I hadn’t understood what she’d meant at the time, but I thought I might now. Growing up was hard, and sometimes we had to struggle through the dirt to find our way. If Asher and I were both seedlings, we were finding separate paths to the surface of the soil. Ultimately, we’d both reach sunlight, just in different places.
“Hey, Grace?” My mom poked her head into my room. Her dark blond hair was in its usual ponytail, like she didn’t have the time or energy to do anything else with it. She wore a light gray t-shirt and a pair of jeans she’d probably had since I was little. But even with her busy-single-mom wardrobe, she was beautiful. “I picked up some pizza for dinner. Want to come down?”
“Sure, I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
She smiled. “It’s good to have you home.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
As ready as I’d been to find my own path to the sunlight, I hadn’t taken the decision to go away to college lightly. There was a perfectly good school right here in Tilikum, and I could have saved money living at home. As the child of a single mother and a mostly-absent father, I’d been very conscious of the financial ramifications of college.
But I’d been dying for something new. A new place, new people, new experiences. And my mom had encouraged me to go away to college. Enthusiastically, in fact. I got the sense that she didn’t want me to wind up stuck here, like her.
I glanced at Asher’s window again. I’d never admitted it out loud, but he’d been the deciding factor. My senior year he’d been a freshman in college, and he’d started dating a girl he’d met at school. It had made me realize that staying here would mean watching Asher build a life with someone else. Even if it wasn’t her—and ultimately, they hadn’t stayed together—it would be someone. I wanted that for him. I wanted him to be happy. But living with it every day would be torture.
I’d spent high school working my ass off to get good grades. Participated in extracurricular activities to make my applications stronger. And applied for every scholarship under the sun.
And I’d done it. I’d gotten into WSU, a school four hours from home, with enough scholarships to make it work. Now I had two years of college under my belt. Two years of living somewhere else—in a place where no one knew my history. Where they didn’t know my father had gotten my mom pregnant when she was nineteen, then dangled the possibility of marriage for years without ever committing. Where they didn’t know I was the good girl. The overachiever who’d spent more time in high school building a resumé than hanging out with friends.
I’d started fresh. Made new friends. Done things no one who knew me here would believe. I’d gotten a fake ID and gone out to bars. Dyed my hair pink for a while. Gone to a frat party dressed as a mermaid. I’d taken a spontaneous road trip with a few friends to New York City over spring break. We’d taken turns at the wheel and gone over twenty-six hundred miles in forty-two hours. Spent a few days in the city, then drove all the way back across the country.
I’d even dated a couple of guys. Dating hadn’t been on my radar in high school, so it had been a new experience for me. And it had been fun. Neither relationship had lasted very long, but I wasn’t interested in getting serious with someone. And I was still friends with my most recent ex, so it had worked out fine.
Even with the fun I’d had—and I’d admittedly gone a little crazy, especially at first—I’d kept my grades up. I wasn’t going to risk my scholarships. I had at least two more years until I finished my degree, and then… I didn’t really know. The future still seemed like a hazy spot on the horizon—something I could just make out if I squinted. I wasn’t sure what it was going to look like, only that I was determined to find my own road.
I put a few more things away—mostly clothes, plus books and other random stuff. I left some of it in the plastic tote I’d stuffed in the backseat of my car—just shoved it in a corner for now. There wasn’t much point in unpacking everything when I’d just have to pack it all again in a few months.
Elijah ran up the stairs, making as much noise as a whole pack of almost-four-year-olds, not just one. He burst into my room, his dark hair hanging in his eyes.
“Are you coming?”
“Yeah, buddy, I’ll be right there.”
“Mom says it’s time to eat.”
“Okay, okay, I’m coming.”
I followed Elijah down the stairs and through the cluttered living room. Toys spilled out of a toybox, littering the floor in front of the couch and armchairs. The furniture was newer than what we’d had when I was younger. My father had swooped back into my mom’s life a couple of years before Elijah had come along, trying to win her back. He’d fixed things around the house and bought us new furniture. And for a little while, he’d had both of us fooled.
Then he’d taken us on a cruise, and nine months later, I had a baby brother. But Dad hadn’t stuck around—because of course he hadn’t. Mom had broken up with him for good—or what I hoped was for good—when Elijah was still a baby, and he’d gone back to being an absentee father who just paid child support.
I kind of hated the furniture. It was a constant reminder that I’d never been enough to make my dad stay.
The kitchen table, however, had been a gift from Gram and Grandad Bailey when I was little. It was round with dark brown stain and four matching chairs. I trailed my hands along the back of one of the chairs as I walked by.
Mom was in the kitchen, busy pouring Elijah a glass of milk. The pizza box sat on the counter.
“I hope you still like pepperoni,” Mom said.
I saw the name on the box—Home Slice Pizza—and my brow furrowed. “Pepperoni is fine, but you can’t get pizza there. The Havens own that place.”
She pulled three plates out of the cupboard and set them on the counter. “Oh, lord. Grace, I don’t have time to worry about who owns what pizza place or what side they’re on. That stupid feud is ridiculous anyway.”
I eyed the pizza box with suspicion, like there might be a rattlesnake inside.
She wasn’t wrong. The Tilikum town feud was ridiculous. But the fact that it was ridiculous had nothing to do with loyalty.
Tilikum was a town divided. The college and surrounding area were generally regarded as neutral territory, but the rest of the town was split. It had been that way for generations, and it influenced everything. Where you shopped and ate. Who your friends were. Where you worked. Even where you lived. It all depended on which side you chose, or had been chosen for you by the family of your birth.
Baileys or Havens.
The true origins of the feud were lost to the murky depths of history and town lore. Some said it had started with a murder. Others said it had started with an affair. There were stories about treasure buried somewhere in the mountains. About a young couple hopping a train and disappearing forever, leaving angry families behind. The theories were as divisive as the feud itself. Everyone in town had a favorite, and debates could get heated.
These days, the feud wasn’t nearly as dramatic as runaway lovers or torrid affairs. And there were certainly no murders. Even so, lines had been drawn.
As for me, I’d always been on Team Bailey, and my loyalty was fierce.