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I think you’re cute, too.
Chapter 3
Willow Cove population not nearly enough.Lucas thought asthe cab headed into the small town.
Lucas felt like he was transported onto a movie set. He didn’t think it was possible for towns to actually look like this. There was literally an ice cream shop where the building was made to look like a pink cup filled with vanilla soft serve. And there was a cherry on top. Of course, there was. Why wouldn’t there be? It just added to the ridiculousness of it all.
Street signs were pieces of wood nailed to a longer piece of wood and hand painted.
Part of him could understand why his father wanted to leave. This place seemed more like a theme park than a place to live. A large sign sat at the edge of what looked like the heart of town with the wordsENTERING WILLOW COVECOME FOR THE LOBSTER ROLLS STAY FOR THE PEOPLE.
As the taxi driver, Frank—an old man with slicked back gray hair and thick lined skin—continued on and passed the sign, the town transformed into something out of a travel guide. Multi-colored buildings lined the main strip, flags and signs hung above doorways, benches sat along the sidewalk, surrounded by baskets of soon to bloom flowers. Cobblestone streets led down alleyways filled with more shops and ending at a row of docks jutting out into the water. Lobster traps were piled along the docks, and colorful buoys covered buildings like a coat of paint.
It suddenly didn’t seem so ridiculous, and when Lucas spotted the bright red signs cut out in the shapes of lobsters pointing down at Joe’s Lobster House, he imagined what life would have been like if his father had stayed in Willow Cove and taken over the restaurant.
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t imagine it. His father, who spent most of his days in custom tailored suits and ate out most nights wasn’t the type of man to work in a place that’s biggest claim to fame was a lobster roll.
Joseph Prescott was a cold-hearted businessman who thrived on telling people no, especially his one and only son. Lucas spent the first twenty-one years of his life trying to please his father and make him proud. He never felt like he had, and when he’d found those unopened cards, it was like a light bulb had turned on in his head.
A man who could lie to his face, tell him his grandfather didn’t want anything to do with him, and went out of his way to make sure he never found out the truth wasn’t a man he wanted to please. Quite frankly, he couldn’t give two shits about making his dad proud.
He felt like a caged lion, stepping out into the wilderness for the first time, experiencing the feel of soft grass beneath his paws, and roaming freely with nothing blocking him at every direction.
Lucas had lived his life full of barriers set in place by his father and now, six years since that eye-opening day in his father’s office, he lived his life for himself—a concept that had once been so foreign to him.
“That’s your granddaddies place,” Frank said, pointing at the wood carved lobster signs in the distance.
“I figured as much,” Lucas said. “You know my grandfather, I assume.” It was a small town, and if it was anything like the movies or TV shows, everyone knew everyone.
“Sure do. Known Joe since we were twelve years old. He finally grew into his ears.”
Lucas laughed. “What’s he like?”
Frank met his eyes in the rearview mirror. “Joe’s a good man, and don’t let town gossip convince you differently.”
“Town gossip?” Lucas asked.
“Oh you know… the he-said-she-saids and what-nots. None of it holds any ground. Just a silly competition that went too far.”
“Competition?”
Frank laughed. “You really aren’t from around here.”
Lucas had already established that earlier when he and Frank basically played a game of twenty questions in which Lucas wasn’t able to ask a single one.
“No, I’m not.”
“Your grandfather is part of a town rivalry dating back to 1968.”
“That’s the year he opened his restaurant.” Joe had told him that much in a series of letters over the years.
“Also the same year Vinny’s Lobster Shack opened its doors. It’s been an all-out battle over whose is the best ever since. The Prescotts and the Morettis don’t get along, and it’s very rare that you’re friends with both. You make a choice when you step through one of the two doors, and that choice is for life.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Maybe so, but friendships have been lost and lovers have been pinned against each other for decades.”
“All of this over a stupid lobster roll?”
