Page 95 of Making New Plans

“I can’t do that, Sal. My firm is depending on me for this. And maybe it will get better. It’s not as though any other skyscraper was designed without some blood, sweat, and tears.”

“Bullshit,” she said succinctly. “You can create just as marvelous of buildings out here. Sure, no skyscrapers, but you know how many tourists are going to love staying in those cabins that you and Chloe thought up? Plenty of photo ops there.”

Hearing someone else say Chloe’s name made my stomach drop. I swallowed hard. “Those cabins will still get made, Sal. They don’t need me there every day for that.”

“But you want to be. I saw how excited you got with your drawings and Chloe’s ideas and breaking down the old family house.”

“That’s different.”

“Bull—”

“I know, I know, Sal. Bullshit. But what do you want me to do? Give up everything I’ve worked for here?”

She scoffed. “What would you really be giving up, Hunter? Hmm? A lifeless apartment in a cold city and a job you hate that makes you feel disrespected and underappreciated?”

My mouth formed words, but no sound came out. My mind searched for one thing that I truly liked here and came up blank.

“I thought so,” she said smugly. “Quit, sell your place, and come back here. I know of a lovely little house—”

“I can’t,” I said, but my voice didn’t have as much conviction as before.

“What are you so afraid of?” she demanded. “Tangled River? Me? Chloe?”

“I…I…” My lips numbed as every said fear crowded my mind.

“Well, let’s get this sorted out then.” Her voice sounded like it did during her Uffda classes. “You’ve had plenty of good times in Tangled River the past month. I’m guessing you no longer see it as the nasty place of your childhood?”

“N-no. I guess not. But I still don’t want to feel trapped there like…like…”

“Like your parents?” she finished quietly.

I nodded then realized she couldn’t see me and said, “Yes.”

“Hunter, you are nothing like your parents. Never have been. And they weren’t trapped by Tangled River so much as their inability to chase their dreams. They gave up. And the only way you’ll be like them is if you give up, too.”

“But I would be giving up! I’d be walking away from the opportunity of a lifetime.” Even as I said them, the words rang forced and hollow.

Sal snorted. “Says who? Don’t measure your success by someone else’s scale. Accomplishing a dream can be as small as learning how to knit or as big as winning gold at the Olympics. What matters is when you can look at your life and it’s full of things you did out of love. If you can do that, you won’t have any regrets.”

My heart tripped over the word love as images, like the ones saved to my phone, shimmered in my mind.

“I don’t want to have regrets,” I admitted quietly. “But what if the things I want don’t want me back?”

“Ah. Chloe. I don’t think you have to worry about her feelings for you, Hunter.”

“She told me to take this job. She told me to leave.”

“Because she’s scared, and you were stubborn enough to think you had to have this job. I’m sure she thought she was doing what was best for both of you.”

I grunted, laying my head back on the couch and staring up at the ceiling.

Sal’s voice took on a note of regret. “At one time or other, we’ve all acted out of fear and the idea that we know best.”

“Is that why you dumped me off at the airport to send me to a boarding school without a backward glance?”

There was a breathless pause as if neither of us could believe those words had finally come out after marinating in bitterness for the past two decades.

Sal cleared her throat. “Yes, that. I did that to protect you. I saw how unhappy you were at that house and with your parents. I thought you might have a better chance at happiness away from all that. I did it even though I missed you so much. I wrote you a bunch of letters, remember?”

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