Pippa handed her the chain of flowers. It was so delicate, Ginny worried it might fall apart in her hand. But then Pippa took it back, and before Ginny knew it, the little girl had reached up and settled it on her head.
“Leave her alone, Pippa,” Julia said, coming up to them. But she was smiling, too.
“Thank you!” Ginny turned left and right. “How’s it look?”
Both girls seemed pleased. “I haven’t seen you at Wendell’s,” Julia said.
“Oh, right. Well, I’ve been very busy.” Ginny indicated to the house. “Your aunt has me working hard. Not that I mind!” she added quickly.
Julia snorted. “I’ll bet. You should come back. Wendell…”
Ginny removed the daisy chain delicately and set it on Pippa’s head. “Beautiful.” Then she turned to Julia. “Wendell—what?” she asked gently. She could tell Julia was worried about something.
“Nothing. We haven’t seen him lately. My aunt won’t let us. Until the hearing.”
Ginny had heard about the hearing from Wendell, when they were still talking. “Is it soon?”
Julia nodded. “Tomorrow.”
“I see. Well, that sounds important. I wish you good luck.”
The girls seemed okay, but there was a heaviness she hadn’t noticed at all in Julia that day at Wendell’s. Ginny was about to say her goodbyes when she realized she didn’t have her phone. “Shoot.I think I left my phone in your house. Do you think it’s okay if I go back in?”
“Sure. I’ll take you.”
Ginny felt bad interrupting their play and, worse, having to go interrupt Candace and Geoffrey after she’d just told them she’d wait to hear from them. How would this look?
Julia showed her in but stopped at the kitchen. “You know where the office is, right?”
“Sure, thanks!”
Ginny was halfway down the hall to the office door when she spied her phone on a console table. Of course—she’d stopped there to zip up her briefcase and must’ve set it down. Relieved not to have to knock on the door, she was just reaching for it when she heard Geoffrey speak. Despite the heavy wooden door, his voice was loud and clear. “I don’t know, Candace. It’s a risk that could blow up the deal.”
Ginny froze.
“I disagree. The wetlands commission is just a small local board. Unless they find one, there’s nothing for them to report. And the permit will sail through.”
Unless the commission finds what?Ginny wondered.
“It’s not that simple. If the town hall files go back far enough, and if the commission does its due diligence, they’ll find the old reports. In which case, the Department of Environmental Protection would get involved. And that could delay or, worse, halt the entire project.”
Despite the fear of being caught, Ginny found herself leaning in toward the door. So therewassomething they didn’t want her to hear.
There was a long pause. Then Candace spoke. “It’s just a bunch of stupid turtles. How can that upend a multimillion-dollar project?”
“It almost happened before. When Alder Combs was first selectman.”
Ginny’s breath caught in her chest, and she had to steady herself. Alder was Wendell’s father.
“Well, it didn’t then, and we won’t let it now. Keep the report buried. Whatever it takes.”
There was a rustle of movement on the other side of the door, and Ginny leaped back, almost dropping her phone. She caught it just in time, and clutched it to her chest, and half-ran down the hall.
Julia looked up from the kitchen island as she rounded the corner. “You okay?”
Ginny glanced at the kitchen counter: at the bowl of cut-up strawberries and the red spotted stains they’d left on the cutting board. Pippa smiled, her lips bright red. “Want one?”
“No, but thank you, girls.” She had to go and fast. “I’ll see you soon.”
