Chapter 31
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
ASH
R usty's eyes look like they're about to fall out of his head when he sees me walk into the Town Hall conference room. His gaze rakes over me, taking in everything from my shoes and pencil skirt to my hair and contacts. For his part, he's wearing jeans with a gray button-up shirt rolled up at the sleeves, and his dark blond hair looks like it was styled before he ran his hands through it.
The room is still filling in when Rusty walks over to me. His gaze darkens.
"What is this?"
"I straightened my hair." My words don’t sound as cheery as I intend, but I’m done acting like I’m one stray hair shy of a breakdown.
“I’ve never seen you like this.” Rusty's eyes flit to the side and back to me, like he's acknowledging that we have an audience. He kisses the side of my cheek, but it's robotic. The warmth I've grown to crave is missing entirely. "But you’re always gorgeous. ”
Does he mean it? Or is he faking?
Soon, the room fills. Bill sits at the front. When the clock strikes ten, Teddy looks at the door one last time before bringing the meeting to order.
Frustration doesn't look good on him.
"Two weeks ago, you were all presented with a plan for revitalizing Maple Street, complete with 'design guidelines' and 'storefront standards' for the town."
"And it was the best two weeks of my career!" Jorge says. "I have orders for my fudge stretching through Christmas. I've had to hire new employees to keep up!"
A handful of people nod and share similar experiences.
"And the visitor's center has had more visitors in the last fourteen days than it has all year!" Chick Hanks says.
From where I'm sitting at the front of the room, I see Bill roll his eyes. The door to the conference room opens, and my heart drops.
Philip wears a falsely apologetic smile as he takes the seat next to Bill. With a deep bruise and steri-strips over a crack on his nose, he gives me a once-over that makes me wish I'd shaved my head and worn sports goggles.
A few more people share their success stories, but my excitement disappeared the second Philip walked through those doors. It doesn't matter that his hair looks awful. It matters that he's here at all, and Teddy looks like his prize pig just won the state fair.
"There's no question that Jane's company? — "
"Jane & Co.," Rusty corrects sharply. Is he being defensive of me? Or of all of us?
"Of course," Teddy says. "Jane & Co. did an exemplary job on their campaign. Every person in this room saw a notable spike in sales, myself included! We can't thank them enough, can we?"
The Chicks clap at this, and most of the room joins in.
"In fact, we should thank them all the more, because Dumfries Holding was so impressed by the increase in sales that they've upped their offering significantly. Mr. Dumfries?" Teddy points to Philip, who stands.
"I know y'all have work to get to," he says, as if saying y'all didn't make him want to gag, "so I won't beat around the bush. I came here to offer a package to take over Maple Street and a handful of other businesses throughout town." Teddy somehow already has Philip's presentation ready to go and puts it up on the screen. It's clean and slicker than a greased pig, and while Rusty and I purposefully avoided making an overly stylized presentation, Philip has leaned into it like he’s trying to awe the simple folk . "And the best part," he says, "is that I've been authorized to offer an additional fifty percent."
Several people gasp excitedly. In the back of the room, Tia covers her face.
"You come in here all fancy and tell us you're only offering fifty percent — " Chick Allen says.
"No, an extra fifty percent," Chick Hanks says.
"Oh. That's a lot of money."
He's already gotten to the Chicks? We can't lose them! Panic triples my pulse.
I look at Rusty, who's frowning. Philip is throwing around money like it grows on trees. I know Dumfries is big, but I never knew them to increase an offer so dramatically in such a short time. They either low-balled their initial offer or we did our jobs a little too well. We made the town's commerce so valuable, they're desperate for it.
"It is a lot of money," Philip agrees. "Jane's company? — "
"Jane & Co.," Chick Hanks snaps, making me want to squeeze him into a hug.
"Right, Jane & Co. showed us what your businesses are capable of. We feel our offer reflects that."
"We who?" I ask .
Philip's smile is long-suffering. "Dumfries Holding, of course."
