Page 84 of Happily Ever After

Cece made a note of those in case they needed to come back. The Queen Bees were not going down without a serious fight. Regardless of the effort required.

Joe parked beside a trimmed hedge and cut the engine. “Ready?”

Cece nodded. “Let’s do it.”

They climbed out together, clipboards in hand. Joe took the left side of the street; Cece took the right. They’d fallen into this rhythm easily and it had already made the work feel lighter.

Cece approached the first house and rang the bell.

The woman who answered the door was in her seventies, silver hair pulled back in a low knot, glasses perched on her nose. She listened carefully as Cece explained the issue. How vague language in the Colony bylaws could be used to limit resident-led groups, how a petition would allow the board to clarify that language and protect everyone’s right to gather where and when they wished. With whomever they wished.

“So this isn’t about one club?” the woman asked.

“No,” Cece said. “It’s about all of them.”

The woman nodded decisively. “I play bridge on Tuesdays at my friend Inez’s place. I suppose that could be considered a club?”

“At the very least a group,” Cece answered. “So it would be included.”

The woman nodded. “I’ll sign. I’ll let my friends know, too.”

“Thank you.” Cece smiled as the pen scratched across the paper.

Sometime later, with more signatures, she headed back to the golf cart. Joe wasn’t far behind her. He got in and started the engine, pulling away slowly.

“How’d you do?”

She looked at her sheet. “Eleven more names. Almost everyone I talked to belongs to some kind of group.”

“I had three bridge players,” he said.

“I had one. And two pickleball regulars,” Cece added. “Oh, and a walking group that invited me to join.”

Joe glanced at her, smiling. “Look at you making friends. That’s good.”

“It is,” she agreed, smiling back. “But…”

“But what?” he prompted, turning onto the next street, which took them past a small park with a gazebo.

Cece stared ahead. “Once Darcy finds out what we’re doing, she’s probably going to try to slow us down. That’s all she really needs to do to keep this from working. She doesn’t have to stop us completely.”

Joe exhaled. “You’re thinking like a litigator now.”

She snorted softly. “Maybe I’ve been hanging around you too much.”

“No chance of that. And look, momentum will build for this cause. The responses I’ve been getting are almost all in favor.”

She nodded, but a small amount of worry stayed with her.

They drove a bit farther in silence, then parked again. This street only had houses on one side, as it backed up to the nature reserve, so Joe went with her.

At the first house they went to, the man who answered listened to her spiel, then crossed his arms immediately.

“Bylaws are bylaws,” he said after Cece was done. “If you don’t like them, don’t break them.”

Joe stepped in smoothly. “We’re not breaking anything. We’re asking the board to clarify them so they can’t be misused.”

“Sounds like politics,” the man said.