully. “Well, although that is obviously your attempt to be funny, I’m only going to be here for the rest of the summer.”
He shook his head. “I wasn’t trying to be funny.”
I rolled my eyes, but when his expression remained serious I realized he wasn’t joking. Not sure what to think of that, I tucked my hair behind my ears and focused on the scenery. We had already arrived in Squamish. A few minutes later, we pulled up in front of a two-storey house made of glass and cedar posts arranged in sharp, clean angles. It was an homage to a Fred Hollingsworth design that I had driven past to admire before. Mason pulled into the roundabout driveway and stopped in front of the house. He got out of the car and rushed around to flip my door up for me. Then he offered his hand to help me step out. “You can wait in the house out of the rain while I park the car. I’ll only be a minute.”
I ran to stand under the overhang by the front door and wrapped my bare arms around my body. I didn’t want to go inside because I didn’t even know whose house it was. Three girls who went to my school in Mason’s graduating class filed out of a cab and stumbled up the stone pathway towards the house. I smiled uncomfortably, hoping they would just walk by and ignore me. One of the girls, named Paige, smiled back, but the other two glared at me. The one named Corrine Andrews curled her lip up as if I was dirty or disgusting in some way. They went into the house without knocking and slammed the door shut behind them. They must have been drunk because they were way too loud and I could hear them through the door. “Who is that?”
“Isn’t she Trevor Maverty’s sister?”
“I thought his sister has Down syndrome?”
“Not that one. The sister who works at the Britannia Beach Inn.”
“Trevor only has one sister. The girl who works at the Inn is Derian Lafleur. Remember her? She hangs out with that vampire chick in your cousin’s band.”
“Oh yeah, I remember. That girl outside wasn’t Derian. Derian isn’t that pretty.”
Mason jogged towards me. He was soaking wet, but smiling. Obviously, my face was still locked in the same expression it had been while I was eavesdropping on the girls through the door because his smile faded. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” I forced myself to be animated and sound convincing. “I think I’m just a little nervous to meet your friends.”
“They’re not so bad. I’ll protect you,” he joked as he squeezed his arm across my shoulders and led me into the house.
My palms got sweaty.
CHAPTER 5
The three girls were still in the foyer, fixing their hair and makeup in the mirror. They turned to see Mason with me and all of their mouths dropped open. Any sliver of confidence I did have, drained out of me when I took a closer look at how they were dressed. Pedicures, strappy high heels, shiny tanned skin, silky dresses that most people would have considered more of a blouse, and diamonds decorating their fingers, wrists, necks, and ears. They almost reeked of money. I reeked of a one-hundred-year-old Inn off the highway. A pair of jeans from London weren’t quite enough to catapult me into their league.
Mason didn’t seem to notice all the reeking as he introduced me. Paige smiled again. The second girl didn’t smile, but she offered a limp handshake. Corrine literally squished her nose up and turned back towards the mirror without even saying hello. “Corrine,” Mason said, obviously irritated by her rudeness.
She turned back to face Mason and produced the fakest smile. “Welcome home, Chancey. I’ve missed you.” She leaned forward and kissed him on the lips.
He pulled his head back and frowned at her.
“Who’s your new friend?”
“Derian. She went to school with us.”
She glanced at me and added, “Oh, Derian. I remember. She’s the maid at that little old Inn off the highway. I just didn’t recognize her without her scruffy clothes on.”
Mason glared at Corrine and took my hand. He escorted me away from them and into a living room that overlooked the ocean. “Sorry about that. It’s not about you. She’s just jealous because back in high school she wanted to date and I didn’t.”
I tucked my hair behind my ears and bit at my lower lip.
“You’re uncomfortable. I’m sorry. Come on, I’ll introduce you to some of my guy friends.” He winked. “They shouldn’t be quite as bitchy.”
I smiled because he was cute, and I appreciated that he was trying, but I didn’t feel good about being there. It wasn’t like the parties I usually attended. I was used to Sophie and the band acting wild and playing way too loud until the party got broken up by the cops. I could barely even hear the music on the sound system in the background as Mason and I reached a crowd of guys who were ordering mixed drinks from an actual bartender in a white shirt and black vest.
A guy I recognized from school shouted, “Chancey!” and raised his glass to toast the air.
