Page 41 of Until Forever

“You’ve put just as much on the line for this, haven’t you?” I answered. “You know how much this place means to us.” I stepped forward, pulling her aside for a little privacy. “And not just because it’s a part of our family. You’ve invested so much already. I can’t let it sink before it even has a chance to swim.”

She looked touched, but then, of course, her face twisted into a wry smile. “Seriously? Was that supposed to be some kind of marina pun?”

“I thought it worked,” I shrugged.

“Sure, it worked. But that doesn’t mean you should have said it,” she teased.

“I should have known everything I just offered up wouldn’t make a bit of a difference in your giving me a hard time,” I huffed, rolling my eyes.

I felt her hand fall gently on my forearm and looked up to see her intense eyes staring deep into mine. “Thank you, Keith. If we can make this work, this really will be one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me.”

“Don’t mention it,” I grinned.

If Derek wasn’t standing just a few feet away, I would have tried to kiss her again. But he came butting back in to discuss the logistics of everything. There was a lot of work to be done. We were signing up to do it ourselves with half the manpower to back us up, and we were going to try to finish it in half as much time. Derek was definitely right about one thing. I did love a challenge. But was this too big of a challenge? Wanting to impress Lana would fuel me this time around, but it still wasn’t going to be easy.

Lana’s attitude was different towards me for the rest of the day. She wasn’t quite as steely and moody as usual. We calmly made a plan and worked together. By evening time, it actually felt like she was being nice to me. Friendly even. It was a relief to see that side of her again. Maybe not all hope was lost.

After Derek and the rest of the crew cleared out, we were finally alone again.

“We just might pull this thing off,” she marveled in disbelief.

“I think we will,” I affirmed confidently. “Think positive.”

“It’s kind of hard to stay positive when someone tells you that you need to come up with an extra three hundred thousand dollars,” she laughed.

“And yet…we figured it out. There’s nothing we can’t do, Lana. Don’t forget it. You and I are way too stubborn to let anything stop us. Even if they had said it’d take another half a million to get this place off on the right foot, we probably would have been fighting tooth and nail to figure it out.”

“Hey, this isn’t over yet,” she warned. “Don’t go throwing around numbers like that. You might jinx us.”

I threw my hands up. “Fair point. My lips are sealed. How about an ice-cold beer to celebrate our victory for now, though?”

“I wouldn’t call making a plan that hasn’t actually worked yet a victory.” A smile slowly curled on her lips. “But sure. One beer before I head home.”

“It’s a beautiful night out. Should we enjoy these on the dock?”

She nodded, catching the beer I tossed in her direction, and followed me outside.

We walked out onto the longest pier and sat on the edge, dangling our feet over the dark water. The crickets were chirping, the frogs were howling, and there was a crystal clear, bright, full moon hanging overhead, surrounded by a blanket of crisp stars.

“It’s romantic out here,” I forced myself to say. It was true, even if it didn’t sound like something that would ever come out of my mouth.

Lana’s face wrinkled as she looked over at me with an accusing glare.

“What? It’s true,” I defended. “Don’t you think so?”

She studied the scene and let out a sigh of defeat. “It is a beautiful night. If that's romantic, then…yeah. I guess so.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at how stubborn and difficult she was, as always. “Maybe it’s just not romantic enough for you yet,” I huffed. “I can try to fix that.”

My fingers lifted to tuck her hair behind her ear, grazing her cheek as I went. I let my touch linger across her skin, and drifted my thumb along her bottom lip—leaving no mistake about where I wished my lips were right at that moment.

“You look beautiful tonight. But…you look that way every night. And every day. So, I guess there’s no use in pointing that out.”

Her expression was unreadable. “You’re just being cheesy now.”

I leaned in close, dipping my voice down into a low rasp. “It’s not cheesy. I’m just telling the truth.”

My lips pressed gently to hers with my palm pressed to her cheek, then to the side of her neck. She melted into it, but only briefly.

---