Chapter 19
Zane drove to the event in Bartlett Saturday evening, all the while wishing he wasn’t going. His suit felt tight against his middle, and the air was unseasonably hot. He should have canceled.
But then what would he have done? Sat at home, trying not to think about Mabel with the good ol’ doc? Trying not to wonder why she didn’t ask Zane to go. Not that he could have gone since the events were on the same night.
And Conforth wasn’t just a doctor, he was an anesthesiologist. While Zane himself was a veterinarian school dropout.
If that thought didn’t deflate him, he didn’t know what would.
He arrived in town, realizing that in the dark, Bartlett wasn’t half bad. Of course, its main street was the ugly stepsister to Silver Plum’s award-winning style. But it was better than he usually gave it credit for.
The civic center was bathed in stringed lights. Zane found a nice, quiet corner of the ballroom, trying to occupy himself by jamming his hands in his pockets and nodding hello to passersby.
“You’re Zane, right?” an attractive woman with black hair and a short black dress said, whisking two drinks off the nearby refreshment table. “My parents told me to look for the firefighter.” She laughed and handed him one of the drinks.
“And you must be Carolina. Am I that obvious?” Zane thanked her for the drink.
She shrugged. “Sort of. And then there’s the look that says you really don’t want to be here.”
Before he could respond, she tossed a glance behind her and then covered her mouth with her hand. “Honestly, I don’t really want to be here either.”
A smile twisted around her lips, and she took a sip of her drink.
He blew out a breath. “You figured me out pretty quickly, didn’t you?” Zane ventured, catching a glimpse of the brilliant green of her eyes.
She laid a hand on his upper arm. “Okay, since we both would rather be anywhere but here,”—she paused as a couple walked past them—“we should come up with a code word to start the evening off, okay? This is serious.”
“Code word?” Zane felt a brief whiff of panic with his amusement.
“Yeah, because these events can get a little boring, and I need to be able to say something to you so that you can respond with something like, ‘Carolina, let’s go to the craft services table and get an hors d’oeuvres.
’ Or, ‘Carolina, it’s getting late, and we promised Angie we’d go find her.
’ Or, ‘Carolina, let’s blow this popsicle stand and go make out somewhere!
’” She gave a wicked cackle. “I was totally kidding about that last one.”
“Who’s Angie?’
Carolina scoffed. “No one. I just made her up.” She leaned toward him. “But no one else has to know that. All I’m saying is, we need a plan to help each other ditch early.”
“So should our code word be ‘I like that wall’?” Zane asked.
“Subtle, but not very interesting.”
“Well, we can’t say something like ‘I bless the rains down in Africa.’”
Carolina put her hand to her chest and laughed. “That wouldn’t be subtle at all.”
“Well, let’s just stick with mine, then.”
She caught his gaze. “Okay. Glad we got that decided.” She looked out over the crowd of people and waved back at someone. “So, tell me about yourself, Zane the Firefighter.”
“Well, when I’m not responding to medical or fire emergencies, I’m doing such things as accidentally breaking an illegal dam and causing sediment spillage.”
“Wait, I might have heard about that.”
Zane pursed his lips, a slick of shame zipping through his head. How had she heard about that? It might have been put on the town's Facebook page. “Last night. I feel terrible about it.”
“I mean, you actually did everyone a favor. Those illegal dams are the worst.”
They began mingling, and Carolina introduced him to several people. He had to admit it wasn’t terrible, and Carolina was pretty okay. Easy to talk to and pretty in a goth sort of way.
It wasn’t until they’d meandered back toward the entrance that he noticed the big butcher paper sign draped across the front. He’d seen the Congratulations part when he walked in but hadn’t zeroed in on the rest. Congratulations, Liza Jorgenson, Bartlett Water Commission Chair. Citizen of the Year.
It was that middle part that had Zane’s stomach plunging. Liza the water commission chair? The one who had been heckling Mack and Silver Plum for water rights for years?
He tried to play it cool, but Carolina noticed his discomfort, and she threw him a questioning glance.
What was the code word they’d decided on? Something about walls.
Just as he was opening his mouth to joke about walls as a way to start the process of being able to leave without being rude, they were greeted by a man holding a small laptop.
“Good evening. I hope you are enjoying yourselves tonight.” The guy was smooth, very formal. He reminded Zane of a concierge. Could he order up one Mabel, please?
Carolina seemed like a decent, down-to-earth person. But she wasn’t Mabel, and Zane missed her.
“As you know, a portion of the money you used to pay for the tickets to tonight’s event goes to the water authority of the city of Bartlett.”
Carolina nodded politely, like this was a well-known fact.
But, no, Zane did not know that’s what this was for. Maybe that’s because Liza and Scott had given the ticket to him. All that he’d heard was that it was a formal city event.
