I laughed to cover up the awkwardness. Was I? No. I didn’t even know what I wanted to do in my life. I cared about the town and I planned to see justice done, but I wasn’t about to become a private investigator or apply for a job with Ridge. The rules and I did not always get along. Too much red tape.
Sure, if somebody paid me to protest, that would be an awesome career. But I didn’t think those jobs were high paying or available in Pelican Bay, Maine. Whatever I ended up doing, I wanted to have an impact.
“What if I told you I’m dating Pierce Kensington?” My mother didn’t agree with Nanna’s hatred of the family, and surely she had to consider Pierce acceptable.
My mother silently laughed, and her eyes crinkled in the corners. “I’d ask when you’re taking us on our all-expenses-paid mother-daughter vacation.”
Ugh. Whenever I mentioned the blond-headed asshole across the street, my mother always commented on his money. Everyone commented on Pierce’s money. Because he was loaded, they found him better in their eyes. I never looked at Pierce that way. He was just another person. If anything his money got in the way. If he didn’t have that damn last name, everything could be different.
“Mom.”
She laughed out loud and put her hand on my knee, squeezing. “Honey, I’m kidding. I’d say congratulations. He’s handsome and the two of you would make beautiful grandchildren. I have mentioned wanting at least five grandchildren in ten to fifteen years. Right?”
I tilted my head back to the ceiling so she wouldn’t see when I rolled my eyes. “No children.” Possibly one… Or two… Tops.
“Nanna would call me a traitor.” She’d make me explain why I wanted to ruin the Kadish family line and why I worked with the enemy. Her face would turn red and she’d consider me a sellout. She would tell me life was less about how much money you had in the bank and more about how many times you stopped to frolic in the daisies.
I agreed.
“Remember, she lost her mind at the end.”
I shook my head. “No, she felt that way for years. Remember how his family treated her? How did everyone forget the horrible things he did?” Growing up I’d repeatedly heard the stories of how nasty Pierce’s grandfather discarded her after their summer together. She made me promise to never fall into the clutches of a Kensington man.
My mother left the bed and stood in front of me, taking my two hands in hers. “Katy, you don’t want to hear it, but you need to. Nanna took on that burden and carried it her entire life. She let it ruin so much happiness. Think of how wonderful her life could have been if she’d let it go?” She squeezed my hands. “Nanna had a wonderful marriage with your grandfather, but she spent most of it blaming every problem she experienced on the Kensington family. Remember when she tried to blame the ice storm of 1998 on the Kensingtons? People date and then they break up occasionally. It happens.”
“What Pierce’s grandfather did was a little worse than a breakup.”
My mother somehow smiled through our conversation. “What? Did he make her any promises? Did he say they would get married? I dated a boy for four years in high school and then we broke up the summer I left for college. I realized a long-distance thing wouldn’t work and within two weeks of being at school here in Pelican Bay I met your father. Did that make me an immoral person?”
“Of course not. You and Dad were meant to be.”
“So why couldn’t the same be true for your grandmother? Things happen the way they’re supposed to happen. Don’t let someone else’s bitterness steal a wonderful life from you.”
“But the Kensingtons walk around like they own this place and boss everyone around,” I said trying to turn my hands into fists while she held them.
She shrugged and stepped back. “Maybe they do, but think about the charity Pierce and his father gave to this town. He donates to every one of those silly little parties and celebrations the council likes to have. He’s restored many of the crumbling buildings on Main Street, and he dons the most ridiculous waders every year during the beach cleanup.”
I rolled my eyes openly that time. “He does that for a photo op.”
“It might be, but seeing him holding the most preposterous piece of garbage to come out of the ocean every year is a highlight in your local paper.”
I remembered the photo from last year where the camera crew made Pierce pretend to ride a rusted up bike we’d pulled out of the water during our two-day cleanup and laughed. “Last year they took my suggestion.” I even had the photograph from the paper cut out and saved in my vanity across the room.
“Katy, you have always been full of life. Whatever you do, you tackle it a hundred and twenty percent. You have more energy than half the town. Use it to find your happiness and forget what anyone else says or thinks. You want to live life, so live it for you.”
“It’s not that easy.” Not when you lived in Pelican Bay and your every move might make it to the phone tree gossip that evening.
“People will judge you no matter what you do so get out there and give them a wonderful story.”
I laughed because as much as my mother said she didn’t agree with my grandmother on anything, I’d heard the older woman say the same phrase. It was a good motto to live by.
“Thanks, Mom. And on those words, I’m definitely wearing the lilac dress.”
“Fine,” she said giving in halfheartedly.
18
Pierce
