Chapter 7
CHAPTER 7
“Hey Dad,” she says, hanging her damp coat on the coat rack and sliding into her chair.
“So what are you working on?” she asks. He’s deep in concentration mode.
“Ah, this story about the fire department having a hard time finding new help to replace the three people who are retiring.” He sits back in his chair, “I tell you, the housing crisis here is impacting absolutely everything.”
“It sure is,” Lizzie opens her computer. “Hey, it might not be a bad idea if you can get Captain Ellis to come tonight and say something. Appeal to the voters?”
“You think the captain of the fire department would come and put a pitch in for Jack’s project?” Peter asks, looking unsure.
“Well, he wouldn’t be talking about Terra Marique, per se, but just speak to the shortage of affordable housing, that houses are so expensive that even a young adult with a good full time job can’t afford to live here,” Lizzie offers.
“Hmmm, I can maybe ask, I certainly know Dave,” he still looks unsure. “I just don’t want to put the head of the fire department in the position of having to be political.”
“Dad, everything is political, the town allocates money for the department, it’s all politics. And if the town becoming completely unaffordable for his staff is a problem, then he should speak to the town about it!” Lizzie is feeling adamant. “Everyone knows there’s a problem, but unless we actually talk about it it’s not ever going to change. This didn’t happen overnight, it happened over decades of decisions being made and too many officials turning a blind eye to what was happening to Cranberry Harbor. We’ve seen bubble after bubble, but the town elders just shrugged their shoulders and thought it would fix itself.” She stops and takes a deep breath. “Sorry, I’m very wound up about this right now. I’m so scared about what’s going to happen if this doesn’t work out.”
“I know, honey, I am too.” They’re both quiet. “Okay, I’ll give him a call. Thanks for the pep talk.”
“Any time,” she says. “Okay, so I think I hit all my deadlines. Is there anything I can help you with to lessen some of your pressure?”
“Good question. I have been thinking ahead to Easter. We should probably see what’s going on around town. The Chamber of Commerce might be a good place to start. See what they’ve got planned for the egg hunt, and any other activities that might be happening.” He begins rummaging through some papers on his very messy half of their partner desk. “Wait, as a matter of fact I think Tall Tales has some things going on.” He keeps going through papers. “Ah! Here it is! Anika and Jay Patel sent me this flyer,” he hands it over to Lizzie.
“Hmm, this looks fun. They’re doing some story telling, egg coloring, and oh!” she keeps reading, “The Easter bunny is going to be there too. We should definitely advance this event.” She looks over at the calendar. “Gosh I got so caught up in this meeting tonight that I kind of lost track of dates and what’s happening. Maybe I should run over there and talk to Jay and Anika so we can get going on helping promote this. What do you think?”
“I think that sounds good, and like a nice change of pace from writing about school renovations and housing problems,” Peter says.
“Kind of exactly what I was thinking to be honest,” she says. “Maybe I’ll run over there now, you okay with that?”
“Yes, go! Get out of here! Get some fresh air and change the channel. This meeting is going to be what it is, we’ve done everything we can possibly do. Let’s find something a little bit lighter to talk about. I’m betting readers could use a change too.”
“Okay! I’m out of here!” Lizzie jumps up and gets ready to head out. “Oh wait…”
“What’s wrong?”
“Jack was supposed to bring my car back,” she looks at her dad. “It’s kind of a long story.”
Just then the door opens and Jack runs in and tosses Lizzie her car keys. “Sorry! When I was walking back to get your car I ran into Sean and we got talking.”
“No problem, I wasn’t worried.” She puts her coat on and walks toward the door. “How’s Sean?”
“He’s good,” he waves at Lizzie’s dad. “Hey Peter!”
“Hi!” Peter says, gaze still on his screen.
“I’ll be back Dad, you want anything?” Lizzie calls on her way out.
“Nope, I’m good.”
Lizzie and Jack walk outside where it’s now drizzling a cold and wet mess. She pulls up the hood on her coat and shivers.
“Get in, I’m driving you back to your car,” Lizzie says. They both get in the car, she starts it up and begins to back up. “So you didn’t say how Sean is,” she asks again.
“Oh, he’s good.” He’s looking out the window. “He kind of talked me off the ledge.”
“You were on the ledge again?” she teases. “I hadn’t noticed,” she turns and smiles at him as she shifts her car into park when she’s pulled into the small lot near Tall Tales and Sea Coast.
Jack shakes his head and laughs. “Just a little bit.”
Lizzie unclips her seatbelt, shifts in her seat and turns to face Jack. “So what kind of wisdom did Sean impart on you? I could use some too!”
Jack undoes his seatbelt too. “He told me I was overthinking everything and to just focus on one thing at a time.”
“Like in City Slickers when Jack Palance told Billy Crystal that life was about one thing?” Lizzie smiles at him, pointing her index finger upward.
“Ha, I had forgotten all about that. Yeah, I guess, it’s sort of the same thing.” He stops for a moment and looks out the windshield. “I was feeling like this was all going to unravel like the last time, when my startup crashed and we broke up. Sean reminded me that this isn’t three years ago, that it’s a completely different project, that I have solid investors, and a lot of the town behind me.”
“Well, he’s right about all those things. I feel bad that I didn’t think to tell you that, I guess I didn’t know, until you started talking about placeholder rings that you were that stressed out about everything. I’m sorry.”
“No, there’s no need to apologize. I’ve been keeping a lot of my crazy worry to myself, you had no way of knowing what I was thinking.” He leans over and kisses her. “And he reminded me that you and I are on very solid ground, and that I don’t need to worry that things are going to fall apart.”
