Mavis inhaled. "Dear, the town has been struggling a little, and Mr. Shepherd's project will help us unload some undesirable parcels of land."
Charlotte pointed her manicured nail at the glass-fronted multi-purpose building “But, you can't build this out in the middle of nowhere."
She was right. The planned subdivisions and real estate developments that were part of the later phase in the project could be built out of town, towards Windswan, but the arena needed a prime piece of land, one that wouldn't be cheap.
"Charlotte," Mavis said in a grandmotherly tone, "we would like to sell the land at 212 Maple Street to the King Corporation and we would like you to facilitate the trade. At a discounted commission."
Charlotte looked like she'd been slapped.
An arm reached over my shoulder to fill Rob's mug. Heat rushed to my cheeks as the tinkle of bells rang above me. It wasn't Megan.
Play it cool, Beck.
"You want me to sell the Chance Rapids arena, a piece of this town's history, to a developer… and discount my commission?"
The pouring stopped. "What will happen to the arena?" Clara's voice was soft.
"There will be a new, better ice surface." I pointed to the brochure.
Clara set Rob's mug in front of him and picked up Charlotte's. I didn't think anyone but me noticed the slight tremble in her hand. "Beckett. What are you going to do to our rink?"
"Clara," Mavis said, "this is a private conversation."
Charlotte took her mug from Clara's hand. I picked mine up to pass it to her, but she didn't take it.
"You." There was venom in her voice. "You're going to tear down our ice rink, aren't you?" Clara's hands shook, and her hand gripped the carafe so hard her knuckles were white.
"It's going to be good for the town." Yes, we were going to tear it down. The profit from building high-density townhomes would fund William's passion project.
Clara's nostrils flared as she picked up my mug, her hand shaking as she poured hot coffee directly over my crotch. Reflexively, I crossed my hands over my junk, just in case she 'accidentally' overfilled my mug.
Clara slammed the mug on the table, and I was spared first-degree burns to the weiner.
"YOU. Don't live here anymore. You have no idea what's good for this town. The best thing for Chance Rapids is if you turn around, get in your fancy truck with your stupid shoes, and get the hell out of here before you ruin the best thing in this town." Her voice shook. I knew she was fighting to hold back tears.
"Dear, that's quite enough." Mavis dabbed her mouth with a paper napkin.
"Sorry, Mavis, but it's true." Clara's eyes shimmered, and she was about to lose her fight to a tear.
My chest clenched. The last time I'd seen her cry was the day I told her I wasn't coming back after college. Those tears had nearly broken me. Now it looked like I was about to do it again.
Clara turned on her heel, the bells jingling as she rushed away.”What did you do to that poor girl?" Rob chuckled.
I've never wanted to punch someone off the ice as much as I wanted to slam my fist into that grinning idiot's face.
4
CLARA
I neededto get away from Beck and his plan to rip down the place that had saved my life. Charlotte was right. The arena was a part of the town's history, part of his own damn legacy.
The farthest place I could get to was the storage room. My knees shook and I steadied myself by holding onto a metal rack. The room tilted I dropped onto a box of coffee filters.
The tears I'd been holding in burned as they streamed down my cheeks.
"Clara?" Megan stood in the doorway, my antlers in her hand. "You dropped these."
I swiped at the tears and tried to stand to take the antlers. "I was checking to see if we were low on the dark roast beans. I'll be right out."
