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“Your father left Willow Cove for a reason. Nothing good came out of that place. Nothing but heartache and tragedy, and his father was no help in the matter. He was forcing your father to be someone he wasn’t.”
Lucas laughed at the irony. “Like Dad did to me?”
“That was different.”
“Do you hear yourself?” Lucas demanded. “How is that different?”
“Your father wanted what was best for you. To be successful… not stuck in some joke of a town, slopping seafood on a bun for tourists.”
“And what gave him the right to make that decision for me? To force onto me the life he envisioned for me and not the life I actually wanted? He didn’t want to get stuck in Willow Cove, but that didn’t give him the right to keep me away.”
“Well, you’re there now so it’s water under the bridge.”
It was typical of his mother to try and gloss over a situation and act as if the ramifications weren’t nearly as bad as they truly were.
“You might want it to be, but it’s not,” he said.
“Don’t you think this little charade of yours has gone on long enough?” she asked, and Lucas could feel the tension spread through him like wildfire. The flames of fury sparking in succession until the collar of his shirt felt too tight and the air too thick.
He was done letting his mother make him feel bad for his actions. Making him feel like he was the one at fault when his father was the one who lied. If she wanted this so-called charade of his to be over then his father needed to step up to the plate and apologize.
But Lucas wasn’t naïve enough to think that would ever happen. It would be a cold day in hell if that day ever came.
She let out a perturbed breath on the other end. “It’s time to stop playing the martyr and make this right.”
“As always, Mother, it’s been a pleasure, but I have to go.”
“When will you be back in California?”
“I don’t know.”
“Surely you have a return flight. What day?”
“It’s not set in stone yet,” he said.
“What are you saying?” she asked. “You have a business to run. And heaven knows those friends of yours can’t do it alone.”
She never did like Leo and Brian, not like she really knew them to even be able to pass such judgement. She resented them though and turned her nose up at them at any given opportunity. Most likely because they had been more like family to him in the past few years than she had been in a very long time. He stopped going home for the holidays, choosing to spend time with their families instead, and when he went into business with them, he would have thought he physically hurt her with how she went on and on about it.
“Don’t do something stupid,” she continued.
“Thanks for your confidence in me. It’s always appreciated.”
“I just don’t want you to—”
“I got to go.” He hung up before she could say anything else. The last thing he wanted was to explain himself to his mother. There was no point. Her mind was unchangeable, and no matter what he said she wouldn’t care unless he was back on a plane in California, living a life she could brag to her friends about.
He stood up, shoving his phone in his pocket and taking a breath. He closed his eyes for a moment, Ella’s face popping into his mind and completely calming him down.
He didn’t have time to stress over his mom; he had a dinner to plan.
Chapter 14
Ella rode up to Joe’s house and steered her bike to the side, not wanting to leave it out in the open like a flashing neon sign letting the town know she and Lucas were inside together. Though, a part of her wasn’t completely against it.
Each day they spent together was a countdown until the day he went back to California. She hated that the little time they had left together would be spent sneaking around like a couple of forbidden teenagers.
She wanted to be able to hold his hand and walk down the boardwalk, passing both their grandfather’s restaurants and not worrying that they were committing treason.
