Page 2 of Until Forever

“The sunroom sounds nice. I’m still not so good at driving this thing,” she grimaced at the big hunky wheels of her chair.

“You’ll get the hang of it in no time.”

I rolled her into the sunroom and then met Chris in the kitchen, doing my best to stick to my promise and not lecture him for being a no-show. I went over the medications and upcoming appointments, but it was obvious from my tone that I was angry with him.

“I got it from here,” he huffed.

“Do you?” I barked. “How am I supposed to believe that when you can’t even show up on time to bring her home from the hospital!?”

He rolled his eyes. “I work, Lana. Stuff happens, alright? These past couple of months haven’t been easy on any of us.”

“Least of all, Claire,” I reminded him. I hated the way he was always trying to play the victim, as if he was the one who almost died in that car accident.

“What are you doing here anyway? I thought you were going back home to LA this morning.”

“Good thing I didn’t, or Claire would still be sitting there at the hospital, waiting for you,” I hissed.

He groaned. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“Fine. This is as good a time as any to bring you and Claire up to speed.” He followed me as I stormed off down the hall to sit in the sunroom next to Claire.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“I wanted to let you know that I’ve decided to stay in Silver Point a while longer.”

“Really!?” Claire’s eyes brightened. “For how long?”

“Yeah. How long?” Chris echoed, not sounding nearly as excited as she did.

“However long it takes for you to fully recover,” I told her, reaching over to squeeze her hands.

Claire looked grateful and relieved, but concern quickly washed over her face. “But what about your surf shop? Lana, you can’t just put your whole life on hold to…”

“Be with you while your whole life is on hold?” I laughed. “You don’t have to worry. My friend, Kyle, has everything under control. He’s looking after things while I’m gone.”

“But the doctors said…,” she sucked in a deep breath. This was still a lot for everyone, especially her, to wrap their heads around. “They said I may never fully recover. You were there. You heard him. It’s going to be a long, hard road, and I may never go back to how I was before.”

I looked deep into her eyes. “Well, I think that you will. And I’m going to stay here as long as it takes to make sure that happens. If that means I live here in Silver Point indefinitely, then so be it. I’m not leaving you, and I don’t want any arguments. Got it?”

Claire nodded, forcing a smile. I know she felt like a burden, but that wasn’t how I saw it.

“You would have done the same for me,” I said. She definitely couldn’t argue with that. We both knew it was true. “Besides, it will be good for me to be back here again for a while. To reconnect with my roots, you know?”

“The roots you couldn’t wait to escape from after high school?” she laughed, tucking her brown bobbed hair back behind her ear.

Claire and I may not have looked like sisters, because we weren’t—by blood anyways. I was tall, tan, and blonde. She was short, pale, and brunette. We were opposites in a lot of other ways, too. She had been a straight-A student and always followed the rules, so it made sense that she grew up to be a teacher. I, on the other hand, had always been rebellious and adventurous. I took off to LA the first chance I got after high school and took to surfing and riding the waves. I worked in other surf shops until I could save up enough money to open one of my own.

But we had felt like sisters from the moment we met. And there wasn’t anyone or anything, her crappy husband—Chris—included, who could come between us. She needed me now more than ever, and I wasn’t going anywhere until she was okay again.

“Just because I needed to make my own life somewhere new doesn’t mean I take you or this place for granted,” I told her, stopping for a moment to look around the small house she inherited from her parents. The same one I was raised in from the time I was thirteen. “I especially don’t take this house for granted, and all of its memories. Your parents took me in like I was one of their own, and I’ll never forget that. If they were still alive, they would have been right here by your side, taking care of you every step of the way. I’m just going to have to do my best to fill their shoes.”

Chris cleared his throat. “I’m here too, you know.”

“Yeah. Now you’re here,” I grumbled under my breath, shaking my head.

“The only way this is going to work is if you two stop fighting,” Claire scolded, darting her eyes between us like an angry mom getting onto two siblings who couldn’t get along.

“I’m not fighting,” I insisted. “Right, Chris? Everything’s fine.” I walked over and smacked him on the shoulder. “We’re practically best friends.”

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