3. Chapter Three
Chapter Three
Maggie
I held the city hall internal phone away from my ear and stared at it, disbelief running through my veins like ice. I returned the handset to my ear, took a deep breath, and said, “What? I didn’t catch that, Ruth. Can you say that again?”
My secretary cleared her throat. “Grady Castillo registered himself as an independent candidate for mayor.”
“An independent candidate?” I spent one day a week in the mayor’s office, and this week I’d decided on Friday. Mayor of Little Falls wasn’t a full-time salaried job, which meant I was constantly juggling my pharmacy business with the interest of the town. There were few advantages in being a politician on such a small scale, which is why I’d expected to be declared mayor for another four years. Avoiding proclamations out loud didn’t mean I didn’t say them in my head. Right now, my brain was having trouble processing this turn of events. The calculating look Grady had given me last night made a lot more sense. “Does Grady even have a job?”
“Do you want me to come in there?” Ruth asked, and the scrape of the chair legs on the wooden floor as she rose from her seat was clear through the phone and the thick oak door. Instead of waiting for an answer, there was a click in my ear, and Ruth popped her head into the office.
“What in the world?” I set down the handset and rocked back in my leather chair. The mayor’s desk, big, wide, and older than me, was laid out between us. I smoothed my hands along the grainy surface hoping, like a genie in a bottle, it would magically restore logic and order to my life. Grady Castillo returning to town unannounced and then running against me for mayor was insane.
“I know.” Ruth nodded. “Absolute lunacy. Why would he want to run against you?”
“Why would he want to run at all?” I raised bewildered eyes to Ruth. “Does he even own property in town?”
Ruth inspected the piece of paper in her hand. “Looks like he bought the old Whittaker place.”
“The Whittaker place?” I shook my head. “The mold penetrated his brain, that’s what’s happened.”
With a small laugh, Ruth shrugged her shoulders. “Looks like we have ourselves a race for mayor.”
“Seriously? What job did he list?” I rounded the desk, my heels muted by the gray carpet, and snatched the paper out of Ruth’s hands. “Musician? That’s what he put down?” Last night he’d told me he didn’t make his living off his voice anymore. So, what was this? A lie?
“Technically, probably true. The cash prize and then the royalties off his hit album.”
“One hit album,” I reminded her. “One.”
Ruth smoothed her chin-length salt-and-pepper hair. She was old enough to retire and had been for a few years. But when I had gotten into office, Ruth had agreed to stay on for my first term. Everyone had been counting on a second.
“There’s no way Grady wants to be mayor.” I thrust the paper at Ruth and spun on my heel to return to my desk. “You’ve met him? Grady Castillo can’t remember anyone’s name, ever. He and Trent were banned from the pawn shop when we were kids. Banned!” On the tip of my tongue was the reminder that Trent was a convicted felon, but I caught myself in time. I never talked about him like that, and I wasn’t going to let my temper get the best of me now. Grady had always brought out the worst in me. “He would be a terrible mayor. I bet he doesn’t even have a plan or a platform or anything.”
“He has managed to get you quite worked up.”
“A loophole.” I picked up the phone and dialed the former mayor, who’d retired when I took over. “There must be some reason Grady can’t run, right?”
Ruth shook her head. “I checked through everything I had on file to see if he was even allowed to run. It seems his candidacy as an independent is perfectly legal.” She worried her bottom lip for a moment in silence. “If the house he bought and the career he listed is any indication, he probably doesn’t have much money.”
I narrowed my eyes in thought. “And you need money when you’re an independent.” My fingers drummed on the desk as I waited for Bill to pick up. Thoughts swirled around my head as I tried to make sense of this new development. This week marked the end of June. I had until November to wage a campaign so strong I’d leave Grady choking in my wake. After what felt like the five hundredth ring, I set down the phone. Who didn’t have voicemail? I rested my chin on my open palm. “I can beat him, I think.”
“You sure can.”
I’d defeated Roger Gallagher four years ago to take this job. The campaign had been long and tough. My win had been earned. Already, something about the way this campaign was unfolding was unsettling instead of energizing.
“Who do you think he has helping him?” The Grady I remembered from years ago couldn’t have organized a drinking contest at a brewery. Creative, intelligent, but scattered, disorganized. Not mayor material. Not campaign material.
Ruth glanced down at the sheet in her hand. “Kelvin Brown signed as a witness when he declared his candidacy.”
I took a deep breath and released it in a huff. I stood up. I sat back down. “I don’t like that. Kelvin could run a half-decent campaign with markers and masking tape. Do you know him, Ruth? We went to high school together. Sort of. He’s older than me. Tyler and Grady’s age. God.” I put my head in my hands and then flopped back in my chair, totally discombobulated.
