13. Cole
“Oh, great. Must be my lucky day.” Sydney’s voice drips with sarcasm from somewhere on the dock behind me.
I mentally sigh at her attitude, keeping my focus on the outline of the trees on this side of the island. She steps onto the ferry and immediately crosses the boat to the open space that’s clear on the other side of the platform—the one farthest away from me, of course.
“Hey, man.” Graham follows behind Sydney, choosing to sink into the seat next to me instead of following behind her.
“Morning.” I slide over to give him room as the ferry crew unties us from the dock, and the captain takes us out of Ruby Lodge’s bay.
“Where are you heading?” he asks with a smile, making two of us who are ignoring the pointed glare coming this way from across the boat.
“I need to pick up some planks of wood at the hardware store,” I tell him. “I’m working on rebuilding the shed on my property—it needs to be a little more solid.”
“Yeah, that thing has seen better days.” Graham chuckles.
“How about you?” I ask.
He points to Sydney. “We’re heading over to City Hall. We need to submit the proposal to buy out a portion of the community land and make sure the town hall meeting is still on as planned for the approval of it. Apparently, that needs to be done in person.”
“Sounds like things are moving along nicely,” I say.
“They are. The crew got all the equipment brought over, and they’re starting to level the ground in the back today. It’s fun to see. It brings a sense of excitement to the lodge. Honestly, I owe it all to that one.” He points across the ferry. “I wouldn’t be doing any of this if she wasn’t the one at the helm of it all.”
When I glance in Sydney’s direction, our eyes meet for half a second before she whips her head the other way.
For some reason, it almost makes me want to smile. The animosity she has toward me is obvious to anyone with a set of eyes, but if I were completely honest with myself…my own is starting to soften.
When I saw her talking with Blair on the beach yesterday, I was caught off guard by the way my body completely froze at seeing the look on her face.
It was a look of vulnerability laced with heartbreak. A look I would never judge someone for. In fact, it was one we bonded over once.
It gripped me and brought me right back to when we were two kids just trying to get through hard situations. I take responsibility for my own actions back then, and if she needed to badmouth me in order to get through…then, honestly, who am I to judge?
If she wants to hate me, I can live with that. But I’m not sure I have it in me to fight with her anymore.
“Hey, I have a favor to ask,” Graham says, pulling my attention back to him.
“Yeah? What’s that?”
“I’d love to commission a wood statue for the lodge. Would you be interested in making something like that for me?”
“Absolutely,” I say almost immediately. It would mean staying longer on Takini Island, of course, but I can do this for him before I leave. “What are you thinking?”
“I was thinking a bear statue. A big one. To put right in front of the lodge so people can see it from the lake.”
“I like it. That sounds good. We can discuss the details later on if you want.”
The ferry slows its speed, and I look up, surprised to see we’ve already made it to Baudette.
“Great. Thanks, man. Catch ya later,” Graham says with a dip of his head, and I wave, following the handful of people stepping onto the dock. Sydney scurries past me from behind and makes speedwalking look like an angry activity while she catches up to Graham.
I slip my hands into my pockets and slowly walk up the sidewalk, not at all in a hurry as the cloud from being physically in this city starts to slowly loom over me.
With my truck back home in Longville, I plan to walk the few blocks to the hardware store. Typically, when I travel to the island, I charter a plane to take me directly there—that way I can manage to forgo going into the city altogether.
With each step across the concrete, I take in my surroundings, noticing that, although much has stayed the same, there are some small but notable differences since I last walked these streets.
There’s a mini wine bar I’ve never seen before that was put in next to the gas station, and across the street from that is the new law office that I’m assuming belongs to Blair.
Not enough changes to have me seeing the town differently as a whole, but maybe enough to have hope that perhaps someday I could—for the few times a year I’m here, anyway.
Finally, I reach the hardware store and head inside to grab a flat cart to wheel over to the lumber aisle. I pick out the slabs I need for the shed and am placing them gently on the cart when I notice a vaguely familiar face looking at me like a deer in the headlights.
“Cole!” Mrs. Hines exclaims, acting like I’m a long-lost relative and not a student from her second-grade class she hasn’t seen in many years.
“Good afternoon, Mrs. Hines.” I dip my head, feeling wary under her attention. Nobody ever gets this excited to see me, but I suppose when you’re a teacher in a small town, it’s not hard to remember every single one of your students. Still, I’m not used to the level of delight on her face.
“Oh, I’m glad you’re here. Would you be a dear and help me reach that wood on the top shelf? I need two of those planks to fix my chicken coop.”
“Sure thing.” I reach up and slide the boards down. She looks up at me with doe eyes, watching my every move with appreciation.
“Is this all you need? I can take them up front for you,” I offer, placing them on top of my cart.
“Oh, that would be great.” She happily falls into place beside me while she rambles off a whole lot of gossip and life updates from my old classmates, all of which I silently pretend to be interested in. I don’t mind doing favors to be nice, but that doesn’t mean I’m always comfortable partaking in conversations.
When we reach the registers, I help her get her boards scanned and paid for. She waits patiently by the door while I pay for my own. Apparently, I’m also helping her get them loaded up. I schedule a time for them to deliver my wood to the island via the barge and turn to Mrs. Hines.
“Do you have a truck or another vehicle to bring these home in?” I ask as I wheel her boards outside.
“Sure do. Right over here.” She points proudly to a rundown green pickup truck. I follow behind her and get the wood loaded up.
“Thank you for your help. It was so good to see you, Cole,” she gushes before climbing into her truck.
With how talkative she seems to be, I get the sense that she says the same thing several times a day to whoever she comes face to face with. But for some reason, I think she might actually mean it.
“Maybe I’ll see you around!” She waves as she reverses. I doubt that will be true, but I offer a smile and a wave anyway. Then I make my way back to the ferry.