Dirty Rowdy Thing (Wild Seasons, #2)(77)

I nod, lifting my water glass with a shaky hand. I want to see him now, want to kiss him and help him and fix all of this.

“I actually like what you tried to do,” Ansel says. “When I talked to him a couple of nights ago he told me about it.”

“Did he use lots of four-letter words?”

“None, actually.”

I raise my eyebrows, impressed.

I look over at Oliver. “When you saw him this weekend, did he tell you what he’s going to do about the business?”

Oliver tilts his head, blinking. “Harlow.”

So he’s not going to tell me. Fine. I go for broke; I have no more pride: “Did he even mention me?”

Oliver shrugs. “Not much. But remember this is Finn we’re talking about here. He usually says the least about the things he’s thinking about the most.”

I laugh. Well played, Aussie.

OUR FLIGHT TO Victoria on Monday lands at four in the afternoon, and Sal and I ride to the Magnolia Hotel together in a cab, discussing the plans for the next two days: meetings, boat visits, and more meetings. The air here smells like ocean, but so different from home. It’s heavier, saltier somehow, and the winds feel more substantial, making me think of San Diego as a sweet, docile beach town. This place is on the edge of the ocean frontier.

I’m so nervous to be here, so close to Finn again that even in the October sun, I feel chilled. The last time I came here, I had nothing but the champagne bubbles of excitement, effervescent in my stomach and giving me a secret smile the entire trip. I barely noticed the wilderness, the space between houses, and how much water there is, everywhere.

This time, I notice everything. Even as we discuss work, and names I need to know and what kinds of notes Sal needs me to gather on this trip, I notice it all.

Finn lives here, I can’t stop thinking it. He lives here, in this otherworld, this alternate life surrounded by green and the sapphire-blue of the ocean. Fred’s bar and Starbucks and Downtown Graffick feel so far away from all of this. Finn must have felt like he was stepping into Tokyo when he came and stayed with Oliver. Into a video game.

I can’t even imagine how he felt about Vegas.

We check in, and as we wait for the elevator, Sal looks down at his phone and makes a little hm sound in the back of his throat.

“What?”

He smiles, handing me his iPhone open to Variety and I begin reading as we step into the elevator.

Adventure Channel Signs Roberts Brothers for “The Fisher Men”

The Adventure Channel has signed on for an unprecedented two full seasons of a new reality series following a family of four men—three single brothers and their father—as they navigate the fishing industry off Vancouver Island’s west coast.

The program, featuring Stephen, Finn, Colton, and Levi Roberts, will be an “exploration of family responsibility and the complex dynamics binding these men by love and the business they run together. The story of each son’s quest to both save the family business and build a life off the water in the often-brutal Pacific Northwest fishing industry is what drew the Adventure Channel to this show,” according to the co-executive producer, Matt Stevenson-John.

Along with Stevenson-John, Giles Manchego is on board to produce. The deal was finalized on Friday, according to an Adventure Channel spokesperson. “The Fisher Men” is slated to begin filming in the spring when the salmon season begins, with episodes premiering July 1.

“Wow. ” I feel every particle of air evacuate my chest in a gust with that single word. Handing Sal back his phone, I say in a tight voice, “They signed on.”

“Looks like it.”

I’d told Sal there was a possibility, so he’s clearly not surprised by any of this, but I don’t know what to feel. I don’t know what to say. I don’t know why I’m surprised, but seeing it like this—in the crisp digital font accompanied by one of the promo shots Finn hated so much—I’m unprepared for the way it hits me like a physical blow to the center of my chest.

I’m not entirely sure my legs will keep me upright and I lean against the wall of the elevator.

“You all right over there?”

“I just . . .” I close my eyes, take three deep breaths the way my father always told me to when I felt overwhelmed. Oliver and Ansel probably knew, and didn’t tell me. Finn didn’t call me. I feel so . . .

insignificant. “I didn’t expect him to do this.”

But didn’t I? Didn’t I sense he was leaning this way, knowing it’s what his family wanted? If he didn’t take Sal’s offer, what else could he have done?

“It’s a great move, if you ask me,” Sal says, and I know him well enough to know that he’s choosing to act oblivious to my internal meltdown. “From what I hear, the AC is putting a huge amount of money into this one. Finn’s family will get up-front costs, of course. But a cut of the merchandise, too.”

I nod numbly. It is a good thing. It’s an amazing thing. I repeat this thought over and over.

We arrive at my floor and Sal tells me to meet him at eight the next morning in the hotel executive lounge. “I’m sure you’ll find something to do,” he says, as I step out and he remains in the elevator because he’s staying on the Fancy Ass People floor.

“We don’t have plans tonight?” To be honest, with this new information, I want nothing more than to be distracted by Sal’s sharp wit and endless industry stories.