Possessive Best Friend

“What do you think?” I ask.

“I think this is going to be a hell of a lot of work,” she says.

“Yep. I think you’re right.”

“But I’m having a lot of fun right now.”

“I am too.” I kiss her cheek. “Now, let’s go talk to my dad.”

She groans. “Do we have to?”

“Come on, it’ll be fun. He loves you, remember?”

“I honestly think he’d let me die if he could.”

“It’s not that bad.”

She gives me a flat look. “I really, really think he would.”

I sigh but laugh. I lead her back outside, shut the door, and help her up into the truck. I go around the other side and we drive into town. I park in my old spot and we head into the dealership. I greet everyone, and it feels weirdly good to be back, even though I quit recently. Everyone’s nice and welcoming, and it’s like I never left.

Except my father stands in his office door and glares at us like I just brought the plague to him.

“What are you doing here?” he asks.

“Let’s talk,” I say.

“I don’t think so.”

“Dad, don’t make a scene. Let’s just go talk in your office.”

He stares at me for a long moment then glances at Lora. “She’s not coming.”

“She’s a part of this, Dad.”

He hesitates then grunts and walks back to his desk. I nod at Lora and we head inside. I take the chair on the right and she takes the chair on the left. Mine squeaks slightly when I lean back in it, so I stay sitting forward.

“Dad, I know you called the cops on us,” I say.

He smiles. “I don’t know what you mean.”

I ignore that. “What I don’t get is why,” I say. “I mean, I know you hate her, but why do that to your own son?”

“You know why,” he says, frown falling away. “You were going to take over for me. You were going to step up. Instead, you left.”

“Dad—”

“You left,” he repeats. “All for some… girl.”

“Dad,” I say, my voice getting stern. “That’s an absurd reason to try and ruin us. You realize we bought that warehouse, right? I mean, we already sunk a lot of money into it and we plan on sinking more. We plan on bringing a good thing into Loftville.”

“I hear you,” he says. “But unfortunately, it’s not my fault, or my problem. You’ve gotta get the right permits, son. I thought I taught you that.”

I tense. “What do you want?” I ask him.

He raises an eyebrow. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

“You want something,” I press. “There’s no way you’d go through all this if you didn’t. You want something and I’m not sure what it is. What can we do to get you to leave this alone?”

He smiles at me and doesn’t speak for a long moment before turning to look at Lora. “I want her family to do something for me,” he says.

I sigh and open my mouth to tell him to fuck off, but Lora speaks up before I can get it out. “What do you need, Mr. Ashman?”

“Here’s the deal,” he says. “For a very long time, your family’s been in charge of this town. I don’t like it, lots of folks don’t like it, although a lot of folks think your family is the only thing keeping us all afloat. Fine, maybe that’s true. But I think someone ought to be in power that’s not beholden to you all, unlike the rest of this town.”

“And you think that person is you,” Lora says with a smile.

“I think so,” Dad answers. “That’s my idea, at least. The mayoral election is coming next year. I want to be a candidate and I want to win.”

She looks surprised. “You want to be mayor? Town council isn’t good enough for you?”

“Dad, you can’t be serious,” I say. “They can’t give that to you.”

“Of course they can,” he says. “If they tell folks to vote for me, it’ll be a landslide. They’re the damn Lofthouse family.”

“We don’t get involved in politics,” Lora says.

“Oh, bullshit.” Dad glares at her. “Everything you people do is political. For once I want you to do it out in the open like everyone else.”

Lora doesn’t speak. I shake my head, totally taken aback. I’ve never heard my father talk about becoming an elected official before. In fact, he’s always made fun of the people that ran for anything. He’s had nothing but contempt for them.

And now he wants to be the mayor. It makes no sense.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Lora says.

I stare at her, shocked. Dad seems just as surprised as I am.

“Really?” I ask her. “Are you serious?”

“My family doesn’t do politics,” she says. “But there might be other ways.”

Dad laughs. He leans back and he laughs. He shakes his head, shock and amusement all over his face. “Of course there’s another way. There always is for you people. Isn’t that right?”