Well, at this point he could think of a few things.
It had been a hell of a week.
When he pulled into the parking lot of the community center, all he could think was that it was going to continue to be a hell of a week. He was allergic to stuff like this. Small-town politics and everything that went with them. People fighting to climb the social ladder of Gold Valley, which was a stepladder if he was being generous.
Add in Christmas and it was a potluck of hell.
And those people would collide with people like Pansy, who actually did things for the community for reasons other than their own self-aggrandizement, and all he would get was sad off-brand chocolate sandwich cookies and watered-down punch for the effort.
He pushed the door to the modest hall open and found all the folding chairs occupied already. He moved across the white-and-gray linoleum, standing toward the back.
The door opened not long after, and Rose scurried in. She looked around, and came to the same conclusion he did—that there was nowhere to sit—and then her eyes connected with his.
He was used to the tightening in his gut when she looked at him. He had to be.
But after the dance, the bet...
The idiot things he’d said to her about all she didn’t know.
It was sharper now. Keener.
Which was all he needed considering it had been sharp enough before.
She waved at him, then tiptoed over to the table at the back, pouring two cups of punch while the woman that he didn’t recognize continued to talk. She joined him against the back wall, handing him some punch.
He lifted it in mock salute, and she smiled.
They’d spent the whole day together, out in the field. There was just something about her out of context sometimes. Hell, there was something about her in context. He couldn’t pretend otherwise.
Overall, the meeting was pretty boring, and didn’t pertain to them. Then it was time for Barbara to take the floor.
“We have a few new submissions for space after the Christmas parade.” She looked around the room, and it made him feel like he was in trouble. She reminded him of a particularly laser-focused teacher he’d once had who had always acted like he was up to no good.
In fairness, he had been.
But he wasn’t now, neither was he a kid. The effect was still the same.
“Including,” she continued, “a stall with baking activities, which gives me concerns regarding legality and the health department. A blacksmith demonstration, which could definitely be a fire hazard, and jewelry making.”
All of that felt a bit pointed, and whatever Pansy had said about Barbara being fine with her being in her new position, he had to wonder if that was true.
“I feel like all of this needs to come under further review,” she said. “We can’t just go making changes to format simply because someone is in a new position and they are looking to leave their stamp on things.”
He could feel Rose bristling beside him. “Don’t do anything,” he said, his voice low. “You know Pansy can handle herself.”
“I will open the floor for discussion,” Barbara said.
“I don’t think there will be any more of a problem with my sister’s booth than there would be with a general bake sale table,” Pansy said, “if that helps with your concerns there.”
“I have a food handlers’ card.”
That bit of information came from Iris, and while it wasn’t a shock to anyone in the room, considering it wasn’t a particularly huge revelation, it was definitely a surprise to him, and he could tell by the way that Rose’s body jolted it was a surprise to her, too.
“Well,” Barbara said, “that is something to consider. Though we are going to have to look into the cleanliness of the preparation. We need a station so that children can wash their hands.”
“We can figure all of that out,” Pansy said, keeping her voice even.
The way that Barbara moved on after that made Logan wonder if it actually wasn’t personal. If the woman was just a stickler, and that there were no exceptions made at all. And every new idea was going to come under scrutiny, no matter who it came from.
“Now, the blacksmithing booth,” she said. “I don’t know about that. It seems like a serious safety hazard, and we’re definitely going to have to clear it with our insurance.”
That was a fair enough point. He could tell by the tension in Rose’s posture that she did not agree.
“As for the jewelry,” she said, “we might have too much competition with the local shops, and we need to be very careful not to step on the toes of people who are grandfathered in to the booths.”
“I don’t mind,” said Dana, the woman who owned Willow Creek, where most of the town’s jewelry was sold. “I sell some of Sammy’s designs in the store. And any demonstration that she does could only benefit me.”
“It will be brought under advisement,” Barbara said, clearly unmoved.
And that was when he felt Rose reach the end of her tether. “What I wonder,” she said, “is if you keep shooting down other people’s ideas so that no one will realize you don’t have any.”
Barbara’s face went red. “Well,” she sputtered. She was speechless, which was the first time anyone in the room had seen it.
A nervous giggle swept the crowd.
“I’m just saying. You know what they say. Those who can’t do, plan or something like that?”
For the first time ever, Barbara Niedermayer didn’t seem to have anything to say. And in fact, she said nothing else. She simply walked down from her position at the front of the room and took a seat.
An uncomfortable wave went through the room and Dana got up and started managing the meeting, speaking quickly and relaying the rest of the information as fast as possible. Logan looked over at Rose, who