"And who are they?"
"My grandfather and the executive team, as well as the board of directors."
"And all of these men from Chicago must really love Sugar Maple to make an offer like that. I'm sure they have the town's best interests at heart."
"Of course we care about the town. Better yet, we care about making it money." He laughs.
"If everyone sells to you, what stores will we see on Maple Street?" I ask.
"We'll put similar stores in place."
"Oh, right. The diner will become a Vox?"
"We wouldn't put Vox on Main Street, USA," Philip says, like the idea is absurd (which it is). "We'd put in a Patio Diner."
If someone had walked in with dog poop on their shoes, I don't think the room could look more turned off.
"Patio Diner? That place uses instant grits," Tia says in disgust, earning groans of agreement from half the room.
"And will you put in a Crumbs Cookies or a Parlor Ice Cream where Jorge's is?"
"Crumbs," Philip says. "They have the most popular chocolate chip cookie in the country."
Jorge is aghast. Crumbs sells those huge cookies that everyone thinks they like but they regret immediately after the last bite.
Yuck.
The swaps continue:
Mod Closet for Nico's thrift shop.
Builder's Bench for Chick Parkinson's hardware store.
A Book Nook for the bookshop and bakery.
But some places will vanish completely. No more antiques store—Mod Closet will need the extra space. No more bait and tackle. In its place will be a gym with state of the art rowing machines.
"Because heaven forbid someone row an actual boat," Chick Allen grumbles.
Teddy shoos their concerns like a mosquito. "You don't have to love every change to see how much it will benefit you. Dumfries is offering most of us enough to retire on. Y'all won't have to work another day in your life. Think of all that extra time with your families when you're not working your fingers to the bone."
This earns more than a few begrudging nods. And Philip capitalizes on it.
"Sugar Maple will continue to grow because of the sacrifices you've made to bring so much industry and tourism to the town. With Dumfries Holding at the helm, we can bring in new developers. Who here doesn't want a Sam's Club?"
"Are y'all putting in a Sam's Club?" Chick Hanks asks.
"No, but when the town gets big enough, it'll come. You won't have to drive into Mullet Ridge to go to the hospital or to have your kids play club sports. You may think our stores seem impersonal, but they're quality and they're guaranteed to bring in tourists. People like comfort, and they like knowing what they're ordering, where they're shopping, and what they're getting. We can offer that."
His argument is so weak! How are we losing people? I look at Rusty with desperation, but he's frowning at Philip, who's on a roll now. "Y'all have made this town more charming than any place I've ever been. Jane — all of the Janes!" he adds as if he didn’t know exactly what he was doing, "they know their stuff. If you want to break your backs doing all the extra work they'll bring in, more power to you. But if you want to retire in comfort, I urge you to take our deal."
They're actually considering it! I can feel the yeses slip through my fingers like sand. I stride to Rusty .
"How is this happening? How are they believing him?"
Rusty looks so dejected, I don't recognize him. "I don't know. I should never have gotten involved, Ash. I'm sorry? — "
"What?" I reel. "What are you talking about?"
"I'm not the guy to figure out business proposals and convince people what's good for them."
"Are you serious?" I shake my head. "Rusty, do you hear yourself? You're Mr. Sugar Maple. There's no one better for this."
"Everyone is better." He rubs his temples. "Don't listen to me. Check with your friends. You can trust them."
I can't begin to process the self-loathing in Rusty's demeanor, let alone figure out what to do with it. His words make me feel like I'm drowning. Or like he is. I don't have time to parse out what's going on there, though. The final vote is now. If we don't convince the town to incorporate our plan, Sugar Maple as we know it will be gone in five years.
I can't let that happen.
"Guys, don't listen to him,” I say. “I know his offer sounds good, maybe even too good to be true. It's a ton of money, but the price is the soul of the town we all love so much!"
"That's absurd," Philip says. And then he must realize how waspish he sounded, because he softens his tone. "We believe in this town or we wouldn't be here."
