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“So, how about it? Why not actually help us with the grand opening?” I ask.
“What do you mean? The only skill I have that you might possibly need is my proficiency around a vacuum.”
“You are an excellent vacummer.” It used to be the only housework she liked doing. “But no. I was thinking maybe you could help curate our resort library.”
She wheels around, clutching my arm. We come to a halt. “You’re doing it? There’s a library at the resort? I’ve been trying to convince you ever since you built the first one.”
“I finally listened to you and insisted we add it to the plans. Sebastian fought me on it until the designer agreed. They’re really popular now.”
“I told you! This is so exciting.” Her golden-brown eyes brighten. She’s standing so close to me that it does something to my head. “Did you know there are people out there who won’t go to a resort if it doesn’t have a good library? And that was one of the first things I thought when I heard you were going to put a resort here in town, that since Longdale isn’t exactly full of tons of stuff to do, a library is the perfect draw.”
“Are you sure people care about a resort’s library?”
“Well, not a whole lot of people, obviously, but Oliver, if you make it amazing it will be something that people notice and enjoy. It adds to the whole package.” She smirks. “Besides, I’m that kind of people. I never go to a resort if it doesn’t have a library.”
“You never go to a resort.”
Her grin was heart stopping. Everything. Dangerous. “So what?IfI did, I’d check to make sure there was a library there. Are you mocking my poverty?”
“Never,” I say. “Which brings me to the next subject. We’ll compensate you for your time, obviously.”
Her brows go in the air and her response is saucy. “You better.”
“You’ll do it? You’ll curate our library and help us get it set up?” I want her to agree to it, even while I know this can’t possibly be a good thing in the long run.
Her face stills, the planes and curves more beautiful than I’ve ever remembered. Or realized. “I’ll come by tomorrow.” She squeezes my upper arm before turning away, and that’s when I realize we’ve circled back around to my car again. She gets in and I stand there, watching her. She leaves the door open. “Are you going to drive me back or do I need to call an Uber?”
“I’m coming,” I push back. I close the door for her. An inexplicable hatred for Troy who had captured her heart pulses through me as I stroll to the driver’s side door. I mostly believe her when she says it’s truly over. That he was all wrong for her is embedded within every little fact I know about him. Yet I’m angry with him that he was such a chump, and mad that she started falling for someone so beneath her.
Somehow, I feel responsible for that. She met him on closing night, the night she was supposed to be with me. So I guess I’m angry at myself, too.
We drive back to Scott in low-key silence, my mind hopped up on realizations I’ve never taken the time to consider. I pull up to the old school bus that she’d painted with a map of the world dotted with famous books in every genre.
I remember when she drew out the design for me on napkins at Shake, Shake, Shake a few years ago. I hadn’t taken the time to follow up on it much after that. I should have asked her about it more often. I should have asked her to send me photos of how it turned out.
A burning of regret hits my chest. I’ve treated her no better than Troy—and that’s the worst pill to swallow.
Chapter 5
Sophie
I don’t know if it was a good idea to come. It feels sort of dangerous. Not the thrilling kind of dangerous, the I’m-going-to-lose-my-lunch dangerous.
I’m standing in front of Tate International’s Longdale Lake Resort and it’s the most magnificent thing to ever grace this area.
Besides the actual area itself, you know, the untouched nature and all.
And Oliver himself. But that’s neither here nor there.
They outdid themselves with this one. The gossip around town is that this is the nicest and best resort the Tate brothers have ever done. They’re dedicated to protecting and preserving the ecosystem of Longdale Lake. That’s why it’s tiered, with all its levels and colors fitting into the natural landscape’s divots and curves along the mountain. The design also maximizes views of the lake.
Except I feel guilty for liking it so much. I feel guilty for even being here. Ever since it was announced three years ago, my grandparents haven’t let a single visit go by without them mentioning how terrible it is—how the resort will bring in traffic and pollution.
I don’t know why they care so much. As soon as my sister and me graduated high school, they moved out of Longdale and back to Boulder—back to the life they’d had before the death of their daughter turned everything upside down.
Actually, scratch that. I know exactly why they care. The Tate brothers had never mentioned anything about building here until my grandfather’s power company decided they wanted to put wind turbines in that exact spot. The Tates were upset by that and the way it would affect the landscape—each wind turbine needs a five-hundred-foot radius clear of trees to function. You add enough of those to make a difference in Longdale citizens’ power bills and there goes acres and acres of Blue Spruce.
So, yes. My grandparents and the Tates are sworn enemies now. The back and forth and public fighting was all around town.
