“Ah yes. Votes. Let’s check the Intimate Pickle Facebook page, shall we?”
Isaac pulled it up on the screen. We turned to look.
“How about that,” Garrett said nastily. “They have a pinned post that states, ‘Under no circumstances vote for Hunter if you care about health in Harrogate.’”
“And look!” Parker added. “They found a really unattractive picture of you.”
I seethed.
“As your campaign manager,” Weston said, not looking up from his phone, “you need to keep your spend-per-vote way, way down. At this rate, you’ve spent almost a hundred thousand dollars and have exactly no votes to show for it.”
“You are not my campaign manager,” I warned Weston.
“Dude, I run a consulting firm. Who else is going to manage your campaign?” Weston retorted, looking up at me.
“Someone who does more than thirty minutes of work a day.”
“Here’s a thought,” Garrett interjected, “you could manage your own campaign since you’re the only one here who is not employed.”
“And to think you and Greg can’t stand each other, considering how much you two are alike,” I retorted.
“Fine.” Garrett stood up and buttoned his suit jacket. “Enjoy swirling around in mediocrity. I’m not helping you on your campaign anymore. I have more important things to do with my time.”
I sat at my desk, rubbing my temple. It felt like I was losing, and I hated losing. Meg was slipping through my fingers. The only consolation was that all the Holbrooks were safely married off or in committed relationships. If Meg started dating one of them, I would completely lose it. As it was, having her just a block away in that derpy little container office was, for some reason, driving me insane.
Fortunately, I had one more card in my back pocket, and as soon as my secret weapon arrived, Meg was going to throw herself at me, and I’d have her back.
15
Meghan
“Iwish I had taken a picture of Hunter’s face!” I cackled later that afternoon. Periodically, one of the Svensson brothers would slowly walk past my campaign office. When it had happened the first few times, I had just thought that they were going for a snack or lunch or to stretch their legs. Then the fifth brother walked by.
“How many of them does he have?” Allie marveled.
“Hunter has about a hundred half and full brothers,” I explained. “But most of the adult brothers are off in Boston, Rhode Island, Manhattan, or Seattle. His father sends the little boys here from Wyoming, and Hunter takes care of all of them.”
“Eh,” Susie said, wavering her hand. “More or less.”
“They’re a bit wild,” I admitted. “Though Hunter does try. He has to deal with a lot. I can barely keep up with Minnie and Rose and—”
Allie banged her palm on the desk in front of me. I jumped.
“Hunter is your opponent. Stop humanizing the enemy; he certainly doesn’t feel any warmth toward you. That’s why he’s sending his little brothers to spy on you.”
Another one slowly strolled by the office, whistling off-key.
I opened the door, and he scuttled back a few feet, almost tripping off the curb.
“Tell Hunter,” I told him sweetly, “that I’m wiping the floor with him in the debate.”
“Yes, Deputy Mayor,” the tween said automatically then scurried off down the street.
“First things first,” Allie said, opening her folder, “I have prepared a list of sample debate questions that I think the moderator, Judge Edna, is going to ask. The big one, and the one that is going to inspire your campaign is, what is your vision for Harrogate?”
I looked around. “I want a safe environment where people can enjoy the small-town atmosphere and rural surroundings while still knowing that we are in a controlled economic upswing.”
“Yawn!” Kate said. “That’s not exciting.”