"Philip, I worked on dozens of campaigns for Dumfries when I worked for you. You don't just push out companies, you push out people. I notice you've made no mention of the home builder Dumfries Holding owns. You talked about new developers coming in, but you're the developer. You buy up land at what seems like a premium, but then you turn around and put inferior homes on these same lots and anyone in town with dreams of owning a bigger home gets priced out. You build apartments and condos without caring if there's an infrastructure for any of it. You find ways to work around town codes with no regard to roads, schools, or emergency services. You want Sugar Maple to be the next big thing — I believe it! You don't care how that happens, though. We do."
Philip shakes his head. "You're delusional. Teddy is the mayor! Don't you think he's smart enough to see through sneaky contracts?"
I look at Teddy, who's chewing his nail like a squirrel chewing a nut, and then I look at the rest of the room.
"Chick Parkinson, you have grandchildren who like to come visit in the summer, don't you?" He nods. "What do they like to do?"
"They fish, play kick the can, go to the park. They take swimming lessons at the town pool because it's so much harder for my son to get them lessons in the city. Half the time, they ride their bikes around town and look for kids to play with and end up covered in ice cream and dirt."
"Jorge, didn't you have to hire extra help at your shop? Who's working there now?"
"My daughter and a couple of her friends," he says, gesturing to people in the room who I can only assume are those friends' parents.
"Does she like the work?"
"She loves it," he said. "She said she wants to take it over one day."
"Who else here has family who wants to take over their business someday?"
Several hands shoot up.
"They can't do that if Dumfries comes in! Sugar Maple has room to grow, but we can all grow with it. We can keep this same small town feel even as we expand our reach and our services! Dumfries can offer you money now, but when it's gone, it's gone. If we band together, think about the legacy we can leave for the next generation! We can have commerce and community, and we can do it on our terms. "
I look down at my colorless attire. I smooth my hand over my too smooth hair. I try to adjust glasses that aren't there.
"I know I don't exude the same confidence that my partners do? — "
"Stop," Rusty says. It's the first thing he's said since I started my speech. "Don't you dare apologize for who you are. Don't you change who you are! You don't need to be anyone but you to inspire people. If the people in this room are too simple or small-minded to appreciate your vision, then they deserve exactly what happens to Sugar Maple if they sell to Dumfries."
Teddy holds out his hands. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. No need for name calling."
"Shut up, Teddy," Rusty says.
"You rubes can do whatever you want," Bill says. "I'm still selling to Dumfries. And considering I own two of the buildings on the northside of Maple, y'all can go to? — "
"I motion that any sales to commercial developers have to be approved by a majority of the chamber of commerce," Tripp says.
"Hey!" Teddy yells. " I'm the mayor!"
"All in favor?" Tripp says.
Over half the room agrees.
Tripp slams his fist on the table louder than any gavel. "Motion approved."
Bill fumes. "You can't do this!"
Lou's looking at documents. "Sure he can. Says so right here."
Philip, Teddy, and Bill protest loudly, trying to convince everyone not to listen to me, but their desperation turns more and more people off.
"Let's put it to a vote," I say over their arguments. "All in favor of selling to Dumfries Holding?"
Only Teddy and Bill put their hands up!
Only Teddy and Bill !
I hold back tears. "And all in favor of revitalizing Sugar Maple commerce with Jane & Co.?"
Every other hand raises.
My friends all jump up and rush me. The five of us hug, and Lou squeals. “You did it!”
"We did it!" I correct her.
When we break apart, I turn tentatively toward Rusty. He opens his arms, and I throw myself into them. He holds me tight, but it's too tight. Not in a physically painful way, but an emotionally painful one.
It feels like a goodbye hug.
But it can't be a goodbye hug. I won't let it be.
"I have to go back to work," he says in my ear. "But we need to talk tonight."
"Yes," I say, my spine turning to steel. “We do.”