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“I just can’t believe he’s going to sell the place to you after all of that,” Claire replied.
I popped my head around the corner with a frown. “Oh. Right. That’s the thing. He hasn’t exactly agreed to that part yet. But he will.”
“And the old feud is reignited! Just like that!” She burst into laughter. “Lana, honey, you know I’ve always believed in you and your ability to accomplish everything you set your mind to.”
I stopped her before the inevitable ‘but’ could come out of her mouth. “Yes, you sure have. Even when I was determined to make it in LA, and everyone said I’d come crawling back here with my tail between my legs.”
I walked back into the living room with a tray of snacks and drinks, setting it down in between us before taking the seat in the recliner next to hers.
“Mmm-hmm,” she nodded, taking one of the glasses of water into her hand. “And again when you wanted to learn to surf, and again when you wanted to open your own shop. Time and time again, I have watched you defy the odds and get whatever you wanted out of life. But this thing with Keith? What on earth makes you think he’s going to sell his granddad’s land to his high school enemy? Much less an enemy that had his place condemned.”
“I didn’t have it condemned,” I defended. “The town counsel did. Everybody knew that old rotten building was a disaster just waiting to happen. Think about the dumb teenagers who go wandering in there to drink and hang out, and how awful it would have been when the whole place caved in on top of them. Keith and the rest of Silver Point should thank me for getting the place torn down before someone could get hurt.”
I wasn’t exactly the town saint. I had my own motivations for filing for that inspection of the Mullins Cove Marina. I didn’t want to make a big deal of it to Claire and risk her feeling guilty, but I knew if I was going to survive this indefinite period back in Silver Point, I needed something to do, and I needed to be near the water. The old lake couldn’t compare to the ocean and the big waves I had grown used to, but it was something.
Plus, I had always been a businesswoman at heart. When I went to check on the marina to see about a job, and I saw it was closed down and was in such awful shape, I knew it was the perfect opportunity for me. I could keep myself busy by opening my own marina, which would continue to be a lucrative stream of income even if I did make it back to my life in LA one day.
And okay, if I was being honest, it was also the perfect opportunity to get revenge on Keith Mullins.
“So?” Claire stared at me with questioning eyes. “How did he look? Did you feel any sparks fly?”
I rolled my eyes. “Please stop before you make me barf. I can’t believe I ever thought he was attractive.”
“Um, it was a little more than just an attraction,” she insisted. “You had a full-blown high school girl crush of epic proportions on him. You even had ‘Lana Mullins’ scribbled all over your diary and that box of pictures you tore out of wedding magazines.”
“No, really. You have to stop,” I pleaded. “I really will throw up. Please remember everything you’re talking about took place before I realized what a sexist pig Keith Mullins is.”
She didn’t look so convinced. She never really had been, even when she pretended to be for my sake. “Yeah, he was dumb at the time, but he was also a teenage boy. What do you expect? But I don’t know if it’s fair to call him sexist.”
“I feel perfectly justified in calling him sexist. Or a womanizing pig at the very least,” I argued, flipping the television back on to scroll through and find something to watch besides the money-grubbing evangelist. “And he still is, from what I hear. I was just talking to Molly Roberts last night at Jake’s bar. She made the mistake of hooking up with Keith not too long ago, and of course, he never called her again. As if he wasn’t going to run into her all over town. She says he hooks up with just about anyone who will have him.”
“That’s not true,” she shot back.
I looked over to her. “How do you know?”
“People in this town gossip, but I can promise you he’s not as bad as he seems. You know the real reason you hate him so much is because he didn’t feel the same way about you, but come on, Lana. That was high school. If you didn’t have an unrequited love as a teenager, then you’re like barely even human.”
“You didn’t have one!” I laughed. “You married your high school boyfriend.”
“But before that, there was Jameson.” She nodded her head with a satisfied smile, like she had officially won.
“Oh god, I forgot about Jameson.” The guy she had a crush on since kindergarten. He was from Europe or something, and his family moved away when we got into high school, crushing Claire’s dreams of marrying him one day.
I wished he had stuck around in Silver Point just as much as she did, because when he was gone—it made way for Chris. And I still swore if it hadn’t been for him, Claire would have come with me when I left for LA. She could have had a new life, too, and she might not have been stuck here teaching at the same elementary school we attended. Better yet, she might not have been around for the car accident that left her immobile for the time being.
“My whole point is that you and I both know you’ve had a vendetta against Keith ever since high school because he never saw you as anything more than being just ‘one of the guys,’” Claire continued. “Which, to be fair, you were. When you weren’t with me, you were always hanging out with the boys.”
“You’re just proving my point!” I cried. “He’s sexist. Or else why would he have liked every single girl in town but me? All because…what? Because I was a tomboy. I liked to go fishing. I didn’t need him to fix my bike for me or carry my books. The only women Keith Mullins has ever had eyes for are damsels in distress, and if you’re not one of those—you’re not even a real woman in his mind.”
“You’re reaching on that one, Lana. Did you share this theory with Molly Roberts? How did she feel about being called a ‘damsel in distress’?”
I cut my eyes over to her, but didn’t reply. Instead, I just slouched down in the chair and kept flipping through the channels.
I didn’t need Claire to agree with me. I didn’t even need to be right. All I needed was for Keith to sell me his land so I could move forward with my plans for the marina. Okay, sure—if he was mildly miserable in the process, it would only sweeten the deal. But even if I had let go of my whole grudge against him from high school, I’d still be determined to open the marina. Not only was it a profitable business if you managed it well and made it over the hump of getting started, but also because the marina used to be a staple of Silver Point. If anything, Keith should have been grateful to me for wanting to revive that for our community.
“I’m tired of watching TV,” Claire lamented suddenly. “To be honest, I’m tired of this house. Or maybe I’m just tired, period. I don’t know.”
“I know! I know just what you need!” I said, springing to action. “We should take a walk. We can go get ice cream and go by the site of my future marina, and I can tell you all about my plans!”