The four other guys who were standing with their backs to us turned around. They didn’t look at Mason, they all ogled me instead. They nodded and made various comments like, “Way to go, Chance”, “Nice work, Chancey”, and “The infamous Chance Cartwright is back from his world tour and already on to his next conquest,” as if I wasn’t standing right there.
I tore my hand out of Mason’s grasp and stormed back towards the door. I didn’t know how I was going to get back to Britannia Beach, but I didn’t really care. I was angry at myself for being stupid enough to fall for his lines. He had dated a lot of girls in high school and I had been warned back then that he had a reputation for one-night stands. At the time I never put much stock in the exaggerated rumours because my instincts had always given me the sense that there was more depth to him than the rumours gave him credit for. Apparently I was wrong. It was blatantly obvious I was just another piece of ass to him.
Mason caught up with me and pulled my elbow to make me turn and look at him. “Derian, I’m sorry. I didn’t know they were going to be assholes. I overestimated them.”
Once my awe-struck impression of him was shattered, my more assertive side surfaced. I didn’t care what he thought about me anymore. Frustrated, I poked my index finger into his chest. “I’m not some dumb slut who is dying to say I was with Mason Cartwright. You’re not that impressive to me.”
He reeled back. I couldn’t tell if he was hurt or mad. “Please don’t let my ex friends taint your opinion of me.”
“Why? It’s hard not to assume you’re at least a little like them. You must have something in common with them. And presumably they know you well enough to have a pretty good idea about what your intentions with me were. Are there really women out there who let your friends talk about them like that?”
He didn’t have a response. He turned his head to the side, clenched his jaw, and closed his eyes in a long blink. His expressions were really hard to read and I had no idea what he was feeling. I didn’t plan to stick around to find out.
“This was a mistake,” I said as I fumbled through my purse, looking for my phone.
“No, Derian, don’t say that.” He reached forward and held both my wrists so I wouldn’t dial my phone. “Please, let me prove to you I’m not like them.” He stared into my eyes and waited for me to say something.
Disappointed that he wasn’t the sophisticated and interesting person I had hoped he was, I asked, “Why do they call you Chance? Is that some sort of womanizer thing?”
“It’s stupid and immature.” He dropped his hands. “And it’s not true. Let me finish our date so you can form your own opinions. Please.”
My instincts were still telling me there was more to him than rumours and reputation, but the glaring evidence to the contrary was making it difficult to know for sure. I studied him without saying anything, trying to detect a sign in his expression that would confirm he was bullshitting. “Why would I bother wasting my time on a date with a guy who only wants one thing? One thing he’s not going to get, by the way.”
“It’s not like that. I just want you to get to know me better. Nothing more.” His tone actually sounded genuine. In fact, he appeared to be upset about what was happening.
I leaned back against the wall and crossed my arms. “You invited me here to meet your friends as a way to get to know you better, but you are allegedly nothing like your friends, so how does that help me gain an accurate impression?”
He tilted his head back and exhaled tension. “It doesn’t. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“Did you ask me out only because you want to sleep with me?”
“No. I mean, maybe one day, but no. I just wanted you to get to know me better.”
“Why?”
He chuckled like it was a stupid question. “Because I like you.”
“Why?” I challenged.
“What do you mean why? I like you because you’re smart and gorgeous and nice to everyone. And even though I’ve been gone for a year, I never stopped wondering about you.”
It didn’t make sense. Guys like him who could date and sleep with whomever they wanted didn’t wait around a year for small-town girls like me. Something didn’t fit. “Why? It’s not like you knew me that well before you left.”
“I know we didn’t spend any time together in high school, but I always noticed you. You sketch buildings when you’re bored; you smile at the people most other people ignore; you laugh out loud when something is only a little funny, and you laugh silently when something is really funny; your cheeks go red if someone compliments you and you believe them, but not if you think they’re being fake; and you don’t lie about who you are because you don’t need to. Everyone else was phony and had an agenda for being my friend. But not you. Your genuineness stuck out right from the first time I saw you. And, honestly, I liked the fact that you were one of the few girls who didn’t throw yourself at me because of my dad’s money.”
