Page 9 of Until Forever

“If you keep rubbing it in Keith’s face, he’s going to have you arrested for trespassing. It is still his property, after all. Whether the building stands or not.”

“Is that a no?” I asked.

“I didn’t say that,” she smirked. “Let’s go.”

As promised, we took Claire’s wheelchair out for a spin to get ice cream, then down to the edge of the lake on Mullins Cove. As we sat there and licked our cones, I couldn’t help but reminisce on our high school days.

The lake used to be a prime hangout spot for all of us teens, especially me and the local guys like Keith—before he got on my bad side. We’d swing from ropes in the trees and dive into the water, or we’d go fishing. Mr. Mullins would let us take boats out when we got old enough.

I don’t know why Keith had to go and ruin a good thing. Actually, yes, I did. He was notorious for ruining good things, apparently. His volunteer shifts at the fire station didn’t fool me into thinking he was the great guy he wanted everyone to believe he was.

Maybe my hatred for him was mostly rooted in my resentment from when we were kids. But to be fair, he confirmed my worst fears about him. As much as I hated to admit it, I did have a crush on him when we were young. Claire was the only one who knew. And he had eyes for every girl in town but me. One day, we were hanging out by the lake and talking about the homecoming dance. Keith was complaining about not having a date, and one of the guys started teasing him and said he could ask me. I knew they suggested me because I was the only girl around, and it was meant to be a joke. It was as if a guy taking me to a dance was so laughable. None of them saw me that way because I wasn’t all prissy and girly. I guess part of me hoped Keith would have been different. Of course, he had to go and point out that it’d be ridiculous to even think of taking me to homecoming. I was obviously just one of the guys.

But the great Keith Mullins heartbreak didn’t stop there. Not by a long shot.

I tried to put it all out of my mind. But it still stung to think about it, as stupid as it was. I couldn’t talk myself out of the feeling, even after all those years. But if we were sticking to outdated gender norms, then there were two things guys were historically good at—business and going after what they wanted.

I had conquered the know-how of running a business, and now that I was back in Silver Point—I was going to go after what I wanted. It wasn’t my fault that what I wanted just so happened to be something that belonged to Keith.

If I was doomed to be one of the guys in his mind, then I was going to make it work in my favor.

5

KEITH

My brother Derek’s home, which he inherited from our grandfather, was a cozy farmhouse on a bit of land a ways down from the lake. My brother and I may have looked alike, but in personality, we were as different as night and day. He was so responsible that even after tragically losing his wife, he managed to keep up with his house, his land, and his five-year-old daughter all on his own. Their home always smelled like good cooking and firewood. It was warm and inviting, and sometimes, it felt so good to walk into it that it made me want to get my life together and work towards having that for myself.

But who was I kidding? All I had to my name was a condemned marina and a dingy old shack to live in. Sure, I had our construction business to run. That was part of the problem. It took up so much of my time and energy that after a long, hard day’s work, all I wanted to do was wrap my arm around a woman (any woman would do) and crack open a beer. Was that really so bad?

When I walked into Derek’s house for dinner, I was hit with my usual pang of unworthiness and decided—yes, apparently, that really was so bad. Now, not only did he have a nice home, a beautiful daughter, an old basset hound named Hank, and a grasp on adulthood that I never seemed to be able to master—he had his fiance, Melody. Basically, everything a man could ever ask for.

“Uncle Keith!” Em shrieked as she barreled through the house and pummeled into me, nearly knocking us both right back out the front door.

“Hey, squirt!” I managed to balance us both and carry her back inside.

Melody appeared around the corner from the kitchen and placed one hand on her hip. “Hey, good to see you. Come on in.”

“Good to see you too, Mel. Whatcha got cookin’ in there? It smells delicious.”

“Derek is our chef tonight,” she replied. “Pork chops and asparagus.”

“Wow, he’s really come a long way from the menu of never-ending steaks, hamburgers, and hot dogs,” I laughed.

“I’m not eating the sparugus,” Em protested.

“A-sparagus,” I corrected her. “If you can’t say the word, I think you should have to eat it. Just on principle.”

“That’s not how it works,” she argued.

I smiled, then looked back at Mel. I dreaded having to tell Derek about the latest development with the marina. Still, it was better to get it over with. “Is he in there?” I nodded towards the kitchen.

“Yeah, but he’s all finished now. Why don’t you help me set the table?”

I sighed. “Alright. Sure thing.” I would just have to sit on my nerves a while longer.

We got it all set up, which was a process in itself that showed how much more Derek had his act together than me. I ate from a TV tray on the couch most nights. They had tablecloths, placemats, cloth napkins, nice silverware, and glasses—the works. We spread it all out and then took our seats as Derek and Em joined us.

I was squirming in my seat as we ate and got through all the small talk. Em told us all about her day at school, and Melody told us how it was going with the new shop she was opening up at the square. She was launching some kind of marketing thing for local business owners. Or maybe it was investing. I didn’t really know. It was hard to pay attention when I knew the inevitable was coming.

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