Chapter 36
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
DELANEY
A fter the night of telling Trace the truth of my father’s involvement in this whole mess, everything fell into a normalcy that felt too good to be true. The entire week, I’d been deliriously happy and simultaneously waiting for the other shoe to drop. I was starting to worry I was at risk of giving myself an ulcer.
Cade was over the moon to have Trace coming to live with us. He was all signed up to start school after the break, and he and Trace had fallen into a routine of throwing around the baseball after dinner to get ready for tryouts. It was the end of the season, and he’d probably be on the bench for the last couple of games, but Cade didn’t mind. I think he just liked going to practice more than anything.
I sat down at the sticky table in Dylan’s Place as Blake slid into the booth beside me. This was one place in Willowbrook I’d never been able to come before I left. But now that I was here, I could see why the bar was as popular as it was.
“Emma texted me. She should be here in about ten minutes.”
Blake nodded before taking a drink from her beer.
“Blake?” She looked at me over the top of her bottle, her eyebrows raising in question. “You know you don’t have to avoid the house now that Trace is there, right?”
This had been bothering me for days. I saw her less and less, and I was worried that she was starting to regret saying she’d move to Willowbrook, especially considering that everything was changing so quickly since we’d gotten here.
“What? Yeah, I know that. Is that what you’ve been thinking? Lanes, you know you’re stuck with me forever.” She shoved me playfully, and I rolled my eyes. “I’ve been busy. And well, now’s probably a good time to tell you that I’m moving out of the house.”
“What? No! You don’t have to do that. There’s more than enough room for you, and if we’re making you feel?—”
“Oh, will you stop panicking, woman? I want a bit more space so I can set up and paint. Plus, you know me. I like to wander around in my underwear and paint until stupid o’clock in the morning. It’s time, Lanes. I’ve walked this entire town three times over, and now I want to put it on canvas.”
I could see the dreamy look in her eyes that she got when she was inspired, and I was happy for her. It was only then that I realized how long it had been since I’d seen it.
“Are you sure? You know we have plenty of outbuildings for you to be able to set up a studio at the farm, right? You could have an entire barn to throw paint around if you wanted to.”
That had her back straightening in excitement, and I smiled, loving to see her excited about her work again.
“That does sound pretty good. And I’m definitely taking you up on that one day soon. But for now, I need to be in a space where I can shut the door and breath the paints and just live with my muse for a bit.”
“You know breathing the paints is bad for you, right?” I joked. “Now I know why you’ve always seemed not quite right in the head. It’s the fumes you’ve been huffing.”
“Of course, it’s the fumes, but at least they stop me from being boring.” Blake waved a hand like it was nothing to worry about, and it had my mom-brain switching on and starting to panic.
“Who’s boring?” Emma asked as she slipped into the other side of the booth with a beer in her hand.
“Hey! I thought you were going to be late.”
“Yeah. But then I decided to just ignore the man-baby who was sulking about not getting to play Pokémon and leave so I could hang out with the fun people.” Emma raised her beer, and we all chinked our bottles together before taking a drink and laughing.
“Aww, poor Flynn. I didn’t realize he was looking forward to it.”
“He dusted off his ten-year-old Pokémon cards that have apparently been living in our attic and has them spread all over our dining table while he ‘considered his battle strategy.’”
Emma gave me a look that said she completely blamed me for the Pokémon situation, and I resisted the urge to laugh at how ridiculous it all was.
“We can set up a play date for next week if you want,” Blake added, bursting out laughing and making it impossible not to join in.
“This is Blake, by the way,” I said, realizing that I hadn’t introduced the two of them.
“By the way!” scoffed Blake in outrage, making Emma fall back on the bench, laughing. “What am I, the charity case you wheel out for sympathy every so often?”
“As you can see, she does have a tendency to be a bit dramatic, but apart from that, she’s an amazing friend,” I said, completely ignoring her.
Blake grabbed her beer off the table, huffing in fake outrage. “You better believe I’m an amazing friend. I put up with this after all.”
She grinned as she took a drink of her beer, and I quickly poked her in the ribs, making her cough and nearly spray Emma with beer.
“We met the other day at Books and Beans,” Emma told me between giggles.
“Yeah, I was holding interviews for a new best friend,” Blake quipped, slapping my hands away from her.
“Like you’d ever be able to walk away from me,” I said, leaning a head on her shoulder, which Blake refused to acknowledge.
“You’re right. I like Cade too much to abandon him. He’s my real best friend.”
