Chapter 17
SUMMER
Iwatched him climb those steps like a man walking to his own execution. Except he wasn’t the one being executed. We were. He wanted to destroy our home.
Cody materialized at his brother’s shoulder. I hadn’t even seen him working his way through. He was good, I’d give him that. He put his hand on Colt’s shoulder and said something close to his ear. Colt nodded. Then just like that, Cody melted back into the crowd like he’d never been there at all.
Colt took the last two steps. Judd Mathers turned with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes and extended his hand.
It was deliberate. It was the kind of handshake designed to be photographed.
I saw at least four phones go up around me as it happened.
Judd knew exactly what he was doing. I could feel Colt’s discomfort but he was trying to play along.
Judd was sending a message, letting everyone know he was paired up with Colt Anderson.
Colt had friends in town. At least he used to.
Capri appeared at my left elbow. “Summer.”
“Hey,” I murmured.
“You okay?”
I shrugged.
The crowd was quiet. Everyone wanted to hear what Colt had to say.
He was someone in our town. People did like him, but after all of this, I had a feeling they were going to run him out of town.
And unfortunately, with my house next door to his, we were likely to be witnesses to the crowd turning on him and his family.
We’d all seen what they did to the building site.
Judd Mathers stepped forward to the edge of the top step and looked out over all of us.
He was looking down on us in every sense of the word.
He was a tall man and the steps gave him another few feet.
He used every inch of it. The fact he was wearing a designer suit in this heat was a statement.
It was the kind of suit that said I am not like you and I want to make sure you know it.
The two security guys shifted slightly behind him and Colt. One of them touched his earpiece. Who the hell was he talking to? Were there more of them surrounding us? Snipers on the rooftops?
“Thank you all for coming out this morning,” Judd said. As if he was hosting a party. As if he was the one that put the protest together. What an absolute dick.
“Your voices have been heard.” He spread his hands in a gesture that was probably meant to read as magnanimous. It read as patronizing. “Mr. Anderson and I want you to know that your concerns, your requests, and your demands will be carefully considered as we move forward on this venture.”
Someone behind me made a sound of disgust. I agreed. Nothing about the way he was talking suggested he gave a shit.
“We have your best interests at heart,” Judd continued. “Every single one of you.”
I watched Colt. He was standing just behind Judd’s right shoulder. I noticed he wasn’t standing beside Judd, like he was making it clear they weren’t partners. Colt was staring out at the crowd. I wondered if he was actually seeing what I meant for him to see or if he was just enduring it.
“Now, I know change can be frightening,” Judd said in the most patronizing tone. “Particularly in a place like this.”
Capri inhaled slowly beside me. “Who the hell does this guy think he is?”
“God,” I retorted.
“Surfside Cove is a beautiful stretch of coastline,” Judd continued.
“No question. But let’s be honest with one another, shall we?
This is a struggling beach town.” He let that land, putting on a pitiful expression.
“The numbers don’t lie. Revenue is down.
Businesses are closing. The tax base is eroding.
Anyone who can’t see that isn’t looking at the bigger picture.
You normally don’t have to worry about such things.
Those are the perks of living in a small town. ”
There it was. He meant we were small-minded. He meant we were the kind of people who couldn’t see past the end of our own little stretch of sand because we just weren’t as smart as he was.
Grumbling rippled through the crowd. The dude was not making any friends.
Becca leaned close to me from my right. I hadn’t even noticed her arrive. “Did he just call us stupid?”
“He implied it,” I said quietly.
“Oh, he said it,” Capri confirmed. “He just dressed it up nice first.”
Judd wasn’t finished.
“By the summer of 2030, every single one of you will be writing me thank you cards.” He smiled like he actually believed that.
“Because you will all be profiting from this port. Your restaurants. Your shops. Your rental properties. Your surf schools.” He gestured broadly at all of us.
“The tide is going to rise for this entire community and you are going to look back on this morning and wonder what you were so worried about.”
The murmur in the crowd had not died down. It was getting louder. Someone near the back shouted something I couldn’t quite make out but the tone was unmistakable. A woman a few feet to my left was shaking her head.
I looked at Colt. He was still standing behind Judd and looked like a man who’d been sucking on lemons. His eyes were moving across the crowd now. He looked at Judd like he just noticed him standing there. Then he looked at me.
I glared back at him. I wasn’t going to make it easier for him. He had made his choice. He was standing on those steps with that asshole. He had walked up there of his own free will and shaken that man’s hand in front of everyone I loved.
He could sit with that.
“Thank you for your passion,” Judd said. “It speaks well of how much you care about this place. We care about it too. And we will see you all on the other side of something great.”
