Page 61 of Acadia Falls

But… What would happen if I actually grew up?

I forced myself to look at the big picture. Everly Reyes wanted to buy our fishing rights for a billion dollars. How could I say no to that? My father was dead, my mother was on her own and not getting any younger, and my brothers would want to have families at some point. I might want to have a family at some point. Okay, hell, why not admit it? I did want to have a family at some point. How could I pass up that much money when it would create generational wealth for all of us?

On the other hand, how could we give up our route? The Brennan fishing rights had been in our family for generations. It would be the end of a way of life—of my life, the only life I’d ever known. Even more than that, if we sold out to the billionaire, it would be a seismic shift in Acadia’s fishing culture. The manganese was a big deal. We all knew that. The fact that we’d discovered it in these waters wouldn’t be a secret for long. Everybody needed the mineral for their stupid cell phones. It was worth a lot of money. Companies from all over the world would be trying to snap up mineral rights.

If we sold to Everly Reyes, I would have enough wealth to do anything. I could go anywhere. I could pack my bags and leave the island, never looking back.

I’d never considered that idea before. But… Where would I go? What would I do? I’d been born into fishing, born into this life, and I’d never wanted anything else. It had just never occurred to me. I loved the island and loved what I did. Ryan was the one who’d asked to go off to college. My parents supported him. They’d never forced us into anything; they’d only had hopes.

They’d had hopes for our family business. They’d had hopes for those empty lots. I was their son, their heir. With my dad gone, I was the head of the family. What was I supposed to do?

I looked up at the sky, hoping I’d find the answer there.

Instead, it was just an ever-changing canvas, clouds rolling by to who-knew-where.

“This is incredible, Mom.” Ryan shoved another bite of roast into his mouth, followed by a potato. He talked more as he chewed. “The best dinner I’ve ever had.”

Rose didn’t even chastise him for talking with his mouth full; he was the only one of us who wasn’t in trouble.

“Thank you,” she said primly, then scowled at me and Tommy. “At least one of my children has some manners.”

Tommy scoffed. “He’s talking with his mouth crammed full of food.”

“At least he didn’t almost strangle someone to death at the dock in broad daylight.” She arched an eyebrow. “Are you going to tell me his manners are worse than yours?”

“No, ma’am.” Tommy put more butter on his roll and wisely stopped talking.

“Before I heard about the fight, I called this meeting to discuss selling our rights.” My mother straightened her spine. “But now we have all sorts of things to talk about. Why you’re fighting with Trey and that Cuddy boy, why you chose to do it in broad daylight, why you kept insulting Ralph⁠—”

“Ralph ratted us out?” Tommy put down his roll. “Are you kidding me?”

“No, I am not kidding you. You hurt his feelings. He was a friend of your father’s—don’t forget it!”

Tommy picked up his roll again. “Yes, ma’am.” He knew better than to argue.

“So I’m going to ask you again, why are you fighting with them? I know they cut some of our lines, but what’s the point of still going after them? Best way to show them your strength is to ignore them, if you ask me. That young man doesn’t know a lobster trap from his left elbow. He’ll be long gone from these waters soon enough.”

“You think?” I asked.

“He’s an idiot from a long line of idiots. Don’t you remember his uncle? That man couldn’t fish to save his life.” My mother blinked at me. “You boys need to learn some patience. Sometimes you just have to wait people out. Let them sink themselves.”

My mother’s words hung in the air for a minute. She was always smarter than the rest of us, including Dad. That’s why none of us could live without her. That, and the food. And the coffee with oat milk.

“They cut our lines, and they weren’t even sorry about it. We wanted to teach them a lesson in public, to let everyone know where we stood.” I shrugged. “And I admit it… It was a dumb thing to do.”

Tommy widened his eyes.

“But we did it anyway,” I continued. “It won’t happen again. And we’ll apologize to Ralph.”

“We will?” The backs of Tommy’s ears started to turn a little red.

“Yes, we will. And I’m sorry to you all. When I do things like that—when I lose control—I make our family look bad.” I hesitated for a moment as they gaped at me. “What?”

Ryan’s mouth was hanging open—thank goodness he’d swallowed his food. “Did you just say you’re sorry?”

“Yeah.” My brow furrowed.

“Well… okay.” Ryan went back to eating. He knew better than to push it.