By the Book (Meant to Be #2)(48)

She still wasn’t sure if she should ask, but now she had no choice.

“I’m good at saying no.” He looked amused. “As you’re well aware. What is it?”

She swallowed. “Um, my friend Priya—I work with her, I’ve mentioned her, I think? She’s going to be in Santa Barbara this weekend for a wedding, she has a million cousins. And she kind of wanted to know if she could come up here, and see the house, and everything?” She couldn’t read Beau’s face at all. He wasn’t smiling anymore, but he didn’t look mad, exactly. Just…blank. “It’s okay, it’s not a big deal, I’ll just tell her—”

“Of course your friend can come here.” He said it almost harshly, but then he smiled at her. “You’re living here, aren’t you?”

Did he mean it? Izzy couldn’t tell.

“Are you sure? It’s okay if—”

Beau stood up. “It’s fine. Really.” He still seemed…off, but she wasn’t going to push it.

“Okay,” she said. “I’ll bring her by Thursday.”

So on Thursday afternoon, right after she left the library, she drove down to the airport to pick up Priya. She’d left plenty of time to get through airport traffic and figure out where and how to meet her. When she pulled up to the tiny, adorable airport that didn’t even have a single traffic light, she laughed out loud. She really hadn’t needed all that time.

After a few minutes, her phone buzzed.

Just landed!!!



Izzy got out of the car to wait for Priya.

Yay! I’m here! See you soon!



She couldn’t believe she was going to see Priya. Suddenly, the thought of seeing someone from New York, from her real life, almost overwhelmed her. She’d been in this tiny, almost dreamlike bubble in California, with Beau, for the past three weeks. It felt strange that someone else, even someone as great as Priya, would intrude on that.

She only had just over a week left in the month Marta had given her. Beau was on track, she thought, to finish his memoir, at least eventually. It wasn’t as scary to him anymore, she didn’t think. But…she hadn’t quite told him the whole truth the day before. She had been holding out on him. Everything he’d written so far was good, but it was all missing something. If he’d written about whatever had made him leave LA and come to this house in Santa Barbara and disappear from the rest of the world, he hadn’t shared it with her. In fact, she was pretty sure he hadn’t put it down on paper yet. It was clear he was leading up to something big, but it was vague, only hinted at. Izzy had found herself getting impatient as the days went on, waiting for him to get there. She hadn’t pushed him on it, not yet, but she knew she had to in the next week before she left. She wasn’t looking forward to that.

“Izzy!!!!!”

She looked up, and Priya was running toward her, rolling suitcase in one hand and her long black hair flying behind her.

“Priya!”

Priya almost smothered Izzy with her hug, but Izzy didn’t care.

“Ahhh, it’s so good to see you,” Priya said, when they finally let go of each other.

“It’s so good to see you, too,” Izzy said. “I feel like it’s been forever.”

She popped the trunk of the car and reached for Priya’s suitcase.

“I can’t believe you packed everything for the wedding in this suitcase.”

Priya laughed. “I didn’t. This is only like half of it. My mom has the rest.” She held up a hand. “Wait: Where did this car come from? When you said you’d pick me up at the airport, I thought you meant you’d just take an Uber or something and meet me here.”

“Oh.” Izzy must not have told her this part. “This is Beau’s car.”

Priya’s eyes widened. “This is HIS car? Okay, yet ANOTHER thing we’re going to have to talk about.”

Izzy rolled her eyes and went around to the driver side. “Oh, stop that. It’s no big deal.”

Izzy pulled Priya in for another hug as soon as they were both in the car. “I can’t believe you’re here. I’ve missed you so much!”

Priya nodded. “Yeah, yeah, I’ve missed you, too, etc., but you haven’t told me yet if you’re taking me to the HOUSE or not, and if I’m going to get to meet HIM. I’m dying here.”

Izzy started the car. She was still nervous about this.

“Yes, I’m taking you to THE HOUSE,” she said. “Beau said it was fine, but I don’t know if you’ll get to meet him; he may not be around.” That was one way of saying that Izzy hadn’t told Beau that Priya wanted to meet him. He’d seemed weird enough about the idea of Priya coming over. Izzy was pretty sure she’d been one of the only people, other than Michaela, who Beau had really interacted with in the past year—Priya might be too much for him. He’d probably be hiding away in one of the off-limits rooms while she gave Priya her tour. Her very brief tour.

Priya shrugged. “Oh well, I can’t have everything. Though I can’t believe he doesn’t want to meet me.”

Izzy laughed. “While you’re obviously the center of the universe, Beau and I don’t actually talk about you. We mostly talk about his memoir, since that’s what I’m here for, remember?”