Book Boyfriends Wanted 3: His Curvy Treat

Colin stared at me instead of Boldt Castle as we approached. His gaze watched me, hanging on my every word. I kept talking, telling him about the love George Boldt had for his wife and the devastation that losing her caused. He abandoned the property, never to return, and halted all work after learning of her death. It sat for seventy-three years as a monument to their love while the harsh winters and waters of the St. Lawrence took their toll. A beacon of love lost for nearly a century.

“The Thousand Islands Bridge Authority bought the property for one dollar and have worked to restore the castle to its original beauty. There is still work to be done and parts of Heart Island to restore, but the beauty of Boldt Castle and Heart Island is apparent. As we approach, you can see the castle from the front. To the side is the power house. We will go around back and dock, and you are welcome to tour the island for as long as you’d like. George and Louise would have welcomed guests with doors opened wide on a day like today. They would have smiled and waved you in and shared their love with you. I hope you feel a little of their magic today.”

I finished with a smile, but my heart was pounding. I always said something similar, making sure guests knew they weren’t going to a museum, but to a home. A place where a family was supposed to be. A place where parties and births and weddings would have taken place if tragedy hadn’t struck.

George and Louise were real to me. I wanted them to be real for everyone else. But when I wished magic for everyone with Colin’s eyes locked on mine, I thought maybe I found a little of that magic myself.

As soon as we docked, I was off the boat. It was my job, but I made sure I did it well so I didn’t risk getting caught with Colin. I even pulled aside an older couple who were staring at a brochure to ask if they needed help or advice on anything. While I answered their questions, Colin stood to the side.

Cami, thank God for Cami, asked him if he needed anything. He said he didn’t and finally headed toward the castle with the rest of the group.

If Cami picked up on anything, she didn’t mention it. Once the boat was clear, we worked together to pick up random things guests left behind. We collected the lost items in a box behind the bar and tossed the trash. After that, we went back to the dock to check for passengers who didn’t want to stay on the island and look at the castle. Later in the day, once a few tours had run, we’d fill up for our trip back to the docks, but being our first run of the day, the boat was empty as we set off again.

For the rest of the day, I was on edge. I waited for Colin to step back onto our boat, but he never did. I silently thanked whatever power kept him off my radar the rest of the day.

“Today was fun,” Cami said as we cleaned up and finished our paperwork for the day.

I nodded. “It was. You were good to work with. Have you figured out who your characters are going to be?”

She shrugged. “A few, I think. I really like the idea of adding a little humor in with the stories. And making sure people know the history. You’ve clearly got all of it down.”

“You’ll get it, too. It’s good to know about our area and what happened here. And what I’ve found is if you know five to ten really good stories and can recite them without thinking about it, you’ll be through the trip before you even realize it.”

“That’s all?”

I nodded. “It sounds crazy, right? But yeah. The tours we did today were ninety minutes. On each trip, I told them about Boldt Castle, which we always do, a few of the private residences for sale, some of the most popular homes, and the pirates. I also talked about the area in general and shared a small bit about me. People don’t need you to talk constantly.”

Cami thought about it for a minute then chuckled. “Wow. I never picked up on that, and I’ve been listening to you all day. It’s amazing.”

I grinned. “It’s years of practice.”

Cami laughed. We walked to the parking lot together, and I asked about her as a person. She shared that she has a boyfriend but doesn’t think it’s going to work out. She has two siblings. Her parents are still together. And she has no idea what she wants to do with her life long term.

I resisted telling her my only goal in life was to survive it on my own terms.

“Thanks for giving me so much advice today,” she said when we parted ways in the lot. “I really appreciate all the help.”

I nodded. “Any time. I’ll see you soon.”

“Bye!”

I couldn’t complain. Aside from Colin showing up, it was a great first day.

* * *

No one else I knew showed up on my trips the next few days, and on Sunday night when I walked into girls’ night, I was feeling good.

“How’s the water?” Karissa asked me with a knowing grin.

“Wonderful,” I said. “I finally feel like myself again.”

Karissa laughed. “Sometimes I wonder how we’re friends. I only feel that way when I’m cooped up inside and working on a new app.”

I smiled. “It doesn’t matter what helps you feel that way, it’s something we should never let go of.”

Karissa nodded, her smile understanding and sympathetic. Her brown eyes were kind, always, but when I made any mention to my past, she looked as though she understood just a little more than our other friends. Not that she’d been through the same thing, and not that she had to, but she’d experienced loss like the rest of us hadn’t. Losing her mom was hard on all of us, but Georgia was Karissa’s best friend her whole life. That was the kind of thing you never got over.

“My mom always said the same thing. That’s why she worked at Cracked for so long. She loved it. The early hours and the busyness of it would have driven me crazy, but she thrived there.”

