Page 80 of Falling Back to You

I brightened. “Yeah, of course. I think people would appreciate hearing from our mayor on the town’s past and a look toward the future.”

With the meeting back on track, we focused less on my family and more on the event. Of course, there were people who didn’t like Cyrus and thought their brother, mother, or grandpa could do a better job—that was the nature of politics. But if you wanted to vent about the mayor’s leadership style, I wasn’t the audience.

16

Ozzie

Cyrus and I were playing frisbee golf on the course I’d built on my property. We were on the fifth pole hole and I was in the lead. Cy sorted through the discs like finding the right one could make a difference. I was going to whoop his tail regardless.

“I walked through the first tiny house you and Edison built. I have to give it to you, the home kit was the way to go,” he said.

“I still need to run a water test to ensure there aren’t any leaks. Once that’s done, the other homes should go up pretty quick.”

“This shit is going to go so hard. Hume is gonna be a hidden gem when all is said and done.”

“I’m all for new faces in Hume, but I don’t want this town becoming a tourist trap.”

“No, I completely get it. The bed-and-breakfast can only hold, like, twenty people at a time. But if this goes as planned, there will be a waitlist a mile long.”

Whether Cy got it or not, I wasn’t certain. He wanted to make Hume a destination town and not a pass-through one. As mayor he was expected to think broadly and implement ideas that helped Hume thrive. I wasn’t one hundred percent sure this bed-and-breakfast was good for the town, and I hoped I didn’t have a hand in something I would later regret.

“Dial said our parents are swingers now,” Cyrus half joked.

“Not gonna lie, they looked at home in that sex club.”

“What about Dial—was she crawling out of her skin?”

“She loosened up after a while, even got out on the dance floor.”

“Where were you while she danced at the sex club?”

“I was right next to her, grinding close.”

“Gross.”

“Don’t ask questions you don’t wanna know the answers to.”

Cy plastered on a serious face, focused on the basket in the distance. He flicked his wrist, and the disc floated on the air before landing a few meters from pole hole six. We walked in the direction of the next basket. “Well, to be fair, you never quite know what you’re getting with Dial.”

“Your sister is truly one of a kind. She can be a shock to the system.”

“You need to find a happy medium.”

“Like?”

“Less spitfire, more of a quiet storm.”

“Dial is like a wild horse.” I picked up my disc and calculated the velocity I would need to sink it in the basket.

“Are you seriously comparing my sister to an animal?”

“One of the most beautiful animals to ever exist… yes. Just walk with me. It takes time and patience, but the right person can soothe some of the stubbornness out of her. Dial’s always gonna be tough; she just needs to trust that she can lean on others for support.”

“And after all this time, you still think it’s you?”

“I had my doubts. God knows, on more than one occasion I thought the sun had set on our time together.”

“But now?”