The Empire

by C. L. Alden

  “Darcy Jane?” He looked as shocked as she was. He wrapped his arms around her in a big hug. She remained speechless. After a moment Will pulled away from her, but left his hand on her arm as if to keep her tethered to him. “What are you doing here?”

  “Mini vacation” she managed to say while trying to hide just how taken aback and shaken she felt seeing her first real love again after so many years. Her heart was pounding so hard, she was sure he could hear it. “Why are you here?” He looked incredibly happy to see her. She on the other hand did not want to analyze her feelings at the moment for fear of breaking down and losing control. They had so much history.

  “It’s so good to see you!” His eyes had not left her, as if he were absorbing as much of the sight of her as he could.

  “You too.” She agreed, inwardly doing a double check to make sure she was smiling and not standing there with her mouth gaping open. The years had been good to him. He’d always been good looking, but the soft boyish edges were gone and the hint of handsome that he used have in his younger years had fully emerged and settled in. His brown hair was beginning to show the first signs of grey, but those green eyes that had always seen beyond her defenses were still the same. Memories were flashing through her brain and with them a giant tangle of emotions. Was she happy? Was she sad? Angry? Excited? Nervous? All of the above, she thought. She did her best to outwardly control the expression on her face, so that it wouldn’t betray how she was feeling; however that was. She came out of her self evaluation in time to hear him say,

  “...I live here now. Just moved back last year. Decided to try and make a go of it and start my own firm.”

  “That’s great! Congratulations!” She smiled and did her best to keep her other emotions under control.

  “Thanks!”

  “What are you—” they said simultaneously and then laughed. Each took a breath.

  “After you, please.” Will acquiesced.

  “Will! Good to see you!” Eddie called out as he strode over from the table, and stood very close behind Darcy. She had mixed feelings about his intrusion. She felt an odd sense of comfort and support on the one hand, and a little disturbed about how closely he was standing next to her, like he was staking his territory. Will must have sensed something as well because he dropped his hand off her arm and took a step back.

  “Eddie,” he replied with a curt nod. Will’s mood changed immediately. He was trying to sound casual, though Darcy could hear tension underlying his tone.

  “It’s been a night of reunions for Darcy here, hasn’t it?” Eddie put his hands on her shoulders. Darcy was surprised that his touch made her feel suddenly calmer, as if her jumble of emotions had been corralled. She took a deep breath and relaxed into the feeling. She noticed that Eddie’s proximity and familiarity with her further darkened Will’s expression.

  “Well it’s been a whole day of reunions really. Eddie in the cafe this morning, then I ran into Ali Bishop on Main St.” Darcy felt unease emanating now from both Eddie and Will as they stood there staring at each other. “And, you’re the second person I’ve nearly mowed down today,” she said laughing to try and lighten the serious mood.

  Darcy’s laugh broke Will out of the staring contest. “How’d your other victim make out?” He asked laughing along with her.

  “No permanent damage. He’ll survive.” The jovial mood lasted only seconds. The stare down between the men resumed. There was another uncomfortable pause in the conversation. This time Eddie stepped up to fill the gap.

  “Will here is on the planning committee too.”

  “Really? Eddie’s going to fill me in on the latest.”

  Eddie continued as if he hadn’t heard Darcy speak, his eyes glued to Will’s. “So we see each other quite often, don’t we?”

  “Yes we do.” Will answered, not breaking the stare.

  A stifling silence followed. Darcy couldn’t stand it, and broke in on the standoff. “How nice. So...” Darcy’s hesitancy was enough to bring Will’s attention back to her. He smiled as if she were the only person he could see. In the next beat he was scanning the bar.

  “There they are,” Will motioned to a group of people across the room. He turned back to Darcy and said with a softer smile, “It was great seeing you! I hope we see each other again before you leave. Eddie,” he acknowledged with a nod of his head as he turned and walked away.

