Chapter 15
15
Omar
I was looking forward to my date with Natalie but was not happy we needed to wait another week. When she was done with the work at the campground, she was exhausted and her ankle was sore.
If she lived alone, I might have picked up dinner and gone to see her, but she had a roommate, and that would have been awkward.
So, I had to wait.
Sunday night, I needed to get out of my house. I went for a drive on Saturday, but it didn’t take away the unsteadiness I was feeling. I needed to be around people.
Once more, I found myself walking into O’Kelley’s and seeking out Hudson.
“Evening, Omar. What can I get you?” Hudson asked when I took a seat at the bar.
“Are you always working?”
Hudson chuckles. “It just seems like it.”
I smiled. “Can I get a burger and a beer?”
“On the way.”
Hudson poured my beer, then left to put my dinner order in. I sipped my beer and looked around the bar. Groups were scattered around the room. Some played pool, others lined up at the darts boards, and many more pulled tables together and expanded their group.
I sat alone.
A few people waved or said hello, but no one approached or invited me to join them.
It hadn’t bothered me before, but the closer I got to my re-election, the more I saw how much I’d separated myself from the town. I loved MacKellar Cove, but I wasn’t really a part of it.
Maybe that would change with Natalie.
She was showing me pieces of the town I had never paid attention to before. The families, the kids, the need. Even the others close to my age, I felt more of a connection to the men on Thursday night after admitting to them that I had a thing for her.
The irony was I thought she’d ruin my chances at re-election, but she seemed to be the best thing for it. And that was before she defended me and shut down the reporter who wanted dirt.
“Here you go,” Hudson said, sliding a plate in front of me. “Need anything else?”
I shook my head and focused on my food.
“You doing okay?” Hudson asked.
“Yeah. All good.”
Hudson hesitated for a minute, watching me as I tried to keep it together.
“Actually, no. I’m wondering if I’m really what’s best for this town. Maybe someone like you should be mayor.”
Hudson laughed loudly. “No. Not happening.”
“You’re someone everyone knows. Everyone likes. You’re considerate and good with people. Why not?”
“I don’t want to be mayor. I like what I do. There’s no pressure. And you’re good at what you do, Omar. Why are you doubting it? Because of that article?”
I shrugged. “I enjoy it, but the only person talking to me is you, and you’re sort of required to do so.”
Hudson grinned. “Do you want to talk to people because you want them to elect you or because you want to be friends with them?”
I tilted my head and considered his question.
Someone called his name, and Hudson glanced away from me. He held up one finger, then looked at me. “When you decide on your answer, you’ll know what you really should do. Everyone here likes me because I provide them with beer and food and a place to hang out. Everything changes when everything changes.”
I chuckled, nodding when he walked away.
He wasn’t wrong. If he was the mayor instead of the local bar owner, people would see him differently. But what about me? I was never a part of the local community. I moved here and put my head down and worked. I liked my coworkers, but I never spent a lot of time getting to know them.
But why did I want to know people?
Getting elected mattered to me, but it wasn’t why I wanted to talk to people. Without anyone running against me, I would be elected.
But I wanted more. I wanted to live in MacKellar Cove instead of just existing there.
I finished my burger and beer and thanked Hudson for the advice and dinner, leaving him a big tip for his help.
I walked out of O’Kelley’s and ran right into someone walking past.
“Oof,” she grunted.
Instinct had me grabbing onto her, catching her before she hit the ground. I hugged her to me, her softness matching my strength the same moment her strawberries and marker scent filled my head.
Her hands were on my biceps, gripping life I was her lifeline.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Omar,” she breathed, my name coming out in a whisper.
“Natalie.” My voice dropped, desire I hoped I hid sneaking in. My fingers tightened on her back, pulling her closer.
“Be careful or you’ll be the next one in a compromising picture with him,” Daisy teased from a few feet away. “Are you okay?”
Her words had Natalie extracting herself from my arms. She removed her fingers from my biceps and took a step back.
My hands fell from her body, the heat of her wiped away in an instant.
“I’m fine. Just slipped when Omar came out of O’Kelley’s.”
“I apologize. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going. I should have been more careful.”
“It’s fine.” She took a step to go around me, putting more space between us.
I didn’t want her to go, but it was clear Daisy didn’t know anything about us. I told Natalie it was up to her if she told anyone about us, and I had no right to be upset that she hadn’t.
But I was.
“Are you okay?” I asked again.
She nodded. “Yes. Thank you for catching me.”
“It was…” I glanced at Daisy, who was watching us with open curiosity. “Could I have a word with you?”
“Daisy! Natalie!” someone called from the other side of Book Boyfriends Unlimited.
