Page 36 of Standing Still

“Shut up,” she laughs. “And… Maybe,” she lowers her eyes bashfully.

I glance around and see for the first time since we got here, we’re alone in the backyard.

“Today was fun,” she says, drawing my eyes back to her.

“Which part?”

“Most of it,” she says, touching Grandma’s postcards, straightening the already straight pile. She sighs. “Okay, full disclosure.”

I wait, not sure what she is going to say and whether or not I’m going to like it.

“I had Kevin look into Day Away Fishing.”

“You could have just asked me,” I say. I have no idea why she did that. What was she going to find out that I couldn’t tell her?

“You have a… bias, I guess.”

“You mean you don’t trust me?”

“I didn’t say that, Ben. I’m just getting all the facts. It’s the way I work. If it helps,” she goes on before I can voice my opinion on that. “What I saw today made me change my focus. Initially, I just asked him to get me information on the company, you know,where it started, its growth, what it does for the communities it operates in.”

“So you were checking to see if it was going to ruin businesses here in Mystic, if they took over?” I can’t help the scowl forming. God, had I really read her wrong?

“Yes,” she shrugs. “How can I make an informed decision if me selling to them means that business here is going to suffer? And by that, I mean more than… What dad is threatening us with. I mean, is it going to hit the economy? Is it going to ruin the tourism trade? Stuff like that,” she is wringing her hands together now.

“So, what is the new focus?” I ask, holding her eyes, doing my best not to let the anger through.

“Are they all assholes destroying businesses for the power trip, or just the guy here in Mystic?”

“Well, I can tell you that,” I drawl. “The guy from the head office has been out to schmooze me. More than once.”

“Really? What’s he like?”

“He’s a prick.”

“So worse than an asshole.”

“Depends on how you look at it.”

“I’d rather not look at either,” her nose wrinkles and I bark out a stunned laugh.

I don’t know how she manages to quell the anger in a short back and forth, but she did.

“You can’t blame me for looking into it, though, right?”

“Guess not.”

“Ben, come on. Just like I’m letting you show me how to love Mystic again, I’m finding out about them. I have to look at it from all angles. And, well, it got me thinking.”

“Well, that’s dangerous.”

“Asshat.”

I roll my eyes. “Go on,” I wave a hand.

“You should come to New York. Like I suggested before.”

“Sorry, what?” I lean back. “How’d you get from checking out Day Away to me coming to New York? What for? I don’t want to go to New York.” I stop talking and look at her with a knowing glare. “Ha, you think you’re clever.”

---