AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Whatever you need to get your strength up,” I laughed. “You’re going to be up and out of that wheelchair soon enough, you know. You need your protein.”
“I don’t know if greasy fried chicken counts as the kind of protein I need, but I’ll take it.”
I smiled and headed for the door. “Mrs. Hawkins should be by to check on you in a bit, and I’ll stop in before I head to the marina for the day.”
The moment I got outside, I took off running down the street. I hadn’t done much running since I got back into Silver Point. The heat and southern food didn’t exactly inspire a lot of physical exercise, especially not in combination with the long, hot days spent working at the marina.
It felt good to run away from it all. If only I could have outrun my busy brain, too. I felt like an absolute garbage person for skipping out on Claire. I was supposed to be back in Silver Point for her, and here I was, too wrapped up in my own mess to make as much time for her as I should have been. So much for all of my claims about how I’d do anything for her.
Who was I to be complaining and moping anyway? She was the one who nearly died and was now going through the grueling process of learning to walk all over again. Her husband was a complete piece of crap, and now I, her best friend, was letting her down too.
I felt a painful rush of longing inside, but not for Keith. I wanted to go home…back to LA, where I actually felt like I knew what I was doing. I should have had plenty to keep me busy and fulfilled while I was taking care of Claire. The whole point of rebuilding the marina was to give me something to do, and now I was blowing it by letting things get more complicated with Keith than they needed to be. And as for any chance of something more happening between us…the last thing I needed on top of everything else was a broken heart.
Maybe it was easy to think it could be simple, but that was a lie. I couldn’t forget that. The way I felt around him was all just a product of hormones, lust, and how long I had gone without any semblance of a real relationship. It was nothing more than that. It was all science, brain chemistry, and human nature.
“Lana!?”
A voice called out to me, cutting through the tangled web of my thoughts as I ran by, but I didn’t stop. The man’s voice shouted out my name again and again, and I could tell it was following me…getting closer. As it did, I had an even worse realization. It was Keith. With perfect timing, as always.
“Lana! Wait up!” he persisted, sprinting until he caught up to me.
I finally stopped, buckling over to brace my hands on my knees. “God, I really hate small towns. You can’t walk outside without running into someone you know. Usually, someone you’d rather avoid.”
“Ouch. Damn, Lana. Would it kill you to at least pretend to be a little nice to me without me having to start all over from scratch again every time we see each other? We had such a nice night last night…”
“Yeah, I know. That’s the problem,” I huffed, marching off down the sidewalk as I tried to catch my breath. “I tried to tell you from the beginning it was a bad idea for us to get too friendly with each other. I said no drinks. No hanging out. Now you see why.”
“Sure, maybe now I do,” he admitted. “But I didn’t see it then in the beginning. I had no clue any of this would happen. Which just proves you could feel this thing between us, even before I was ready to admit it was there.”
“Regular old business partners,” I barked. “That’s all we are from now on, you got it? No more almost kissing under the stars, or running out of the rain straight into your bed. This isn’t some romantic movie, Keith. We both know what happens after the credits roll, and that’s not a risk we can take. We have a business to run together, and when Claire doesn’t need me around anymore…I’m going home to LA.”
“Well, I hate to break it to you, but regular old business partners don’t have to worry about accidentally kissing or sleeping together when they hang out or grab a drink,” he argued. “You can keep denying it and trying to convince yourself of whatever you want…but this problem, if you can even call it that, isn’t going anywhere.”
“Fine. It doesn’t have to because I will,” I shot back, breaking out into a full sprint again.
I took off running, hoping that would be the end of it. But of course, he just had to try and squeeze in the last word.
“I knew I was right about you all along,” he yelled. “You’re too good for someone like me. Or at least you think you are.”
His words were like a punch to my gut, which was already cramping up from my run. I stopped again, doing my best to shake it off.
“I thought after the other night…things would be different,” he added, shaking his head. “But I guess I was wrong.”
“I guess so,” I blurted.
He turned to leave, and I was kicking myself for being so hard on him. It was for the best to push him away. Every time I gave him an inch, he took a mile. One of us had to be the sane, smart one pumping the breaks.
I ran a while longer, then went back home—determined not to let myself sink any deeper. I hated it when people complained about a problem without doing anything to fix it. I was not going to be one of those people.
I showed up at the house with buckets full of fried chicken for Claire.
“What’s all this?” she asked, her eyes lighting up with hunger. “I thought we were saving this for dinner?”
I shrugged, “Eh. I was on that side of town. And things are about to be crazy with work, so I figured I’d enjoy one last afternoon of taking it easy and going in late.”
Claire squealed and rubbed her hands together in anticipation as I plopped the big bags down onto the table and pulled out some plates. We ate until we were both ready to pop, then camped out in front of the TV to try and recover.
“This reminds me of when we were teenagers,” she said, looking over to me with a smile. “Remember when we used to pig out on so much pizza and ice cream that we’d almost make ourselves sick? Then we’d lay comatose in the middle of that floor right there.” She pointed to the center of the living room between our two recliners. “And we’d watch all of our old favorite movies until we fell asleep.”