  “Great seeing you too,” was all Darcy could manage before he dissolved into the crowd. She couldn’t see where he ended up.

  “See you at the next planning meeting!” Eddie called out. “Small world, isn’t it? Well, small town really.” He commented in the same jovial manner he had all night. Whatever was between them had not soured his mood.

  “Yes it is. Excuse me,” she said, and continued on to the ladies room, making it a point not to try and find Will in the crowd.

  In the quiet privacy of the restroom her emotions broke free. Her mind was reeling. Will Martin. After all these years! She had only seen him once since they broke up sophomore year of college. They had started dating their junior year in high school, and at that time she thought they’d be together forever. Will’s world expanded ten-fold when they got to college. He fully immersed himself in it. She remembered how happy she was to see him grow and thrive, opening himself up, stretching himself academically and socially. She’d never felt more connected to him, or more in love with him. Looking back now, she thinks she should have seen it coming. Hindsight is twenty-twenty. Her twenty year old self, so trusting in their connection, their love, never saw the freight train that hit her that night. The fallout from that one moment was catastrophic, and the aftermath of discovery was so much more devastating. It felt like it took years to recover. She knew it took a lot longer than it should have to get past it. To let him go. Just remembering what happened made the breath stealing pain, that had filled her heart for so long, flare up momentarily. Some life lessons took longer to learn than others. She knew that she was in the remedial class when it came to feelings, especially back then.

  She stood in front of the mirror and tried to pull herself back together as she powdered her nose and reapplied her lipstick. She told herself that all of that was in the past and she was happy to see him. Everything else was a thousand years ago and didn’t matter anymore. She’d moved on. Yes, she’d moved on, she told herself. Being back in her home town, the mini reunion, all the other trips down memory lane she’d had with Eddie and just being home, were getting to her, that was all. She needed to stop being ridiculous and just settle down.

  As she headed out of the ladies room, she stopped and did a double take. She could’ve swore she saw, out of the corner of her eye, a man in a pirate costume like the wait staff wore back in the days of Neptune, leaning on the corner of the bar. When she turned to fully look, he was gone. Strange dreams, electric shocks and now she was hallucinating? She chuckled and then in her best Schwarzenegger voice said under her breath, “It’s not a tumah!” A running joke she had with her brother since they were kids whenever there was sudden drama or whining about physical ailments. Thinking about Joe snapped her out of the funk brought on by seeing Will. She headed back to the table, willing herself not to look around as she went.

  Eddie stood up as she approached the table. “It’s been quite a night, huh?” He remarked as he seated her. “Didn’t you and Will date years ago?”

  Darcy chuckled trying to sound as nonchalant as possible. “Yes, we did. But that was in another lifetime.” She took a long drink, noticing that Eddie was watching her as if he were gauging her reaction. She smiled at him.

  “Good.” And with that, he ended the topic and began another. “I hope you don’t mind, but I took the liberty of ordering some appetizers.”

  Head back in the game, she thought to herself. Focus on the here and now. “Great! I’m starving. Now where were we?” She asked with a devilish grin. “Oh yes, we were talking about all of your fine qualities when you were in high school.” />
  “Yes, yes, well don’t you think we’ve dwelled on the past long enough tonight?”

  “It’s been fun,” Darcy answered.

  “It’s not going anywhere.”

  “True,” Darcy agreed.

  “I wanna talk about you now. The present, the future. You’re so much more interesting.”

  Is he flirting with me? Darcy thought as he stared intensely at her. So not what she expected, or even wanted. She knew it was probably the cocktails, but she was just gonna go with it. “Yes, let’s close the door on the past for now. How about a toast?” She raised her glass.

  “Excellent idea!” He raised his glass and waited for her to begin.

  Darcy giggled. Giggling, really? Yep, the cocktails had definitely started working. “Oh, me? Well, gosh, I’m not that clever.” She stifled another giggle. Gee-zus! What am I, 15? Slow your roll, Darce. Luckily Eddie didn’t seem to notice.

