‘Where am I supposed to sit?’ a voice demanded.
Taylor rolled her eyes. ‘He, on the other hand.’
‘Hi, Ray,’ I greeted him smoothly. ‘You can take my seat if you like.’
‘Good, thank you. I’m better off by the aisle in case I need to dash to the bathroom,’ he said. ‘Taylor, move along, will you.’
Taylor shifted along a seat, and I followed. Ray sank down into the folding chair with anoof.He was wearing slippers, I noticed.
‘You’ve never “dashed” anywhere in your life,’ Taylor said, leaning forward to speak over me to Ray. ‘And you’ve just been to the bathroom. Surely you can last an hour before you need to go again.’
‘It’s a figure of speech, you dingbat.’
‘Hey, this dingbat drove you here, remember. A little gratitude would be nice.’
‘I told her to stay in the car,’ Ray told me. ‘But she never listens.’
‘It’s too muggy to sit in the car,’ she protested. ‘Besides, I thought there might be snacks on offer. Don’t they usually have snacks at these kinds of meetings?’
‘Just beverages today, I’m afraid,’ I told her.
She leaned forward, stretching to see the table for herself. ‘That’s disappointing.’
‘Budget cuts, probably,’ Ray said. ‘Damn council keep increasing property taxes, but where does the money go? Eh?’
‘You don’t even pay rent, let alone property tax,’ Taylor retorted.
I took the opportunity to study her surreptitiously. She was wearing blue denim shorts and a cute white top with straps that showed off her toned arms. Her hair was up today in a ponytail that revealed her long, slender neck. I stared at it for a moment too long, wondering how it would feel to kiss her there.
‘What?’ she said, lifting a hand to touch her chin. ‘Have I got something on my face?’ she asked.
‘No.’ I felt my cheeks redden at being caught. ‘Sorry. I got… distracted. Why are you here?’
‘Ray dragged me along,’ she said. ‘Apparently the food options at last year’s festival were not to his liking, so he wanted to voice his displeasure and request more “Ray-friendly” food this year.’
‘Ray-friendly food?’
‘Yeah. He’s not a fan of anything he deems to be “fancy”.’
‘He’s a complicated man, isn’t he?’
She sighed. ‘You don’t know the half of it.’
There was a hive of activity near the door and a murmur swept through the crowd, before Celia Hamilton swept into the room and up the aisle towards her seat at the top table.
‘She always has to make an entrance,’ Taylor whispered.
‘Yeah, I’ve kind of noticed,’ I whispered back, trying not to focus on the fact that our knees were touching. Her denim shorts showed off her long, slender, smooth legs. ‘When she comes into the restaurant, she stops at every table to say hi to people, as if they’re guests at a dinner party she’s hosting.’
‘That doesn’t surprise me.’
‘Will you two stop whispering,’ Ray growled. ‘As much as I can’t stand the woman, I’d still quite like to hear what she’s saying.’
Taylor rolled her eyes again, and I had to stifle laughter.
‘Welcome to the final meeting for the twenty-first annual Pine Harbor Summer Arts Festival,’ Celia announced. She looked sideways to one of the men sitting at the end of the table. ‘Don’t we have a microphone, Doug? I’m worried the people in the back rows won’t be able to hear me.’
Taylor scoffed quietly. ‘No chance. The people in the nexttowncan probably hear her.’
