Hi. I’m Claire. You might have already seen me at the Deep Haven pizza joint, Pierre’s Pizza. I make a mean spinach pizza. I also tend the flowers at the Deep Haven Community Gardens. Yeah, that’s right, exciting stuff.
I’m going places.
Actually, OK, I know that’s not funny. My entire life seems to be on hold since I graduated from high school seven years ago. It’s not that I don’t want to do something amazing or exciting. It’s just that . . . well, I don’t know what that might be.
See, since my best friend, Felicity, died, I seem to be stuck in Deep Haven. I can’t seem to find my groove. I spend most of my time watching over my grandfather, Gibs, and looking in on Tiger and Darek. And Jensen—yes, I see him hanging around also. My heart just hurts for him, even though I can’t bring myself to talk to him.
I know the accident wasn’t his fault. Exactly. No, he has other reasons to feel guilty. And it’s for those reasons I can’t forgive him.
Even if I’ve never stopped loving him. But he never loved me, so I’m not sure why I’m still pining for him.
No. Not pining. Just . . . wishing life could have been different for all of us. Wishing that once upon a time Jensen had possessed the courage to take a chance on me. Then, maybe everything would have been different.
Maybe we all would have had a happily ever after.
So, I’m stuck here in the no-man’s land of grief, regret . . . confusion . . . and unless something changes, I guess I’ll be in Deep Haven forever, making pizza, playing in the Blue Monkeys and tending the garden.
And really, nothing exciting ever happens in Deep Haven, right?
Read my story in Susan May Warren’s newest novel, Take a Chance on Me.