Karissa shared her mom’s positive outlook on life. Georgia always encouraged her to do something she loved. She encouraged all of us to love our lives. She was the one who told me to be a tour guide. I was feeling lost, and I mentioned one day that I hadn’t spent enough time outdoors lately, and she said I should be a guide. I didn’t listen right away, but she kept pushing me to try new things and eventually, I went out on a tour. I was hooked from the first trip.

“She had a way with people,” I said with a sad smile. “Everything was easier with her around. She could see things the rest of us couldn’t.”

“Like what?” Trinity asked. Trinity and Georgia shared a birthday, but they’d only met once. Georgia convinced Trinity to move to MacKellar Cove, but when she did, Georgia was already gone. We brought her into our little group because we knew if Ms. Georgia loved her, we would, too.

“She always knew when someone needed advice, even if they didn’t,” Karissa said with a smile.

I nodded. “And she knew what would make you talk. She coerced me with French toast. Whenever she put it down in front of me, I knew I was in trouble because she’d get me to spill everything.”

“Bacon for me,” Finley said.

“I was sourdough toast,” Melody admitted. “She was a little scary. I didn’t like going to Cracked because she saw way too much.”

“Mom was amazing,” Karissa said, reaching out to grab Melody’s hand. “She loved all of us so much. Even you.”

Melody chuckled. “I think I was one of those problem children. She had to chase me down.”

“She loved doing it. She loved all of it. I think that was what she hated the most at the end. The treatments and getting sicker and sicker were horrible, but she thrived with people, and she couldn’t be around people as much,” Karissa said sadly. She sniffed and wiped her eyes.

“I still remember the last day she came in,” Blake said. “We were all shocked she was there, but she said she wanted to see everyone and wanted to be home for a little while. Eddie brought her in and sat with her at that back table.” Blake smiled like she was seeing it all over again. “Everyone who came in went to her. Some sat and talked to her for a while and some just said hello, but everyone went to see Ms. Georgia that day. I swear she left looking like her old self.”

“She felt like it, too,” Karissa said. “She told me about it. She was so happy. She decided that day she was going to go back at least once a week, but she didn’t make it to the following week.”

We were all quiet for a long moment. Ms. Georgia was the heart of us. She brought us together like she did so many others. She was a matchmaker, not just for couples, but for friends. There was no one else like her.

“I wish I’d gotten to know her better,” Trinity said.

“Me, too,” Melody agreed.

We all nodded.

Finley grabbed her cake and lifted it. “To Ms. Georgia.”

We followed suit and toasted Ms. Georgia with our cakes, laughing and shaking our heads. She would have loved it.

“Okay, I need to talk about something else,” Karissa said. “Who has news?”

“I’m trying out some new designs,” Trinity said, showing off her bracelet. “I am also thinking about expanding my website and selling more on my own. I love working with Olive, but I need to make more money if I’m going to keep doing this full time.”

“I can help you with your website,” Karissa offered. “And I can design an app for you. That would be really fun.”

“Do I really need an app?” Trinity asked.

Karissa shrugged. “Doesn’t everyone?”

We laughed.

“We have an app for boat tours,” I said. “It really does come in handy. It was new last year so we’re still getting used to it, but it helps us with a lot. There’s a user section for people to book tours, and an employee part for us to manage things like who is working which tour and ordering supplies. It’s nice to be able to do that on the fly.”

Trinity nodded cautiously. “I’ll think about it. For now, I think I need to focus on my website.”

“I’ll wear you down,” Karissa said with a smile.

“I heard Colin went on one of your tours,” Melody said, catching my eye.

To say I was shocked was an understatement. “How do you know that?”

“He told Ramsey. He thinks he upset you.”

I shook my head, trying to come up with an answer, but Laura did it for me.

“Elise doesn’t like anyone she knows to be on her tours. I went on one shortly after I got here because I wanted to see the area. I found out which one she’d be working because we’d met a few times and I thought it would be fun to see her in action. She was uncomfortable. Of course, she didn’t tell me that until a while later, but Elise is a bit of a control freak. She likes to be the one who calls the shots.”

I smiled at Laura, silently thanking her for saying what I couldn’t say. She winked back.

“I don’t think he asked for you,” Melody said. “But he did know you worked there. Hudson told him.”

I nodded. “I know. He mentioned it. He introduced himself and asked if I remembered him. I kind of froze.”

“Why?” Finley asked.

I shrugged.

“Are you okay? Did something happen?” Blake asked.

I shook my head. “No. Just…I don’t know.”

“I’ll tell Ramsey to tell him to back off,” Melody said.

I gave her a tentative grin. “Thanks, but he’s fine.” I probably should have let her do it, but it didn’t completely sit right with me. If he backed off, I wouldn’t have to tell him no, and if I didn’t have to tell him no, I wouldn’t worry about the way he’d respond. But if he didn’t go there to see me specifically, then I was overreacting and being crazy.

