41. Kiara
forty-one
Kiara
A fter Colt makes fun of my alarm, he orders me to stay under the covers so he can bring me coffee in bed—which he manages to do with surprising speed. I usually need an hour to be halfway functional, but he’s all business the minute he’s up.
He ends up waking me with way more than just coffee. “Careful, I might get used to that,” I tell him when I’m down from my orgasm.
“You might as well, sweets,” he grunts as he pecks my lips goodbye. I bring the duvet up to my chin as he walks out of the room, but as soon as the front door shuts on him, I’m restless.
Grace
Don’t forget to come to Town Hall tonight
Sure. Something important?
Laskin. Final preparation
Oops. Almost forgot about Emerald Creek’s largest festival.
Right. I remembered
I’m sure you did
It’s not like you had anything else on your mind recently
…
I switch to Colton’s contact.
Don’t forget Town Hall meeting tonight
Colton
Hey
I want your cupcake
I laugh despite me.
I’ll definitely bring cupcakes. Can you share?
Someone’s asking for trouble
Someone already found trouble
Damn girl, you’re making me hard
I didn’t do anything
…
…
I spend my day off baking for the meeting tonight, daydreaming about Colton. I hear his footsteps run up the stairs an hour before the meeting is set to start and decide to leave early so we’re not arriving together.
Town Hall is on Old Farmway Road, right off The Green. It’s a simple building with white clapboard siding, a central front door, symmetrical windows, a gabled roof and a belfry. Inside, there are two offices, and a large meeting room with exposed beams. The wooden floors, high ceilings, and simple architecture all contribute to a welcoming atmosphere. Rows of foldable chairs face a podium with a long wooden table where six people are already seated, shuffling papers, whispering among each other. By the time I have my baked goods set at the back of the room, the five selectpersons are facing us, shuffling through papers and whispering to each other, while Ms. Angela, sits at the top, a laptop open in front of her.
I slide in next to Chloe, who’s sitting next to Emma, leaving the chair to my right empty for latecomers.
Cassandra taps her microphone to bring silence to the room and calls the meeting open. “First order of business is to appoint our chairperson, since Stan, who left recently, filled that function. I’d like to make a motion to appoint Colton Harper.”
My heartbeat picks up. Colton stepped in to be on the board out of a sense of duty. I can’t see him happy to be in the limelight. Surely Owen wants to be the chair. It fits his personality to a T.
Colton’s head snaps up from his papers. Like I thought, he was not expecting that.
“I’ll second that,” Owen says.
Now here’s a surprise. I thought there was history between these two, and I didn’t think either of them was over it.
Looks like I’m wrong.
“All those in favor?”
Four ayes sound, and Angela types as fast as she can with two fingers on the laptop.
Colton won’t be happy to be on the forefront, having to lead discussions. But I’m happy. This will be great for him. And he’ll be great for the town. I’m so proud of him it hurts.
He scans the room and his gaze locks with mine. I give him a small thumbs up. One of his eyebrows shoots up while the corners of his mouth dip down in mock deprecation. This. This moment of silent complicity, of knowing I’m going home with him later. That I’ll be snuggling with him. That I’ll be telling him how proud of him I am, even if it annoys him—especially if it annoys him. These little things make the scariness of a relationship worthwhile.
“Next time you sit in the middle!” Nathaniel, an old man who does everything that needs to be done around town, bellows from his front-row seat. Colton’s gaze turns to him and he gives him a small smile.
Ms. Angela nods. “I was going to say just that.”
Chloe elbows me. “Look at that, your man is head honcho now,” she whispers, making me chuckle.
Colton clears his throat and reads from the paper he’s been toying with since he got here. “A’right, I guess I’m taking over.”
“Yeah!” someone behind me shouts.
Colton continues. “Next on the agenda is Declan— Officer Campbell’ s report on recent incidents.”
A woman squeezes by and sits on the empty chair to my right. A discreet waft of jasmine and citrus emanates from her, making me instantly relax. “I want to hear that,” she says. “It’s not good for business, this vandalism.” I turn my head and realize it’s Maddie.
