When I get back to the cabin, there’s another pickup in the driveway. It’s Sheriff Whittaker’s truck. He’s sitting in the front seat with the engine running, waiting for me. I pull up beside him and turn my engine off, jumping out and circling toward his vehicle. He gets out of his own truck and extends his hand for me to shake.
“Bill,” I say. “What can I do for you? Hope you haven’t been waiting long.”
“Couple minutes,” he says. “Can I come in?”
“Sure,” I respond. Our feet crunch on the gravel as we make our way to the tiny cabin that I call home. I let him in and head for the wood stove, lighting it before facing the Sheriff again. I nod to the table.
“Coffee?”
“Sure,” he says, taking a seat at my small round table. I put some coffee on and head back toward the table. I sit across from the Sheriff and study his face. He looks almost worried. He’s staring at me steadily, but there’s something in his eyes that I don’t recognize.
“So what’s going on?”
“Aiden, I don’t know how to tell you this,” he starts. He looks down at his hands and takes a deep breath. I frown as my heart starts to beat a bit harder.
“What’s wrong? Is it Dominic? Is he in trouble? Is it Ethan? His Ranger training?”
He shakes his head from side to side and my shoulders relax. “No, no, no. Nothing like that. As far as I know your brothers are fine.”
I nod my head slowly as the coffee machine gurgles behind me. I get up to pour a couple of mugs as Bill composes himself. He doesn’t look ready to talk, and as much as I want him to spit it out, I get up to give him a moment’s space.
The two mugs of coffee slosh as I set them down on the table. Bill nods in appreciation and grabs one of them, taking a long drink before looking at me again.
“It’s the girl, Aiden. The environment girl.”
“Maddy?” I say, frowning. Bill nods. My heart starts to beat a bit faster and my eyes harden as I look at him. “She’s a woman, first of all. An environmental engineer. Not an ‘environment girl’.”
Bill looks at me and then back at his mug, nodding. “Right, sorry,” he says. He takes a deep breath and looks back at me. “Aiden, you have to stop seeing her.”
“Like fuck I do,” I spit back at him. The anger is starting to flood my veins as I stare at him in front of me. How dare he come into my house and tell me what to do in my own personal time. Does he think that because he’s Sheriff that he gets to decide who I can date?
Bill takes a deep breath and shakes his head again. “Aiden, the townspeople are looking to you for guidance. They listened to you at the town hall meeting. There’s another meeting being called for next week. We’re going to petition the state government to block the construction. Will you sign it?”
I stare at him for a few moments and nod my head slowly. “Yes,” I answer. I might not want to be the spokesman they want but I still don’t want the hotel to be built.
Bill nods and takes a deep breath. “Great, thanks. But Aiden, if you’re speaking publicly against it, and then getting into bed with one of the company workers…” His voice trails off and he finally lifts his eyes back up to me. “It doesn’t look good.”
The anger inside me is starting to feel red hot. I take a deep breath to calm myself down and force my voice to stay steady and low.
“Bill, you’re the one who asked me to speak at that meeting, remember? You forced that on me. You’re asking me to sign this fucking petition. And now you’re telling me that I’m not the perfect little poster boy that you were wanting? Are you fucking kidding me?”
“So what, now you want this monstrosity to be built? You want these mountains to be overrun and destroyed by tourists, filled with trash and trampled by people? Is that what you want? Is that what your father would want?”
“Don’t fucking talk about my father,” I respond. The two of us stare at each other across the tiny table. Our chests are heaving up and down and our eyes are locked together. I hang on to the anger that’s coursing through me, not wanting to let go of it when he’s telling me how to live my life.
Bill backs down first. He slumps back in his chair and brings his hand to his forehead. He shakes his head slowly from side to side and my heartbeat starts to slow. When he speaks, his voice is calmer.
“Aiden, I know I asked a lot of you. I know I’m still asking a lot of you. The McCoys are pushing hard for this hotel to be built, and I don’t know why yet. I can’t figure it out. It can’t just be to get more tourists through the town.”
“Well I wouldn’t trust them,” I snarl. “They stole my father’s businesses right after they fucking killed him.”
Bill looks at me and says nothing. We stare at each other for a few long moments until he raps his knuckles on the table and stands up.
“I’m trying to figure this out, Aiden. I’m just asking for a bit of help. This hotel won’t benefit anyone except the McCoys, and they have too much pull around here already. Sometimes I wonder if this uniform means anything anymore.”
I take a deep breath and Bill looks at me one more time.
“Can you just cool it off with your woman? Don’t be so public about it? Just until I figure this out? Until I know what’s going on and we get this petition off to the state.”
Reluctantly, I nod my head. Bill’s lips draw into a thin line and he nods back at me.
“Thank you.” He walks to the front door and turns back toward me. He takes a deep breath and looks me up and down. “You know, Aiden, I see a lot of your father in you. I respected him and I respect you. It was terrible what happened. You boys deserved better. This could be your chance to make it right. It could be your chance to show the McCoys that they don’t run this town, and they don’t own any of us.”
His words pass through my chest like an arrow and my eyes start to prickle. I say nothing, and he lets himself out of the cabin. When I hear his truck turn down the mountainside, I let out a long breath.
Maybe he’s right. Maybe this is my chance to take back my life and livelihood from the McCoys. If there is more going on with them and the new hotel, my being with Maddy is playing directly into their hand.
That familiar hatred for the McCoys blooms in my stomach and I enjoy the feeling of it for a few moments. It’s not until Maddy’s face paints itself in my mind’s eye that I hesitate. For the first time in years, I feel something other than numbness and anger. I feel almost happy when I’m with her.
And now I’m supposed to throw it all away? I’m supposed to let that go for some decades-old feud between our two families?
Even as the thought crosses my mind, I know it’s not just a feud between our families. The future of Lang Creek and these mountains hangs in the balance. I lean back in my chair and take a deep breath.
I don’t know what to do. I need to choose between my own happiness and my father’s legacy. I need to choose between my past and my future, and I don’t know which is the right choice.