* * *

When I got home later that night, I was still thinking about Colin. I wasn’t sure if I judged him too harsh. He seemed like a nice guy, but nice guys weren’t always nice.

God, I was so messed up. The only time I interacted with men was if they were involved with a friend of mine, customers on the boat, or hook-ups from one of the dating apps. I couldn’t just have a conversation with a random guy without worrying about how he’d treat me if we were alone. And then I get scared and have to be a bitch to get him to go away.

It was a painful cycle. There were times, about once every two to three months, that I missed being with someone. Not the bad days, but the good days. The mornings waking up next to someone and feeling cared for. The evenings when I would come home and he cooked dinner.

Every day with Andy wasn’t bad. That was part of what made our relationship so painful for me. He was sweet a lot of the time. He took care of me. He paid for everything, and he actually cared about me. For a while, at least.

It was the jealousy and the control that made what we had ugly. He wanted all of me, and he wasn’t willing to share me. Not with my family or friends or classmates. It was a long time before I realized everything he was doing, and by then, I didn’t have anywhere to go. He was the only person left in my world. Leaving him meant leaving my life behind.

But doing it meant I could live.

And I did. I created a life in MacKellar Cove that was better than I ever imagined. I always loved it, but it truly became home for me when I stood on my own two feet. I was free from Andy and from the restrictions he placed on me. No one told me what to do.

I still missed having a partner. I considered moving in with one of my friends, but we were all single at the time. And moving in with someone meant giving them full access to my home, and allowing people they knew into it. I couldn’t handle that kind of stress.

There was a knock on my door that made me jump. I clapped my hand over my chest and felt my heart pounding against my ribs. I closed my eyes and counted to five, then opened them again.

I installed one of those video doorbells as soon as they came out. I pulled it up on my phone and sighed when I saw Mrs. Carter with a pie.

I set the phone down and went to open the door. Mrs. Carter took a step back so I could open the screen and let her in.

“Did you make me a treat?” I asked her with a wide grin.

Mrs. Carter lived next door to me. Her husband died the year before. She had one son, but he lived in New Jersey. She’d adopted me as her family the day I moved in, and she hadn’t stopped treating me like family the entire time I lived next to her.

“I did,” she said with a grin. She climbed the two steps into my trailer and stopped to kiss my cheek. “I know you just had cake, but I was hoping you wouldn’t mind pie also.”

I rubbed my stomach and said, “There’s always room for pie.”

She laughed and headed for my kitchen. She set the pie on the counter and grabbed a knife from the block next to my stove. I liked having easy access to knives, just in case.

Mrs. Carter cut two large slices of pie, the dark red cherries bursting from the exposed crust. She went into my fridge and grabbed the can of whipped cream, adding a healthy dollop to both slices, then carried the pie to my table.

She lifted her fork and tapped mine. “Enjoy.”

I grinned and watched as she took a bite and groaned. Mrs. Carter was one of those people who enjoyed everything life had to offer. She loved sharing her gifts with others, and she reveled in them herself.

I speared a bite, the flaky crust resisting my fork long enough to squish more cherries out of the side of the pie. Once I had a piece broken off, I scooped it up, snagging the runaway cherries and a bit of the whipped cream.

I groaned and closed my eyes, too. “This is so good,” I said around my mouthful.

Mrs. Carter nodded. “It is. Cherries are good. They’re not local yet, but they’re still delicious.”

“Yes, they are. I wish I could bake like this.”

“You make that amazing cake,” she said kindly.

I did enjoy baking cakes. For some reason, pies never came together for me, but cakes I could handle. “This crust is delicious. It’s perfect.”

“It was my grandmother’s recipe. I’ll share it with you. You should come over sometime so we can bake a pie.”

Mrs. Carter was lonely. She’d told me a few times that it was too quiet without her husband there. She considered moving to a home for seniors, but she didn’t want to be limited. She was still capable of living on her own.

“That sounds like fun. I’m off a few days this week,” I told her.

She grinned. “Excellent. I’ll get all the ingredients.”

“Why don’t we go together so you can show me how to pick out the good stuff?”

She nodded enthusiastically. “That’s a great idea. Now, what kind do you want to make?”

We talked about pies and flavors and all the different pies we were going to make through the summer. Mrs. Carter stayed a couple of hours, and when she was ready to go home, I walked her back so I knew she was okay.

I smiled when I walked back into my home. She was the reason I lived there. Mrs. Carter and all the other neighbors who watched out for each other. Mrs. Carter was rarely alone. Someone checked in on her regularly. Just like someone checked in on Mr. Robinson and his kids, and Ms. Goldman and her cats, and me. We all looked out for each other, and that made all the difference in the world. I knew I was safe, and I knew I was cared for, and whenever I started to think I needed something else, they reminded me I had it really good exactly where I was.