"We need to run it by Meg and bring her over to our side," Mace said. "As the deputy mayor, she has a lot of sway."
"They'll approve it," I said. "It would be great for the city."
"I'm not so sure," Mace said. "At the town hall meeting, Meg was fielding a lot of questions about the town letting the Svenssons take over everything without giving back."
"Don't let Hunter come," Liam said with a snort.
"We need a lawyer there. Maybe we should bring Josh in?"
"Their firm is busy," I replied. "Besides, I keep hoping that Meg and Hunter will, at some point after gazing into each other's eyes long enough, see that they were meant to be together."
15
Penny
"I’m assuming we can't have any wax corpses in the lobby of Svensson PharmaTech?" Morticia asked.
"Please don't," I said.
"What about roadkill skeletons? Lilith found a skunk last night—"
"No! Please no," I practically shouted. "We want cute Halloween decorations."
The twins were both wearing perfectly round sunglasses, making them look like some sort of horror movie characters. Morticia's driving gloves rustled as she carefully navigated the ancient hearse through the parking lot.
Lilith sighed. "I suppose we can do very basic Halloween decorations. No one wants to take any artistic risks these days. How disappointing."
"I'm trying to help Garrett win the company," I said. "Then he'll like me and I can write my article, then I'll be back to Manhattan with a book deal and a swanky magazine job."
"For some reason, we thought you would be staying in Harrogate," Lilith said, looking at me over her sunglasses judgmentally.
"And I thought you said you were selling Mimi's house," I shot back.
"Potentially. It would have to be the right buyer," Lilith said. "Someone with money to keep the house up."
"And someone with the good taste not to paint all the stained woodwork white," Morticia added. We all collectively shuddered.
The first place we stopped at was Ernest's farm. "I'm glad you're back in Harrogate," he said, giving me a big hug.
"We will need hay bales and pumpkins," Morticia said. She and her twin sister opened lace parasols and walked through the pumpkins, pointing out the ones we wanted.
"He gave you his credit card?" Lilith said, thin black eyebrows raised as I paid Ernest.
"What?" I protested. "It's company business."
"All black," Lilith said, plucking the heavy metallic card out of my hand. "I approve."
Next, we went to a thrift store and selected accessories and furniture that gave off spooky and fall vibes. At the fabric store, Morticia found bolts of burlap and black and orange lace.
"I can't say this is my best work," Morticia said when we were back at the PharmaTech main lobby, stringing up lights and arranging pumpkins. "But it should be Halloween enough for someone named Sebastian."
"Nothing wrong with having a basic fall display!" I said as I arranged big wicker baskets full of colorful branches of leaves and sticks of dried flowers.
"You should have let us put up some squirrel skeletons," Lilith said as she hung several large metal spiders on one of the walls.
"No skeletons," I said, placing a white pumpkin and several yellow and green squashes on a metal table. "Besides, I feel like this is actually pretty Instagram-worthy."
I was on a ladder stringing up lights when I overreached to hang a strand and felt myself fall.
