At my lack of response, he continued, muttering, “Trouble, is what I think. Nothin’ but trouble. Your brother stole my car and left a cow in its place, Mr. Dixon.”
“I’m not Cayson,” I said evenly.
He clicked his tongue and sat forward, placing his elbows on the desk that sat between us. “You might just be worse. But that is not the reason you are here, and to be quite frank, I’m surprised to see you here again. When you showed up, what . . . five? Six years ago?”
“Three.”
“I was sure I wouldn’t see you again. Sure you would realize your little fantasy was nothin’ more than that. Then I hear you’re wantin’ to meet again.” He held his hands out before clasping them and gave me a condescending grin. “I can’t wait to hear this.”
I was starting to understand why Cayson had played a prank on the mayor. Kid was an idiot for all his pranks, but this guy deserved it.
He was pushing me in ways he shouldn’t, and I was struggling so damn hard not to let it show.
After taking a few breaths, I said, “Last time we met, I told you what I wanted to do. What I planned to do so you would be prepared for when I came back today.” I set one of the packets on his desk, never losing his amused stare. “I’m buying that house.”
He gave a little nod, that smile of his growing. “As you said before.” Without looking at the papers, he shrugged. “It belongs to the town, son.”
“I’m not your son,” I said in a low tone, then forced myself to count backward before continuing. “The house is just sitting there. The town needs someone to take care of it—give it life. They need something like what Savannah and I wanna do to it.”
“A bed and breakfast,” he said, nodding as if remembering our last conversation. “It’s great in theory, and I have to agree a B&B would be great for the town. But as I said, the plantation house belongs to the town.”
“For now,” I said confidently. “Savannah and I have saved everything we’ve ever made for that house. We’re both double majoring in business and hospitality management, and Savannah’s minoring in marketing, so we’ll know what we’re doing. Our business plan is in those papers as is—”
“Again, all great in theory.”
“As is the agreement from the family who used to own it,” I continued and watched as the mayor’s eyebrows drew close as he finally grabbed the packet and started thumbing through the pages. “I was looking through public records on the plantation house and found that. After the part about leaving the house to the town of Amber and its residents, it says an Amber resident may purchase the house with the intent of caring for the house as the family had for generations.”
He finally found the page he was looking for and read, eyes darting across the page, devouring each word until he finally sat back in his chair with a sigh, taking the packet with him. “I see.”
“I’m buying that house.”
He flipped to the front of the packet and scanned mine and Savannah’s business plan as he asked, “And why has it been so important for you to prove to me that you could?”
I set the other, smaller packet on his desk and flipped it open to the right page. “Because you’re the current mayor. And since the house currently belongs to the town, you have to sign off on it so I can purchase it. You also have to approve our business plan.”
“I’m aware of that one, Mr. Dixon,” he grumbled. After an eternity of reading through the packets, he huffed to himself and reached for a pen. “Fine. I can’t wait to watch this fail.”
I curled my hands into fists and focused only on breathing as I watched him sign everywhere that was needed.
Once he was done, I asked, “Why would you want it to?”
He slid the packets my way and then went back to leaning over the desk, resting on his elbows. “I’ve never known any person to get arrested as many times as you or that one brother of yours. And every time, y’all get off scot-free. I don’t understand it, and it really grinds my gears. So, I would love, just once, to watch you fail in something, Mr. Dixon.”
Grabbing the packets, I stood, nodding as I went. “This won’t be it,” I assured him as I turned and left the office. Never slowing as I got in my Explorer and headed to the bank for the second time that week. Wishing for once that I lived in a place where I wouldn’t be recognized. Where I could come and go without anyone caring.
Savannah had gone to the next city over to hang out with her friends—I wasn’t worried about her seeing me. It was the rest of the town and their watchful eyes and obsessive need to know and share everyone’s business at every hour of the day.
Going anywhere in town had people talking for one reason or another. Going to the bank twice in one week? By the time I left, people were either going to think I had severe financial problems or they would be closer to the mark. And they were gonna tell everyone, including Savannah.
“Mr. Dixon,” Mr. Coty, the loan officer, said when I walked into his office, hopefulness in his expression. “Do we have news?”
I set the packet with the signatures on his desk and sank into a chair. “He signed everything.”
He clapped his hands and pulled the packet closer. “All right then, let’s get this going.”
“Can we wait?”
Surprise crossed his face as he slowly removed his hands. “If that’s what you want to do. Can I ask why the change?”
“I want Savannah to be a part of buying the house.”
Mr. Coty gave a slow nod as a gentle smile tugged at his mouth. “Understood.”
“I didn’t know how long any of this would take, or if the mayor would ever sign,” I said, then jerked my chin toward the packet. “But I wanted to have it all ready so it could be a wedding gift for Savannah.”
A shock of a laugh left him as he tapped the packet. “This is some wedding gift, Mr. Dixon.”
My head slanted in the beginnings of a shake. “You don’t understand what that house means to us. But I, uh . . . I wanna know if I can use the house. Now.”
He gave a look as if his hands were tied. “If you purchase it, yes. But with wanting to wait . . .”
“Since we were kids, Savannah has described our wedding. There,” I explained. “So, I wanna fix up the back of the property, and I will do whatever it takes to make that happen because it’s her dream, and there’s no way I’m not giving us that. But if it’s possible, I’d like it to remain a surprise for her that the mayor signed off on the business and the house until we’re married.”
He sat there for a while, tapping his fingers on his desk as he seemed to think. “So, the two of you purchase after the wedding, but you fix up the property before and have the wedding there even though it doesn’t belong to you. Correct?”
I grunted in affirmation.
“Technically, the family left the house to the town and its residents, and you are an Amber resident just wanting to care for the property.”
My jaw twitched as I fought a smile. As excitement moved through me.
“And, technically, the mayor has already signed over the house and signed off on a bed and breakfast to be at that location and run by the two of you. So, I don’t see why you can’t be on the property. Just . . . maybe not inside yet since this is all technicalities and you don’t own anything yet.”