“So you can give them to your groupies?” I ask, holding the tray to my chest.
“Groupies?” He looks around. “Who?”
“I’ve got these. You can wait and get your own.”
I walk away from him and pass around the plates, telling everyone to Vote Greene each time I put a plate down, but once I’m back at the cooking station, Gavin’s there again.
“We’re not having a competition,” I inform him.
Erwin still crosses the street to the other side if he sees me coming ever since the 10K race. I glance over and see that Gavin’s chained Erwin to the table with pins and fliers and signs for people to show their support for Gavin.
“I’m just helping,” Gavin says.
“Nice of you to be here on time,” I sneer.
Adam clears his throat, but he can go suck it. I’m sick of being the cute and friendly Posey Greene. This whole day blows. I don’t want to see Gavin and Naomi flirting all morning.
“Yeah, I was up late and slept through my alarm.” He exhales.
“Up late, huh?” Adam says with a raised brow.
Gavin cocks his head. “What are you implying?”
“Up late would suggest—”
“Here.” I shove a tray at Gavin. “Go feed your groupies.” I nod toward the crowd of women who now have Vote Price adorning themselves. Might as well write it in glitter on their foreheads.
“You know, if you’re jealous—”
“Shut up, Adam!” I yell a little too loudly because a few tables glance over.
Adam just laughs at me.
I purposely go to the opposite side of the room to pass out pancakes, returning only when I have no choice. I time it so Gavin isn’t at the kitchen too, but after a few trips, we end up next to each other at the pancake station once again.
“Can we hurry this up?” I ask Adam, who goes slower, his movements exaggerated and drawn out.
Gavin chuckles. “You okay?” Gavin asks me. “Seem a little high strung.”
“You know there isn’t a shortage of males in Alaska, right? Men outnumber the women here.”
He gives me that confused expression. “I’m not following why that matters.”
“Those women don’t need to be fighting over you.” I glance over his shoulder, and he does the same.
Naomi and two of her friends are staring at him. They smile and wave. Gavin waves back.
“Oh, I get it.” Gavin nods to himself.
“You get what?” I watch Adam’s movements, hoping he’ll move faster.
“You’re jealous.”
Adam coughs out a laugh but stops when I give him the side-eye.
“You’re crazy.” I take the tray of pancakes that’s finally ready, but Gavin doesn’t wait for his, following me instead.
“Is it? I have no control over those women and whether they want to ogle me.”
“Ogle?” I stop and turn toward him. “Full of yourself, are you?”
“What word do you want me to use?”
I pass out the pancakes, dropping plates on tables and murmuring vote Greene. Gavin’s right behind me and he tugs on my arm to get me to stop.
“I don’t want those women, Posey. You know the woman I want.”
My cheeks heat and I look around. “I’ve got to go to the bathroom.”
I beeline it out of the cafeteria until I reach the bathroom, then I take several deep breaths at the sink. Why would I be jealous? I’m the one pushing Gavin away, not the other way around.
“Get it together, Posey,” I tell myself in the mirror.
Shaking off my irritation with Naomi Needles, I exit the bathroom and return to the pancake station to find my brother Jed there.
“You’ve been replaced,” he says. “Go sit down and eat something. Maybe your blood sugar is low. You’re acting like a lunatic.”
I growl. “I am not acting like a lunatic.”
“Just go take a break.”
I stomp away and realize that Jed might have a point because there are a lot of eyes on me.
Naomi shouts my name and raises her hand. Her friends are all huddled together, and Gavin is in the middle. Each of them has a Vote Price button on their shirt, and some of them are holding signs like it’s a photo booth.
I walk over and Naomi hands me her phone. “Will you take our picture?”
Looking over my shoulder, I see everyone behind me waiting for a scene to unfold. They probably think this will send me right over the edge into Crazyville. Gavin’s face is full of concern and apology.
“I’d love to.” I take her phone.
While I’m walking back and making sure I get everyone in the frame, Naomi is all up on Gavin. “What are you doing tonight? We were going to play cards at Ari’s. Want to join? Don’t worry, it won’t be strip poker—”
“Ready?” I ask. “One. Two…”
“Unless you want to play strip poker,” she finishes right as I say three.
I roll my eyes and purposely cut all their heads off in the picture. I hand the phone back to Naomi and walk away.
“Posey, the heads are cut off,” she screeches behind me.
“Oops,” I say, raising my hand and walking away.
My mom’s gaze is on me the entire time I cross the room. I plop into the chair next to her. She picks up one of her signs and puts it in front of us to block us from anyone looking.
“Talk to me,” she says.
I shake my head. “I’m fine. Just a bad day.”
“Are you sure?” She rests her hand on my knee. “You can talk to me.”
I doubt she wants to hear that I like Gavin Price. How he took me on an amazing date and then decided to run for mayor against her, which made him our enemy. Now my high school nemesis is flirting with him and it’s pulling some horrible version of my personality out of me.
“It’s just Naomi… you know we’ve never gotten along.”
“I know. You two have a habit of falling for the same man.” She rolls her eyes.
Who didn’t know I liked Anton Powers? Jeez.
I pick up the sign and put it back in position. “I’ll be fine. You have way too many pins here.”
She laughs as I grab the basket. Plastering on a smile, I go to pass out some pins, purposely going to the tables with all the men, some of whom are the husbands of Gavin’s groupies.
“Posey! Give me one of those.” Ari’s husband raises his hand. “Fucking Price. Does Ari forget how much she wanted me in high school?”
I laugh, and the rest of the guys ask for a pin too.
It’s clear how this race is going to go down. If I can get my mom the men’s votes, we should have the advantage. Take that and your good looks, Gavin Price.
I look across the room and find Gavin talking with four fishermen, who look as if they just got back from a long trip. He has them laughing and they seem receptive to him.
Hmm. Looks like it’s not only the female vote Gavin can win over. Something has to be his kryptonite; I just have to find out what it is.
“So this is the annual Sunrise Bay fest?” I soak in the experience. Families. Couples. Every age group from newborn to one hundred. A band plays on the big stage. It’s literally something right out of the movies.