Chapter 2
Chapter Two
With Liam’s long limbs and Natalie’s shorter legs working double-time to keep up with his stride, they reached the community center in record time. Though technically not before the Rotary president had started the official proceedings.
She’d already began her address to the members and guests assembled there. That didn’t stop Harper from rushing toward Natalie the moment she and Liam walked through the door in the back of the room.
“Thank god you’re here,” Harper whispered, sounding panicked.
“Sorry we’re late,” Natalie apologized, even though they really weren’t very late at all.
Even if they had moved Liam up to speak before Harper, it would be fine. The guest presentations hadn’t begun yet. But Harper was a worrier. Being one herself, Natalie could commiserate and empathize.
“We’re here now. All good.” But Natalie and Liam’s arrival didn’t seem to calm Harper’s panic.
Natalie reached out and touched Harper’s arm in what she hoped was a comforting gesture. “Are you nervous about your presentation? Lots of people hate public speaking but I’m sure you’re going to do great. There’s no need to stress.”
Harper shook her head. “Trust me. I’m not afraid of speaking in public. I’m afraid of speaking in Mudville. Did you see who’s all here?” she hissed intently.
Natalie glanced past Harper, but all she saw was the normal Mudville locals.
Granted Margaret Trout was shooting them an annoyed looking glance. Definitely meant as a censure for their talking in the back of the room when the Rotary president was speaking in the front. But otherwise, Natalie saw the same folks that were in attendance at all the Mudville meetings and events.
When Harper had convinced her to attend the village board meetings with her there were the same people. The fall festival held every year at Morgan Farm—same people. The annual Flag Day parade down Main Street—same people. Free concerts in the park—same people.
Generally, tonight’s meeting was filled with all those who came out for anything and everything rather than staying home for the night.
Staying home sounded good to her. That was exactly what Natalie would happily be doing if she hadn’t succumbed to the pressure from Harper who had insisted Liam should present too because she needed them both there for support.
But if Harper wasn’t afraid of public speaking, then why?
“I see Agnes is here.” Natalie spotted Harper’s great aunt in the front row next to the village attorney Dee Flanders. They must both be Rotary members, given their primo seating and judging by how intently they were paying attention to the president speaking.
“It’s not Aunt Agnes I’m worried about.”Natalie frowned. “I don’t understand.”
Leaning in, Harper said, “I’ve written about most of the people in this room in my books, one way or another. Sometimes, often, not so kindly.”
As Natalie looked around again, this time keeping in mind the thinly veiled caricatures of the local residents in Harper’s fictional books, she was beginning to see the problem.
Behind her, Liam snorted. She twisted to look up and found him trying to control a laugh.
“What?” she asked, though it probably came out sounding more like an accusation.
His barely contained smile still making his dimple visible, he said, “I’m just thinking tonight might be far more interesting than I thought it would be.”
“Stop being so gleeful about it. Harper’s upset,” Natalie hissed.
One dark brow cocked high, he answered, “I can honestly say I don’t believe I’ve ever been gleeful in my life.”
“Shhh!” That reprimand from ninety-year-old Alice Mudd seated nearby was enough to end the discussion once and for all.
Still looking unhappy with the situation, Harper tipped her head toward three vacant chairs in the back row.
As the woman presiding over the meeting went over dates and speakers and other Rotary business items, Natalie, Harper and Liam moved silently toward the seating.
Unfortunately, the three chairs were in the middle of the row. That meant they were going to have to climb over the laps of Mary Brimley and Alice Mudd.
Better Alice and Mary than the Trouts, seated at the other end of the row, though. Margaret Trout’s glare was already like daggers and they hadn’t even had to crawl over her and her husband’s legs.
Harper entered the row first, moving slowly. Gingerly. Over the older women.
This sitting process was going to take forever. And Harper probably shouldn’t be sitting at all since she’d be up again to speak in a moment. Although, not being a Rotarian, Natalie had no clue how long the business portion of the meeting took before the guest speakers were invited up.
Who would know the answer was Gabe. She hadn’t seen him before when they’d first entered. On any other night she’d question where he was but tonight, after the strange whispers, she had a suspicion she knew.
If Gabe wasn’t here now, that meant it was indeed him trying to scare her in the lab.
