7. Chapter Seven
Chapter Seven
Maggie
I caught sight of Grady through the large pharmacy windows as I filled prescriptions. I loved days like today when the sun shone on angles through the tree-lined street right into the pharmacy. Seeing Grady was like having clouds move across the sun.
I’d been watching him from afar for weeks. He’d been avoiding me after the Fourth of July fireworks debacle, I was sure of it. Maybe he’d realized he shouldn’t have pulled that prank? Probably asking for too much maturity from him. For someone who didn’t go to college, he knew all the frat-boy tricks. As I’d fumed, I’d considered calling Grady out publicly on his bullshit, but I would have seemed petty, and that wasn’t my style.
Instead, I’d torn a strip off the two summer students for assisting Grady and committing theft. I’d warned them both that their interference in the election or in more criminal activities would result in their firing. Seeing Tristan driving Grady’s float had sent my pulse skyrocketing and clicked in some missing pieces about the fireworks and a few other annoying things happening at city hall since Grady declared his candidacy. He’d known the scheduled conclusion of the fireworks display despite the details not being made public. Clearly, Grady already had at least two votes in town.
My irritation was compounded by the gaggle of women who followed him around, eager to do his bidding. Each time one of them passed me with a clipboard or a badge, I wanted to take them aside and talk some sense into them. Did they really think he wanted to be mayor?
The parade and his false show of Fourth of July spirit had propelled him to the forefront of the election. Everyone was talking about how Grady had come back to save the town. Save the town from what? From me? I almost gagged on the stench of bullshit. To top it off, there were signs everywhere encouraging people to get a taste of Grady. He should be walking around covered in slobber or pinned to the ground so people could lick him.
That thought stopped me in my tracks for a moment, a partially filled prescription in my hand.
My tongue .
His skin.
Oh God.
Goose bumps rose across my arms. I’d had boyfriends in college, quite a few of them, but none of them had consumed my thoughts the way Grady had. All of them had felt temporary. Maybe forbidden fruit did taste a little sweeter. Or it had. I was older now and much wiser. No need to crave a taste anymore.
Lately, I’d been clearing my browser history more than normal. People had uploaded videos of Grady at the parade, and I’d watched them a few times for research purposes, of course. Understanding the appeal of the competition was critical to success.
Inevitably, videos from Center Stage would be on the right, only one click away. I’d avoided watching them when he was on the show, and muted or closed any posts about him on social media. But being prepared was important, and part of that was researching my opponent, right? How could I understand why people loved him if I’d never watched any of his performances? So, I let myself dip a toe into his history. One video.
I shook my head as I filled another prescription. When it was done, I opened the bottom drawer of the cabinet and dropped it into its alphabetized bucket.
It was never one video, though, was it?
The whole situation was oddly fascinating. Long before anyone else knew about Grady’s singing, I’d been privy to his secret. In his mother’s garage one day when I’d gone looking for Trent, I’d heard him. At the doorway, out of sight, I’d listened to him strum, sing, write, strum, sing, write for so long. I’d never have been able to explain if I’d been caught. For someone like me, who was more analytical than creative, the process had been enthralling, like watching a painter craft a masterpiece. Except it had been my ears, his voice, and the thought of his fingers dancing across the guitar strings that had made my heart beat erratically.
Then he’d gotten famous by writing the song about Trent and me. The creative process hadn’t seemed so spectacular after that. I’d spent many a drunken night during the end of my college days raging to Lila how I needed to call Grady and tell him the truth. Doing that would have broken the promise I’d made to Trent. And that wasn’t the type of person I wanted to be. A promise made was a promise kept. Thankfully, once Grady got famous enough, there wasn’t an easy way to reach him after I’d had five or six drinks too many.
When I’d woken up one morning to discover I’d posted a long ranting message on one of his fan pages, I’d been so disgusted I’d deleted the post and vowed to no longer drink. I’d broken that vow the other night after seeing Grady, and I feared I’d break it again under the strain of having him back.
