“Don’t you try to sweet-talk me, Therese. I know what you’re up to.” He pursed his wrinkled lips in contemplation. “Fine. I’ll resign. But I’ve been mayor of this town for twenty-eight years.”
“Yeah,” interjected Josh. “Because no one else wanted the job.”
“Silence.” Mayor Carmichael banged his gavel for the last time. “I want a statue erected or a park named after me.”
“That can be arranged,” said Garrett with nil hesitation.
Mayor Carmichael scowled at me from across the room. Then he said, “You’re the Bennet girl, aren’t you? Have you got time for these duties what with school and everything?”
I frowned. “I’m thirty, not thirteen.”
“What are you doing with your hair in pigtails, then?”
“They’re not pigtails, they’re space buns.”
The outgoing mayor stood, leaving his gavel behind with one last look of longing. “I’m out of here. We’ll soon see what kind of mess you all get in without me to guide you. And don’t think I’ll come back even if you beg!”
Miss Therese blew him a kiss. “Thanks, Rog.”
“I . . .” I blinked. “Hang on. This can’t be official. What about democratic process? I’d just be the interim mayor until we could hold an election, right?”
“Why waste time? Let me make it official for you.” Yong looked around the room. “Anyone else want to be mayor and work with Garrett representing the town and sorting all of this out and answering everybody’s annoying questions all of the time and receiving very little thanks and absolutely no monetary compensation?”
Emma laughed. “Hell no.”
“She’s a sucker,” mumbled Josh.
The finger I pointed at him was highly aggressive. “I heard that.”
And there were plenty of people shaking their heads and a goodly number of no’s.
“Yeah,” said Yong. “Me neither. You’re it, Ani. Congratulations. Party at the bar tomorrow night to celebrate our new mayor!” #smh
Garrett waited in the foyer of the old movie theater. A table was once again covered in an array of maps and building plans. There he stood, looking entirely too good for my nerves, in jeans and boots. He even wore a navy button-down with the sleeves rolled up. Like any man’s muscular forearms should be displayed in such a wanton manner. “Thought you’d look less shell-shocked by now.”
“Sorry to disappoint you.”
“Do I call you Madam Mayor or Mayor Bennet or . . .”
“That’s what I love about this town, so very many funny people.” I took a sip from my bottle of water. Holding it gave my hands something to do. “And I am just delighted to represent you all. Temporarily. Until there can be an official vote.”
“Look on the bright side, you didn’t have to come up with policies or a campaign or any of that bullshit.”
“True,” I said. “Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the town’s hustle.”
“Just never saw yourself as mayor?”
“Not even a little.”
“You might have gotten bullied just a bit,” he said. “But they trust you.”
I smiled. “Yeah. I guess they do.”
After finishing her morning pot of tea, Linda had told me to go do some mayoring. I just hoped she didn’t mess with the display of reusable feminine hygiene products I had been working on. It was on its way to being a masterpiece.
“No one on any of the building crews has sold you out to the media yet?” I asked.
“They all signed NDAs. But we both know it’s going to happen sooner or later,” he said. “How was your first day as mayor?”
“I delighted a group of small children by agreeing to swear in their dog as deputy mayor. I, for one, think Fluffy has a great career ahead of her in small-town politics.”
His smile was brief, but it counted. Yay, me.
And if I wasn’t wholly immune to the man, then I could at least keep a safe distance between us. For the sake of my heart and loins, if nothing else. Neither of us wanted to get involved. We were both in agreement about that. So keeping some space between us was the smart thing to do, given the situation.
“You’re really thinking of reopening the theater?” I asked, crossing my arms over my breasts.
“Haven’t quite decided. But it makes sense to at least fix it while I’ve got the workers here.”
I nodded. “It’s all happening so fast.”
“I have a great lawyer. She’s persuasive as all hell and has her fingers in all sorts of pies. Her partner’s big in the building industry. I told them both that money is no issue.”
“Wow.”
“Got to spend it all on something. Come look at this,” he said, nodding at the building plans on top of the pile. “I want to hear what you think.”
I took a couple of steps forward and craned my neck. “This is the foyer?”
“Yeah.”
“Looks good. Authentic old-time theater, but not dilapidated and falling down.”
“How can you see anything from over there?” he asked, moving aside to make room for me. “Come closer, Ani.”