Page 58 of Until Forever

Keith helped us into the house and was quick to start discussing plans for dinner.

“You know what I really want,” Claire said. “Some of Keith’s famous chili. Maybe if I watch you make it, I can figure out what your secret is.”

“Hey now, you can’t go around stealing the chef’s secrets,” he joked. “Normally, I only make that chili once a year for the big festival at the fire station.”

“I know! And I wait for it all year long,” she laughed.

I wanted to lighten up and joke around with them, but my heart still felt heavy. I needed some space to think, to clear my head.

“I can go to the grocery store and stop off to get your prescriptions filled,” I offered. “Unless… Will you two be okay here alone for a little while?”

I directed the question to Claire, unsure of how she’d feel about being left alone with Keith.

“I think we’ll manage,” she assured me. “Thank you. For everything, Lana.”

“Don’t thank me,” I murmured.

I meant it. Her thanking me only made me feel worse. I was failing at the job I stayed in Silver Point to do. I got so wrapped up in everything with Keith and the marina, and made the whole thing about me instead of remembering it was my job to look after her. I grabbed my keys and purse and left as quickly as I could so I wouldn’t burst into tears in front of them. They were cutting up in the kitchen as I walked out, which offered a little consolation. It was good to hear her laugh after everything that had happened.

I cried so much on the way to the store that by the time I was in the parking lot, I had to stop for a minute to wipe off my face and catch my breath. I looked in the mirror at my blotchy red cheeks and bloodshot eyes. I normally didn’t care what people thought about me, but there was no way I was going into the store looking like that. I decided to call Kyle to check on the store and buy myself a little time for my complexion to go back to normal. The last thing I needed was everyone in the grocer stopping to fret over me.

The distraction worked. The longer Kyle went on about the store, the more normal I felt again. But soon, the conversation faded. He knew something was wrong, and he was too good of a friend not to say something.

“So…are you going to tell me what’s going on, or are you going to make me pry it out of you?” he asked.

I let out a heavy sigh. I didn’t want to relive the whole nightmare again by telling him what happened that day. I knew if I said it all out loud, I’d start obsessing even more over how bad things could have been, and I’d never forgive myself.

“Kyle,” I said finally. “Do you think I’m selfish for starting this marina when I’m supposed to be taking care of Claire?”

“Can’t you do both?”

“Maybe not,” I told him. “What if I can’t? What if it’s too much?”

“That’s what you have a business partner for,” he argued.

He was right. If I told Keith I couldn’t leave Claire’s side, he would step up and do everything he could to see it through without me. Not even for himself or for the sake of the marina, but for me. He was that good of a guy, which was part of the problem. He had been an even bigger distraction for me than the marina had.

“We slept together,” I finally admitted. I wasn’t ready to tell Claire, and it obviously wasn’t the right time anyway, even if I wanted to. But at least I could unload my troubles on someone.

“Shut. Up,” he barked. “You did what!? I thought you hated him!”

“It’s complicated,” I said, sinking down in the driver’s seat.

“I’ll say. You have to tell me everything,” he insisted.

“I will. Soon. I can’t talk too much longer. I have to get back to the house. I just…It’s good to hear your voice.”

Kyle said something in reply, but I was distracted by the sight of someone familiar in my rearview mirror. There was a hotel across the street from the grocer’s, and I had a plain view of the parking lot. I rubbed my eyes to make sure I was really seeing what I thought I was. When I opened them again, I knew for certain. It was Chris!

Figures, I scoffed to myself. He was so quick to run away, and now he was hiding out at the hotel to keep from facing us and his wife and all of his mistakes. He couldn’t just own up to them and be a man. I thought back on how Keith reacted when I told him how he made me feel in high school. It was true that people made mistakes sometimes. I was perfect proof of that, especially that day. But how we reacted and owned up to them said everything about our character. Maybe Keith wasn’t perfect, but I was done punishing him for the things he was trying so hard to make up for. Chris wasn’t even half the man he was, and seeing that more clearly than ever before…It changed everything for me.

I was just about to end the call with Kyle and head into the store when something else caught my eye. Chris wasn’t alone. I watched as a blonde woman joined him at his side.

Just a woman who works at the hotel, I thought at first.

Until she leaned in and kissed him right on the lips. My stomach turned as Chris’s hand ran down her back, reaching around to squeeze her butt. He smacked it as she turned to walk inside the hotel, and he was soon following after her.

“Lana? Are you there?” Kyle asked. “Come on. Don’t leave me hanging. You can’t dump a secret like that one on me and then just…”

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