She smiles at me, then her mouth rounds in an O. “You were there, right? You saw it happen?” she asks in a whisper as Declan starts recounting the events, reading from his spiral notebook.
I nod.
“Were you scared?” she asks, her eyes on Declan as she listens to him as well.
“More like stunned,” I whisper.
She looks at me and silently mouths, I know!
Once Declan is done, Nathaniel stands up. “Could it be the Prattsville folk? They usedta do a lotta that sorta…” His hand shakes as if to fill in for the word he’s looking for. “Shenanigans,” he finally says. “Not so long ago. Been a few years. I always said, ‘It’s too quiet, somethin’s up.’”
Maddie shakes her head, disapproving.
“We looked into it,” Declan answers, tapping his notebook nervously. “But uh… this is a personal assault on someone’s private property.”
“They usedta do stuff like that,” Nathaniel retorts.
Declan tilts his head. “Not really. They toilet-papered the North Bridge, put a… a gigantic…” He blushes.
Maddie leans over and says, “a gigantic blow-up penis on The Green,” while someone in the audience helps out Declan. “An inflatable appendage!”
“Thank you,” Declan says.
Nathaniel spreads his hands out. “What else do you need?”
Declan is torturing his notebook now. “What I’m trying to say, is that this seems more personal to the bookstore. It’s not even remotely funny—”
“You saying the rest was funny?” someone hollers. Half the audience laughs out loud while the other half murmurs in disapproval.
Cassandra gently taps her mic, then Colton leans over his. “Guys, please. Let Dec—Officer Campbell complete his report.”
Ms. Angela lifts her head from her note-taking, looking pleased at Colton’s take-charge approach.
Declan is crimson. “It was an ill-advised attempt at making fun of all of us. Hurtling eggs at a window is a lone gesture that signifies aggression. Very little planning. It’s the sign of an angry person looking for revenge. Or to get even. To inflict harm on a particular individual, or… corporation. The other… events required several organized individuals, planning, and overall, as unpleasant as it was, it didn’t carry the same meaning.”
“I still think we should look at’em,” Nathaniel says, then sits down.
“And we are. I met with their chief of police. Bottom line is, if this was… Let’s say we find Daisy painted purple or-or-or Moose dressed in a tutu or a bunch of rubber ducks floating on the Emerald lake? Then yes. Chances are, it would be Prattsville. But in this particular case, I’m leaning toward something more… sinister.”
The room is eerily silent, then a low murmur spreads.
“And private,” he adds, his hands extended to calm everyone down. “No need to panic.”
“Thank you?” Colton says. “And keep us informed.”
Owen leans over his mic. “Sorry, another question.”
Colton lets out an audible grunt, which may be construed as encouragement for Owen to talk.
Maddie leans toward me until our shoulders touch. “You’re together now, right?” she whispers, her gaze clearly on Colton.
Heat flushes my face. “Um… yes. It’s-it’s very new. But we’ve been friends a while,” I add for no reason.
She nods. “I thought so,” she says. We both go back to looking at the Select Board.
Owen rounds his mouth like he’s looking for his words. No sound comes out for a couple seconds, and I feel like I should fill this awkward silence with more explanations. It took us a while. It took me a while. I don’t know why it didn’t happen sooner. There’s a reason it didn’t happen sooner. He’s too good to be true. It’s bound to fall apart sooner than later. That’s how great things always end up.
Owen finally speaks. “Should we be concerned about the stop signs?”
Declan squints. “Pardon?”
“I’m thinking of the potential for graffiti.” His hands start making rolling motions. “What I’m getting at is, should we budget for… whatever product is used to remove graffiti?”
Declan shrugs. “We own a total of three stop signs. The other two are state property—they’re on a state route. So… I don’t know.” He turns to Nathaniel.
All eyes turn to Nathaniel, who shrugs. “Coupla magic erasers should do.”
Next to me, Maddie huffs. “This isn’t good.”
“A’right, next on the agenda is Laskin. Lynn?” Colton says.
A collective sigh and the buzz of muffled conversations take over as we move onto a happier topic. “Laskin?” Chloe asks, leaning over. “Is that the Christmas fair?”
