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Lucas took a moment to think it through. He inhaled deeply and let it out. “You both have stood in your own way long enough so I’m going to stand off to the side and let you two figure it out.”
“And what about us?” his father asked.
Lucas shrugged. “Only time knows the answer to that.”
“Fair enough.” His dad took another sip from his glass. “Can I ask you one question without you jumping down my throat?”
Lucas’ hand tightened on his glass. “What’s that?”
“What are you doing with that girl?”
“Don’t,” Lucas said. “Don’t ruin whatever moment we just had.”
“That’s not my intention. I’m just curious. I saw the way you looked at her. But the truth remains that you have a life in California, and unless she’s going to pack up her things and move across country with you, I don’t see how you can have a future.”
“Maybe I’ll stay here,” Lucas said, surprising himself.
His dad laughed. “I’m not going to tell you how stupid that would be, but I will say that there is no way in hell a Moretti and a Prescott could ever be together in this town.”
***
It felt like a decade since Lucas’ father showed up, and Ella couldn’t stop looking out the window across the boardwalk to Joe’s Lobster House. The look on his face was more than she could bear. She wanted to wrap him up in her arms and bring him back to bed, close the door, and forget about the outside world. Live there together in their bubble.
“Ella!” Ella snapped her attention toward Enzo who was standing with his hands on his hips behind her. “Did you not hear me?” he asked.
“Sorry. What’s up?”
“You’re acting weird,” he said.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” It wasn’t exactly a lie.
“You keep gazing out the window like you’re waiting…” His words cut off as he looked out across the boardwalk to Joe’s Lobster House. “You’re still seeing him, aren’t you?”
“I…” She was sick of hiding behind lies, sick of sneaking around and not being able to admit that she was happy. She looked at Enzo, disapproval obvious in his eyes. “Yes, I am,” she said.
“Have you lost your damn mind?” Enzo whispered, but the anger in his tone was not lost. It filled the air like a thick cloud.
“I don’t know.” Ella wasn’t sure of a lot of things lately. Ever since Lucas sat next to her on that bus ride home, she was questioning her life and who she was, who she wanted to be… where she wanted to be.
Enzo ran a tightly corded hand through his hair. “Grandpa will kill him. You have to know that much.”
The last thing she needed was to add an extra visit on her calendar to the federal prison to visit her grandfather. The thought of him in canary yellow made her stomach twist in unforgiving knots.
“He’s not going to kill him. He’s an old man; he’s not going to kill anyone.” Though, she wasn’t so sure about that. His hatred for the Prescotts ran deeper than anything she’d ever known. His grudge wasn’t just a grudge; it was a life choice he would never back down on.
“Maybe so, but you know how he feels about Prescotts. He’ll never accept him, and do you really want to be with someone who can never be a part of our family?”
She tried to imagine her life with Lucas, but without her family, it just didn’t mean anything. Either way, her heart would be missing a piece, and there was nothing she could do about it. Her future wasn’t even hers to control anymore. Not when she was in love with the boy across the boardwalk. Anger ran through her veins, heating pain she kept dormant.
“I never asked for this. I didn’t get to choose my last name, and it’s not fair that my life is dictated by things I can’t change, for feuds that were started before I was born.
“I have done everything for this family. I left school, I came home, and I never once complained. I took care of everyone when Grandma died, and I’ve been trying so hard to hold this family together with dad in prison, yet no matter what, I get screwed. I finally found someone who I can see a future with and there are so many circumstances that are making it an impossible reality.”
Tears pricked her eyes, and the will to hold them back vanished to the ache in her heart. A tear slipped down her cheek, and she swatted it away.
“El,” Enzo said walking toward her. She held her hand up, stopping him. She didn’t want his comfort right now not when it was weighed down by judgment and disapproval.
“I’m fine,” she said.