My eyes darted back and forth between his face and the party in the background as my mind attempted to process everything. It was nice to know that he had noticed me back then. I had definitely noticed him, too. But I was still worried I was nothing more than a hard-to-get conquest in a game that had gotten too easy for him.
Sensing that I was undecided, he smiled tentatively and wrapped his arm around my waist. “Come on. Let’s go upstairs where we can be alone. I want to show you something.”
“You’re joking, right?” I shoved his arm off me.
“No. I didn’t mean—it’s not like that. Shit, this is getting worse by the minute,” he said under his breath.
With one hand propped on my hip and a snarky tone, I said, “Sorry to ruin your night.”
“It’s not you. I’m messing everything up. It’s my fault and I just want to make it better. Tell me how to make it better.”
“Take me home.”
“I don’t want to take you home.” He stared at me, struggling to think of something to say that would change my mind. “The party was a bad idea. I should have taken you on a proper date. We can go somewhere else, just the two of us. Tell me where you want to go.”
I shook my head without saying anything. Going somewhere else wasn’t going to change the fact that we were from completely different worlds and had nothing in common. And it wouldn’t change the fact that he had only one goal, which despite Sophie’s encouragement to be more adventurous, was not a goal I shared.
After a long silence, he sighed and his perfect posture sunk slightly. “If you want to go home, I’ll take you home, but I’ve really been looking forward to tonight. I don’t want it to end before it even starts.”
I had never met anyone who was so hard to read. His face only showed his feelings part of the time, in flashes. It was like putting the pieces of a puzzle together, only most of the pieces were missing.
“Why does this mean so much to you?” I asked.
His eyebrows angled together and he checked over his shoulder to make sure nobody was close enough to hear our conversation. “When I moved to Squamish and saw you around school, it was obvious there was something different and special about you—not just because you’re pretty, nice, and smart. It’s hard to explain, but it felt like you could see me. Not like everyone else saw me, but for who I really am. Being the new kid at school for senior year, it was easier to let people like me for my image and reputation. It felt nice to know that at least one person knew there was more to me than that. I was intrigued that you noticed that side of me even without ever having a conversation with me. I’m not only telling you this to flatter you, but nobody has ever made me feel the way you do when you look at me. I know it sounds weird because we haven’t spent any time together. But that’s why I’m interested in getting to know you better. And that’s why I’ve been looking forward to finally spending time with you. I’m sorry I got too excited and didn’t put enough thought into planning the actual date. I haven’t even talked to most of these people in a year.”
It took a while for everything he said to filter through my brain. It was quite the speech and I knew the connection he was referring to. I had always felt like I saw a different Mason than everyone else saw. I glanced around at the people at the party—people who thought they knew him because of the type of clothes he wore and the type of cars he drove. It was sad to imagine what it was like to be friends with people who didn’t really know you. “Maybe you need to make some new friends who take the time to appreciate the real you,” I said.
He lifted his gaze to make direct eye contact with me. “I’m working on it.”
I nodded and then sighed as I thought. He waited patiently as I considered all the options. Anyone watching us would have probably assumed he was being really smooth and I was being naïve, but for some reason that I couldn’t exactly explain, I knew without a doubt there was more to him and that he was willing to share it with me if I let him. And I wanted to let him. “What did you want to show me upstairs?”
He flashed an appreciative grin and took my hand again. “It’s a surprise. You’ll like it.” He led me up a staircase that floated on suspension wires. At the top, a glass door opened out onto a rooftop deck. It would have had a 360-degree view of the ocean and the mountains if it weren’t for the low, heavy clouds. We ran through the rain towards the front ledge of the deck and ducked into a cedar gazebo to stay dry. He sat on the bench and I slid down beside him to look at the spectacular view.
He was right when he assumed I would like it. And, although it was cold out, being isolated from the rest of the party made me way more comfortable. “The city lights are beautiful,” I said.
He pointed further down the coastline to a tiny cluster of lights off by themselves. “Can you see the Inn?”
“Oh yeah. It looks so tiny.” I shivered from the cold and folded my hands in my lap. “My granddad sold it.”
“I heard. How do feel about that?”
“Not great, but he’s ready to retire.”
“Why doesn’t your mom live at the Inn?”
“She works at a law firm in Vancouver. We have an apartment down there. She used to visit on weekends when I was a kid, but she doesn’t come up much since my dad died. She’s phobic about driving on the highway.” I inhaled and changed the subject, “What is your favourite city?”