“That Sean is one smart fella.” She kisses him. “I'm so glad you bumped into him. Totally meant to be. And I’m really glad you’re feeling a bit less stressed. It’s going to be tense tonight, but no matter what happens, we’re going to be okay. I am very secure in knowing that. We have each other, we each have lots of skills, if this doesn’t go our way we will lick our wounds, take some time, and come up with a new project. But I really don’t think that’s going to happen. I’m feeling pretty good about this.”
“From your lips, sweetie.” Jack kisses her one more time. “And now I am going to get out of your hair and let you get back to work.”
They both step out of the car. “I love you,” Lizzie says as Jack walks back toward Sea Coast. “Do yourself a favor? Get a decaf!” she calls to him, to which he replies with a nod and a thumb’s up.
Lizzie walks over to Tall Tales and opens the door, jangling the bell on it. She loves that sound. It’s the same bell that’s been there since, well, it had been there her whole life and makes the store feel like home. This was and always would be her absolute favorite bookstore. It was warm, cozy, and overflowing with books, and had the perfect cozy reading area in the corner. Being there always made her feel more calm and happy.
“Hi!” Jay Patel calls out from behind the counter. “This is a nice surprise. I thought you’d be caught up in town news stuff all day. Nice tweets by the way, a great reminder to get people to turn out.”
“Yeah, my biggest fear is that the people who want these projects to happen will think it’s a slam dunk and stay home. I also wanted to make sure that young parents knew there was free childcare too. Fingers crossed it’s all going to go well,” Lizzie says. “So I came by because my dad showed me the Easter flyer and I thought I’d talk to you and Anika about what’s going to be happening so we could begin to promote it. And count on us to post on our social media accounts too.”
“Oh, thanks so much, that’s great,” he says. “Let me get Anika, she’s in the back unpacking some new books, she’s the one who really knows what’s happening. The events are all her, the mundane is all me,” he laughs. “I’ll be right back.”
While Jay goes out back Lizzie wanders around seeing what new books have arrived. She picks up one, The 20 Questions to Ask, Lizzie is about to flip it open when Anika comes over and gives her a big hug.
“Hey, this is a nice surprise!” Anika says. “Oh my gosh, that book is so fun,” she says, pointing at the book Lizzie is still holding. “I think it’s such a good ice breaker. And in times where we can feel like we have more things dividing us than bringing us together, it shows that at our core we are often much more alike than we think.”
“You are so right, Anika.” Lizzie flips open the book, “Hmmm, yeah, like this question, ‘Your favorite ways to spend a rainy day,’ that’s not the same old boring chit chat.” She keeps flipping through, “Oh, I like this, ‘what’s something that instantly makes your day better.’ This is fun. You know, this isn’t why I’m here, but it gives me an idea,” she says, looking intently at Anika.
“I can tell looking at your face you’re up to something,” Anika laughs.
“We can talk more about this another time, but this makes me think about a conversation Alexis and I were having earlier about how hard it is to meet anyone to date here, and I was just thinking, wouldn’t it be fun to have a night for singles here where people can ask a question - kind of like speed dating, but with more depth than, ‘so what do you do?’”
“I love it! My only concern would be, getting women to come would be pretty easy, but how do we entice guys to come? Most of the ones I know aren’t exactly chatty,” Anika rightly assesses.
“Yeah, good point. We’ll have to think about that,” Lizzie agrees. “So, I should get back to the reason I came here in the first place - Easter! I saw the flyer and thought we could advance the event in the paper, and on our social media, and get the word out.”
“Thank you! That would be so great. It’s coming up faster than I thought and I’m worried no one is going to show,” Ankia says, walking them toward the cozy reading area perfectly appointed with colorful comfy chairs and leather couch.
Lizzie takes out her reporter’s notebook and pen. “First off, do you need volunteers? It’s always good to put out the word early on that.”
“Actually, I think we’re good. Several parents from the school parent group have offered to help, so that’s good. I’m so impressed at how willing the parents here are to help out. It’s amazing, even with jobs, kids, school, often for themselves, people are always so good about pitching in,” Anika says.
“That would be a good story to write sometime,” Lizzie says. “We should make sure we’re shouting out all the people in this town who show up to help others. And goodness knows, this town loves its special events!” Lizzie is writing everything down. “Are you good with supplies too?”
“Yup, Bradfords is giving us eggs to dye, and the art supply store special ordered us dyes that are safe and also won’t ruin clothes, which I know parents will appreciate. And Leah offered to supply us with some snacks and drinks. All we really need is kids to come.”
“Well let us worry about that, I will get right on this and get it in this week’s edition. Between the paper and our social media we will definitely let everyone know.” Lizzie says, standing up.
Anika walks her to the door. “So are you ready for tonight? Thank you by the way for making sure there is childcare, now both Jay and I can go. I heard that was all you.”
Lizzie shrugs, “Actually it was me and Shannon, she knows a lot of teens through the library, and they offer that babysitting class so it was super easy. We have to make sure everyone who has kids can come. You’re the future of Cranberry Harbor.”
“Well, thank your wonderful sister-in-law, for us,” Anika says.
Lizzie opens the door, “I will be sure to. Thank you again for Easter information, and let’s make a plan to get together and talk about a book lovers singles event, I’ll get Alexis to come too.”
“Oh! ‘Book Lovers,’ I love it! That’s what we should call it!” Ankia says, excited. “And let’s do it before too long, before the summer season. It would be nice to keep this for locals.”
“Agreed, I’ll be in touch!” Lizzie says as she leaves.
As she walks to her car, Lizzie feels excited about all the things she can envision for Cranberry Harbor. More young people, more young families, places for everyone to live, and fun, happy events. It’s possible, she thinks. But it all depends on tonight.