Someone nudged Josh from behind, and he stepped aside. She took a moment to brace herself for the sight of him with another woman and then burst out laughing when she saw his date. It was Todd. The two of them spotted her and walked over.
Josh frowned, glancing at Neil sitting at the table in the corner, talking to Gwen and his brother. “What’s going on? I thought you were on a date with Neil.”
“And I thought you had a date with a woman. Anything you want to share?”
Todd snorted. “No one in his little black book was available on short notice.”
“I knew it,” Em said. “You made that up so you could check on me.”
“Yeah, and apparently I wasn’t the only one,” Josh said, looking around the restaurant.
And that’s when Em noticed the other couples in the darkened corners. Half the Sisterhood had shown up with their significant others. But instead of being ticked, she was grateful she had so many people who cared about her, especially the man watching her with a smile in his eyes.
Chapter Twenty-Two
We didn’t lose because Em’s not here, guys. What do I always say?” Always was a stretch. They rarely lost.
“Sometimes you win. Sometimes you learn,” Charlie and Mike said from where they sat at the end of the bench, dangling their helmets between their knees.
Quinn and Cal glanced at him with their eyebrows raised. He’d asked them to fill in for Em. The Embrace Your Inner Witch town hall meeting was tonight, and it had started at the same time as the game. He figured the guys would be stoked. Cal played football in high school with Josh, and the boys always enjoyed when he came to help at practice, and Quinn had played in the NFL for three years before he blew out his knee. But clearly, no one could replace Em. Admittedly, he missed having her behind the bench too.
Bri appeared with two large plastic containers. “Good game, guys.”
“Thanks,” several of the team murmured while a few of the players looked at her as if wondering what game she’d been watching.
“Em was disappointed she couldn’t be here to cheer you on. She made you cupcakes to make up for it,” Bri said, opening the lid.
Josh leaned in to get a look at the cupcakes. They were dark chocolate and decorated to look like witches’ hats. Half of an Oreo cookie sat in the middle of green icing the color of Em’s eyes with a chocolate kiss on top.
“My sister doesn’t bake,” Cal said, frowning at the cupcakes.
Josh reached into the container, picked up a cupcake, and took a bite. It took a minute to swallow it. “Clearly, she baked these.”
“Oh, yeah?” Cal grinned and took one for himself before Bri started passing them around to the team. Cal made a face and swallowed. “I think she forgot the sugar.”
Bri glanced at her husband, fighting a grin. “She made sugar-free and gluten-free cupcakes for Josh. She added the icing and decorations for the boys.” She pulled a cookie from her pocket. “She didn’t forget about you, Gus.”
Josh focused on the players’ faces as they bit into the cupcakes. Every one of them acted as if they were the best cupcakes they’d ever tasted. He reached in his pocket for his phone and took a photo for Em and then sent it. He scanned the latest texts from her, hoping for an update from the town hall meeting. He was concerned it would get out of hand. But her last text was from Wednesday night when she’d let him know she’d gotten home okay from the restaurant.
He was going to ask Quinn if he’d heard anything but then Josh got busy. The team was as down in the dumps after they’d showered and changed as they were right after the game. Josh gave them another pep talk before they left the locker room. Cal and Quinn were waiting for him in the parking lot. “You guys didn’t have to stick around.”
“A few of the parents wanted to chat about your revised practice schedule,” Cal said.
Josh imagined they did. He’d heard some grumblings in the stands at the end of the game. They blamed tonight’s loss on the reduced practice time.
“Don’t worry. We backed you a hundred percent.”
“Yeah, I don’t think you’ll be getting any more complaints. Cal had the stats to back you up,” Quinn said.
“Thanks. Hopefully they’ll let Peter O’Brien know,” Josh said, taking his car keys from his pocket. “So how did the town hall go?” he asked Quinn.
“According to my mother, Em was the hero of the night.”
“Why? Did it get violent? Is she okay?” Josh asked, ignoring Cal, who was looking at him as if his reaction was over the top.
“It got a little rowdy but Em and a few of her colleagues from HFPD shut the protesters down before it got out of hand,” Quinn said.
“I don’t get it. How’s she a hero?”
Cal grinned. “She used her voice and not her fists or her gun.”
Quinn held up his phone and pressed Play.
Em stood at the front of the town hall with a microphone in her hand. She had on the same dress she wore to Saturday Singles Night at Highland Brew. She looked just as beautiful too, which might’ve been why Josh didn’t notice Peter O’Brien right away.
The Sisterhood and Jenny sat on the stage, their expressions tense as O’Brien stood at a podium a few feet in front of Em, spouting his lies about the mayor and the Sisterhood. Lies that apparently a good number of the locals had bought into. According to O’Brien and Winter’s campaigns, they were in a statistical tie.
“Em looks like she wants to hit him with the microphone,” Josh said.
Cal laughed. “She hit him with her words instead.”
“This I’ve gotta see,” he murmured.
“Mr. O’Brien, you’ve read the rules just like everyone else and agreed to abide by them. Slander is not allowed.”
“I’m not lying. Everything I’ve said—”
Em cut him off. “Is a lie. You have no proof. But I have a question for you. Other than dividing the community with your fearmongering—”
“I resent that. I’m not the one people are afraid of, it’s them.” He pointed at the women onstage.
Em glanced over her shoulder and then raised an eyebrow at O’Brien. “You’re afraid of Granny MacLeod?” She listed several of the women in the Sisterhood who ranged in age from their late seventies to their mid-nineties, who sat on the stage looking like everyone’s favorite grandmothers. Half of the audience laughed, earning them a scowl from O’Brien.
“Way to go, Em,” Josh murmured. She never could stand a bully. It was like watching her back in the day, and he loved every second of it.
“It’s okay. I didn’t expect you to answer. They don’t exactly fit your narrative, do they? But maybe you can answer this for me. What have you done for the people of Highland Falls, Mr. O’Brien? What are you planning to do to make our lives better?”
“My development will improve the lives of everyone who lives in Highland Falls. They’ll reap the benefits of the low pricing that only big-box stores can provide and a wide range of goods and services, and the stores will draw people from the surrounding counties.”
“And decimate the merchants on Main Street?” She nodded. “But that’s not what I was asking about. I’ll give you an example of what I’m looking for,” she said and began reciting the charitable organizations spearheaded by the group of women on the stage.