Will and Katie invited half of Florida over for dinner that night. Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, but there were more people than I expected. My parents were there, and so were Mr. & Mrs. Nichols. They were an older couple who lived nearby and was close to our family. Mr. Steve had retired from a career at the power plant and now he worked at the market, smoking fish with my dad and brother. Steve and Brenda had four grown kids, and two of them (college age boys, Zack and Colby) were also at Will and Katie's.
They had a big, open living room, and we were all sitting around after we finished our dinner. My brother had a giant television and all the latest games and gadgetry. His boys weren't even old enough to appreciate all the gaming options Will had in that living room.
We had all been talking with the TV on in the background, but Will turned on a racing game called Mario Kart where four players raced cars or motorcycles on various tracks. It was one of the only games I knew how to play, so I was glad it was the one he chose. My six-year-old nephew, Ben, also knew how to play, and he started jumping up and down when he saw the words come across the screen.
"I'm gonna play, I'm gonna play," he yelled. "I'm gonna be Bowser in the baby stroller!"
"Why don't you get Mom to make you some ice cream?" Will suggested, handing remotes to Zack and Colby. "Daddy's gonna race one with the grownups, and then we'll do a little round on 50cc for you and K.K." (My nephews called me K.K. even though Caroline started with a C.)
"Thanks a lot," I said sarcastically to my brother for his comment about Ben and me needing a slower track.
"I was just messing with her," Will said, winking at me but talking to Theo as he handed him the third remote. "She can beat me at this game."
"I'm sitting this one out, though," I said. "I'm gonna go help Katie in the kitchen." I smiled at Theo. "You don't have to play."
He looked at the screen, which showed Zack and Colby in the process of choosing their character. He smiled. "I'll play a round with them."
I had been right next to Theo since we arrived at my brother's house, so I hadn't yet had the chance to speak with any of my family about him. My mom and Ms. Brenda were outside with Will's three-year-old, so Katie was the only one in the kitchen when I made my way in there. She handed her son the ice cream sandwich he had been promised and told him to go outside to meet Grams. Just as soon as he started to walk off, she looked up, regarding me with wide eyes and an intense expression.
"What?"
"Him!" she whispered intensely.
"I know."
"Me and Will knew that guy right when you walked in," she continued. "Colby, too."
"Theo? How?"
"Yes!" she said. "We recognized him right when you got here. We saw this whole miniseries about him on Netflix. I can't believe you didn't see that. He's got this famous gallery in New York. Will and Colby looked it up and showed everybody a few minutes of the show when your dad was outside showing y'all around. It's obviously the same guy. He looks just like him, and his name's Theo. I mean who else could it—yes, baby, you can have some ice cream, too," she added in a cooing tone.
I glanced over my shoulder to see my mom coming inside with an offended three-year-old on her hip. "I told you all we had to do was come ask, and she'd give you one!" my mom said, taking the sandwich from Katie and handing it to Jack. He held onto it with his toddler fingers as my mom peeled the wrapper from the top of it with one hand. She looked at me once the paper ripped. "Your brother thinks your friend is the person from a film he saw about—"
"I know," I said. "Katie was just telling me that."
"Is it him?" my mom asked.
"Probably," I said. "He talked about doing a documentary."
"Well, if it was the same guy, surely you'd know about it. This thing Colby and Will brought up was the real deal," she whispered, looking impressed. "It was on Netflix. Professionally done. It looked like a real movie. It was all about how he bought a whole building in New York City and turned it into a compound. Can you imagine? A whole building! You don't think it could be the same guy, do you?"
"It's gotta be him," Katie said. "It would be too big of a coincidence to have someone else named Theo who looked exactly like that."
"Well, I think we should ask him," my mom said.
"It's him," I said. "He's got a collective in New York, and he's mentioned being in a documentary."
We all glanced into the living room to make sure everyone was busy playing or watching the game, which they were.
"You didn't tell me all this," my mom said, focusing on me with a hurt expression.
"I didn't know. I just found out all of that this morning. I didn't even know it was that big of a deal that you and Will would know about it."
"All he had to do was search the internet, and it came up," my mom said. "They knew the name of the place and everything. It was something about shaving and showering. I don't know what that means."
"It Shower & Shelter," Katie said. "I watched it when it first came out. I can't believe that's the same guy."
"I really didn't know it was that big of a deal," I said. "He told me he's been in the documentary, but I didn't realize you guys would have seen it."
She shrugged. "Will watched it too. It was good. It was just one of those that came up on our recommended, so we checked it out."
"I better get you outside with this," Mom said. I could tell she was reluctant to leave, but Jack's sandwich was starting to drip. "I think he's nice," my mom added.
"He is nice," Katie said. "That was the point of the whole documentary. Do you think it could really be the same guy?" she asked, staring at his back in amazement. Theo was leaning to the side as his character hugged a curve on the game.
"It's gotta be the same guy," I said.
"And you met him when we went to Canada?" my mom asked. She wore a somewhat confused expression as if she was still putting all the pieces together. Jack's sandwich was really beginning to drip by then, so Mom grabbed a couple of paper towels and headed outside with him, looking regretful that she wasn’t able to stay and listen to what we were saying.
"What'd you do all day?" Katie asked. She smiled at me like she was anxious to get down to the nitty-gritty, and I laughed at her.
