“It’sstilltacky.” She wasn’t wrong.
“It’s felt like… Well, I haven’t really accomplished anything except…”
“What, honey?”
“Percy has rallied all of the other businesses, and they have decided to decline the offer. I don’t think that I can accomplish anything except to up the offer, but that would come from San Francisco, and I know the new offers are going out soon. There’s a meeting with the city in a few days, and I think the mayor really wants this, according to my boss. Maybe they will just tell the businesses that they have to sell, or they’ll declare domain over the land and force them to. It would be better to sell to us than be forced to. It feels messy, and I don’t like getting involved. It's too close.” I huffed. The whole thing had started feeling gross to me. But it was my job, and I didn’t know what to do any longer.
“Are you sure that any of this is a good idea? Those businesses are staples in our town. Most of them have been here for decades, babe. How are they just supposed to give all of that up?”
“I don’t know.” I huffed. “Would you do it?”
“I’ve never had something that I cared about, except for my family. I would fight if they tried to take that away,” she said forcefully. “God, can you imagine? I’d be so upset that who knows what I’d be capable of doing.”
“This isn’t kidnapping your family, Mom. My God, you and Percy have both made me a criminal in the last twenty-four hours.”
“Oh, you’ve spoken to him? That’s good. I’m glad you’re back in touch. Oh… because of the offer and the bakery being a part of the deal. How did he take that?” She leaned over the counter and threw her hair over her shoulder.
“We haven’t… talked about that. He doesn’t know, I don’t think.” My answer was as sheepish as it could be, and Mother understood its meaning correctly.
“You’re lying to him?”
“No! I… yeah. I guess. I definitely withheld the truth.” I felt like a fraud.
“Have you asked yourself why?”
“Oh, I think you can figure that out,” I whispered.
“You still like him.” She stood up straight and clapped her hands together happily.
“I don’tnotlike him.” I looked up from my very dry chicken casserole that tasted like breadcrumbs and not much else.
“This town, any small town, really, is a fragile ecosystem, hon. If you start taking away things that represent the heart of this place, what do you have left? Can’t this resort be built around the businesses? Why does it have to be destroyed to build something new? Why must some lose for others to win? I should call the mayor. George would listen to me. He’s always been agreeable.”
“Do not do that,” I pleaded. I knew what my mother was capable of when she set her mind to something. “We just have to see where things play out, I guess. I know that Mister Boyd will be unhappy that I wasn’t able to take care of this. I’ve been avoiding his emails since I don’t have good news.”
She walked around the island and leaned against it beside me. “Let’s get back to Percy instead of this unpleasantness. All I will say is I think it's pretty horrible, Ben. I don’t like that they asked you to do this, and honestly, I think that you should lookreally hard at yourself and what you are willing to do for this company.”
“That’s not getting back to Percy.”
“Isn’t it?” She asked sharply, getting right to the point.
“They will not change the resort's plan. All of our resorts are exact copies of each other. Our studies show that people like coming to places that they know and feel comfortable. We have guests who visit all of our resorts, and that is one of the things they love. It’s a dependable, known commodity.”
“Sounds boring. Imagine if Tahiti were the same as California – or Italy, an exact duplicate of England. Individuality is what makes places interesting—at least to me.” She patted my shoulder and then squeezed it. “Now, back to Percy. Was he happy to see you?”
I groaned. “Let’s just say that the years have not mellowed him. But I think we have worked it out for the most part. I apologized for everything, and I hope he believes that it was sincere.”
“Iknowit was.” And this was the reason that I should come home more often.
“Yeah. I… uh… kissed him last night?” I grinned.
“And?”
“He ran away.” I pushed the plate away. I could not eat any more of that.
“You should have followed him.” She swatted at me. “Why didn’t you?”
“He had called me a stalker.”
