“Why can’t you have Carl do it?”
“No one knows who Carl is,” Greg said. “Everyone in this town knows you. You’ll be a shoo-in as mayor.”
“No,” I growled at Greg, clenching my fists.
His lip curled back. “Too bad,” he spat. “I’ve already filed the paperwork. It will be announced at the town hall tomorrow that you are running for mayor against Meghan Loring.”
7
Meghan
Another night, another small-town hall meeting. It felt like every gathering was the same, which, after the chaos of the last week, was fine by me. The Svenssons had taken to catering dinner and alcohol for the attendees. As such, attendance was way up, and people were more susceptible to voting yes on their development plans.
My sister, Hazel, was catering tonight, and Ida and her fellow senior citizens in the Harrogate Girls Club were handing out slips of paper. I had banned the bingo cards the group had been giving out after a drunken fight broke out between several participants, one of whom had accused the other of cheating.
I peered at the slips of paper.
What are those?We had to keep level of some decorum—this was an official public event, after all.
Do you really want to be mayor? Minnie and Rose will be in college, Lord willing, in a couple of years. You could just… not be mayor.Yeah, and then what?You could work at one of the Svenssons’ companies.They had practically taken over the town.
When I was in high school, it had been my dream to escape the small-town life. As soon as I had turned eighteen, I had moved to Manhattan for college, attended law school, then landed a cushy job in a white-shoe law firm. I didn’t make it a year before I was fired, thanks to my horrible supervisor Karen.
Though I was happy to take care of my sisters, a part of me still longed for the big-city dream. Maybe I could give Manhattan another try. Until my sisters were out of school, I could do remote work as a lawyer. That was a thing, right? But for now…
I banged the gavel on the lectern. “I call this meeting to order,” I announced.
“Bottoms up!” someone shouted, and everyone tossed back a shot. My eye twitched.
“We have several items on the agenda, including a presentation about a proposed property development. Please let me remind everyone that just because a developer supplies snacks—”
“And alcohol!” someone yelled to loud cheers and toasts.
I banged the gavel. “Just because they supply alcohol doesn’t mean we should rubber-stamp everything that they do.”
“Huzzah!” The crowd took another shot.
I gritted my teeth. So Ida had started a drinking game. That was just great.Maybe I can help my little sisters graduate early. They could do online education.
“First on the agenda, as we all know, Mayor Barry has left Harrogate and resigned from his post as mayor. We need to fill the position. As deputy mayor, I will be taking over as mayor of Harrogate to finish out Mayor Barry’s current term. Would someone please put forward this motion?”
“I would like to put forward a motion.” Greg Svensson stood up. Hunter’s face was unreadable.
“A motion for what?”
“This is America, Deputy Mayor, and we believe in the democratic process.”
Fuck, they aren’t going to…
“I would like to put forth a motion that—”
I banged the gavel. “You do not live in this city, Mr. Svensson. Therefore, you will not be putting forward any motion.”
Greg shook Hunter, who scowled at his half brother. Then he stood up and buttoned his suit jacket. “I motion,” Hunter said.
Please, can he just motion to make me the mayor? Could he just do one decent thing for me?
“I motion that we have a fair and public election to select the next mayor of Harrogate. Anyone may submit their name to be considered for the mayoral primary.”