"I met him at the library, and then we went down to the Tiki Bar for lunch. He's staying in Stuart at this gorgeous place he found on Airbnb. It's someone's guesthouse. We went over there and went swimming in his pool. Elroy loves him."
"You went swimming?" she asked smiling and wiggling her eyebrows like it was the best thing she had heard so far. "Did you see him without a shirt?"
I laughed and pushed at her shoulder. The memory of Theo without a shirt caused a sensation in my lower abdomen. I remember the way he flirted with me in the pool and how good he looked with wet hair.
"Oh my gosh, you did see him without a shirt, and you're dreaming about it right now!" she said, teasing me. "Does he know about Justin?" was the very next thing she asked. She asked it with a smile as if that were an obvious next question, but it took me off guard and I gave her a sideways stare.
"Why would you ask that?"
She shrugged. "I just wondered if you told him there was a Justin."
"I mean, he knows I was supposed to get married, but I haven't really said much. That was a long time ago. Why are you asking that?"
"Because you and Justin were in a long-distance relationship," she said. "It was a guy who lived in a different city that broke your heart."
"You don't have to remind me of that," I said.
"I'm just making sure you warned him that we're sensitive to scumbags who try to date you in Florida and go be with whoever on the side."
She was being serious, but I just smiled at her and shook my head. "Katie, what happened with me and Justin isn't even a factor," I said. It was a little bit of a lie, but I didn't want her or my brother worrying about it since I did enough worrying for myself. "And I'm not even there yet with Theo. I'm not even thinking like that with him. I'm just finding out right now that he's more famous than I thought he was, apparently. All I know is he's staying till Monday. Beyond that, there's no commitment. No plans."
"I just hope he knows you have a whole group of people down here who have your back."
"He can see that," I said.
She and I stood there and stared at the boys as they finished a race, yelling at how close it was. They all laughed and high-fived each other, commenting on who was the best and who was the worst and smack talking the way guys do.
"Did you kiss him?" she asked.
I glanced at her with a smile that confirmed her question.
"At the library?"
I nodded, making a silly face and let her know I was withholding information.
"And other places?"
I nodded guiltily, and her eyes got huge.
"How many?" she asked.
She was totally serious with that question, and it tickled me. I laughed, shaking my head at her.
"What? How many? Are you dating? Are you seeing him now? Are y'all in love? I seriously saw him on TV. The whole show was about him."
She and I stared dazedly at each other for a few seconds. I was thinking back to being in the pool with Theo that afternoon—remembering the way he gently held me close to him and how he kissed me while our faces were still wet.
"I don't know what we're doing," I said, finally. "It's all happening so fast. I like him and he likes me, and that's kind of all we know. There's no plan. He said his flight was supposed to leave on Monday, and I thought about taking him to feed stingrays tomorrow, but other than that, there's literally no plan. I have no idea what will happen. He might just be in and out of my life after one weekend."
"Or you might fall in love and marry him," she said. "Can you imagine if you called him up after twenty years and y'all fell in love?" she asked. "You could make another Netflix movie out of that."
"It already is a movie. That's where I got the idea."
"What movie?"
I shrugged. "I don't even remember. I must've seen it when I was really little because I knew about it by the time I was ten. But don't get ahead of yourself. I've only gotten as far as taking him to see the stingrays tomorrow."
"I'm sure your dad will let you take out his boat."
"I thought about it," I said. "I might ask him if he wants to go out on the river tomorrow."
Theo and Colby had set down their remotes so that Will and Zack could move on in two-player mode. Colby and Theo joked about how Will and Zack couldn't handle them, and there was a bunch of good-natured smack talking before Theo headed toward me with a smile.
"Your brother was asking if I wanted to go fishing tomorrow," he said when he got close enough for me to hear. His facial expression made it obvious that he wasn't opposed to the idea.
"Do you want to go fishing?" I asked.
"It might be fun," he said with a shrug.
I stared straight at him as he approached. It was like a scene from a movie with him walking toward me, smiling the way he was.
"I think I saw a show about you on Netflix," Katie said from right beside me since she obviously couldn’t contain her curiosity any longer.
"You did?" Theo asked, coming to stand next to me in the kitchen. He stood so close that our shoulders touched.
"Is it Shower & Shelter?" she asked.
"Yep. That's the one," he said with a smile.
"Are you the guy who started that place?"
"I am."
"I saw you tell your story. I remember thinking you were a really cool person when I watched that."
"Thank you. They showed all my coolest parts on that show."
"Well, they did a good job because, I was like, that is one cool dude."
His smiled broadened. "A cool dude," he said. "I like that."
"Did it get you some business?" Katie asked.
Theo regarded her like he wanted to answer but wasn't sure what she meant by the question.
"Did doing that documentary get your company more business? Are y'all selling more art?"
He nodded. "We are, actually. I didn't go into it with that in mind, but it did have that effect."
"We Googled you after we figured out who you were, and the internet said you just donated the money to build some massive library."
"That's in Canada," he said. "It's the same library where I met Caroline. I spent a lot of time there growing up, so it was an honor to give them an upgrade. They needed it."
"That's amazing," she said.
"It really is," I agreed. It was the first I had heard of this, and I felt speechless. "Is it the same library I called?" I asked, after taking a second to let it sink in. Theo nodded, and I let out a little uncontrollable laugh. "Well, it's no wonder the guy knew who you were."