Addie moves through the space without hesitation. She passes the staircase to a set of doors, firmly shut. Voices sound from behind it.
“Are we late?” I whisper.
She checks her watch and snorts. “By approximately three minutes, yes. Guess they felt like being unusually prompt today. How fortunate for us.”
I fall more in love with her when she dramatically opens the doors like she’s Aragorn swaggering into Helm’s Deep.Surprise.
Chatter in the room ceases and an old man with a stark white combover, sitting to the left of the mayor, glares at me with murderous intent. I don’t know what to do with this attention, but Addie doesn’t hesitate. She spots two seats at the front of the meeting room, and with her hand still in mine, sets off. Her footsteps echo on the light wooden floors. I feel every eye on me as we pass. The judgement ripples through the crowd, and soon, silence turns to whispers.
Addie takes her seat and pulls me down next to her. She gives the panel of elders a look of steely-eyed determination.
“Heard you were talking about us,” she says. “Thought we’d show up. Make it interesting.”
Mayor Goodwell heaves a great sigh. “I don’t even want to do this,” she says. She shuffles through the notes in front of her and looks at the other council members. Surprisingly, none of them look that interested in me. “We received a letter from a concerned citizen regarding the presence of…someone new in town.”
“It’s more than just that,” the grumpy man, who I assume from Addie’s debriefing is Jordan Porter, bellows. “This is about the safety of our beloved town.”
Addie raises her hand and patiently waits to be called on. She stands and smiles, sickly sweet. Oh, bless this woman.
“Yeah, hi Jordan. I’m just wondering a few things. First, the letter you received, did it come from someone named Acacia or Hazel?” Jordan’s moustache twitches as he tries but fails to remain neutral. “Cool. Second, since you’ve been here for longer than me…Was there a motion to remove Phillip Olson when he got caught for domestic and child abuse? Or when Maria Jones stole all those lawn gnomes? Or back in the 80s when that guy was graffitiing gossip all over town? I’m just wondering.”
Jordan Porter stares at her, mouth agape, for a good ten seconds. Hell yeah, same. I’m not shocked to see this side of her. The quick wit and connection of the dots. It has Addie written all over it, and she’s finally standing up for herself. For us. Her cheeks glow a bright red.
“You’re incredible,” I whisper.
“See, that’s the thing,” the mayor says. “None of that happened. We’ve never voted to remove anyone when they broke the law or played a stupid prank. Those people were allowed to stay in town if they wanted, and aside from Phil,” her eyes linger on me as she mentions my father’s name, “everyone did stay. Hell, I’m pretty sure Maria is here today.”
“That doesn’t mean they should be,” Jordan hisses. “Our town is too good to have scum ruining it.”
“I also don’t subscribe to the idea that people arescum.” The mayor stands and looks at her constituents. She opens her arms, then clasps her hands together. “I do not want to set this precedent. Letting our residents be judged for something they did a decade ago does not embody Beaver Creek values.”
“You don’t get to be the person that decides who or what embodies Beaver Creek values. We have a council for this very reason.”
A low rumble spreads throughout the room. I’m not sure if people agree with Jordan or Mayor Goodwell. Either way, I feel the fist clench around my esophagus. Addie and Lucy sense it at the same time. Lucy drops her head in my lap and stares at me with her sad puppy dog eyes. Addie grasps my bare forearm, splays her fingers, and taps out a comforting rhythm.
“Now, hold on,” Mayor Goodwell says. “Thisisactually my job. This is what I was voted in to do. But, okay, Jordan, if you have information I’m unaware of and a strong case for why this should be on the table, let me know. Otherwise I’m dismissing it.”
Jordan stands. He’s short and hunched, barely makes it up to Mayor Goodwell’s shoulders. His white eyebrows draw so far and furiously together they look like a unibrow.
“That man,” he says with a vicious point in my direction, “is still a danger to society.” Addie snorts, earning herself her very own glare. “He has not changed who he is. In fact, just today he was caught stealing.”
“Hey, so, that’s not true,” Addie heckles.
“I have it on good authority—”
“From Acacia or Hazel…did you know my cousin has always hated her first name? She’s used other trees as a nickname since she was a kid. So, if that’s your authority, you might want to look deeper. Because the one who stole from me today was her.”
Jordan pauses. I’m sure he doesn’t actually believe Addie, but it’s enough of a seed of doubt to get the town talking. Mayor Goodwell gestures for him to continue. I find myself…wanting him to. All he seems to be doing is digging a deeper hole.
Could this actually be working in my favour?
A voice from the back of the room calls out, “Zander is a dear! I’ve never worked with a kinder author.”
Brianna.
Eva, sitting beside Brianna and her girlfriend, shoots up as well. “My grandma keeps trying to set me up with Zander. It’s annoying as hell and neither of us wanted it, but he issorespectful.”
Simon stands, independently from Tabitha, “This town made me think that Zander was shady. We were friends in school. I liked him. But when everything went down all the adults retroactively decided he was as bad as his parents. That’s such bullshit. No one deserves that, especially not him. If you got to know him, you’d realize how cool and talented he is.”
