True believer - Nicholas Sparks [57]
“When are you planning to have this little get-together?” she asked, cutting him off.
He looked momentarily baffled by the interruption. “Well, tonight, of course . . . but like I was saying—”
“Tonight?” she interrupted again. “You want me to prepare for one of your little get-togethers tonight?”
“It’s for a good cause, Doris. I know it’s inconsiderate of me to drop this on you like this, but big things might be happening, and we have to move fast to take advantage of it. You and I both know you’re the only one who could handle something like this. Nothing fancy, of course. I was thinking that maybe you could do your special chicken pesto but without the sandwiches . . .”
“Does Jeremy Marsh even know about this?”
“Of course, he does. Why, I spoke to him about it this morning, and he seemed genuinely excited by the possibility.”
“Really?” she asked, leaning back, doubting it.
“And I was hoping that Lexie might come as well. You know how important she is to folks in this town.”
“I doubt if she would. She hates doing these types of things any more than absolutely necessary. And this doesn’t strike me as absolutely necessary.”
“You might be right. But anyway, like I was saying, I’d like to use this evening to help us kick off the weekend.”
“Aren’t you forgetting that I’m against the whole idea of using the cemetery as a tourist attraction?”
“Not at all,” he said. “I remember what you told me exactly. But you do want your voice heard, don’t you? If you don’t show up, there’s going to be no one there to represent your side of things.”
Doris stared at Mayor Gherkin for a long moment. The man certainly knew what buttons to press. And besides, he had a point. If she didn’t go, she could imagine what Jeremy would end up writing if all he had to go on was the mayor and the town council. Tom was right: she was the only one who could handle something like this on such short notice. They both knew she’d been preparing for the tour this weekend and had plenty of food on hand in the kitchen already.
“All right,” she capitulated, “I’ll take care of it. But don’t think for a second I’m going to serve all those people. It’ll be a buffet, and I’m going to sit at the tables like the rest of you.”
Mayor Gherkin smiled. “I wouldn’t have it any other way, Doris.”
Deputy Rodney Hopper was sitting in his car across the street from the library, wondering whether or not to go inside and talk to Lexie. He could see City Boy’s car parked in the lot, which meant that they’d returned from wherever they’d gone, and he could see lights from Lexie’s office glowing through the window.
He could imagine Lexie sitting at her desk reading, her legs propped up on the chair with knees bent, twirling those strands of hair as she thumbed through the pages of a book. He wanted to talk to her, but the thing was, he knew he didn’t have a good reason. He never dropped by the library just to chat because, honestly, he wasn’t all that sure that she wanted him to. She had never casually suggested that he stop by to see her, and whenever he veered the conversation in that direction, she would change the subject. On one level, it made sense, since she was supposed to be working, but at the same time, he knew that encouraging him to visit would have been another small step in the progress of their relationship.
He saw a figure pass by the window, and he wondered if City Boy was in the office with her.
He scowled. That would take the cake, wouldn’t it? First a lunch date—something he and Lexie had never done—and now a friendly visit at work. He scowled just thinking about it. In less than a day, City Boy had moved right in, hadn’t he? Well, maybe he’d just have to have another little talk with him about the situation. Spell things out for him, so that City Boy would understand exactly where things stood.
Of course, that