“New York.”
“I’m jealous you’ve been there. I can only imagine what it must be like. I would love to see the architecture in real life someday.”
He nodded. “Every self-respecting architect needs to visit the Guggenheim. We should definitely do something about that.”
I glanced at him, hoping he didn’t mean he wanted to take me there. I wasn’t sure how he even knew I was planning to study architecture. If I had told him, it meant he remembered it for more than a year. “Maybe offering trips to New York was what you had to do to impress your old friends, but people like me don’t need grand gestures to decide if we like a person or not.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a jewellery box. “Would you be opposed to a small gesture?”
“Mason. You didn’t need to buy me anything.”
“Sorry. I’m used to showing appreciation with gifts.” He lifted the lid. Inside was a necklace with a very small, blue, enamelled, flower pendant. “It’s hand made,” he added as he searched my face to see if I liked it.
“Wow. It’s beautiful and so unique.”
“Like you,” he said.
My face flared up in what probably looked like scarlet blotches. Fortunately, it was too dark for him to notice. It was very strange and overwhelming to hear a guy talk like he was totally into me when we had barely even started our first date. It was probably his game. But it didn’t feel like he was playing me. However, that’s likely what all girls who’ve been played believe. I didn’t know what to think. “It must have been very expensive. I can’t accept it.”
“You have to. I bought it in Paris when I was there last month, so I can’t return it.”
“You were in Paris last month? Really? I was there three weeks ago. That would have been so surreal to run into each other there.”
He slid the chain over my collarbone and I gathered my hair over one shoulder so he could clasp it at the back. Money was obviously not a big deal to him, but it made me feel weird to accept such a lavish gift on a first date. His intentions were sweet, though, so I reluctantly accepted it.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” He ran the back of his hand down my arm, which sent goose bumps shooting across the surface. “You’re cold. We should go back inside.”
“No, it’s only goose bumps. I’m okay. This is nice, just the two of us. Let’s stay here and talk a little longer.”
He agreed and pulled me close to wrap his arm around my shoulder. “Where are you going to school in the fall?” he asked.
“University of Toronto. I think. Do you regret not going to school?”
“Yes and no. I was going to end up working for my dad anyway, so in some ways there was no point in delaying a guaranteed career. In other ways, I sometimes wish I could have decided my career path on my own.”
“What subject interests you?”
He chuckled a little and glanced at me. “Marine biology.”
“Why is that funny?”
“It’s not. It’s just that nobody’s ever asked me before. Everyone always assumes I would want to make a fortune working for my dad.”
“Does working for your dad make you happy?”
His eyebrows angled together in a deep crease again. “I guess. It depends on your definition of happy.”
“Free to be yourself, feeling safe, important and loved, being passionate about what you do, and making the people you care about smile.”
“Wow. You’ve obviously thought about that one before.”
“Not really. I just know what makes me happy. Don’t you know?”
He appeared to get lost in his thoughts as he looked out over the stormy water. His face was essentially perfect except for the small scar that cut through his right eyebrow. It honestly felt a little bizarre to sit so close to him since all the other times I’d ever admired him were only ever from a distance. He turned to me and said, “I’m happy right now. I know that much.”
I smiled. “You say very provocative things, Mr. Cartwright.”
“Provocative is good, right?”
I laughed. “I haven’t quite figured that out yet, but I’m curious to find out.”
“Curious is good.” He raised his eyebrows, pleased with the glimmer of hope. “You must be getting cold. Do you want to get out of here and go somewhere for dessert or something?”
I wasn’t looking forward to making our way through his so-called friends again, but it was unpleasantly cold and we couldn’t hide out on the roof all night, so I agreed. We dashed back through the rain across the rooftop and got soaked. As we walked hand in hand down the suspended staircase, I scanned the room, making note of the unfriendly faces so we could avoid them. Corrine was across the room, flirting with a guy who was seated on the arm of a couch with his back to me. The muscles of his shoulders pulled his shirt tight and I knew who he was without even seeing his face. Corrine laughed and flipped her head to the side to make her long platinum hair cascade over her shoulder. She spotted Mason and me and her expression transitioned into a snotty sneer.
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