“Lynn, why don’t you take this,” Colton says in the mic as I nod to Chloe. We both listen up, as this is when the logistics will be finalized.
I’m tasked with staffing the hot chocolate hut, Chloe gets to coordinate the food tent with Justin, while Alex will be in charge of social media for the whole event. Other people will be baking goods and selling them to profit Emerald Creek’s various sports teams.
The horse parade will be coordinated by Craig, Lynn’s husband. Various other events are discussed, but I’m not paying attention to the content anymore.
The delivery is so much more… palatable. Colton speeds people kindly to move the meeting forward, has a nice word to make them feel awesome, shuts down Owen’s nonsense with a “who moves to table this?” He even shuts down the usual bickering over the ribbon’s shade of red on Town Hall’s six-foot wreath with a “whatever you guys decide will be awesome” and a gavel tap to end all gavel taps.
Grace taps my shoulder from her seat behind me and leans forward. “Who is this man and what have you done with my brother?” she whispers.
Willow turns back to answer her. “She’s demonstrated to him the power of patience and persistence.”
My heart flutters at this, and while I feel a physical pull toward Colton at her words, I lean over to Willow to whisper, “By the way, you and I never sorted out your role in that dating app scheme.”
“Nothing to sort out, hun. Look.” She tilts her chin toward Colton. The way his shoulders roll under his flannel as he fidgets with a sheet of paper and the intensity of his dark gaze scanning the audience bring all kinds of inappropriate thoughts to my mind as he asks the most innocent questions.
“A’right, who’s taking over the hearthsong this year?” he asks.
I pretend to be fascinated by the question, not the man. “Who usually does that?” I ask Willow, which gets me a snort and a shoulder-bump Nice try.
Several voices murmur, until Louise stands up. “I will, if no one else volunteers,” she almost screeches. It’s hard to picture her singing or coordinating people. Colton visibly winces and pretends to look everywhere but in her direction. “Anyone?” he asks.
“I can do that,” a very familiar voice sounds a few rows behind me. I feel my eyes widen as my gaze latches onto Colton. Nigel? I mouth. He glances at me and with a smirk says, “Luke, you’re it. Check in with Ms. Angela after the meeting.”
Maddie audibly sighs. “I don’t know who this Luke is, but it can’t be worse than Louise.”
I go to turn around and check out my mystery voice on the phone, and just as I do, I catch Emma turning around in her chair, all flushed. “What’s up with her?” I ask Chloe.
She shrugs. “No idea.”
I lean over Chloe and tap on Emma’s arm. “Who’s this guy?” I ask her.
“No idea. Why?”
“I thought he lived in Prattsville.”
“No, he…” she starts, then catches herself. “If he volunteered, he must live here. Why don’t you ask Colton? And what makes you think he lives in Prattsville?”
I’m saved from answering her questions by the arrival of Willow, who asks Maddie to “slide down so I can sit with my peeps.”
“We need someone to make waffles,” Lynn is saying. “Alex, are you and Chris up for that?”
Alex nods. “Sure, we can do that. Happy to coordinate with others.”
Millie stands. “Let’s have a hot chocolate/waffle/coffee hut!” she exclaims from the back of the room.
“And grass!” Nathaniel says, lifting his fist in the air.
The room laughs, but Colton taps on the mic sternly. “Just a reminder, weed sales are regulated and I don’t think there’s a license for sale outside of 420.”
Declan stands and nods, but the whole room is laughing.
Colton rolls his eyes. “You guys are worse than a bunch of teenagers,” he says, laughing too. “Right, Ms. Angela?”
She smiles, holding her laughter in.
“A’right, meeting adjourned. Stick around for Kiara’s awesome cup-um… cookies.”
He jumps off stage and reaches me in three swift strides.
“You have ruined cupcakes for yourself, haven’t you?” I ask him after he’s pecked my lips. I’m still laughing from his private embarrassment.
“Nah. I’ve elevated them,” he says. “Hey, Mom,” he adds, looking beyond me.
My reflex is to jump out of his grasp, but he tightens his hold on me, turns me around, wraps his arm around my middle and plops a kiss on the top of my head.