“But first, I have to win, so don’t quit your job,” I warned.
“You’ll win,” Susie said emphatically. “You just have to walk the streets, go door to door, host kaffeeklatsches, moderate roundtables, and visit every little club and organization in town to remind everyone that you care about the town.”
* * *
The problem?I was going to be hard-pressed to find the time.
I woke up the next morning with dried cookie dough in my hair. I had an early-morning meeting with the city employees during which Uncle Barry’s secretary took her dear, sweet time giving me the rundown of the former mayor’s activities.
“He always has a coffee with the state senator at Marco’s,” she said. “He orders a sausage roll and an espresso. Lately though, he’s been stopping by Sadie’s for a sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit after.”
No wonder he collapsed at the party.
“Then I read him his emails when he gets into the office. I have them all printed out if you want me to go through them,” she said, perching her glasses on her nose from the chain around her neck. “Here’s one about a roundtable discussion at the governor’s office for rural development in New York. And here’s one about—”
“Thank you, Mrs. Stodder,” I said firmly. “Just have all his emails forwarded to my account, and I will sort through them.”
“Forward?” she asked, blinking in confusion.
“Never mind,” I told her. “I’ll talk to IT and get the password.”
* * *
Why am I even bothering?I thought as I walked to Hazel’s café for my first official campaign meeting.
Hunter’s going to win. I should just let it all pile up into a giant steaming heap of small-town bullshit and let him suffocate in it when he becomes mayor.
But I couldn’t do that; I had sworn an oath. I couldn’t just shirk my job responsibilities. But I also didn’t have time to run a whole campaign, especially since the majority of my team consisted of my younger sisters, who were less than happy to participate.
“I made snacks!” Hazel said brightly.
“Are we being paid?” Minnie asked with a sigh, not looking up from her phone.
“If I win, we’ll be able to afford somewhere to live. How about that?” I replied tartly.
“We can’t just stay with Hazel?” Rose complained.
“Hazel can’t get any from Archer if we’re here,” Minnie said snottily.
“God save me from teenage girls,” Hazel muttered.
“We’re family. We stick together,” I reminded them.
“Yeah, some family. Barry ran off with all our money. And you just let him,” Rose said to me accusingly.
“I didn’t let him do anything, you little brat,” I snapped at her.
Rose rolled her eyes at me.
“If you’re going to beat the Svenssons, you have to be a boss, not just a boss babe. You have to grind Hunter’s balls into the ground. You can’t let him walk all over you.”
“That’s right,” Minnie added. “You need a campaign office and money and volunteers.”
I grabbed one of the pinwheel sandwiches Hazel had made and took a bite. I was feeling anxious.
“Maybe you can take out a loan,” Hazel suggested.
“Can’t,” Minnie said, looking up from her phone. “Isaac Svensson told me that he heard Hunter and Garrett talking. Barry used all our social security numbers to apply for credit cards and maxed them out.”