  “That’s okay, I’ve got a bunch. Hmmm… well here’s one of the few clean ones I know.

  ‘Old friends are scarce,

  New friends are few;

  Here’s hoping I found

  One of each in you.’

  “Cheers she added with a clink of her glass to his. “Well said!” She was impressed at how charming and funny he could be.

  “I’ve got one more:

  ‘There are good ships, and there are wood ships,

  The ships that sail the sea.

  But the best ships, are friendships,

  And may they always be.’ Slainte!”

  “I like that! Skol!” Darcy clinked her glass against his and took a small sip, deciding she’d better start pacing herself.

  “So let’s talk about you.” Eddie circled back to his topic choice.

  “Well you promised to tell me about the, what did you call it, the Great Debate?”

  “Plenty of time for that. I want to hear about you. Who is Darcy Adams these days?”

  “Okay. Uh... well, I live in Southern California and I work for a company that partners with restaurant companies. We’re more like design consultants. They tell us what cities and the market they’re aiming for—high end fine dining, moderately priced, trendy, family oriented, and we scout for locations and pitch design ideas. If they like what we pitch, we work with the architects and contractors to make it happen.”

  “That sounds exciting. What is it that you do?”

  “I research the city our client is interested in, then scout locations and come up with themes and ideas to pitch. Earlier this week I was scouting in the Boston area and came up with a couple of cool locations. One was a train station from the early 1900’s. A brick building that needs some work, but it’s got some great bones. It still has some of the original gas fixtures, marble floors, and tin type molding in the ceiling.”

  “That sounds like it could have some potential. What’s the neighborhood like?”

  “Up and coming. There are several old factory buildings that have already been converted to high end lofts. It’s becoming one of the trendy new neighborhoods. This would be the perfect time to go in. I really think it would help the neighborhood tremendously.”

  “So what would be the theme and cuisine?”

  “I had a couple ideas, but I liked the idea of American destinations. Keep the train theme and build the menu around different destinations.”

  “Perfect! You are a visionary.” Eddie was impressed.

  Darcy blushed. She’d never been good at taking compliments. “Well, I still have to pitch these ideas.”

  “Then what happens?”

  “If they like the idea, we do a deeper dive and gather more comprehensive data and do an analysis of the area and population.”

  “When does your involvement end in the project?”

  “I go through the initial design phases, and start phasing out once supplier and contractor selection begins, and then it’s on to the next one.”

  “Interesting...” Darcy could see Eddie’s wheels turning. What was he up to?

  “I enjoy it. It gives me the opportunity to travel and I enjoy the research and process of it all.”

  Eddie was staring at her, deep in thought. “I remember you were like that as a kid. Always wanted to do everything by the book.” He smiled even though he looked a little sad. “Remember that little notebook you always carried around when we were out on adventures?”

  “It’s important to keep accurate records.” Suddenly she was a little sad too. “Didn’t we say we were shutting the door on the past for the night?”

  The waitress arrived with the appetizers. “Ahhh...perfect timing!” Eddie said helping to make space on the table.

  It was a veritable buffet of shrimp cocktail, fried calamari, hot crab and artichoke dip, served with a big wedge of crusty warm bread. There was also shrimp quesadillas, a caprese type salad with slabs of fresh mozzarella, greek olives, slices of bright red tomato topped with ribbons of fresh basil, cracked pepper, sea salt and drizzled with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

  “I wasn’t sure what you’d like, so I ordered a few things.”

  “I guess you did. It all looks fantastic!” Eddie handed her a plate and watched as she took a little bit of everything, which seemed to please him. They sat in silence for a few minutes enjoying the food and the atmosphere. She was a bit perplexed to realize that she was thoroughly enjoying his company.

  “So the Great Debate. What’s that all about?”

