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“Your subscription box business. Do you have to be in Portland to do it?”
Even with my gaze locked on the stars, I catch him swinging his feet onto the ground and sitting up. “No, I can do it anywhere. As long as I have Wi-Fi and a post office nearby. But I would need to go to the city from time to time to buy items for the boxes. The rest of it I order online.”
“Any particular reason you want to return to Portland and not remain here?”
“I like it in Portland. The city has so many things to offer its residents.”
“You used to love it here, too.”
My heart aches at what else I used to love in Maple Ridge. The feel of Lucas’s arms around me. The press of his mouth against mine. The way my body responded to him. The way he made me feel like I was the most important thing in his life. Only I didn’t realize any of these things until it was too late to tell him I loved him.
And then…and then none of that mattered anymore.
“True,” I say. “But things change. People change. Why are you asking me all these questions about Portland?”
“I have an idea that will help you with your business.”
“What’s that?”
“My brothers and I want to start an outdoor rec program for military vets.” He explains their idea to me, and how it would benefit veterans of all abilities.
“That all sounds great,” I tell him once he’s finished telling me about the program. I mean it. What they want to do does sound amazing. “This doesn’t mean you’re giving up being a PT, does it?” Because that wouldn’t make sense. From what I’ve heard over the past two years, he’s amazing at his job. “Or will that be part of the program?”
“I have no intention of giving up on being a PT. The recreational program is seasonal and will start out as a weekend thing. At this point, we have no plans to add PT services. Not yet, anyway. I took an adaptive physical education course during my kinesiology degree. Our initial plans are more related to that. And depending on how things go, we plan to add staff as the program grows.”
“So you would still be a PT?”
“That’s the plan. My PT hours at the Veterans Center are flexible. Or they were until I was fired.”
“Could you add the PT services to the recreational program if you don’t get your job back? Have it in the same building?”
“I could, but it will require more capital for the equipment than we have. So it’s not in the books right now. But down the line. That’s my ultimate goal once the outdoor rec program has grown to the point where I can run my own clinic in conjunction with it.”
“It all sounds great, Lucas. But what does your program have to do with my subscription box business?” We’re not exactly talking about the same target market.
“We found the perfect spot for our program’s building and guest cabins. Robert and Tuuli are looking at selling some of their land. It’s the same location where Aiden and I used to hang out. Where you and I…”
His unspoken words flap in the breeze and bring a flush to my face.
“But we aren’t the only ones interested in the land. Things were looking good when it came to our bid…”
This time I fill in the missing words. “But then you were arrested?”
He nods, the pain all this is causing him visible in the movement. “Our bid is still under consideration. Robert and Tuuli respected our grandfather, and they like what we want to use the land for. But there’s another couple who wants to build a lodge on the land and market it for romantic getaways.”
“And the Wakefields are leaning more toward the lodge because they’re romantics at heart?” I ask.
Romantics, that’s the Tuuli and Robert I remember when I was growing up. One day, she and I were making cookies for the book club she and Lucas’s mom had started. Robert came into the kitchen, grabbed Tuuli’s hand, and twirled her around to the song on the radio.
Then he kissed her.
It was the sweetest thing ever.
Lucas shifts on the lounger and scrubs his hand against the scruff on his jaw. This conversation is clearly making him squeamish. “They’ve been married for almost forty years, so yeah. They’re more likely to sell the land to the couple because my brothers and I aren’t married, and none of us are in a serious relationship.”
“So what’s your idea? I send them one of my subscription boxes to sweeten the deal?” I can definitely do that.
“Not exactly, but that wouldn’t hurt. If I got married, it would increase the chance of them accepting our bid.”
