Page 65 of Always You (A Lilac Bay Novel)

CHAPTER 12

On Friday evening I met Gina and the camera crew on the dock off the ferry. “Welcome back,” I told them, handing cups of coffee from the paper carrier I’d picked up from Rose’s cafe.

“Thank you,” Gina said gratefully. “It’s a pretty long trek to get out here.”

“I can imagine.” There were no direct flights from New York to the nearest airport in Traverse City, which meant the crew either needed to book an inconvenient connection or fly into Detroit and drive the rest of the way. “There’s a bunch of snacks and bagels waiting.”

“Great.”

We started up the dock towards Town Square, where a large crowd was already waiting for us. The instructions for our shoot this week had been vague. Everyone who wanted to participate needed to meet at the gazebo at six in comfortable clothes and be prepared to stay until evening and come back again tomorrow. Those were the only details we had, and everyone was pretty much going crazy trying to guess what they would have us do.

“Any hints?” I asked as we made our way across the lawn.

Gina laughed and shook her head. “You’ll just have to wait like everyone else.”

Luckily, I didn’t have long to wait. As soon as she had greeted the rest of the committee, Gina grabbed the megaphone and jumped up onto the gazebo steps. “Good evening, Lilac Bay!” she called. “Thank you so much for being ready to go on time! I think we’re going to have a good time with your challenge this weekend, so I hope you’re all rested!” She looked out into the crowd. “Mayor Jones, will you come up here please? From Riley’s application video I have a feeling that you’re really going to enjoy this one.”

“Oooh,” I muttered to Andrew. “Maybe it’s sports-related.”

“That wouldn’t be too bad,” he began, but then Gina was talking again.

“Your task this weekend is to plan and perform a flash mob.”

The crowd in front of the gazebo was silent.

“Did I hear that right?” I whispered. Surely she hadn’t said—

“I figure you guys have a nice advantage, what with your mayor being so proficient at dancing,” she continued, an arm around his shoulder.

Oh my God, they were going to make us dance? All of us?

“The challenge involves everyone working as a team,” she said. “You’ll need to choose people to choreograph the dance, choose the music, and practice until you’re ready to do the entire thing on camera. You’ll just have one shot—no do overs if you mess up.”

The crowd erupted into whispers and Gina pulled the megaphone away from her mouth to whistle loudly for attention.

“Couple more things, guys, and then you can get to work. We’re looking for as much creativity as you can muster here, okay? We’re asking you to put on a full presentation. So that means everything counts—the clothes you choose to wear, the way you want to decorate for the shoot, the theme you come up with. Everything. I’m going to meet briefly with the committee to go over some guidelines, and then you can get started. You have tonight and tomorrow to get it done.”

As soon as she stepped down the crowd broke into excited chatter. “You better get over there,” Andrew said.

I glanced up at him. “Don’t you dare think about leaving,” I said. He held up his hands in surrender and I took off across the lawn in a jog, my brain spinning. Gina was already surrounded by the other committee members.

“Okay, guys, here are the rules,” she said. “Based on the size of your town, you need to have at least one hundred participants in order for it to count. Of course, having more will only help you. We’re looking to be wowed here.” She rattled off a few more rules. “Any questions?”

I felt like I should have a million, but my brain felt too fuzzy, too panicked. This was one of the most important days of the entire competition, and I was at a loss.

“There’s a list of songs that we’re licensed to use,” she said, passing me a piece of paper. “You can choose any of them. Your dance needs to cover the entirety of the song, okay?” She grinned around the group and I forced myself to take a deep breath, to look calm before we made eye contact. “I have total faith in you,” she said. “Have fun with it.”

And then she was gone, leaving the seven of us to gape at each other.

“Is anyone else freaking out right now?” Libby asked. “I don’t have the slightest idea how to choreograph a flash mob!”

“What are the songs?” David asked, and he too sounded more than a little freaked out. “Should we just pick the shortest one?”

“I think I’m going to throw up,” Mayor Jones said, pulling out a handkerchief to wipe his face.

“You?” Rose snapped. “You know how to dance. You give lessons! You should be all over this!”

“That’s too much pressure,” he moaned.