Caden is new to town, and doesn't know anyone. Does your character want to show him around, ask him out, get together to play some basketball, etc? Do they recognize him as the author of one of their favorite books?

Caden is a fairly easygoing and friendly guy that's open for pretty much anything. He likes making friends and meeting new people, is a bit of a foodie, loves to surf, and blushes when people flirt with him.

If you want Caden for anything, drop me a line and we'll work something out!

The ball is just over a week away, and time is running out. For all that Joel is searching for other options, Caden thinks the choice is clear. It was easy to make peace with his decision. Caden has already loved and lost, and his heart is damaged. It could never belong to another anyway, mangled as it is. A quiet marriage out of convenience is really the best he could hope for, and maybe he'll even find a lovely companion. A friend.

It's not what Caden would have chosen for himself, but as he told his brother, what he would have chosen is impossible. So he can do this, as long as it ensures Joel's happiness. When he thinks of it that way, it's the easiest choice in the world.

Caden has spent time with Joel and Spencer, and he's enjoyed it, even if seeing them interact leaves a hollow ache just behind his breastbone. He and April used to look at each other like that. Or maybe it was just him looking at her, and the rest is a misremembered dream. Sometimes he wonders if she ever loved him at all, or if he's just a fool for clinging to her memory all this time.

Now it's time for Caden to seek Spencer out on his own. He has some questions to ask, and he knows Spencer will be able to answer them without words. He just needs this final thing to cement his decision, and he heads for the beach after a member of the staff tells him that she saw Spencer heading that way. He takes a basket of freshly made cookies and makes his way down towards the sand. Spencer is sitting at the water's edge with the waves washing over his bare feet, and Caden heads for him with an easy smile on on his face.

"Spencer, hello. I was wondering if I could speak with you?" He wrinkles his nose and laughs softly, reaching up to scratch the back of his neck. "Or speak at you, as the case may be."

(timed to late friday afternoon.)

April is gone.

She stayed to spend Christmas with Caden, to kiss him at midnight on New Year's Eve, and the next day she was gone. She'll stay in touch, she assured him. She'll come back someday, she says, but for now she's gone. Just like Caden feared would happen. He isn't upset with her. He gets it and he wants her to be happy. But he just really didn't want to let her go.

Now Caden is just tired. He just wants to go home. Because whatever Siren Cove is, it isn't that. That's San Francisco - his place in Ocean Beach, his mom's place in Pacifica. That whole thing about leaving your heart in San Francisco? It's totally true. His heart is there, along with his family, and that's where he needs to be.

Luckily, Caden has the luxury of being transient. It's not like he's written anything since Les dumped him anyway. He came to Siren Cove for a change of scenery, and now he needs another one. It'll be good to spend some time with his family, with his beloved west coast. He needs time away from here.

He has a few bags packed and ready to go, and he gets dressed and heads to Quill to grab a cup of their amazing coffee for the road. There are things he will miss about Siren Cove, and that coffee is one of them.

It's not forever. He'll be back. He just has no idea when.


[Catch Caden anywhere between his place on the beach and Quill with a plane ticket sticking out of his pocket. This will be the last chance to talk to him for awhile, as he's getting out of dodge for now.]

What's the most upsetting is that he can't surf. The water is too cold for him to even step foot into it, and that's why he's just sitting on the beach at the water's edge, arms wrapped around his knees while he stares out at the waves. The water always makes him feel better, and he can't even do that right now.

He isn't sure why he's so upset. It hasn't even been two months, and to his knowledge they weren't even serious, but it's never fun to be dumped. Maybe it's because he was just starting to fall for Les, and because he's not the only one hurt. April is probably with Les right now while he sits here, and he feels like it's all his fault that she's going to get hurt as well. Maybe if he had just kept his mouth shut they would be together right now.

He's also a little pissed off, because who dumps someone right before Christmas? Now Caden feels like the holiday is ruined, after he stayed in Siren Cove instead of going home to be with his family so that he could spend it with Les and April instead.

But now he's just sitting here with his ass in the sand, full on moping. Merry Christmas.

It’s been five days since Les went missing, six since the first victim, and they know nothing. Well, Corinne has a clue, apparently. Caden hopes it pans out.

God, victim. That makes it sound too real. It wasn’t too long ago that he was excited by this town’s apparent eccentricities, but this one is far less amusing. People are disappearing into thin air, one or two a day, and no one knows why or when it will stop. If it will stop. It sounds almost like a plot to one of Caden’s novels, but they’re all living it.

The town is quiet as Caden makes his way through it, bundled up against the morning chill. He’d run out quickly to go check in with Corrine and get some food for him and April. Caden didn’t have much to begin with and as hard as they’re trying, they can’t live on coffee alone.

His phone rings and Caden nearly drops the bag of food in his scramble to retrieve it from his pocket. He keeps jumping whenever his phone makes a noise in the hopes that it’s good news, but it never is. Now, it’s his sister’s face grinning up at him as his phone rings, and normally he’s happy when she calls him. But Callie has always been able to read him like a book and he really doesn’t want to tell her what’s wrong right now. He doesn’t want to say it out loud to anyone that doesn’t already know.

