“Girl, you don’t even know me.”
“I’m good at reading people. That’s my thing.” Holly was getting her mojo back now. “Anyway, I do know you. You stand up for yourself, and other people. I’ve seen you kick people out of Alvin’s just for being rude to your waitstaff.”
“Yeah, I don’t put up with that shit.”
“Of course you don’t! You’re Kendra Carter. Are you really going to let that dickwad win?”
Dominic the Dickwad. It had a ring to it. “Look, I appreciate the pep talk, but there’s a lot you don’t understand about the situation.”
“You can treat me like a child if you want, but you know I’m right. You need to get your fighting spirit back. That’s my official Holly Mosedale diagnosis. Hey!” A surprised smile lit up her face. “You were totally right. Getting distracted helps so much! I just had a full minute of not feeling like dog shit.”
They high-fived each other. “Living the dream, girl. Living the dream.”
Seventeen
Jason’s first official town meeting passed in a surreal blur. He talked about the plans for the fire boat acquisition, the new volunteer recruitment sessions, and the new budget request he’d submitted for the next year.
“It’s a modest increase that will allow us to expand our outreach, especially to young people.”
“Outreach,” grumbled the oldest member of the board of aldermen, Scot Jenkins. “Sounds like one of those words that don’t mean shit unless you’re under forty.”
“Well, I am under forty, you old goat. And I’m telling you this’ll be good for the town.” Jason grinned at him, knowing he was probably the only one who could get away with calling Jenkins an old goat. He’d set his own tractor on fire once during target practice; Jason had managed to salvage it from total destruction.
Fact was, he knew this town. He was going to rock this fire chief job. Kendra was going to be so impressed that she’d start taking him seriously. Like, really seriously, not just “in bed” seriously. She wouldn’t scoff when he said things like “you’re falling for me.”
That still hurt, he could admit it.
“Nice job, Jason. Big hand for the newest member of the council, speaking as the second newest.” Earl Granger stood up and clapped, and since people tended to follow Granger’s lead, everyone else applauded too. Damn, it was good to have an ally in the mix.
Granger had taken on the job of public safety officer only a couple weeks ago, just after learning that he and Bliss were having twins. Their story had to be one of the most romantic Jason had ever heard, starting with Granger posing as the gorgeous Bliss’s bodyguard. Now they were madly in love and Bliss was on bedrest for the last weeks of her pregnancy.
If anyone could handle two newborns, it would probably be the big, stern former FBI agent. Or he’d be completely overwhelmed. Either way, Jason looked forward to teasing him relentlessly, since that was their vibe.
“Thank you, it’s great to be here.” Jason bowed to acknowledge the warm welcome, but he was more than ready to be done with this meeting. He was already sweating through his jacket in the stuffy meeting room at city hall.
After the meeting adjourned, Jason caught up with Granger in the hallway and muttered, “Thinking about a petition to ban suit jackets during meetings. You in?”
“But you look so dapper,” Granger said dryly. Typical Granger, pulling a word like that out of his ass. “You can always go back to the old uniform. Having second thoughts?”
“Never. I’m finally being recognized for more than my charming smile.” He smiled charmingly at Granger, who drew back with an affronted scowl.
“What is that?” He circled a finger in the direction of Jason’s face.
“See? You wouldn’t know a charming smile if one knocked you over.”
“You know I’m marrying a model, right?”
“She’s a lot more than a model,” Jason said severely. “You should be ashamed of yourself.”
As they reached the sunny outdoors and joined the melee of pedestrians strolling down Main Street, Granger threw up his hands. “You win.”
“Does that mean I can ask you a discreet question?”
“If you must know, the condom failed.”
Jason snorted. “Uh…good to know, but this has nothing to do with your sex life. I was wondering if you had any intel on why they didn’t give the town manager job to Kendra. Everyone knows how smart she is. She’s local, unlike the person they hired. What happened?”
“Is this you asking or Kendra?”
“She doesn’t know I’m asking. She’s moved on.”
That wasn’t completely true. He knew it still bothered Kendra. She didn’t radiate that same sassy confidence she used to. It broke his heart that Lake Bittersweet had inflicted one more blow on her, after what had happened in Minneapolis. She was too proud to dig deeper, so he was doing it for her.
“Okay. I do know something.” Granger glanced around to make sure no one was listening. “A call came in from someone who said he was Kendra’s business partner. He said she was still committed to this other business and wouldn’t be able to give her full attention to the job.”
Jason’s stomach gave a sickening lurch. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” He’d expected a different sort of answer, something in the realm of “pushing people off piers is wrong.” He hadn’t imagined anything like sabotage from her ex-boyfriend.
“He sent a copy of the contract. It seemed pretty clear that it was still in effect. But that was just the last straw. That thing on the dock, that hurt her. The dude threatened to file suit.”
Now that didn’t surprise Jason. He’d looked like that kind of guy.
“Thanks, Granger. Just so you know, I’m going to tell Kendra. She deserves to know that she got sabotaged.”
“Fair enough.”
“One more thing. With the twins, I want to be the first call you guys make in any kind of emergency, especially if Bliss is going into labor. I’ve personally delivered two babies and wouldn’t mind doubling that total.”
“Thanks, man.” Granger clapped him on the shoulder. “We’ll try to remember that when the panic hits.”
Talk about panic…try figuring out how to tell someone you cared about that her ex was going out of his way to sabotage your job hunt.
Jason put it off for a couple of days, wondering if he should let it go. She’d already been turned down for the job. Would it change anything to know what happened? Would it make things even worse to know that Dominic had a vengeful streak?
In the end, he couldn’t keep the truth from her.
Sundays were the one day they both had off from work. They slept late, then went for a mountain bike ride to the old quarry. In high school, they used to dive off a craggy rock into deep green water so still it was easy to confuse the reflected rock faces with the real thing.
It hadn’t changed a bit. The cliffs, with their gashes and scars left from the quarry days, still surrounded the quiet water like timeless sentinels. No one else was there, making them wonder if the current high school generation had forgotten this spot.