The bell above the door jingled, signaling someone had entered the pharmacy. I glanced up from filling another prescription to see Tyler, the wind whipping in behind him, causing some of the pamphlets at the front of the store to flutter. My pharmacy wasn’t huge, and the breeze whistled back to me as well. Focused on the rug at the door, Tyler ran a hand through his hair before looking up.
“We’ve got a problem,” Tyler said.
“Just give me a sec.” I set down the prescription I was working on, scribbling a reminder on a scrap of paper about where I’d been in my list of medications to fill.
When I looked up again, I noticed his designer jeans were soaked from the knees down. “If the water was any further up your pant leg, I’d say it was you with a problem. The adult diapers are over to the right.”
“Very funny.” Tyler didn’t laugh. “Burst water main at Canal and Elizabeth. People think the old train station might flood. Water is everywhere. We’ve called a crew to work on it, but it’s a mess.”
“Shit. Burst?” I whipped off my white coat and reached for my phone. Without pausing, I dialed my father to come oversee the pharmacy so I could handle the water crisis.
“It gets worse.”
I raised my eyebrows at Tyler as I waited for Dad to pick up. Tyler’d pulled a lollipop out of his pocket, his go-to in stressful situations.
“Grady is down there with Kelvin, ranting about the lack of spending on infrastructure and how the town is falling apart.”
With a sigh, I rolled my eyes. “What would he know about any of those words?” The desire to paint Grady as incompetent or less intelligent was hard to resist.
“He didn’t say infrastructure, but it was implied.”
My father’s smooth voice came through the phone, and before he could ask any questions, I said, “I need you at the pharmacy if you’re not busy.” My dad often looked after my business when I was called away by some town-wide crisis. “Bring your keys.”
“I’ll be there,” Jim said.
“Thanks, Dad. You’re the best.” Although I knew lots of townspeople missed him as their doctor, I was glad he’d retired early. He was a godsend in moments like this and during my weekly mayoral duties at city hall.
Jim chuckled in my ear. “I love you, kiddo. Go rescue the town.”
As soon as he hung up, I folded my white coat and left it on a chair behind the prescription desk. There were rubber boots in the back room from the last time a water main had burst. Not that long ago, but I couldn’t pinpoint the exact date.
“When was the last time this happened?” I yanked on the second boot and grabbed my keys off the desk.
“Mid-May. But that was only a substantial leak. Pete handled that easily. Shame he’s on vacation because this is worse. We’ve called the water management company. They’ve sent some people to assist us.”
“Great.” I opened the door and stepped out onto the tree-lined street in front of Tyler. I was going to miss Pete today. He kept me centered in a crisis like this with sound advice and quick action. “How did Grady catch wind of this?”
“He’s soaked. He was there when it exploded.”
“Oh.” I flipped the lock into place and imagined it for a moment. That must have been quite the scene. A smile, one I tried to stifle, played on my lips. “And Kelvin?”
“I’m guessing Grady called him, but they might have been together. The only one who was drenched was Grady. Good thing it’s a warm day.” Tyler gave me a wry smile.
“Who’s watching your store?”
“Sign on the door. I couldn’t find anyone, and I knew you’d need help with Pete away.”
Moments like these drove home how lucky I was to have my family. Each of them always pulled more than their own weight in a crisis. Tyler unwrapped the lollipop from his pocket and popped it into his mouth. There were two stages to the lollipop—out of the pocket was somewhat stressed, but in the mouth was worse. I wasn’t going to like what I saw in a few minutes.
We hurried to the parking lot behind the main street pharmacy. Would this incident turn out to be another plus for Grady? The break in the water main wasn’t a freak accident. The council had known there was a problem since May. Investing in the water infrastructure of the town was on the budget for next term if I got reelected, but I hadn’t thought to put it in my campaign. If Grady was cunning enough, he could sweep in and steal this right off my platform.
Of course, he’d also have to understand paying for those infrastructure changes meant an increase in taxes—not exactly a selling point in any election and definitely not in a town where their property tax was already higher than the state average. Would Grady know any of that?