Her eyes narrowed at the thought. She was going to get back at him for that. Even if it did mean demanding Harper unplug the TV in Gabe and Millie’s room in her and her Aunt Agnes’s house.
Ghosts who were guests in livings’ houses should not throw stones, she decided, completely mangling that old saying. She didn’t care. Bad behavior should not go without some kind of punishment. Even for ghosts.
With that in mind, Natalie chose that moment—as she stepped over Alice’s legs to get to the next vacant chair—to glance around the room again and try to locate the elusive ghost.
Her eyes weren’t trained on her feet or the floor. She didn’t see the giant leather floral tote bag filled with nobody knew what that Alice liked to carry everywhere until her foot caught on the tote’s generously long handles.
Ensnared, like a rabbit in a trap, Natalie pitched forward, sprawling headfirst into Harper’s lap with her legs on Alice and Mary’s.
Meanwhile, Liam must have seen her start to fall. His hands gripped her hips from behind, no doubt to try and keep her upright. But Natalie never did anything half-way. Her flailing to catch herself from the fall and her forward momentum knocked Liam off balance as well.
With an oof the two landed in a pile on the floor, wedged tightly between the two rows of closely set chairs.
The president stopped speaking as it seemed everyone else in the row began to chatter. Amid the cacophony there was concern from Mary and Harper, snarky comments from Alice and outright criticism from Margaret.
Liam somehow managed to get himself upright, but not without a good bit of help from Mary Brimley whom, Natalie noticed, had her hands all over him during the process.
If Mary were thirty years younger, Natalie might have gotten worried.
But she wasn’t and Natalie had a few other things to worry about right now.
Finally, in a joint effort, Liam and Harper helped Natalie stand on her own two feet.
Once upright, and no doubt red-faced, she dared to glance around the room. As expected, every eye was focused on them. Add this to the list of her life’s most embarrassing moments.
Making sure the chair was behind her, Natalie lowered herself into it and sat with her back straight, mouth closed and eyes forward, determined to be the model attendee for the rest of the evening.
With a loud clearing of her throat, after the room quieted the president began again, “I think this is as good a time as any to begin our program. If our first speaker would come up.”
Oh, no. The first speaker was Harper. That meant Harper needed to get out of the row, just when they’d all gotten settled.
To Natalie’s right, Harper stood. But she turned away from Natalie, choosing to exit by sidling past Margaret and then Mr. Trout—Natalie still didn’t know his first name—rather than crawling over the four of them.
Phew. Thank goodness Harper managed to have her head on straight since Natalie still wasn’t thinking clearly. It had been a crazy night already, and it was only just beginning.
“Tonight I’d like to welcome local bestselling romance author Harper Lowry.” The president clapped as Harper stood beside her.
Liam, Natalie, Alice and Mary clapped as well. And from somewhere in the back, Natalie could hear Gabe’s cheer and whistle proving he was there, somewhere.
But as for the rest of the room, the applause could only be described as lukewarm, at best. A fact that hadn’t gone unnoticed by Harper, if the renewed panic in her expression was any indication.
“Uh, oh,” Natalie said under her breath.
Liam let out a snort that sounded suspiciously like a laugh, then twisted in his chair. Leaning toward Natalie, he asked, “Did I see a popcorn machine in the foyer? I have a feeling this is going to be popcorn worthy”
That earned him a slap on the thigh. “Be good,” she warned.
Liam smiled. “Always.”
Shaking her head at her boyfriend she gave up on schooling his behavior in public and leaned forward. She strained to listen to Harper’s bio being read by the president in the front of the room over the noise of the two dozen or so restless attendees.
The din of shifting bodies and grumbled low conversations only got worse once Harper began to speak and Natalie realized Harper was right. She had every reason to be nervous addressing this group of people.
Harper had based supposedly fictional small-town characters on more than one person here.
Changing the names, of course, but so vividly and accurately describing their quirks that only the dimmest among them wouldn’t be able to identify who in Mudville she was really writing about.
Who she was not-so-subtly insulting between the pages of her books. Making them the laughingstock in town.
But to paraphrase the popular saying about Vegas, what happens in novels doesn’t stay in novels. And by the tension palpable in this room, these people knew it.
Heck, Harper had even killed one guy off in a spectacular manner in one recent story published shortly after he’d made her mad at a village meeting.