She hangs up and looks at me with wide eyes. “The council wants to meet with us at the courthouse. Now.”
I run a hand through my hair. I have no idea what this is about, but it can’t be anything good.
***
I’d rather be back in the woods with Blue with no way out than stuck here in this conference room surrounded by council members. Ten of them, to be exact. Most of them have been friendly enough to me in the past, but whenever I’ve wanted anything from them, there have been hoops to jump throughand strings attached. They’ve always helped me out in the end. They just had to make sure I understand my position as a Yuletide outsider.
I don’t know what I ever did to them. I suspect they just enjoy having power and they believe me to be beneath them.
If only they knew.
Although they do apparently have the power to force me to be here when I should be out with clients. Because of the council, I had to call in a part-time guide to lead my group on her hard-earned day off. No one is happy about this, least of all me.
“I suspect you both know why we’ve asked you to be here,” Yvonne Cutright says. She’s a small woman in her sixties with salt and pepper, short-cropped hair and a perfectly tailored pantsuit. She seems sweet and grandmotherly on the outside, but she’ll flip into attack mode in a moment.
I experienced it when I took a group camping last summer without realizing we’d set up camp on her property. Oops.
“I have no idea why we’re here, but I’m glad to finally be included in a council meeting,” Blue says without a hint of emotion.
I swing my head around to look at her. They haven’t been including her in council meetings?
Yvonne sniffs. “This council meeting was called, at a time we’d all rather be at home with our families, for the sole purpose of discussing your behavior.”
Blue’s eyes pop wide and there’s a vulnerability in her expression I’ve never seen before. She looks genuinely cowed. I fist my hands in my lap to stop myself from reaching for one of hers. The urge to comfort her is as intense as it is disconcerting.
“What behavior are you talking about?” Blue asks.
“The constant immature prank war that’s been going on between you and Mr. Evergreen.”
That shocks me so hard my mouth falls open. I shut it quickly. I should say something, but I have no idea what the council knows or wants to do about any of this.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Blue says.
“This is a small town,” Gary Bluxton says, his thin-lipped mouth pinched in distaste, his expression and tone scolding. He’s about five years younger than me, and he sneers at me whenever he sees me. “We’ve all heard about you tampering with Garrick’s lunch, Blue. We’ve also heard about Garrick breaking down your apartment door with a chainsaw—”
“That’s a blatant—” I start.
“And today, Garrick had to leave clients, VIP guests of this town, to rescue you from the woods,” Yvonne says. “I can only assume that was a stunt you pulled to cause Mr. Evergreen more trouble.”
“She was out for a hike and got lost.” I don’t know why I’m defending Blue. Maybe I feel a kinship with her as a fellow outsider. “She called me rather than bother search and rescue. And the tour with the VIP guests had already ended.” Those ‘VIP’ guests were Yvonne’s son, daughter-in-law, and four grandkids in from Portland, but I don’t think pointing that out would help anything.
“We were having some fun,” Blue says. “The lunch and the chainsaw were just jokes, but I see now how they were inappropriate and I promise nothing like that will happen again.”
“We’re going to need more than that, I’m afraid,” Yvonne says. “The town needs to see that the mayor and one of our most successful business owners are getting along. The two of you will plan and host the holiday festival together.”
Oh, for fuck’s sake.Most successful business owner?She’s definitely buttering me up. “You’re trying to blackmail us into this job because no one else will do it, aren’t you?”
Several council members gasp in shock. Across the table, Anita Jarrow, a woman in her forties with long braids and round glasses, who’s always been kind to me, ducks her head to hide her smile.
“You are so crass,” Harriet says. “No one is blackmailing anyone. We’re asking you to demonstrate how well you get along and to support this town. That shouldn’t be too much to ask.”
Except planning the annual holiday festival, a week-long affair with live bands, food trucks, rides, and games is a full-fucking-time job. “I’ve got more VIP clients scheduled for tours, fishing trips, and camping trips than I can handle this season. I don’t have time to plan the festival.”
“Which is why you two will work together,” Yvonne says. “It will lighten the workload considerably.”
“I’m sure Garrick and I can figure out a schedule that will work for both of us,” Blue says.
“No, we won’t.” I push back my chair and stand. “Find someone else.”
