Second Nature

Chapter 20

20 

Cade headed back along the shore toward the Inn, clenching his fists and reeling from the terrible news Weston had clubbed him with. The Stanton Hill land was not theirs. They were going to lose Cool Bay Inn. How in the hell was Lana going to handle it?  

He stomped down the long pier at Willingham's Marina and boarded his dive boat, Dolphin's Smile. He needed to do something; keep active so he could think, sort out this mess. He looked around the deck for busy work; still squeezing his fists into knots. 

He maintained the deck in tiptop shape, and just last month he'd donned scuba gear and scraped barnacles off the hull, so he opened the hatch on the engine compartment and stepped down inside. The cramped engine space smelled like saltwater and diesel oil. 

Carburetor. He could clean the carburetor. He went back topside to fetch his toolbox under the captain's bench. A moment later he had removed the carburetor from the Volvo Marine diesel and carried it up on deck. 

Cade's mind replayed a fantasy of driving his fists into Weston's mouth and nose. Set him back a few facelifts. But, goddamit, there was really nothing he could do. 

He spread a small tarp on the white fiberglass deck. Filled an empty coffee can with kerosene and dropped the carburetor into it-ploip!-fetched a clean rag for wiping down parts, fished out the carburetor, and began dismantling it.  

Franklin Hauser, that son-of-a-bitch. He'd handled the paperwork that transferred the Stanton property into Lana's name. Had he been following orders from Weston to make sure Lana never learned about the lease? Hell, the bastard cheated on her later, after he became her fiancé-it wasn't hard to believe that he'd betrayed her from the beginning, hiding from her the fact that the Inn sits on Fairchild real estate. 

Lana had signed the papers from a hospital bed, her brain floating in morphine. But Franklin could have made certain she understood about the land lease; if not at the time of the signing, he could have explained it later. Instead, he'd kept it secret. 

The whole thing stank of conspiracy: Weston must have ordered Franklin to keep the lease a secret. But what was the point? So that Weston could have the pleasure of watching Lana build her dream, her sanctuary, knowing he would someday destroy it? That made no sense. Weston didn't hate their side of the family that much. Did he? 

In any case, his sister's world was about to come to an end. Again. 

He dipped a toothbrush-sized steel brush into the kerosene and began scrubbing the inside of the carburetor barrel. Very little gunk had built up on the walls. 

The lease ran out at the end of July. Cade wondered vaguely if he and his sister could get a court order that would give them time to have the Inn moved. Yeah, right. Even with an injunction that granted them a year's reprieve, no way could they afford it. He ground his teeth. By the end of the month, he and Lana and Haven would have to abandon their home. 

He bore down on the brush, scrubbing harder. "Abandon the Inn." Scrub, scrub. "To the bulldozers." Scrub, scrub. "To make room." Scrub, scrub. "For a golf course." The plastic handle snapped in his grip. "Fuck it!" He hurled the broken pieces into the water. 

The sense of his own helplessness made him to want to burn down the sky, boil the sea, smash the earth. He chewed his lower lip raw as he put the carburetor back together. Maybe when he finished he would don scuba gear and dive down to check the boat's rudder and screw. Whatever. Just stay away from Lana, so he wouldn't have to look into her big chocolate eyes while trying to hide his worry. He needed time to figure out how to break the news. 

Suddenly, sadness overtook his anger in one heavy surge and Cade felt himself holding back a ridiculous need to cry. His heart weighted his chest like a leaden dive boot.  

They were all meant to stay together. Cade, Lana, Haven and Jimi, too. Where would they go? Would Jimi stay with Lana and Haven? Should Cade find a place of his own?  

And what about Gen? What would happen to her now?  

He looked up from his work, squinting at sunlight glinting off the bay. The tide was ebbing and the rise and fall of swells seemed like rhythmic breathing. His concern for Gen surprised him. She was not his kin, nor 'almost family,' like Jimi. But the truth was, he really cared for her.  

C'mon, man. After knowing her for, what...a whole day? 

Yes, after knowing her for a single day. Amazing how deep his emotions ran. 

When was he going to stop being suprised by his feelings for Gen and admit that she had plunged like an arrow, straight into his soul?