Page 36 of Acadia Falls

“Five years of hell?” I asked. “You sure it’s worth it?”

“I have a ton of loans,” Maran said. She started scrubbing the vegetables harder as if the topic stressed her out. “Undergraduate and graduate. I’m not Alex—there’s no trust fund to make it disappear. But I knew what I was getting into, and this was what I wanted.”

“I’m not trying to be difficult,” I said gently. “But if you’re already thinking of an exit plan, it doesn’t sound like it’s what you really want.”

“Ah, but I have a grand plan, you see.” Maran turned and grinned at me. “Once I put my time in at the firm, I can quit and do something that I actually like.”

“Like what?”

“I enjoyed regulatory law. Maybe I’ll work for an environmental nonprofit or something. That way, I could do something good with my degree. Something to help.”

“Something to help the lobsters?” I held the larger one up and made it wave to her.

“Stop making it look so cute! Ugh, I’m not going to be able to eat.” She laughed and returned to chopping. “Helping the lobsters would be great. Same thing with protecting the forests. And the oceans.”

“You’re a hippie in disguise,” I teased.

“Not exactly. I just want to do something meaningful with my life.”

“Instead of sitting behind a desk all day, making money?”

“Yeah,” Maran admitted. “I do like winning and being competitive. But I’ve been in New York long enough to see what happens to people. They get addicted to the hustle. I don’t want to be worried about working a zillion hours a week to make partner or whether I’ll get invited to the right Hamptons parties each summer. You know what I mean?”

“I don’t because I’ve never been around anything like that. I can’t imagine what it’s like.”

“You’re not really missing much.” Maran found a salad bowl and started tossing the greens.

The water started to boil, and I lifted up the lobsters. Maran stared at them, her eyes huge in her face.

“Turn around now, princess. You don’t want to see this.”

“Eek!” Maran ran out of the room. “I can’t watch—I’m going to brush my teeth!”

I chuckled as she fled. Then I prayed to the lobsters as I dropped them into the water, thanking them for their sacrifice. I half-wished Maran was still there because then I could tell her I did that, and she could tease me.

I sat with that for a moment. I wished she was still here. Even though she’d literally left two seconds before and was currently in the next room, brushing her teeth.

So then I said a prayer for me.

Because… because.

Chapter Thirteen

MARAN

We ate dinner out on the front porch, steadily working our way through another bottle of wine. Even though I felt terrible about the lobsters, I cleaned my plate. I dunked the meat in butter, trying not to groan as I ate. I didn’t want Jack to think I was some sort of cavewoman!

We talked easily throughout the meal. He told me a few stories about fishing, including that he started when he was four and was the first in his family to catch a blue lobster. I protested that such things didn’t exist until he showed me a picture of one. It was bright blue! I marveled at it while he brought the dishes in. When he came back to the porch, he had a sheepish expression on his face.

“I hate to say this, but I have to go. It’s past my bedtime.” He cracked a grin.

I looked at my watch: eight p.m. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize it was so late!” I hopped up and grabbed his hands. “Thank you so much for dinner. It was delicious.”

He arched an eyebrow. “Even though we had to boil our little friends?”

“Stop it. Because yes, they were great!”

I hesitated for a moment. “This was fun.” Jack and I had had very hot sex several times, but I still felt vulnerable saying this simple truth out loud.