Tidal (23 page)

“You beautiful girl, you fuck with my head

like no other.”

I didn’t tell him that I was glad.

That I wanted to be the only girl on his

mind.

Chapter Sixteen

The next two weeks passed by in a

blur of work, surfing, more work, and

Cooper.

Copiously delicious amounts of

Cooper.

I didn’t even realize it was my

birthday until my mother called me first

thing in the morning on the fifteenth to sing

her rendition of Happy Birthday in a

horribly off-key voice. When she was

finished performing, she said, “I know you

asked me not to come there, but your dad

and I are so proud of you!”

Mom and I had been talking every few

nights, and when she’d called me on the

fourth of July, she had brought up coming

to Honolulu to spend my birthday with me.

I’d told her I already had plans even

though I only had my probation meeting.

“Thanks, but Mom, its 6 a.m. here and

I’m not filming today.” I didn’t add that

I’d been out late with Paige the night

before, at a Hibachi grill that she’d sworn

was the best on the Island. My mother

would ask me a million questions about

who Paige was and then warn me about

the dangers of being around an open

flame.

I stifled a sleepy laugh as I imagined

Mom saying, “
You’ll burn your damn

face off and then where would you be
?”

Mom didn’t take my hint about the

time because she continued to talk. “I

wanted to call with a birthday present,”

she said.

I pulled a pillow over my face and

groaned. “Please don’t sing again,” I

begged.

“Clay called early this morning,” she

said. My breath caught as soon as I heard

my lawyer’s name, and I threw the pillow

away from my face. It hit the wall and then

fell somewhere beside of the bed.

“And?” I asked.

“And he’s got a court date for your

case against that agency scheduled for the

middle of next month.” I could tell by the

shrillness in her voice that she didn’t

actually believe this was good news—in

fact, it probably scared the hell out of her

—but she must have known how much it

would mean to me, especially on my

twentieth birthday.

My heart hammered in my chest, and I

pressed the palm of my hand flat against it,

reminding myself that I needed to calm

down and take a deep breath.

“Does he think I have a chance?” I

asked, my voice sounding fuzzy in my

ears.

“Absolutely.”

One word. That one word somehow

managed to send a flood of emotions

rushing through me. Fear and pain and

hope all sliced through me at once, and as

I sat there shaking, tears trickled down my

face. “That’s a start, huh?” I asked,

keeping my voice calm, level.

“I knew you’d be happy to hear that,”

Mom said. I heard an inaudible voice

murmur something to her, and she laughed.

Then, to me she said, “One sec, your dad

wants to speak to you.”

I hadn’t heard my dad’s voice in

months—since the court date where I was

sentenced to Serenity Hills to be precise

—so when he came on the line, I had to

press the back of my hand against my

mouth to hold the sob in. “Happy birthday,

baby,” he said.

I couldn’t decide if I was more excited

to speak to him or angrier that it had taken

this long for him to pull his head out of his

ass, but regardless, I was crying. Pulling

in a deep breath to gather my bearings, I

said, “Thanks.”

“Looks like you’ve been staying out of

trouble,” he said, which meant he’d been

scouring the gossip columns to see if I’d

stepped out of line.

I hadn’t.

“Yes, I’m—” I thought of the past

month and everything that had happened

and gave a tiny sigh. “I love Hawaii,” I

whispered at last.

He made a little noise in the back of

his throat. “Your mom and I would love to

come see you when you’re ready to have

us,” he said in a tentative voice.

But I wasn’t ready for my parents to

visit me. Not now when things were going

so well.

I tangled my hands into the corner of

my sheets. “Thanks, Dad, I’ll let you

know.” My voice was polite, but firm

enough to let him know that probably

wouldn’t be anytime soon.

Our call ended a few minutes later,

and I swung out of bed, suddenly high

from the news Mom had given me at the

beginning of the call. I was too happy to

even let the fact Clay had called her

instead of me bother me. What my mom

had told me was hands down the best

birthday present anyone had ever given

me. It was three years too late, but I’d take

it.

I was a jittery mess for the remainder

of the morning, running on very little food

and too much Red Bull and adrenaline, so

when I went to my probation meeting in

the middle of the afternoon, I was shaking.

Officer Stewart narrowed her eyes at

me from across her desk and straightened

a stack of papers before saying, “Have

you had any run-ins with the police since

our last meeting?”

I swept my hand across my forehead,

shaking my head. “No,” I said. I didn’t

mention the fact one of Justin’s fans—a

girl he already had a restraining order

against— had snuck onto the set a couple

days before and the police had questioned

me along with other members of the cast

and crew after they arrested her.

Stewart tapped her long, French-

manicured nails against the hard surface of

her desk. “And everything else is still the

same?”

I nodded.

“Nothing special planned for your

birthday?” The way she said the word

special, like I should automatically insert

my drug of choice there, made my muscles

tense up.

I cleared my throat a few times before

answering her. “I’ve got work in the

morning.”

She tilted her head to one side

thoughtfully, to gauge whether or not I was

telling the truth. I wanted to let her know

that I’d been too busy to even think about

getting messed up, and that the few times it

had entered my mind for even a flicker of

a moment, I’d automatically flushed the

thoughts out and reminded myself of how

well I was doing without going numb.

I had friends.