“He’s nine. That’s not a good thing.”
“You’re just jealous because he likes me more than you.”
There were times when I could believe that was true. I wasn’t always popular when I had to play the mom card, but at least it wasn’t something I ever had to do often with him.
“Cade likes everyone. Well, apart from Regina. But I’m hoping he never has to meet her.”
“Oh, I saw your harpy-in-law today,” Emma cut in.
“I knew I liked you,” Blake quipped before making a go-on motion to Emma.
“She came into the flower shop to complain about the efficacy of the lilacs . I don’t even know what that means. I’m not even sure she knew what she meant. Either way, pointing out that it wasn’t lilac season, and we did not, therefore, have any to be efficient or not, was not the best move on my part.”
“Oh, I can see exactly how well she took you pointing that out.”
“Yeah, I swear her shrieking reached a pitch where it became completely inaudible, and I’m pretty sure I had an out-of-body experience.” Emma shuddered dramatically.
“Is it weird that I kind of want to meet her properly?” Blake asked. “It’s not often that you get to talk to the devil, and I feel like it’s an experience I need to have in life. You know, for my art.”
“Be careful what you wish for,” Emma warned her before downing half her beer.
How had Regina gotten away with behaving like she did for so long?
I looked around the bar, which was surprisingly busy for a Thursday night. There were a few people in here that I recognized and more than a few that I didn’t. My eye caught Ethan sitting at the bar, who raised his beer in acknowledgment, and I awkwardly waved at him, not knowing what to really do. His amused smile had me flushing in embarrassment and turning back to Blake and Emma who were looking at me strangely.
“What?”
“Have you always been this awkward?” Blake asked. “I’ve genuinely never noticed before.”
“What? Sometimes it’s weird being here, okay? I feel like I know most of these people, but I don’t really. Like the last time I saw Ethan, I’m pretty sure he was doing a keg stand, and now he’s the town sheriff. My brain just can’t catch up to the fact that everything is still completely the same and entirely different all at the same time. And Trace telling me that the town is dying is messing with my head and?—”
“What do you mean the town is dying?” Emma asked in a panic, looking around like there was something she could do about it.
“Oh. Erm, it’s like a business thing.”
“I have a business! I need more information. Explain.”
“See, that’s an example of how a normal person reacts in a situation like this. You should remember it for next time,” Blake added unhelpfully.
“Can you just be normal for a moment?” I snapped and then quickly hugged her so she knew I didn’t mean it. Well, maybe I did a little.
“Trace and his dad are involved in a lot of the businesses in the town…”
“They run the place. Yeah, I already know that bit.” Emma made a hurry-up movement with her hand.
“Well, apparently, they have a lot of data about the town economy because of that.” I rolled my eyes in exasperation. “Anyway, with the amount of people who live in the town, and the amount of the younger generations who move away for college and don’t come back, the town can’t sustain its declining population numbers.”
“Oh my god, Willowbrook is dying.” Emma gasped.
“But they’re fixing it,” Blake added, reaching across and squeezing Emma’s hand in reassurance. “Trace is on it.”
“Well, he was. They had a whole regenerative project planned, but it’s all up in the air now because I’m staying, and they can’t buy…my…land.”
I shrunk down in my seat as the last few words slipped through my lips. I hadn’t felt guilty about pulling out of the deal until now. Until I had to explain it to someone who would be directly affected. And right now, I was starting to feel like I might have been a bit selfish in deciding to stay.
Blake suddenly snapped her fingers in front of my face, and I jumped in surprise.
“No! No, no, no,” she said. “Don’t do that. Don’t feel guilty.”
“What was the regeneration project?” Emma asked.
“A rich person golf course hotel thing,” Blake blurted out before I had a chance.
Emma made a face and then turned to me. “Yeah, don’t feel bad about that. No one in town is going to want that. Besides, if they want it that bad, they can use their own land. No one is going to sell them a parcel big enough for something like that.”
She did have a point.
Trace’s grandfather might have left the ranch and the surrounding land to Booker, but his father had been gifted a massive plot on the other side of town that was far bigger than my farm to build his house on.
“Huh, that’s a good point. I hadn’t thought of that.”
“But that’s good news,” Emma pointed out. “That you’ve decided to stay in town.”
“Yeah, I’ve…so it turns out that Trace didn’t know about Cade. His mom lied to me to get me out of town and away from him. We’re trying to figure things out. But I think we would have stayed, anyway. Cade likes it here, and I think I needed to come back, too.”
