Chaos Theory (Nerds of Paradise #2)(74)

Within seconds, his dad’s smile had faded. “What are you doing?” he hissed through clenched teeth. “You’re embarrassing me. Come up here and acknowledge what I just said.”

A cold sweat broke out down Will’s back. If this confrontation had happened two weeks ago, no, less than that, it might have had an entirely different outcome. But everything had changed inside of him. It was no longer him against the world, guided by the north star of his father’s whims. Will glanced to Melody. She stared at his dad with narrowed eyes, but the morning sunlight caught in her curls.

Will cleared his throat and stepped forward. His dad’s shoulders loosened and relief painted his face. Will hoped he enjoyed it while he could. He met his dad’s eyes as he leaned against the deck’s railing, then looked out at his coworkers and friends.

“Don’t worry, guys, I’m not going anywhere. I’m staying right here at Paradise Space Flight.” He glanced to Howie, his lips twitching to a grin. “Though Hawaii sounds good too.”

His friends were smart enough and knew enough about the struggles he’d been going through to understand exactly what that little speech meant. Starting with Laura, they whooped and cheered as though announcing that he might like to take a trip to Hawaii was a big deal. And it felt good. Incredibly good. Why hadn’t he thought to branch out and find supportive friends before?

That was water under the bridge. He turned back toward Melody, sending his dad a momentary, triumphant smile as he went. His dad looked like he might have a stroke, but before he could say anything else, Howie stepped forward.

“Kudos to our winners for their brilliant performance,” he said. The crowd burst into another round of applause—none of which Will thought was particularly deserved—before Howie quieted them enough to go on with, “I was going to make a much bigger speech—”

“Of course, you were,” one of the Haskellians heckled him. Everyone laughed. Even Howie.

“I was going to make a speech,” Howie went on, “but instinct tells me to wait and deliver that at tonight’s dinner back home on the PSF campus. We’ll announce the winners of the photography contest then too.”

“Crap,” Melody said as Will returned to her side. “I totally forgot to take pictures after that first day.”

“We were preoccupied,” Will said.

“You can say that again.” The look Melody sent him was enough to announce to everyone that they’d put the PSF condoms to good use.

“So we’ll just hand over the first part of the prize to these two right now,” Howie went on. “Will, Melody, your helicopter awaits.”

Melody’s eyes went wide. “Oh shoot. I forgot that the winners get to take the chopper back to town instead of the busses.”

“If you can climb that tree, you can deal with a short flight,” Will said, adding a wink at the end of his words. He’d never winked at anyone in his life, but in that moment, it felt like the most natural gesture possible.

It must have been. Melody’s cheeks went bright pink, and she raised both hands to her mouth. “Do that again,” she whispered a moment later, moving her hands.

Will’s lips curved into a grin. “I’m sure there will be plenty of time for winking later.”

“So if you want to go with Jonathan, he’ll give you a ride down to the helipad,” Howie interrupted.

Jonathan waved to them from the back of the deck. Will acknowledged him with a nod and took Melody’s hand.

“I’m coming too,” his dad said, trying to fall in step with them.

“No, you’re going back the way you came.” Will stopped him.

His dad looked irate. “Don’t you speak to me like that, son. We have important things to talk about, crucial things to talk about. Your life and your future are at stake here.”

“Yes they are,” Will conceded with a nod. He glanced to Melody. “But I’m not discussing them with you.” And for good measure, he added another wink.

Melody giggled. “I’m never going to get tired of that.”

“Me neither,” Will said.

He sent one last look of firm dismissal his dad’s way, then tugged Melody along with him to where Jonathan was waiting at the deck stairs. They had a helicopter to catch and some much-needed rest along with it. And then they had things to talk about.





Chapter Twenty





Sometimes a helicopter ride way up high was more of a relief than a reason for terror. Melody was shocked that she settled into the chopper so comfortably and barely flinched when it lifted off to take them home.

It was too loud to say anything on the flight home, but she didn’t feel as though she had to. All she had to do was squeeze Will’s hand and smile, letting him know that she was proud of everything he’d said and done back at the lodge. Heck, she was proud of the way he’d stopped to go check on Katrina when she did, proud of how he supported her in her climb up the tree, and proud of how he’d struggled with all of his issues but come out on top throughout the entire competition. She was more than ready to let him come out on top of some other important things too, namely her.

Her fear rushed back again as they approached Haskell, or more specifically, the helipad on the roof of the PSF building. She’d never had any reason to notice that the helipad was up there, and something about landing a moving vehicle on a small circle on top of what looked like a narrow building gave her the willies. She squeezed her eyes tightly closed and concentrated on the firmness of Will’s grip on her hand.