Emily just smiled at me. "Those two women are pretty much the community organizers for all of Cats Peak. They run in different circles, but between the two of them, almost every family in town has some connection. If they're both telling the same story?"
"Which means the cops just fucked up and got a large number of people on our side," Violet explained. "It's a step towards getting the votes we need for the council meeting, Ash."
"I don't know if it'll be that easy," I told her. "There's a big difference between people thinking that we're being treated unfairly and being excited about what we're doing here. Remember, we're talking about bringing criminals into town."
Cy grunted at me. "And how many times have we pointed out that we're all criminals? A doctor, a lawyer, a politician, and whatever Billy is. Not to mention that we have a model and a fashion designer. We all started as criminals, and we turned into the kind of people they want to be."
"No," Emily said, sounding like she was still thinking. "We're going about this all wrong. We don't need to talk about Southwind as if it's going to be the solution to make someoneelserich and famous. We need to frame this as being about the kids. All of those disadvantaged children that nobody else has been able to take care of, that no one cares about as much as we do, and this one small town is the perfect place to make sure that they get help."
"Oh, I like her." Billy said. "We need to spin our message better. Southwind is fighting to take care of the kids - which means that people against Southwind don't care about children in need."
"And as sad as this is to say," Berto added, "we have all of the arguments already laid out for us by the pro-choice and pro-life movements. It's Politics 101. Pick the fight that you know you can win."
"And make it clear that it's not gonna cost anybody living here anything in tax money," Luke added just as his phone started to ring.
That made everybody stop and glance over, and Luke scrambled to get in his pocket. Cy sat up a little straighter, which made me think he also recognized the ringtone. When Luke swiped to answer and quickly lifted the phone to his face, I figured out why.
"Faith?" he asked. "What's wrong?"
Everybody sat silent while he listened to her reply, and then Luke chuckled in relief. "Hang on, cupcake. I'm actually sitting right here with everyone, so I'll put you on speaker and you can say that again." He pressed the button and then held his phone out in front of him. "Okay, now what happened?"
Faith's voice sounded panicked and like she was on the verge of tears. "Zeke's in the principal's office! Three boys jumped him when we were at lunch, so I did what you said, Dad. I yelled really loud, and that made the teachers come, but not fast enough. Zeke got punched in the face and they say he's going to have a week of detention. He didn't do anything, though, but he's worried that his mom's gonna kill him!"
"I'm not gonna kill him," Emily said, leaning close to the phone. "Faith, is he okay?"
"Yeah, I think so," Faith said. "I'm supposed to be going to class, but Zeke's going to need a ride home, and he was talking about walking because he didn't want to say anything to his mom. Dad? Can you pick us up?"
Luke looked over at Emily and nodded. "Yeah, cupcake, I'll pick you both up. I take it this means you're going to wait for him?"
"Yeah, because I don't want anybody to do it again, and the three other boys have detention at the same time."
"Then I'll be sitting in the parking lot waiting for you two," Luke promised. "You can also tell him that I'll talk it over with Emily. Oh, and Faith? I'm proud of you."
"Thanks, Dad," she said. "Gonna be late, but I'll tell him. Bye!"
The moment Luke ended the call, Emily grabbed his arm. "I can pick up my son, and I am not going to kill him."
"I know you aren't," Luke promised. "I also think that this might be one of those times that your son could use a man to talk to. I have no problem picking him up, Emily. Just let me do this, okay?"
She jiggled her head in a weak nod. "Thank you. I'm not exactly used to having help, so you have no idea how much I appreciate this."
"Oh, I think I do," he assured her. "It's also what makes Southwind work."
Chapter Forty-Nine
We spent the rest of the day putting the house back in order. They may have picked up all of the big stuff last night, but the chairs were still in the wrong place, the couches had been moved, and Ash had an awful lot of mannequins. Evidently they were one of the many things that Leslie had shipped down for him to use. Now, we had to find a place to keep them between lingerie parties.
I had just finished putting the last one back into its box when the alarm went off on my phone. That was my reminder that I needed to leave so I could pick up Faith and Zeke. After telling Ash that I didn't mind storing them in the barn, I grabbed my keys and headed out. It was a short drive, so I pulled up into the visitor parking lot only a few minutes after the last class of the day.
Then I waited. I sent a text to Faith, letting her know I was already here. After that, I sent another to Emily, letting her know that I hadn't forgotten her son. I spent the next twenty minutes playing a game on my phone. Eventually, the entrance to the school opened in front of me and both kids walked out.
Both of their heads were pointed down at the ground. Both of them carried heavy backpacks and their shoulders were slumped. They looked dejected and braced for the worst, but when they reached the side of my truck, Zeke made it clear that Faith was riding in the front. He climbed into the back, and then in unison, they sighed.
"That bad, huh?" I asked as I twisted so I could see Zeke.
The boy had a red mark on his jaw that matched the bruise Violet was wearing today. Almost timidly, he looked up at me and then nodded. Well, I wasn't moving this goddamn truck until I had a much better idea of what had happened today.
"So how did this whole thing go down, anyway?" I asked.