Blake looked a bit misty eyed as she nodded and then put her head on my shoulder. She’d always pushed me to do what I needed to make myself happy. I knew she was relieved that I was finally taking her advice.
“What the…I always knew she had a maniacal side to her, but that is truly…Is there a word worse than evil?” Emma asked.
It was nice to have someone else in my life who would be upset about this on my behalf. It was giving me the warm fuzzies, even if we were talking about Regina.
“We’re still considering suitable ways to torture her, but I’ll fill you in as soon as we have a solid plan,” Blake told her scarily seriously.
Emma nodded, an evil grin slipping across her lips. “Flynn can be our alibi.”
Okay, warm fuzzies were only getting warmer. These girls!
“In the meantime, we need to get you settled. Nothing like making her see you loving life to really twist the knife. You’ve got the house, now we just need to find you a job.” Emma tapped her finger against her lips as she thought.
“Miss Moneybags doesn’t need a job,” Blake added before I could shut her up.
“I do need a job. Well, I think it’s more that I need, no, I want a business. I want to work for myself.”
“It does have its perks,” Emma agreed. “How about growing efficient lilacs out of season? I hear there’s a lot of demand for that nowadays.”
I laughed because it was honestly impossible not to when you finally found someone who was willing to make fun of Regina this much.
“Ooooh. You’ve got an idea,” Blake said, lifting her head and looking at me. “I know that face. That’s your. I’ve got an amazing idea, and I’m trying to talk myself out of it face.”
I stuck my tongue out at her. “I do not have a face like that.”
“Babe, I hate to tell you, but you do.”
I waved her off, giving a slight shove for the audacity to call me out on my bullshit constantly.
“Violence is how she expresses her love,” Blake whisper shouted at Emma, who smiled wryly, waiting for me to carry on.
“Okay. It is a bit crazy, though. But I think I want to do it, but I don’t know if it will ever make any money, and I?—”
“Just tell us already,” Emma blurted out before putting a hand over her mouth in surprise. “Sorry. This is just the most exciting thing that’s happened to me in ages. I feel like I’m living in a soap opera, and I am totally here for it.”
Blake held up a hand, and Emma high-fived her before the two of them turned their undivided attention on me.
I cringed at the attention. This was not how I thought this would go, and it was a totally crazy idea.
“I might want to make cider,” I said quietly.
“Oh, that’s a good idea,” Blake cooed. “Your dad’s cider was really good. Yes , you should do that! How exactly do you do that?” she added, looking confused.
“Well, we already have the orchards and the equipment to make small batches, so I guess I’d start with that and getting it into some county shows and things, try to get some recognition. Brand it. Look for small sales outlets to start with while we upgrade the equipment. I’d need to source a reliable local source for the fruit because expanding the orchards is going to take time. The trees are going to need to get established before they reach a maturity where they’re?—”
“See, this is what happens when you put a Delaney in her natural habitat and allow her the opportunity to think for herself,” Blake whispered loudly to Emma. “She’s going to roll through her thoughts, oblivious to the rest of us until she reaches the list stage . This usually requires extensive stationery supplies and sometimes, if the conditions are right, spreadsheets .”
Emma ooh-ed like she was watching a documentary, and I rolled my eyes playfully, holding in the fact that I may have already started making a spreadsheet the other day when I first started thinking about this.
“Really?” I sighed in exasperation.
“Ignore me.” Blake laughed. “I’m just happy you’ve started thinking about the future again, Lanes. You’ve kind of been stuck in the present and not wanting to look outside of your comfort bubble for a while.”
I wanted to deny it. I really did, but she was completely right.
“Okay. I’m getting us another round, and then we’re moving on to what we really all came here for,” Emma said, sliding out of the booth and heading to the bar.
I looked at Blake, and she gave me her evil grin that made me know she was up to no good. No amount of glares or questions broke her until Emma came back with our drinks and then stared at me expectantly.
“I have no idea what’s happening right now,” I admitted nervously as I took a deep drink from my beer.
Emma and Blake exchanged a look, and that evil grin spread to Emma as well. Oh shit, I really was in trouble now.
“This would be the sex portion of the conversation, Lanes. We need inches. We need ‘O’ scores. We need signature move details. Every. Single. Detail. ”
“What? Absolutely not!”
“You’re right.” Emma nodded seriously. “Tequila is needed before we do this.” And then she slipped out of the booth again.
I was in so much trouble with these two.