"I didn't know Hazel was Meghan's sister at the time!" I protested.
"Just help Harrogate win the Art Zurich Expo, and I'm sure all will be forgiven," Josie assured me. "Also this food is amazing."
"Did Mace not feed you? I thought you had a date night," I said.
"Yes, but I always have room for a cheesy crepe," Josie replied. "You need to talk Hazel into making Nutella crepes next!"
* * *
I stayedup late going over the presentation with Mike and Greg, and the next morning, we headed over to city hall.
"These renderings look so good," I said, admiring them as I placed the computer illustrations of what the conference center would look like on the easels we brought.
"They better. We spent a fortune on all this stuff," Mike replied.
At the front of the large room in city hall was a long table. Five minutes before we were scheduled to present, the door opened, and Mayor Barry walked in, followed by another older man who I recognized as Amos, a descendant of the factory's original owner, and Meghan.
"Lieutenant Mayor!" I said enthusiastically. "When can we expect your Supreme Court appointment?"
Meghan half rolled her eyes. "I hardly think I'm qualified."
"Please, you'd be the best judge to ever judge." I almost saw a smile, but then she and Hunter locked eyes, and a blanket of tension settled over the room.
"Hunter, my boy," Mayor Barry exclaimed jovially, seemingly oblivious to what was going on between Hunter and Meghan. The mayor was a large man and wasn't in the best of health, so Hunter crossed the room to shake his hand. "So glad to see you," Mayor Barry said. "We're very excited to see what you have to propose. We like Harrogate to be as business friendly as possible."
"While still making sure it is friendly for all residents," Meghan added.
"We worked hard to make sure that our design was something all residents of Harrogate could be proud of and benefit from," Hunter all but spat. "Of course you can make up some imaginary reason to reject this project."
"Shut up," Greg hissed at Hunter.
The tension didn't ease as we ran through our presentation, emphasizing the creative vision for the project. Mayor Barry nodded along and made appreciative noises when we showed the floor plans and explained how we would have room for the food hall in addition to some office space and, of course, all the exhibition space. Neither Meg nor Amos smiled once.
"We're even planning on having a Grey Dove Bistro franchise in the food hall," I added, knowing the mayor was a big fan.
"Delightful!" the large man said, clasping his hands together.
Meghan frowned. "All right, I've seen enough. Your team can wait for us to call you back in. We have lunch provided next door."
We waited around in a large meeting room overlooking the town square while the Harrington investment team gave their presentations. Along with bottles of water on a table in the room, there were sandwiches wrapped in brown butcher paper tied with string. They had little colorful hand-painted cards.
"Prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella sandwich with pesto aioli. Your favorite," I said to Hunter, waving it in his face.
I took a turkey bacon sandwich. "This is amazing." I looked at the card that was tied onto the sandwich wrapping. The style was familiar. It was one of Hazel's sandwiches. I felt oddly happy knowing that.
"I think we have this in the bag," I said cheerfully.
"The Harringtons are going to put up a good fight," Mike said, swallowing his bite of sandwich.
"Meghan's not going to select them," Hunter said. "She doesn't like the Harringtons. They treated her poorly when she worked at the law firm."
"Yeah," I said, "but she hates you." Hunter turned on me, face furious.
"Stop it, Hunter," Greg snarled at him.
"We're ready for you unless you want to have a brawl in the middle of city hall," Meghan stated from the doorway.
We walked into the large presentation room. The Harrington Investment team was in there too.
