I remembered the call in the middle of the night like it’d just happened. Pops thought the sun rose and set with Hurst, so when they’d almost lost him, he was distraught. He’d called me to let me know and kept me up to date throughout the surgery and recovery, but it’d all been surreal. Hurst was one of the pillars of the town, without him, it would just feel weak and crumble.
Then again, I kind of felt the same about losing Pops. I might not have been at home, but it felt like I had a spine of steel with him behind me. When he died, I lost that, and it’d felt like every step I took was off balance.
I still felt like that, but I was doing everything I could to build my own spine of steel now, using what he’d taught me to do it.
Shit, I missed him so much.
“So,” Will continued, and I was grateful to have the distraction from the dark path my thoughts had taken me down. “Then he suggests that Cole should run for the position instead.”
Mom and Charmaine had been about to take a sip out of their wine glasses when he announced this, and the glasses remained suspended in front of them, no sips taken. Heck, Logan had his bottle of beer pressed against his lips, but even he froze in place.
With no one saying it, I put us all out of our misery. “And? Is he going to do it?”
“Jesus, Bexley,” Dad clipped, slapping his hand on the table. “Aren’t you even slightly superstitious? Now that you’ve put that possibility out into the universe, the likelihood of it coming true is higher.”
“If that was the case, I’m fairly certain me saying I was going to win the lottery tonight would happen,” I snickered. “Plus, it was Hurst who put it out there first.”
Looking at Will, Dad pleaded, “Please tell me he said no, too.”
“Nope,” he shook his head, bringing his chair back down to all four legs. “He suggested his dad do it—”
“Oh, yes, Jack would be great at it,” Mom said loudly as she nudged Charmaine. “Wouldn’t he? And he’s much better looking than Kirkwood.”
“—but Jack said hell fucking no,” Will finished, shrugging his shoulders. “Hurst was going home to have a family discussion about Mayoral proceedings in the family that didn’t include his ass in the hot seat.” He stopped and then added, “Apparently.”
“I don’t think the town would survive a Mayor Townsend, regardless which one of them did it.”
“What about George Montgomery?” Charmaine asked. “I think he’d do good things for us.”
“Suggested that, and he told me to shut my dirty mouth.”
Dad swallowed loudly but then looked at Logan and changed the subject. “What’s happening in Palmerstown?”
“Nothing good,” he muttered. “Just like nothing good’s happening here. Same shit each day in each town.”
“And same generals of the shit,” Dad mumbled, his tone suggesting he knew a lot more than we did.
Logan shrugged a shoulder without giving anything away as he lifted his bottle back up to his lips.
I was trying to piece together what wasn’t being said—and, yes, I was aware how dumb that was. How can you piece together what wasn’t being said?
Okay, the comments about the same shit and generals in each town could mean the two mayors. We knew there were issues with them, it was one of those secrets that everyone knew. I didn’t know how Kirkwood and the mayor in Palmerstown, Mick Johansen, got away with whatever they were each doing, or even if they were just bad at their jobs.
There was a long-running feud between them both, so it was really bad luck to have two inept and incompetent mayors next door to each other.
If people were talking about who was going to run against Kirkwood, that had to mean they were fed up and ready for a change in Piersville, right?
And given how quiet Logan got when Dad asked his last question, did that mean that it was something he was working on and couldn’t discuss?
“Bexley,” Dad called impatiently, just as both moms pushed their chairs back and picked up the dessert plates. “Your mom asked you if you wanted coffee?”
“Oh,” I looked at Mom apologetically. “Let me help y’all out.”
Holding her hand up, she waved me off. “Don’t you dare. You’ve had a stressful day, what with fire alarms, car accidents, and painting. I already put the coffee on last time I was in, so I’ll just put these in the dishwasher.”
Smiling gratefully at her, I listened in as the men continued discussing mayoral candidates and how the town would burn to the ground if a Townsend was elected. Logan nodded and gave one-word answers, but he seemed distracted, so I nudged him with my knee, getting a wink and half smile from him.
Weird.
Before I could ask him if he was okay, the moms came back out carrying the coffee, cups, milk, and sugar and placed them down on the table.
“Jesus, Lorena, what’s wrong? You look like you stuck your head in the oven.”
Glancing up at her, I noticed how flushed her face was. Hell, it’d spread down her chest, which only happened when she was stressed, really angry, or embarrassed.
“Nothing,” she answered quickly, pouring coffee into the cups. “Have you chosen a kitchen yet, Bex?”
Confused but also happy to talk about what I’d found, I started showing her the photos of what I’d chosen on my phone.
Charmaine got up with Will and disappeared during it, both of them coming back five minutes later, looking embarrassed and amused.
“Okay, will someone tell me what