  “Small town politics, and a great big divide. I’m on the planning committee, along with Will, and members of some of Shoreton’s prominent old families plus some local business owners. Currently we’re divided, pretty much down the middle.”

  “Why?”

  “Have you heard about the possibility of the state building a coastal bypass off 95 north of us?”

  “Of course. It’s all my dad has been talking about for weeks. Is that going to happen?”

  “We don’t know yet. We’ve been told that the decision will be made early next year.”

  “What can you do it about it?”

  “Well, we’ve reached out to our Representatives, but either way, we’ve got to take action. For all intents and purposes, we’re a tourist town, and tourism is slowing down. We need to make Shoreton the destination it once was.”

  “How do you plan on doing that?”

  “Well that’s the problem. The Great Debate,” he emphasized the last with air quotes. “The bottom line though is that we need to ramp things up and revitalize this town. They’re doing that up north already. I know a lot of folks don’t like to admit it, but we’ve been in a steady decline for years. Where we used to be a destination, we’ve become a pitstop. We need to keep up with the times.”

  “How so?”

  “The coast is dotted with dozens and dozens of quaint New England towns. You’ve seen one, you’ve pretty much seen them all.”

  “Okay…” Where was he going with this? She wondered.

  “We need to find a way to stand out among the rest. I think we need to take some drastic steps.”

  “Such as?”

  “We need to do a major facelift and modernize. Tear down some of these ramshackle old buildings and replace them with new modern designs with a mind to efficiency—better use of space, energy efficient.”

  “Oh” Darcy was kind of shocked to hear Eddie talk about modernizing a town his family played a big part in building. She was pretty sure these ideas weren’t going over well with a lot of folks.

  “I think we need to be trailblazers, not part of the herd. We need to keep an eye to the future, not to the past.”

  “Wow that sounds exciting, but I can’t imagine a lot of people going along with that idea. People come to Maine for the quaint New England charm. If they want modern buildings they can go just about anywhere else.”

  “You’re right. But I’m not talking about totally losing that charm, just tweaking it a bit, if you will. Incorporating some of the design elements from the o
ld buildings and updating and integrating them into more modern efficient designs. New England charm 2.0.”

  “You sound very passionate about this.” Darcy was seeing the grown up, businessman side of Eddie.

  “I am. I just think we need to make some big changes if we’re going to save this town.”

  It was obvious now why there was some animosity between Will and Eddie. Darcy knew Will would absolutely hate the idea of tearing down buildings instead of trying to restore them. He loved the history and architecture of Shoreton. “But do you think it has to be as drastic as tearing stuff down?”

  “Darcy, if that bypass goes through, we’re sunk. We might as well roll up the streets and shutter the doors. We will cease to exist.”

  “My dad said the same thing… And so I take it your ideas for revitalization are one side of this debate?”

  “Yes. Well, they’re not just my ideas. There are several others on the committee who see the merits in modernizing. The other side wants to scrub and polish and hope that it’s enough.”

  “I’m sure there’s a little more to it than that.” Darcy argued. Ali’s warning was circling around in her head as well. “I can see now why there’s a divide.”

  “Look, we all want what’s best for the town. The struggle is figuring out what that is. I think positioning ourselves as leaders in modern New England charm, by being brave and bold is the right solution.” Eddie’s reply sounded absolute, almost cocky. The attitude probably didn’t help the divide on the committee, Darcy thought. But she didn’t think he was entirely wrong either. If things were as bad as he was saying, whether others wanted to admit it or not, drastic measures might be the only way to keep them relevant.

  “You might be right. I hope though, that you all can find some middle ground.”

  “Oh we will. Change is hard, but it’s for the best.” That didn’t really sound like compromise to Darcy, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to get in the middle of that conflict. After all, she was only home for a week.

  “So what does this New England charm 2.0 look like to you?”

  “Well for one, we need to build up the downtown area. We need to attract more people, and you Darcy Adams, are a part of one idea I have.”