But still, it’s very early in San Francisco and Caden is a doting big brother, so he answers and tries not to sound as scared and frustrated as he feels. “Hey, Calico. What are you doing up so early?”

”Doing a walk of glory,” Callie informs him, sounding tired but cheerful. “It’s like a walk of shame except I’m not ashamed of myself at all, because I just had hella good sex and I’m proud of my accomplishments.”

Caden wrinkles his nose but he can’t help but to chuckle softly at her antics. Callie is five years younger than him but she’s always been more gregarious, louder and brighter and funnier. She’s shameless. Caden loves her with all of his heart. “Thanks for the information. Was that the only reason you called?”

“I just called to say I love you.” She sings it, like she always does, and Caden nearly tears up from how much he loves her blending with all the other emotions that he’s feeling. “And I figured that you were either up staring at your laptop or staring forlornly at the ocean because it’s too cold to surf.”

“It’s never too cold,” Caden says on instinct. “I’m a polar bear.”

“You freaking weirdo. You’re gonna freeze one day and someone will find you and unthaw you in seventy years and expect you to save the world. And then what will you do?”

“Not live in a comic book,” Caden replies. He’s nearly back home now, and there’s a thick fog rolling in off of the ocean. “Hey, it looks like Karl came to visit me.”

Karl is the name affectionately given by the residents of San Francisco to the fog that often shrouds the city. Caden smiles as he walks towards the water because the fog reminds him of home, and of his family who he loves. He’s always rather liked the fog.

“Tell him I said to stay there. Oh so hey, mom wanted me to ask you what you’re doing for the holidays. You should call her and tell her because I won’t remember to. And now I’m at my apartment so I’m going to hop in the shower and sleep for three days. Caden, are you there?” He blinks and shakes himself after he realizes that he’d just been staring into the fog. It’s crawling towards him and Caden hears something, he thinks, so he pulls the phone away to listen for it. “Caden? Earth to big bro. Stop spacing out while you’re on the phone with your beloved baby sister, you dip.”

“Callie, I’m gonna go,” he tells her, because he’s suddenly too distracted to carry on a conversation. “Thanks for calling. I love you.”

“I love you too. Are you okay?” Caden assures her that he is and there’s a pause before she continues. “Call me later, okay?”

“I will,” he promises. “Bye, Calico.”

When he hangs up his back deck is in sight and he knows that April is in there waiting for him. He wants to go to her and curl up next to her. He wants Les to be there with them. He wants a lot of things.

“Caden, is that you?”

He tears his gaze away from his back door to see a man walking out of the fog and coming towards him. There’s something vaguely familiar about him, but Caden doesn’t know what it is. But then the man smiles and it hits him, startling him so badly that he drops the bag of hot food he was carrying onto the sand.

“… Dad?”

( let us go in; the fog is rising )

Leave it to Caden to move into a new house in a new town and then immediately leave it for a month.

The publicity tour for his new book ran longer than he expected, thanks to his silver-tongued publicist. She can talk Caden into things in a way that will leave him swearing that it was his idea all along. That's what he pays her for, he supposes.

But he's home, finally, with bags under his eyes and a sore wrist from signing an obscene number of books. He's exhausted in a good way, pleased and humbled in a way that he only gets after interacting with fans.

Coming back to Siren Cove feels new all over again. He didn't really have a chance to truly settle and make friends before he had to leave again. He's here to stay this time, at least for awhile. Publicity is done, and after he does the signing at Joel's bookstore, his time is his own.

But right now, he isn't going to think about work. No, he isn't going to think about anything that isn't getting his board into that briny surf. His house is airing out and he's in his wetsuit, two cups of coffee warming his belly, and a freshly waxed board his arm. The sun is high in the sky and warm, despite the changing season, and Caden grins as he hops off of his back deck to land barefoot in the sand.

The grin fades when he sees the calm waters, waves lapping gently at the shore. All he'd wanted was to surf, and there's no way that he can do anything in this. He stares the water down petulantly, trying to will some decent waves into being.

"Come on," he mutters under his breath, looking at the water longingly. "Give me something."

He paddles out anyway, laying on his back on the board with his eyes closed and letting the calm water lull him into relaxation as he skims his fingers along the surface. "Just a few good waves, man. That's all I'm asking."

All of a sudden he's upended, flipped off of his board by a sudden wave that he was completely unprepared for, and he's laughing when he breaks the surface of the water. It's rushing in quickly now, providing some perfect barrels for him to ride. Caden has no idea where they came from, but he sure as hell isn't complaining.

It's just what he needed.

He surfs until his lungs ache and his cheeks hurt from grinning, and then lets the tide carry him back to shore. He's exhausted in the best way when he flops down onto the sand with one hand resting on the gleaming surface of his board. The water seems to calm as soon as he's out of it, crashing waves settling into the water lapping gently at the sand just a few inches from Caden's bare feet.

Yeah, it's good to be home.

Caden rents a beach house on the shore. It isn't huge, and it comes with a loft bedroom and an office for him to write in.