“Sounds like he hasn’t changed at all since you dumped his sorry ass years ago.”
“Nope.” I swiped a mozzarella stick in marinara sauce and took a noisy bite. “In fact, he’s just grown worse.”
“Too bad,” Kate said with a sigh. “I always thought it was so romantic how he sent you all those flowers and would have breakfast sent to our apartment. I had hoped he would do some introspection and live up to the ideal version of himself.”
“It was all lies,” I said, angrily stabbing a french fry in cheese sauce.
Kate handed me a glass of wine.
“All he knows how to do is lie and manipulate people. Now he’s doing the same thing to the townspeople of Harrogate. He has so much money,” I said miserably, taking a sip of the drink. “And now he’s going to win. I don’t know why I’m even bothering.”
“Hey, sad sack,” Kate ordered. “Stand up.”
“Ugh.”
“Power pose time!” my friend ordered, putting her fists on her hips.
I took another bite of my hamburger.
“Put that down and stand up tall and proud,” Kate said.
I hiccupped. “I think I ate too much.”
“You are a strong, independent woman. You have been running this town for years. You are going to win the mayoral election. You are going to play dirty and aggressive. You are not going to let Hunter push you around.”
“But how?” I asked.
Kate smiled toothily. “Because I am going to be your campaign manager. I’ve been working for Walter Holbrook as his assistant for several years. And guess what? He still doesn’t like Hunter and is willing to donate generously to your camping.”
I gaped at her. “I—that’s—I can’t take that money.”
“Too late!” Kate chirped. “I already bought you a campaign office. We are wiping the floor with the Svenssons!”
* * *
“When you saidyou bought me a campaign office, I didn’t think you meant literally,” I told Kate as the train chugging down the middle of Main Street arrived with a converted shipping-container-turned office. The freight train that mainly served Svensson PharmaTech usually ran right down Main Street a few days a week. It was one of the things that made Harrogate quirky. Now the tracks had been used to deliver my new campaign office. Someone had cut out large squares from the container and put in big glass windows and doors. The whole thing was painted in red and blue blocks with…
“Is that my logo?” I asked in amazement.
“I designed it myself,” Kate said happily. “It’s snazzy, isn’t it?”
I chewed on my lip as the crane set the shipping container down on a patch of concrete at the corner of one of the parks in Harrogate.
“Let’s face it toward the street,” Kate said, motioning to the crew. “Long end that way.”
“You can’t put your campaign headquarters here!” Hunter’s deep voice said behind me.
His campaign office was only a block away. Of course there was no way hewasn’tgoing to notice the arrival of the shipping container. Annoyance was plain on Hunter’s handsome face. But with Kate in my corner, I was feeling upbeat.
“Jealous?” I said sweetly to my ex.
“This park is public property,” he insisted. “By law, you cannot just put your office here.”
“I have a permit for an art installation,” I told him, waving the paperwork in place.
He drew back. “But… this is an office.”
“No, it’s an art installation! You heard her!”