“You’re too quiet,” Tyler said as they slowed at the final corner before turning onto Elizabeth Street.
“Trying to figure out how to spin this. It’s unfortunate Grady is there.”
“No kidding. And soaking wet to boot.”
Down the street, emergency vehicles and the water company’s repair vans littered the road. A ton of people stood around with expressions ranging from annoyed to outright angry. I searched the crowd for Grady or Kelvin. Did he stay? A good politician would, but that description didn’t fit Grady.
“I don’t see him.”
“When I left, he was ordering sandbags to see if he could protect the old train station from the majority of the flooding.”
“Thank God it’s empty at the moment.” The old redbrick train station had housed a few things over the years like a restaurant, storage facility, and train museum. But none of those seemed to stick for more than a few years. Now, it was up for sale again. The Rolston family would be grateful for Grady’s quick thinking.
As soon as the car was parked, I hopped out and followed fast on Tyler’s heels. In no time at all, the water sloshed around my boots, and walking became a challenge. The water pushed against my legs, resisting any progress toward the train station. This was definitely worse than the last break. Up ahead, a crowd of people had formed a human chain, passing sandbags out of the bed of a utility truck.
When we got close enough and the crowd parted, my heart thumped painfully, the beat swirling up into my throat. There, at the end of the line, stacking bags at an astonishing speed, was a soaking wet Grady. His round neck white T-shirt clung to him and was the best example of a wet T-shirt contest I had ever seen. The muscles outlined against the shirt made my mouth go dry. As far as I knew, Grady didn’t work out. Of course, Trent never had either. When I’d teased him about his ripped body, he’d laughed and said he’d at least gotten lucky with his physical genes. The brothers weren’t built the same—even if they were both physically gifted. Grady was tall, lean, his muscles defined in the same way a runner’s would be. Trent was built more like a wrestler—or a street fighter—God knew he’d done that more than once.
“Maggie,” Tyler prompted, and I dragged my gaze away from Grady’s fluid, flexing movements.
When I met Tyler’s eyes, I felt like I was emerging from a daze. Out of my peripheral vision, Grady’s continual movements enticed me, and only half of me could focus on Tyler.
“You going to help, Mayor Maggie?” Grady’s voice boomed across the crowd, an obvious edge to his tone. “Or are you too good to get wet with me?”
My focus shifted to Grady immediately, but he wasn’t looking at me as he continued to pile bags. Getting wet with him wasn’t the problem.
Or maybe it was? My body liquefied at the memory.
“Got a spot for you right here at the end.” He tipped his head to a widening space between him and Kelvin as the bags were passed along the chain.
I sloshed through the crowd. The childish urge to stomp my feet was met with the thick water. I’d gone from admiring his muscles and thinking about the past to silently fuming. The implication I wouldn’t do whatever it took to help people in my town brought the liquid feeling in me to a boil. What the hell would Grady Castillo know about me or my town anyway?
Our shoulders brushed as I took my place, and I tried to ignore the fire the touch ignited across my skin. I didn’t want to feel anything for him, certainly not attraction. When I received the first bag from Kelvin and flopped it into Grady’s hands, his brown eyes met mine. We were locked together for the briefest moment, and a spark struck. His gaze slipped down to my lips before going back to my eyes. A memory lit, one I’d worked so hard to keep far, far down in my consciousness. Sometimes, I convinced myself the memory wasn’t there at all.
Then Kelvin bumped my shoulder to pass me the next bag, and my focus shifted. As I took the bag and rotated my shoulders to give it to Grady, I avoided looking at him. His breath in my ear and across the side of my face was labored as he accepted the bag. My stomach dipped into my toes, and I closed my eyes to recenter. His breathing, hot against my ear, called me back to another time, another moment. So long ago, and yet right here beside him, the memory was visceral, so alive my body tingled. Why was my body betraying me like this?
As we worked side-by-side in silence, my thoughts were locked on repeat. I’m in trouble. I’m in so much trouble.