All of us turned to look as Trinity and Willow approached.
I groaned inwardly.
“Mr. Mayor,” Willow said when they got closer. “Are you coming to book club?”
I took a step back and shook my head. “Uh, no. I was heading home. Just not watching where I was going and ran right into Natalie. You all have a good night.”
“You, too,” they all said.
I walked away, hating that I was still a secret from her friends. Would she ever want them to know about us? Or was that her way of saying there was no us?
Another day, another article about how bad I was for MacKellar Cove. This time, I didn’t fight it and get pissed. I read the article and accepted what it said.
Things like biased and favoritism . Again, the article claimed I wasn’t doing what was best for the entire town and only focused on certain departments and action items.
There was even an interview with a former employee. Supposedly. The person remained anonymous and said I’d fired them after they questioned my integrity.
I couldn’t think of anyone it could be. But it didn’t matter because public perception was what mattered, and the article was making it clear the author thought someone better than me was out there.
So much for thinking the election was the least of my concerns.
Maybe the worst part of it was I hadn’t heard from Natalie. After getting trapped at the campground together, we talked a little online, but I hadn’t heard anything from her since we ran into each other outside O’Kelley’s on Sunday night.
And it pissed me off more than it should have.
We had a meeting scheduled with Amelia, but I couldn’t ask Natalie what was going on with her boss standing there.
I paced my office waiting for them to arrive, my mind bouncing between Natalie and the election and whoever was trying to sink my election chances. If the former mayor hadn’t been run out of town, I’d think it was him, but I didn’t think even he was dumb enough to try something like this. Not with the information Patrick had on the man.
A knock on my door stopped me in the middle of my pacing. “Yeah?”
Jane opened the door and flashed me a tentative smile before she let Amelia and Natalie into my office.
I thought I was hiding my frustration well until Natalie stopped dead when she caught sight of me.
“Omar, are you okay?” Amelia asked, walking right up to me and putting her hand on my arm.
I worked to smooth my scowl and the tightness in my shoulders. I certainly failed if the two of them could see how wound tight I was.
I hung my head and nodded. “You saw the latest article?” I glanced at Natalie.
“We saw it this morning,” Amelia said. “I would have thought these reporters would have tried to get something more truthful than garbage no one who knows you would believe.”
“It said they have a former employee. That’s a pretty good source.”
Amelia scoffed. “If it’s true.”
“I can’t comment on that. I have to believe they wouldn’t print something that would open the paper to legal action.”
“Well, they stepped in it,” Amelia continued. “You have been so good for this town, and people will see that. Besides, you’re running unopposed.”
I snorted. “I think that’s the point. Someone is planning to run against me and wants to wait for the right moment to announce it.”
Amelia gasped. “Really?”
I shrugged. “It’s the only thing that makes sense. They sat on that picture for a while. Possibly the same with this new source.”
“The picture was real?” Amelia asked.
I nodded but didn’t look at Natalie. “It’s real. But it was taken out of context and was not anywhere close to what it looked like.”
Amelia shook her head. “It doesn’t matter to me. What you do in your personal time is your business. Even if the picture wasn’t taken out of context, it’s no one’s business but your own. As for you firing someone, disgruntled former employees are never seen as reliable sources because they have a grudge. The paper should have known that.”
“Thank you, Amelia. Your support means a lot.”
I glanced at Natalie, but she stayed silent.
“Enough about all of that. Do you have an update on the budget?”
Amelia nodded and took a seat across from my desk. “Natalie has all the numbers.”
My gaze swung to Natalie. She stepped closer, clutching a file folder in trembling hands. She sat next to Amelia and opened the folder. “Um, so, this is the budget. It’s all the things we want to do, broken down into the three phases we are hoping to have.”
“It’s almost entirely blank,” I said.
She glanced at Amelia, and Amelia simply raised her eyebrows for Natalie to respond.
“Yeah, um, the weather hasn’t been cooperating lately, so we haven’t been able to get the work done. And phases two and three we know we won’t be able to do for a year or two, so I haven’t priced those out.”
“But phase one needs to be done by summer. Things need to be moving or it’ll never happen.”
“Yes, but the weather?—”
“Can’t be the excuse for everything. Contractors are working on their spring schedules now. If you don’t get people lined up, there’s no way any of this will actually happen. I was hoping to see more progress. What has the money already spent gone to?”
Natalie fumbled with the folder again, flipping pages. She grabbed a paper clipped section and lifted it from the folder. “So this is— Crap!” She dumped the entire folder on the floor. Papers went flying everywhere, scattering to the carpet and sliding underneath my desk.