He stepped back, his speech delivered. He was making it sound like he had given us a gift. Now we could all go home and think about how lucky we were that our savior had rolled into town.
It was pretty clear the crowd did not feel lucky. Someone started booing. Suddenly, an egg flew through the air and smashed against Judd’s designer suit. He looked down as yolk spilled down his front.
I looked right at Colt to gauge his reaction. He grinned like a kid that just witnessed a bully falling on his face. Judd looked over his shoulder and glared at Colt.
Colt shrugged as if to say, I didn’t do it.
Maybe there was hope for Colt yet. I knew the guy that stole my heart all those years ago was still in there.
But then I remembered he was the moneybag behind Judd’s little project.
He was just as guilty. He might not be the asshole running his mouth, but he was part of the problem.
Suddenly, a tomato hit Judd square in the chest. I gasped, slapping my hand over my mouth. It was an overripe tomato and it absolutely exploded over Judd’s shirt.
Someone in the crowd let out a whoop and it was like a starting pistol.
Suddenly there were hands passing things forward through the crowd—eggs, tomatoes, water balloons.
I realized after one of the balloons exploded that the water inside had been dyed pink.
Someone had been very, very busy. It wasn’t a spontaneous moment of community outrage.
It was choreographed. Premeditated. And so beautiful.
I pressed my lips together hard to keep from laughing out loud. Judd stood at the top of those steps like he couldn’t quite believe anyone would have a problem with him. The guy was clueless. So high on his own bullshit he honestly believed what he was trying to sell.
A balloon burst at his feet and splashed a vivid streak of blue across his Italian shoes and the hem of those perfectly pressed pants. His mouth fell open. He looked genuinely stunned, which told me everything I needed to know about how often anyone had told this man no in his entire pampered life.
The security detail lost their minds. The two men snapped into motion like somebody had flipped a switch.
One of them stepped directly in front of Judd with his arm out, turning his back to the crowd like he was stopping bullets instead of tomatoes.
The other one was already on his radio, head down, speaking fast.
People scattered around the edges of the crowd. The woman who’d been handing out water bottles from her rolling cooler was nowhere to be seen, which told me she had known exactly what was coming.
Another egg arced through the air and caught Judd’s shoulder. The security men had him by both arms now, pulling Judd off the steps.
Red-faced and wide-eyed, Judd was shoved into a waiting SUV. The door was barely closed before the vehicle sped away like he was the damn president.
Colt was still standing at the top of the steps. He hadn’t moved or retreated, hadn’t ducked or run away. He stood there with egg and tomato dripping off his shirt. I cringed when I saw the pink stain of the colored water on his arm. There was egg yolk in his hair.
He sighed and nodded. “I hear you,” he said.
Cody jogged up the stairs and grabbed Colt’s arm, pulling him away. Colt looked at me and I suddenly felt bad for him.
I turned away and scanned the dispersing crowd.
People were moving fast now. The sound of police radio static crackled from somewhere nearby.
I spotted two officers in uniform pushing through from the northern end of the street.
I was not about to get arrested or questioned for something I had no part of.
“Capri,” I said. “We need to get out of here.”
“Go,” Becca said. “I’ll meet you at the truck.”
I jogged away, fully aware running made me look guilty. The crowd was thinning fast, people peeling off in every direction. A group of teenagers sprinted past me laughing. I scanned faces, looking for dark hair and a rash guard, looking for Capri’s bright yellow shirt.
She was about thirty feet ahead, threading through the crowd with her sign tucked under her arm and her head down. I quickly caught up to her.
“Did you throw an egg?” I asked.
“I’m not admitting to anything,” she said with a laugh.
“You are such a bad influence,” I teased.
She grabbed my wrist and pulled me into the narrow gap between the hardware store and the surf shop next door. Lana materialized from somewhere behind us a second later, slightly breathless, her dark hair loose from its tie.
“That was the single most satisfying thing I have ever witnessed in my entire life,” Capri said with a hearty laugh. “That was amazing.”
“Are you okay?” I asked Lana.
“I’m fantastic,” she said. Her eyes were bright and she looked happy. She looked like the girl who used to win competitions every weekend.
“The police are moving in,” I said. “We need to get to the truck.”
“Through the alley,” Lana said immediately. She already knew the back routes. We’d all grown up running them.
We moved through the narrow gap and came out the back into the service alley that ran parallel to Front Street. We walked fast because we didn’t want to attract attention. I was innocent, but my friends were making me feel very guilty.
We made it to my truck and piled in. Capri hooted with laughter. I understood why they were so excited. It had been satisfying, but I did feel bad for Colt. He was an innocent bystander. Well, mostly innocent. He didn’t deserve to get egged, at least.