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The second there was a lull in conversation, Derek darkened his eyes over me.
“So, any updates on the marina? The demolition date is just around the corner,” he said, taking a sip of his water to wash down his food.
“I talked George from the town council into meeting me over there today,” I replied cautiously. “I don’t know if I’d call it good news, but he did say the structural damage to that place was an issue long before Granddaddy died.”
He nodded thoughtfully. “Marinas are an expensive thing to maintain. I’m not surprised he didn’t do more to try and repair the place. He probably didn’t think it would get this bad, or assumed he could get to it all later. But really, I guess he would have had to put this house up for collateral to afford to do anything about it.”
“Well, maybe I should just run off to LA and start a surf shop,” I grumbled, stabbing a fork into the asparagus on my plate. “Apparently, that’s a remarkably lucrative business venture.”
His brow furrowed. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Lana Miller,” I huffed. “She’s back in town with a vengeance for me. She’s the one who filed for the inspection, and now she’s trying to buy the land out from under us.”
“Don’t sell it to her,” he shrugged.
“Obviously, that’s what I told her. But look at how far she’s gone to get the place condemned. I’m scared to see what she’ll do next to try and bully me into selling.”
His face twisted up, and he shook his head. “What does she want with the land anyway?”
“That’s what I wanted to know. As crazy as it sounds, her and that weasel, Tony, have teamed up, and he’s talking her through restoring the place. As in building a whole new marina in its place.”
“Does she even know anything about running a marina? And how does she have the money for all that anyway?” he asked.
All of his questions were giving me a headache, but I didn’t expect anything less. That’s why I was dreading the talk in the first place. He was a very thorough guy. Always had been. Maybe that’s why he had placemats, and I didn’t.
“You’re not asking anything I haven’t gone over a million times in my own head or asked Lana about directly to her face,” I barked. “The answer to nearly all of it is I don’t know. She hates me and won’t tell me a thing. I’ve told you everything I know. The point is…there’s nothing I can do to stop the place from being torn down. And as soon as it is, she’s going to stop at nothing to get her hands on that land.”
He leaned back in his chair and rubbed his hand across his chin, mulling it over. Then he perked up with a thought. “Did you tell her it has sentimental value to us? Maybe if you remind her about granddad and his legacy and what that whole lake meant to him…what it still means to our family, she’ll back off. You know, tug on her heartstrings a little.”
“We’re talking about Lana Miller,” I said with a bitter laugh. “There are no strings to pull because she doesn’t have a heart.”
“Oh, come on. That’s just your old high school grudge talking,” he waved dismissively.
Melody chimed in. “What happened between you two in high school?”
“That’s the craziest part about it. I don’t even know,” I answered. “She just woke up and decided I was the scum of the earth one day.”
“Well, you kind of were back then,” Derek muttered under his breath. “And…to the women around town, you kind of still are.”
“If all the women in Silver Point hate me so much, then why are they all still begging me to call them?” I quipped.
Derek stabbed his fork in the air, pointing at me. “That right there is why Lana is doing all this. Your damn ego. It’s probably blood boiling to a girl like her. If you would put that aside long enough to really talk to her, I bet…”
“I’ve tried,” I said sternly, dragging my hands down my face in frustration. “Trust me. I tried talking to her. I reminded her about Granddad and the whole thing. She doesn’t care.”
“You’ve just never been good with people,” he argued.
“That’s not true.” I turned to Melody. “You liked me when we first met, right?”
She shifted her eyes, looking uncomfortable. “It was kind of hard to when I knew you didn’t like me.”
“I never said I didn’t like you. I just…”
“Alright, enough of this,” Derek interjected, throwing his napkin over his plate. “What’s her number?” He asked as he pulled his phone from his pocket.
“What? Why?”
“I’m going to give her a call and talk to her. I bet I can get this all straightened out,” he stated plainly.
