47. Kiara
forty-seven
Kiara
T he hearing for the variance is tonight. Colton made sure my application was airtight. Maddie said it would be a simple formality.
Tonight, a new chapter opens for me. I’m so happy I can hardly wait.
Even the email I received informing me I was accepted into the Parisian school doesn’t faze me. Funny how weeks ago, I believed this to be my lifeline and low-key obsessed over it. Now I hardly care—it’s just a nice ego-boost. The barn is the solution to all my problems.
Late that afternoon, Emma and I meet at Easy Monday’s. “I need a little positive reinforcement before the hearing,” I’d said as an emotional bribe to meet me for tea. We each order a chai and get comfortable in the upholstered chairs around a large cherry table, watching the place empty as the sun sets.
“You guys are on your own,” Millie says, turning the main lights off and leaving only our corner of the café lit.
“This feels very conspiratorial,” Emma says, licking foam off her upper lip.
“Thanks, Millie!” we both say as our friend leaves.
“I brought this for you,” Emma says, shifting through a stack of paper. “Thought it might cheer you up to have it all in print.” She points a manicured finger down a column of numbers.
I lean over and literally squint at the nice fat figures she’s pointing at. “We’re sure, right?”
She crosses her arms and looks at me with a satisfied smile. “If your numbers are accurate, yes. And they are.”
They are . We’ve been through this over and over and over. I know how to calculate cost and profit. I just didn’t trust myself. I thought something had to be off. There was no way I was so close to making it. No way. And yet here it is. Proof.
If I were that kind of person, I would kiss Emma right now for giving me the validation.
Uncrossing her arms, she stacks her papers. “How is Colton feeling about the variance?” she asks, then takes a sip of her chai.
“I’m not sure,” I admit. “He insisted on checking it before I filed it, but he hasn’t said anything.”
“That’s the place down Dewey’s Hollow, right?” she asks, her gaze roaming back to the rows of numbers in front of her.
I nod. “A little before. Walking distance from town, except there’s no sidewalk.”
Her turn to nod, but with doubt in her expression. I’m not too crazy about the no-sidewalk situation either. “There’s space for parking. Easy for picking up orders.”
“What’s the variance you’re applying for again?”
“Maddie said something about accessory to agriculture.”
Emma frowns. “Really? Even though you’re not the farmer?”
I pick at my fingernails. “Maddie said it was just a formality.”
Emma’s gaze bores into mine. “I’m sure she did. D’you sign the lease yet?”
I raise my index finger, proud of myself. “Nope. I did not. I added obtaining the variance as a condition. No variance, no lease.”
Emma seems to breathe out a bit. But only a bit.
Shit. “You’re scaring me, Ems.”
Her eyebrows do a funny thing. One up, one down. “I mean, the board pushed back on everything this year.”
“What do you mean, everything?”
“They’re pretty protective of their zoning. They’re saying that there’s enough commercial and mixed-use space for businesses to do what businesses must do where they’re supposed to do it. The rest should stay the way it is. Agricultural stays farmland. Residential stays houses. No businesses.” She nods, like she needs to let it sink in.
Fuck. Fuckfuckfuck! And barely a few weeks into his role, Colton’s girlfriend comes and asks for a variance. Shit.
“Look, they probably won’t make a decision tonight. You’ll present your case. Make sure you tell them you do not plan on serving on-site. Listen to their objections—there will be many. Just play nice. Owen will probably argue in your favor—he’s always pro variances, he would turn this whole town into a strip mall if he could. Colton will stay quiet—he doesn’t like to make waves. Lynn will ask a couple of questions. And Cassandra will move to deciding on this at the next meeting.”
I take a deep breath. “I hate this. Maddie said it was a formality, but I should have known better.” I hate myself right now. “I’m sure Colton just didn’t want to freak me out.”
“I’ll come with you,” Emma says, shoving her spreadsheets in her briefcase. "Worst case, I’ll just hold your hand. Or we can eat, seeing as we’ll be early.”
We throw our cups in the recycling bin, turn off the lights, and are about to lock ourselves out of Easy Monday’s when a female voice sounds, coming from outside.
“Were you about to leave?” Willow is on snowshoes, taking long strides on top of the thick snow.
“Hey!” I greet her. “What are you doing?”
“I needed to think shit through, but now I just need to chill and be with friends.” As she gets closer to us, her face falls. “You were leaving.”
“Actually, we were going back in, making ourselves another tea,” Emma says, opening the door wider for her.
“What’s going on?” Willow asks as she steps out of her snowshoes and leaves her boots at the entrance.
Less than ten minutes later, we’re back at our table in the corner, huddled around our teas, filling Willow in on my latest source of anxiety. “Who knows, Colt might fix it,” she says. “He worships the ground you walk on, for real. You should have seen him sweating bullets when I told him you were on a dating app!”
Emma’s laughter is interrupted by a grimace.
“Everything okay?”
Emma sits up, stretching, and her hand goes to her lower back. “Yeah, just back pain.”
“You need a painkiller?” I ask, going for my small backpack.
“It doesn’t do anything.”
“CBD?” Willow suggests.
“Tried that too.”