I had a job.

Holy fuck, I had Cooper.

And now, if everything went right with

my attorney—

I let out a shake sigh because for the

first time in years, I was golden.

Officer Stewart typed something on

her laptop keyboard, twisting her lips to

the side as she worked. “You know that if

you fail another drug test I’ll have no other

choice but have you arrested.”

Now it was my turn to narrow my

eyes. “I’m not on
anything
.”

“You know I’ve got to make sure,

right?”

I’d loaded up on energy drinks and

water for that very reason.

After I passed my screening with

flying colors, she ushered me back to her

cubicle where she brought up the subject

of my community service. “Dave says

you’ve not been back for the last couple

weeks,” she pointed out.

I linked my thumbs together in my lap,

settling my palms on the stiff fabric of my

new Rag & Bone skinny jeans. I’d

splurged on them a week ago when Paige

had dragged me away—with Miller in

tow, of course—to go shopping when her

younger sister Delilah was in town. To

date, the jeans and fluttery chiffon shirt I

was wearing was the only thing I’d spent

any of my work advance money on, aside

from food and basics.

Thirty days down and no drugs. It was

a record for me.

“Do you plan on finishing your

community service?” Officer Stewart

asked in a soft voice.

I took a deep breath before answering.

“I’m planning on going back once things

die down with work. We’ve been shooting

quite a few of my scenes because—”

Because I’m unreliable and Dickson

probably thinks I’ll bail.

Stewart shook her head slowly, her

light brown hair swinging back and forth

around her shoulders as she did. “I

understand that, but don’t forget that if you

don’t complete your community service,

I’ll—”

“Have to report me to the courts. I get

it,” I answered in a sharp voice.

She sighed and dropped her chin for

several seconds. When she lifted it, she

was nibbling the corner of her lip. “I’m

not doing this to be mean, Willow. This is

my job. While you’re a very . . .
nice
girl, I have to be thorough when it comes to my

career because I like having an apartment

and food.”

I understood Stewart had to look out

for her career, but at the same time, I

couldn’t help but wonder if some of her

coolness towards me had anything to do

with her sister and Cooper. I couldn’t

exactly come right out and say anything to

her. For starters, Stewart was my

probation officer and I wasn’t going there

with her and secondly, confronting her

would out my relationship with Cooper.

I wanted him to myself a little longer

before that happened.

But as Stewart escorted me out to the

lobby she brought up her sister herself,

“Miranda said she met you.”

“If you count her saying three or four

words to me, yes,” I said. I clenched my

nails into the hem of my thin top. “I’m

pretty sure I could get you fired for talking

about a client to your family members.”

Stewart’s glossy red lips quirked into

a shadow of a smile. “Actually she has no

clue I’ve ever met you. We were talking

about Willow Avery the actress, not the

girl with the criminal record. But if it

helps, Miranda said you were nice.”

My eyebrow shot straight up. “Nice?”

I asked, choosing to ignore her comment

about me being the girl with the criminal

record.

She shrugged. “For Cooper.

Personally, I wouldn’t be able to stand it

if the guy I loved fell for another girl, but

Miranda and I are very different people.”

My breath caught but I shrugged it off.

I was so used to dealing with jealous ex-

girlfriends—like Gavin’s psycho ex

whose friends had started a nasty

YouTube channel blasting everything from

my weight to my clothes and even my

shade of fingernail polish—that it was a

bit of a shock to get a thumbs up from

Cooper’s ex-girlfriend.

“Tell her . . . thanks,” I said, and

Stewart shook her head.

“I can’t discuss my clients,

remember?” When I gave her a half-smile,

she continued, “I’ll see you again in

August and don’t forget to finish your

community service before then. I’d hate

for you to ruin the work you’ve put in by

not following through with the terms of

your probation.”

I nodded my head understandingly.

Since I’d been given the day off

filming, Cooper and I had planned a surf

lesson to work on a technique I needed to

master for a shot my stunt woman and I

would be working on at the end of the

week. But when I arrived at Cooper’s

house, and Miller told me he had to run an

errand, I knew something was up. My

bodyguard had made it a point to stick

around for all of my surf lessons ever

since production began. I told him I’d see

him soon, but as I walked into Cooper’s

place alone, I noticed that Eric’s truck

was gone too.

The moment I stepped into Cooper’s

shop, I smelled candle wax intermingling

with the usual scent of plugins and Banana

Boat. Cooper was shirtless when he

appeared around the corner, and smiled as

soon as our eyes met, making me go a

little crazy with the way he was looking at

me. “What day is today, it’s—”

“Not the singing,” I groaned, “My

mother already—”

He yanked me to himself, bringing our

lips together as he reached behind me to

lock the front door. “Don’t be a party

pooper,” he murmured against my mouth

as he effortlessly lifted me into his arms

and carried me through the house into the

kitchen. There was a tiny, homemade

birthday cake with lavender icing sitting

on the counter with two thin birthday

candles plunged deep into the frosting.

“Cooper?” I asked when he left me

sitting on top of the granite. He glanced

over his shoulder as he adjusted the

kitchen blinds to make sure they were

view proof. “What are we doing?”

“Can you forget yourself for a day?”

“Like you forgot how old I am?” I

asked when he returned to me. I leaned

over and blew out the candles before