Natalie dropped to her knees, snatching sheets from the floor.
“Let me help you,” Amelia said, leaning down and gathering the papers closest to her.
I heard Natalie inhale sharply and wanted to help her. To tell her it was all going to be okay. I retrieved the papers that slid under my desk and pretended I couldn’t hear Natalie and Amelia whispering on the other side of my desk.
“Are you okay?” Amelia whispered.
“No. I thought you were going to talk about some of this.”
“You are doing fine,” Amelia said.
“Yeah, I’m crawling under his desk and making a fool of myself.”
“Just take a breath, Natalie. You know what you have here. It’s all okay.”
Amelia sat up, smiling at me before turning her gaze back to Natalie. I saw the worry and the pride on Amelia’s face. She was letting Natalie fail. Letting her fumble and be awkward. Because it was how Natalie would be better.
And Amelia was trusting me to not attack her.
Natalie hugged the folder and all the papers to her chest and avoided my gaze. She tried to sort through things without dropping all of it again, but there was no way she would be able to do that.
“Why don’t you use the desk to organize your paperwork?” I suggested.
She looked up at me like I was offering her so much more than a temporary flat surface. “Thank you.”
I nodded, handing over the sheets I’d gathered for her.
“Should we start over?” I asked.
Natalie swallowed audibly. “Thank you, but I know you’re busy and don’t have time for me to be all…”
“Awkward?” I asked.
Natalie looked up at me with a gasp.
I smirked, a secret shared between us.
She exhaled a laugh, and her body language changed. “Yeah. Awkward.”
“I think I’m already aware of that one. Why don’t you just tell me what’s going on?”
She drew a breath and nodded. “James, Amelia’s son, and Derek Bailey helped me to remove the tree from the basketball court over the weekend. They spent all day at the property with me, and we dug out the rest of the connections. We’re ready for the electrical crew to come out and remove everything the rest of the way.”
“That’s huge progress from a week ago.”
“It is,” Natalie said. “I also got the camper cleaned out this week. We rented a dumpster and paid a company to get rid of everything in it.”
“Natalie was trapped at the campground in the storm last week,” Amelia told me. “We were in contact, but she was still stuck out there.”
“Getting the camper cleaned was a good idea.”
Natalie’s lips twitched with suppressed humor. “Derek Bailey put me in touch with Total Paving. They’re going to do the parking lot, driveway, and seal the basketball court in April or May.”
“So you do have some things set up?” I asked.
Natalie nodded. “Because our budget is limited, I didn’t want to commit to anything I didn’t know we could pay for. That’s why I’m not further along than I am. Until the fundraiser, I haven’t been able to confirm everything with these contractors.”
“Okay, I understand that. It makes sense to me that you wouldn’t want to take up space on their schedules and then back out and risk them missing out on other jobs. Have you been in touch with some of these companies?”
“Yes. I have a pool company that agreed to clean up the pool if we can pay them. I am still unsure about a building, but that’s a big ask. The camper was the biggest piece since we have to have a weather-safe location.”
“You’re making progress. And the fundraiser is less than a moth away?”
“It is. We have been getting calls from local companies wanting to donate items for a raffle, and we have information going out so everyone in town will know about it,” Natalie said.
“Good. Last we spoke, you seemed unsure.”
“I’m—” She gasped. “I was, but I realized last week that if I let my pride get in the way, I am only hurting myself.”
My brows jumped high. Was she talking about us? Or something else?
Did it matter?
“Well, I’m happy to hear that.”
I held her gaze for a long moment. Long enough that I forgot Amelia was sitting in the room with us.
“Okay, Omar, we’ll get on everything and be back for our next meeting in two weeks. The fundraiser will be almost here by then, and we’ll have all the details together.” Amelia stood and shook my hand. “And please know people are behind you. Anyone who does come out of nowhere and starts their campaign with lies and half-truths and an attempt to shame you isn’t someone I want running this town.”
“Thank you, Amelia.”
She nodded, then walked out, leaving Natalie and I alone for a minute.
“I’m sorry about the article,” Natalie said.
“Thanks.” I wanted to pull her into my arms and hold on.
“Do you still want to get together this weekend?”
I looked up at her. “Do you? You haven’t told anyone about us, so I assumed?—”
“Daisy knows,” she blurted. “She didn’t know how to act when we saw you. And the others at book club know.”
“Really?” I couldn’t contain my grin.
She nodded. “Is that… is that okay?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Good.”
“So, does that mean you still want to get together this weekend?” I asked.
“Very much.”
“Good. It’s a date.”
She grinned. “Yes, it is.”