His tie felt like it was squeezing his throat in cinching increments, tighter and tighter.
The man standing before them went on. “I’ve been asked to gather any more monies you may want to contribute to the cause.
Clean, safe drinking water is a right, not a privilege.
Your donations can help all of us have access to good water.
” He finished his speech with a smile and proffered the laptop.
“We take cards, PayPal, and Venmo. Cash donations can be taken at the city offices on Monday.”
“Sure,” Carolina said as she leaned over, typing on the keyboard. In less than a minute, she finished. “All done.”
“Thank you, ma’am. And you, sir?”
Carolina looked at him expectantly, and the man leaned toward him even more. Suddenly, Zane was the guy on Christmas with the Kranks, when the scout troop tries to bully him into buying a Christmas tree that he wasn’t even going to use.
“Uh, I wasn’t aware that this would be happening.” He padded his suit coat pockets, knowing full well that his wallet was right there where he was patting. He just couldn’t seem to whip it out. It was stuck there, against his chest, like it had become one with his skin.
Why was he even doing this? And how could he be expected to donate to Bartlett’s water cause when Silver Plum had their own? A cause he was closely tied to now.
That thought was a mistake, because then of course he thought of Mabel again, and everything went downhill from there.
Because Mabel would still make a donation.
She might make comments here and there; they all liked to joke about smelly old Bartlett.
But she wouldn’t not donate at least a little.
It was the polite thing to do. Especially considering that any money that went toward Bartlett’s cause meant they could do more on their own instead of relying so much on Silver Plum.
He took the laptop and glanced at the guy. “You take Venmo, you said?”
After the man left to find more victims, Scott and Liza appeared, drinks in hand.
“You two have met!” Scott said.
“Congratulations,” Zane said, careful to not jostle Liza’s drink as she went in for an awkward hug.
Liza batted away the comment. “Well, thanks. It’s been exciting to play such a pivotal role in bringing our water systems into the twenty-first century.”
Scott pounded Zane on the back and laughed. “I’m sure Silver Plum will catch up someday.”
Zane’s mouth soured. “I wouldn’t think drilling a new well and repairing the water tower are behind the times, do you? Seems to me Silver Plum is setting the precedence in that way.”
Liza shrugged and took a sip. She swallowed and then gave Zane a lopsided smile. “But if we hadn’t propelled you to action through appropriating some of your water, none of that would have happened. The way I see it, we’re both better off because of that appropriation.”
“You may be right.” He loosened his tie a little. “But when our water supplies got low because of your appropriation, we didn’t go knocking on someone else’s door. We made things happen for ourselves.”
“And that’s admirable.” Liza’s eyes narrowed, and her chin tipped up. “But so is being able to negotiate with the surrounding areas, to broker for change, and to come together as a county.” Her smile was fixed on her face.
Carolina whistled and did a slow clap. She placed one hand on her mother’s forearm and the other on Zane’s shoulder. “I think both towns are great for handling the trying times with such grace. Mom, where did you get that beautiful drink? Zane and I need another one of those.”
Liza barely had a chance to point to the caterer carrying a tray before Carolina nodded her head and walked away.
Zane rocked back on his heels, his face growing hot. “I’ll go get a drink as well. Nice to see you.”
The Jorgensons smiled knowingly.
Zane got the feeling they’d be thrilled if he’d ask their daughter out.
This was getting out of hand.
He joined Carolina at the snack table. “You handled that well.”
“That’s because I have thirty years of experience.” Carolina rolled her eyes.
“Well, and the legal career helps with that sort of thing too.”
“Why do you think I became an attorney in the first place? Strong-willed parents—there happens to be a couple of benefits to having them.” She laughed and drained the rest of her drink.
“What about you? Tell me about your parents. Your mom’s not the mayor of Silver Plum, is she?
Because with the way my mother shoehorns our mayor… ”
“My mom is not, but my friend is.”
Carolina raised her glass and smiled. “Well, good luck with that.”
The rest of the night was okay. Carolina was fun to talk to, and he felt good having someone to commiserate with who wasn’t exactly happy to be there either.
There was the presentation of awards, followed by some quick photos of Liza and her family. Probably because he was standing right there, the photographer insisted Zane join them in some of the shots, and Carolina kept him entertained with quiet comments during the photos.
“I like that wall; I like that wall,” Carolina muttered under her breath.
“That’s the best wall I’ve ever seen,” he agreed.
When the photographer focused her attention on someone else, Zane touched Carolina’s elbow. “I think I’d better head home.”
Alrighty then. That was over. Even though he didn’t want to, he thought of Mabel the whole way home, hoping she’d still have feelings for him after spending the day with Doctor Conforth.
Right before bed, he checked his email and, with dread, opened a new message. His head began to throb, and his throat went dry. It was the kind of email he’d always hoped he’d never get.