“What makes you think he’d be so good? He’s a dentist in town, isn’t he?”
I nodded and hummed while I considered how to phrase it. “Kelvin cares about how other people perceive him. So, he always puts his best self out into the world.”
“He’s like you,” Ruth said with a smile.
“He is.” I pressed my fingers into my temple. “See my point?”
“Grady alone might not be a problem. But with Kelvin by his side, they’ll give you a run for your fancy chair.”
A knock on the doorframe behind Ruth made us both jump. We’d forgotten to close the door. Lila stood in the entrance with dark glasses perched on her nose. Her appearance almost made me smile. There was no sun streaming into city hall, so Lila was feeling the echoes of her birthday celebration.
“Four more years?” Lila held up her phone with the time prominently displayed. “It’s closing time.”
“I’ll let you two talk.” Ruth slipped past Lila to her desk.
“Close the door,” I said. As soon as it clicked, I didn’t wait for Lila to turn around. “Grady Castillo registered against me.”
“Shut the front door!” Lila spun on her heel and then pressed her fingers to her temples, groaning. “I shouldn’t have gone to work today.” Gingerly, she removed her glasses. “I’m too hungover. I thought you said Grady Castillo declared himself a candidate for mayor, which would mean I’m in the twilight zone.” Lila gave me a thoughtful look. “Or I’m still drunk. Am I still drunk?”
“Doubtful. It’s more likely we’ve entered the tenth circle of hell.”
“How many circles were there before Grady showed up in town?”
“Nine.”
“Right.”
We stared at each other for a moment before Lila sank into the gray leather chair on the other side of my oversized desk. With her fingers pressed into her temples, Lila winced. “Why would he run for mayor?”
“Who knows?”
“Do you think…” Lila shifted in her chair. “I sort of remember bragging about you being uncontested last night.”
“You did.”
“Is that why he decided to run? Did my big mouth ruin your slam dunk?”
I shook my head and sighed. “I don’t know. But if you being proud of me set him off, there’s not much we can do about that. Grady is Grady. He’s always been hard to figure out.” That was the truth. The whole time I’d been with Trent my final year of high school, I’d had my eyes on Grady. We’d spent weeks, months sparing over this topic or that at Sunday dinners. Despite our bickering, there’d always been a cool aloofness in the way he’d challenged me. For a brief moment, that coolness had burned bright.
Then Trent got arrested, I went to college in Florida, and Grady won a national talent competition.
Now, we were rivals for the mayor of Little Falls. Every time reality entered my mind, the top of my head threatened to pop off. I’d thought he was gone for good.
“Are you worried?” Lila drew me back to the present.
“I can’t decide. I wasn’t that worried until I found out Kelvin Brown witnessed his candidate application.”
Lila leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs. “Geez. Kelvin?” She took a bottle of aspirin out of her purse, shook out two pills, and popped them into her mouth.
“Yep.”
“He cleans my teeth. I’m looking for a new dentist.” Lila grabbed her phone, and her fingers flew over the keyboard. “All right, all joking aside. We need a game plan. I’ll round up Emily, Tyler, your parents, and get in touch with anyone else who was part of your campaign four years ago. Sound good?”
“Yes. Thank you. I know we need to spring into action, but I feel like I got hit by a semi. If Kelvin wasn’t involved, I’d say there was no way Grady was going to take this seriously.”
“But he is, so we have to assume…”
“I’ll get the lawn signs ordered and start talking to the people who did my pharmacy commercials and ads about mocking up some political ones.”
“Are we all set for the Fourth of July? Fireworks are ordered? Parade is under control? We need to kill it this year.”
“Yes. At least it’s all set. We were already planning on going all out there, so no changes are needed.”
Lila headed toward the door, an aura of determination around her. With her hand on the knob, she shifted her shoulders and hesitated for a beat. “Part of me thinks I shouldn’t say this, but then another part of me thinks you might not have considered it.”
“What’s that?”
“The town loves Grady. They spent weeks rooting for him on Center Stage . It was years ago, but still. I know you were away, but it was a really big deal. Huge. Now, he’s back and running for mayor.” Lila’s dark eyes filled with worry. “He might not know everyone, but they know him. They’ll feel like they really know him. We have to consider the loyalty vote for some people might not lie with you.”
Lila was right. I’d been remembering Grady as the man-boy I once knew at the end of my high school career. Back then, he’d been a twenty-something handyman who couldn’t figure out how to do life. Why would I ever take that guy seriously? But time had passed, and Grady had found some success both in Little Falls and beyond. So instead of Lila’s warning giving me a shot of panic, it centered me. I knew how to run a campaign against a worthy adversary and win. There were rules of play, strategy.
Grady Castillo was going to have his ass handed to him, and I’d take great pleasure in being the one to do it.