Page 92 of A Hard Habit to Break

She held out one hand, palm up, fingers wide. “Don’t. Stay where you are, Noah Calvary. Those meetings. You and Pete.”

“Hold on,” he bellowed above the animated crowd. “I’m coming to you.”

“Noah Calvary, you slick tomcat, pulling this dirty trick on Rachel,” one blue-haired woman with a cane called from the audience.

“I’m no such thing,” he defended. “I love Rachel. And I love this town.”

“Huh, actions speak, and talk is cheap,” said Lois Kline, hugging a hissing Adele to her chest.

Before Noah could recover, voices began to rise, lines drawn in the proverbial sand as community members took sides. Cheyenne rallied behind Pete’s hijacking of pieces of Rachel’s proposal that benefited him and Noah, their cheers echoing loyalty to one of their own. Others spoke up for Rachel and Bethany’s vision, their words flying like shards of glass.

“Why should we have to choose between jobs we have and healthcare we need?” Tobias piped up. “You’re the mayor. Why aren’t you working for both?”

“Order. Order,” Pete called from the podium, but to no avail. The mention of lost teaching and healthcare jobs had wrecked the calm. The residents wanted answers. So did Rachel, but not from Noah.

“You and Noah answer the question,” demanded the older gentleman who’d commented during the vaccination portion of the proposal.

Rachel watched as Noah fended off a verbal barrage from the crowd, as more accusations were hurled at him. A larger-than-life figure revealed himself as a backstabbing trickster, but that didn’t slow him down. He still moved in her direction. The good order and discipline at the start of the meeting disintegrated by the second.

More residents echoed Tobias’s sentiment. It didn’t matter who’d said what. Rachel agreed with one single point. Noah Calvary couldn’t be trusted. When he reached her, Rachel crossed her arms over her chest, defiant in her devastation.

“You’re a two-timing, ladder-climbing backstabber of the worst order, Noah Calvary.”

“Two-timing—backstabber?” he stammered, as if the words were new to his vocabulary. “Rachel, please.” Noah’s low and insistent voice cut through the cacophony. “I didn’t know about Pete’s plan. I swear it.”

“You and him. I swear you are two sides of the same selfish coin. It stunk when we were kids, Noah. And it’s repulsive now,” Rachel accused. “Always you and Pete, the tag team who win at any cost. How you win matters more than winning.” Rachel shook her head. “You’ll always save him. You have to be the hero.” Murmurs rose along with tempers.

“She ain’t never lied,” Tobias offered from his perch by the window with his mom and a scowling Eli.

“I can’t believe he would do this,” Bethany said, voice shaking with emotion. But as she spoke, she swayed slightly, one hand reaching for the back of a nearby chair. “How could he hurt her again?” she whispered, dabbing at what looked like beads of perspiration on her forehead with a trembling hand.

“Shh, sunshine. We’ll have to hear him out before I get the shotgun,” her father murmured, his arm instinctively moving to steady Bethany.

But Rachel wasn’t interested in hearing him out. Betrayal churned within her, a familiar ache she’d hoped was buried deep beneath years and miles.

She asked herself how.

How could Noah stand here, as immovable as the Appalachian Mountains, and watch her and her family’s hard work get bulldozed for his own glory?

“Six, please.” Noah’s voice cracked with desperation as he stepped closer. “I didn’t know about Pete’s plan. The meeting at the cabin happened. We talked about proposals, but I never agreed to this. I would never steal your ideas or hurt you like this.”

She felt the eyes in the room shift, scanning faces for visual clues to what would happen next. Sadness dimmed in some. Fear narrowed in others. Noah’s brothers nodded in silent solidarity, his mother’s face etched with concern. Benji rested one hand gently on her shoulder. The weight grounded the rush of emotions flitting inside. Even Amarie had drawn closer to her side.

At that moment, the town was divided, not just in opinions but also in hearts and loyalties. Outside, the wind whipped against the windows, threatening to break what was already broken—the trust, the community, the bond—the love. Under the flicker of fluorescent lights, Rachel braced herself against the brewing tempest of ambition, knowing all too well that in Service, relationships were as much a battleground as any fiery debate. Everyone would lose something before they left here.

“Don’t explain.” She stared at him, looking for the man she loved hidden in this stranger. “Just tell me if that meeting between you and him at the cabin the other day had anythingto do with you getting what you wanted by any means necessary. Yes or no?” Rachel spat out, her voice sharp enough to slice through the tension. “Because from where I’m standing, it looks like a classic Noah and Pete tag team maneuver. He does the spit, and you do the shine.”

“Rachel, listen to me,” Noah implored, his hazel eyes searching hers with what looked like genuine terror at losing her.

She cut him off. “Yes or no, Noah?”

Rachel’s mind reeled as she waited for his answer. She knew the truth before he spoke it. His gaze flickered away, only a second, but—his expression descended to one of pain and guilt—a sinking realization pulling at her gut. He would never change.

“Pete mentioned an updated counterproposal, but I never agreed to him using pieces of your design ideas. Please… believe me.”

The room held its breath, waiting for Rachel’s response. But her resolve hardened like the ancient coal seams running beneath their feet. It was one thing to compete, but another to play dirty. And she couldn’t—wouldn’t—let her heart be collateral damage in a war where ambitions flared hotter than love and commitment.

“Believe you? How can I, Noah? After everything?”