After some time, sitting there with my elbows on my knees, trying to get the blood to go back into my brain, I hear, “ Dude, are you okay? I heard about the scene at the Bluejay.”
Already? Why am I surprised?
“I’m fine. Listen.” I look up at my friend, the loner who doesn’t believe in love, who believes in only hard work, making money, and the inevitability of death. And I just blurt it out.
“Riley.”
Foster waits. “Is there more to this riveting story?”
“Riley. She…asked me to be her date for the gala.”
Foster’s brows knit together. “Bullshit.”
“I’m serious. It happened just now.”
“Where? I haven’t heard anything.”
“Literally just 60 seconds ago, at the bakery.”
He looks disgusted. “The gossip network isn’t what it used to be. Last bit of news I got was from Maddie that you almost choked to death.”
“Will you focus, please? I’m going to be her date for the gala, and I don’t know what to do with myself.”
“What do you mean? You’ve been on a hundred dates in this town.”
“But not with Riley. She’s special.”
Foster snorts.
“And there’s one other detail. It’s not a real date. She just needs me to be her buffer.”
He grunts. “Knew there was a catch. What kind of a buffer? She got beef with somebody? Tell me. I’m super bored with the sudden lack of gossip in this town.”
“No beefs. Not that I know of. She’s just shy. She doesn’t wanna talk to all these super-rich donors from Charlotte, Durham, and Winston-Salem, so she asked me to be a partner in crime. You know, to make her look more sociable.”
Foster crosses his arms over his chest. “Huh.”
“Yeah, apparently there’s been some chatter about this community base pay for the artist community no longer being sustainable? I don’t know who’s been putting that bug in people’s ears, but it’s got her pretty spooked, and she asked for my help, so I’m of course gonna help her.”
Foster glances around the room absently.
“Wait a minute. It wasn’t you, was it? You weren’t spouting your nonsense and threatening to pull funding, were you?”
He laughs. “I don’t have that kind of power.”
“Good. I was worried.”
“But maybe I have made a motion that we consider phasing out the arts guild funding.”
“You what? Why would you do that?”
“Dude, you already know my feelings about this.”
I’m upset, but I’m also pretty sure no one else in this community feels the same way. Not enough to put an end to one of our most sacred and unique traditions in Songbird Ridge. Our arts community is our pride and joy. And now I’m in the thick of it.
“If your pessimism had not resulted in Riley needing to be at the gala, and ergo, her needing a date, I’d probably punch you in the face. So you get a pass this time.”
“Gee, thanks. I’m so scared, by the way.” The sarcasm is evident, as Foster is six inches taller and thirty pounds heavier than I am. He could squash me like a bug.
