Greylin grins and chuckles. I’ll take it, even if it is at my expense.
She reaches over and pats my hand, “I think these are extenuating circumstances.”
I tease her, “Now who’s talking cop?”
Her cheeks turn pink as she smiles, “I might be known to watch a cop drama or two, or all of them.”
With a shake of my head, I lean toward her and lower my voice, “Real life isn’t like TV.”
“I know,” she sighs, “they pretty much always find the bad guy and all the drama is solved in a neat package and in a limited amount of time.”
As I smile at my woman, I can’t help but ask, “How about Thursday night. Does that work for you?” She nods and her gaze darts down to my mouth. “Seven?”
“Okay,” she breathes out.
As much as I want to kiss her, and everything in my body is screaming at me to do it, I don’t. Instead, I give her my faith and tell her everything I know about what Dad is planning and how York blew me off when I lodged my concerns.
The soft away she looks at me while I fill her in on what I know tells me she’ll show up on Thursday.
Now I just need to figure out what to make.
CHAPTER 5
GREYLIN
Over the last few days, I’ve talked myself out of this date and then back into it over and over again. Mayer has reminded me more than once that we already know what Bart Simmons is up to, since Aiden didn’t wait until I held up my end of the bargain to spill the details.
When I burst into our office the day after Aiden showed up on my doorstep, everyone was getting a cup of coffee. It’s our preferred way to start the day and if we can get a cup together, it’s even better.
It all came out in one big torrent of words and hand gestures. Not a detail was left out, which meant that I also spilled how adorable I found Aiden when he brought me his deal. I also might have mentioned how I had a crush on him back in high school and thought something was going to happen when we moved back and before the mayor lost the plot.
I thought Mayer’s head was going to explode.
Meadow’s mouth was hanging open, but then she snapped it closed, her words indignant, “What you’re saying is that he thinks the health inspector is going to find something? Like I don’t keep my kitchen immaculate?”
I held my hands up, trying to placate her while keeping an eye on Mayer. She had a look on her face like she was a second away from taking off one of her heels and using it as a weapon over in City Hall.
Her eye was twitching.
“You’re going to pass all of the inspections with flying colors, Meadow.” Mayer sucked in a big breath and held it for a moment before letting it go and shaking out her hands. “He is going to do whatever he’s going to do. We can’t control him. What we can control is this business and how we perform daily.” She looked at each of us and nodded.
“Mayer,” Gemma started, her eyes wide, “we can’t let this stand and keep going. It’s ridiculous. I don’t even want to think about the resources he’s using.”
“The problem,” Mayer gritted out through her teeth, but it was clear her anger wasn’t directed at us, “is that there’s nothing to complain about. His vendetta hasn’t caused a sink hole in the middle of town, nor has it turned the hot springs into,” she threw her hands up, “some barren hellscape or something. He uses resources, fine, but we’re the only ones dealing with it.”
I flopped down on the couch and looked at her, really looked at her. She tried to cover it, but she looked tired.
“I’m documenting everything, but proof is what is hard to come by. I’m not sure what to do.”
“Beyond run for mayor,” Meadow threw out there like a grenade we hadn’t all been mentally playing hot potato with.
“The next election two years away. The man is a menace,” she hissed and sat down at her desk as if she needed it to find her threat of power and feed it.
“But things like this start now,” Gemma pointed out, trying not to sound too eager.
“I’ll think about it, but don’t hold your breath. I have enough to do around here and I don’t-,” she started before she closed her eyes and shook her head. She looked at us again before admitting, “Knowing who Simmons really is, I don’t think that’s an election I want to participate in. Even with the potential upside.”
My voice was small as I asked, “Which Simmons?”
