“And yet here you are, running for mayor,” she said, gesturing grandly.
“When I win,” I told her, “you can still be deputy mayor.”
Her upper lip curled back.
“Or you know,” I backtracked, “some other job. Or you can have no job. I told you I care about you. I’ll always be there for you.”
“When you win,” she said slowly.
“If,” I corrected.
“No, no, no.” She wagged her finger. “You honestly think you’re going to win, don’t you?”
“No?” I felt like I was being entangled in a trap.
“Of course he’s going to win,” Greg interjected. “Just from the money alone, we have a huge campaign war chest. I already have a super PAC set up. You might as well not even bother to run, Deputy Mayor.”
“Shut up, Greg,” I hissed through my teeth.
But my brother steamrolled ahead. “Be realistic. After the cell phone ban, the straw ban—”
“Single-use plastics,” she corrected, hands on her hips.
“And the ill-conceived notion that you were going to ban alcohol.”
“And would that be a bad thing?” Meg tapped her foot.
“To be fair, we would have had our development voted through if the majority of the voters weren’t too drunk to raise their hands, causing the item to be tabled until next meeting,” I reminded my brother.
“When Hunter is mayor,” Greg told Meg, “your stranglehold on this community will be broken.”
“I’m not going to let that happen,” she replied, jaw set stubbornly. “You, Hunter, and your corrupt family are going down.”
The triplets toddled up to me. One of them sat on my shoe.
Meg’s face melted the tiniest bit.
“You can’t say that we’re all corrupt,” I joked, trying to ease the tension as I picked up the little kid.
He yawned adorably, raised a chubby hand, and pointed at Meg’s chest.
“Booby.”
Oof.
Meg pursed her lips. “I’ll see you at the debate,” she said.
I turned the toddler’s little face to mine. “Watch your language.”
“And this is why we need a shake-up amongst the Harrogate Svenssons,” Greg said. “You barely have it together. Once you’re mayor, I’m going to have Crawford come and corral the children.”
“Excuse me,Crawford? You hate Crawford.”
“He’s trying to storm the compound. Again. This will keep him distracted,” Greg insisted. “It’s the perfect plan.”
“I’m skeptical. I had a perfect plan once, until you ruined that one too,” I snapped at him.
Greg jerked his chin in Meg’s direction. “Give up on her. After this, she’ll never forgive you. Forget her and focus on winning.”