Willow pushes her chair out. “Ooooh. I know what you need. Gimme a twenty,” she says, wiggling her fingers at Emma.
“What for? I’m not giving you twenty bucks.”
Willow rolls her eyes but still leaves the table. “You’ll pay me back when you feel better!” she says, her voice dimming as she disappears behind Millie’s counter. After a minute or so, she comes back, holding…
“Is that a joint?” Emma shrieks. “Are you—did you steal that from 420?”
“Jesus, Ems. You really need to relax. Hence…” she trails, putting the rolled weed joint under Emma’s nose.
Emma makes a face. “What are you—fifteen?” she asks Willow, scooting her chair away from her.
Willow makes an appreciative face. “Fifteen, huh? That’s the memory this brings? Who would have known prim and proper Emma was a stoner back in the day.” She laughs loudly at her observation.
“Anybody have a light?” she asks, looking at us. “C’mon. Let’s go outside and get high. You comin’?” she asks me.
I shake my head. “I don’t think the Select Board would see my request favorably if I showed up high, to be honest.”
Emma raises her eyebrows so high again, it makes me wonder what facial expression she’ll have at her disposal if she ever decides to do Botox. “You’d be surprised,” she says.
“You hear that, boss?” Willow says. “Come on.”
Yeah, no . “Next time,” I say.
“You’re no fun,” Willow says. “Did she tell you about Sexy Voice?” she asks Emma.
“Nope. Who’s that?”
Willow fills Emma in on her scheming to get me to date Colton, and how Colton had to find someone whose voice I wouldn’t recognize for our phone call.
“You guys are too much,” Emma laughs.
“Apparently he’s some celebrity,” I say. “Did you know?” I ask Willow.
“Tracy might have said something, but we’re not supposed to tell.”
“Why not?” Emma asks.
“Colt says the guy came here to get away from some shit. We should leave him be. The last thing he needs is the press finding out where he’s hiding.”
Emma rolls her eyes. “Great, we have someone in the witness protection program now. Just what we needed.”
“Who said he was a criminal?” Willow exclaims.
“Where’s the criminal?” a loud whisper sounds from the confines of the café. We all jump and shriek. “Sshhh,” the voice says.
“Who the hell is it?” I growl, stomping toward where the voice is.
“Holy hell, Kiara, I’m trying to catch a criminal here!” Millie says out loud, coming out of the shadows.
“What criminal?” Emma, Willow, and I ask together.
Millie rolls her eyes. “You were just talking about him. He broke into 420! Must be the egg bomber.” Holding a baseball bat, she crouches and goes toward the door separating her café from her weed store.
“Wait! Were you there all along?” Willow asks.
“Got an alarm on my phone. I was on my way to the Select Board meeting. Few minutes ago, someone was inside 420.”
“Oh no—that was me. I broke in—well, didn’t break anything. I just let myself into the weed store because we had an emergency. Emma had a physical emergency and I had a mental emergency. I left you twenty dollars in ones stuck under the register.”
“Oh good.” Millie sighs. “I was on edge. I could use a smoke too.” She laughs.
“Why were you going to the meeting tonight?” I ask her.
“No particular reason. Just being a good citizen.”
I shrug. “Why don’t you just stay with these two, then?”
“Excellent idea. Except I’m getting us gummies, so we can stay inside. You’ll drive us home, grasshopper?” Millie asks. “Or should I say, sweets?”
I smile at her. “I’ll come back to drive you guys home. Wish me luck.”
“What’s up with her?” I hear Millie ask as I get to the door.
“Eh, it’s about to get real for her,” I hear Emma reply as the door shuts softly behind me, leaving me alone in the dark, lit by the moon reflecting on the snow.
Walking to my car, I have only the sound of my feet crunching the snow to drown my thoughts.
The meeting room fills up as residents file into Town Hall. Cassandra, Lynn, Noah, and Colton are already seated, talking in low voices among themselves. The high school media team has their camera set up, ready to stream the meeting into the homes of residents who are too old or sick to take the short drive into town.
In the back, next to the macarons I dropped off earlier, there is pizza, pies, juice, and hot cider attracting a sizable crowd and giving the whole thing a festive air. Too nervous to eat anything, I take a seat in the front row, next to Maddie, and pick at my cuticles.
A ruffling sounds at the back of the room, voices rise before falling as people take their seats. I don’t need to look back to see who just came in. Walking right by me in through the center aisle, Owen takes hurried steps toward the long table where the board sits, clutching a thick file under his arm.
The board members straighten their chairs, and Colton calls the meeting open. As he sweeps his gaze over the audience, his eyes latch onto mine for a beat. A small smile, quickly suppressed, floats on his lips, then he turns his gaze away to remind those in attendance that they should address the board, not each other, when expressing their opinion on any topic.
He does a quick read of the agenda, then Cassandra says, “Why don’t we deal with the two variances, so the applicants are free to go if they want to?” She looks at me, and at Georgie Richardson, who’s sitting three chairs down from me.
Colton frowns. Looks at Georgie, then at Owen. Looks at me. He brushes his eyebrow with the back of his thumb.
“That’d be the right thing to do,” Owen says, looking at Colton.