"It's not worth it for something like this. She just needs to do the time."
"Forty hours?" I say. "That's a whole week of work. I can't take a week off."
"You can do it on the weekends," Hal says. "I doubt they'd let you do it all at once anyway. The person in charge of road cleanup will have to fit you in the schedule with everyone else."
"I can't go on the weekends. I have events I have to be at."
"Your social calendar will have to be put on hold for awhile."
"The events aren't for me," I explain. "These are work events."
"She's an event planner," Aiden says to Hal. "Most of the events are on the weekends."
"I see. Well, you'll just have to work around it." He checks his watch. "I need to be heading back. Any other questions before I go?"
"No, I'm good," Aiden says. "You have anything, Sophie?"
I shake my head, feeling like this can't possibly be real. How does Aiden get a fine and I get community service? It doesn't make sense.
"Wait," I say as Hal turns to leave.
He turns back. "Yes?"
"Why did Aiden get a fine and I have to pick up trash?"
"Based on what the judge said, I assume it's because of the plastic issue. Aiden littered with paper, which breaks down in a relatively short amount of time. Plastic, on the other hand, doesn't decompose for—"
"Five hundred years," I say with a sigh. "Or in some cases, a thousand years." I glance at Aiden. "Tanner."
He gives me a slight smile, knowing how Tanner goes on and on about this stuff. I like that he's passionate about the environment but sometimes I just want to talk about something else.
"The judge seemed determined to teach you a lesson," Hal says. "It's unfortunate, but maybe it'll help to know that you're not being singled out. He does this in a lot of his cases." He checks his watch. "I should get going."
"Thanks for driving down," Aiden says.
"Tell your parents I said hello."
"Will do. Have a safe trip back."
When he's gone, Aiden turns to me, putting his hands on my shoulders. "I am so sorry about this. I'll do anything I can to help."
"There's nothing you can do," I say with a sigh. "You can't do the community service for me."
"I can drive you up here on weekends so you don't have to rent a car."
"I'm not letting you do that. Besides, you work on weekends."
"Not always. And I could work while you're picking up trash. I'll go to the inn and sit at the bar and work. I'm sure Charlie wouldn't mind."
I softly smile. "It's sweet of you to offer but I can't have you do that. And I'm pretty sure Celine wouldn't like that."
"Celine and I are—" He stops and looks down.
"Celine and you are what?"
"Doesn't matter," he says, looking back at me. "The point is, I'm willing to do this. I'm more than willing. I'm the one who got you into this. The least I can do is help you get through it."
"I don't need you to. I'll figure it out." I watch as two people leave the courtroom, a man and a woman. The woman looks like she's about to get sick. I'm feeling the same way. "I need to get out of here."
I go past Aiden and quickly walk to the door.
"Hey, wait up!" He catches up to me. "Meet you at the inn?"
"Yeah, okay." I walk to my car, still feeling anxious and sick.
My mom calls as I'm driving. I don't want to tell her about this but there's no use lying. At some point I'd have to explain to her why I'm spending all my weekends in Vermont.
"Hey, Mom," I say, waiting a few extra seconds at a stop sign. I feel like I have to be extra cautious in this town, knowing I could get punished for even the tiniest mistake.
"Hi, honey. Is the hearing over?"
"Yeah." I pause. "It didn't go so well."
"Why? What happened?"
"The judge gave me forty hours of community service."
She gasps. "But you live in New York."
"He said I could do it on weekends."
"You work on weekends," she says, as if this never dawned on me.
"Mom, I know all that, and I'm really upset right now so could we talk about something else?"
"Honey, this is what I've been saying all along."
I roll my eyes, knowing a lecture is coming.
"If this had happened here," she says, "we could've got Harry to go to the courthouse with you and convince the judge it was all just an accident. You wouldn't have even had to pay a fine."
Harry is a trial lawyer and one of my dad's golf buddies. He knows all the judges in town and is friends with most of them.
"Mom, that's not helpful. I don't live there and I don't have plans to move back. I'm just going to do the community service as fast as I can and try to forget this nightmare ever happened."
"Honey, just think about it. Think about how much simpler your life would be if you moved back. It'd be cheaper, that's for sure. And you'd get to see your family, and Macie. She sure does miss you. Every time I see her she tells me how much she misses having you around."
"She's used to not having me around. I haven't been there for years. I lived in Kansas City."
"Yes, but it was close enough that we could see you."
"Mom, I need to go. I just got to my hotel." I pull in and park under a gorgeous, bright orange maple tree.
"You're spending the night?"
"It's too late to head back. It's already after three and I don't want to drive home in the dark. Besides, the inn owner offered me a free room so there's really no reason to race back to New York."
"Why would the inn not charge you?"
"The owners are really nice and they
