Page 86 of Hottie on Her Shelf
“Hybrid mythological creature in ancient Mesopotamia. Body of a scorpion plus the arms and face of a man. I didn’t see any sign of Caroline morphing into one at dinner the other night.”
“No. Plus, this visit was a good fifteen years ago.” God, it was so nice to just hold Hallie and talk about nothing. More relaxing than a beer and baseball. “Point is, Blake’s a science nerd.”
“Redundancy alert.”
Ha. “Does the book nerd really get to call out the science nerd? Or do you cancel each other out?”
“Fine. Go on.” Hallie squirmed into a position that put her lips up by his neck again and proceeded to drop soft, light kisses in distinct rows, back and forth.
“Blake does, however, have other things that occupy her time. She’s a black belt in tae kwon do. Adores musicals. Can’t draw a stick figure and won’t admit it, so she won’t talk art at all. Super into politics, too. Good thing you’re running against me and not her.”
She shot her index finger up. “You’re telling me not to talk to the people at Cygnet Labs like scientists, but rather just talk to them like normal people.”
“Yep.”
“That’s both obvious and brilliant. Thank you.” Hallie arched her back to look down at him. “Do we have to declare a mayoral winner? Can’t we keep politely arguing and discussing for, oh, a year straight, like Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy?”
Fitz would like nothing more. “Their movies only lasted ninety minutes.”
“Ah, but their real-life affair lasted twenty-six years.”
“I don’t think we’d get anyone to come out and listen to us for twenty-six years straight.”
Laughter gurgled out of her. “I don’t think we’d get anyone to come out and listen to us for twenty-six hours straight. I was just warming up to discussing expanding this very community center when they called time.”
“You don’t mean you listened to Lloyd’s suggestion about a mini-golf course.” He said it as a statement, not a question, because there was no freaking way she would have.
“No. But racquetball courts would be good, and upgrading the study rooms with electronic whiteboards.” Hallie tapped her finger against her lips. “Why not do a real expansion?”
“You don’t want mini-golf. We have a climbing wall. What are you thinking of?”
“It’s a great facility already. Big. Never full to bursting.”
Fitz preferred using it to the too-small, too-old, always-packed gym at the yacht club. Or the golf club. “That’s because people up at Cygnet use their own facilities.”
“So why not make it inclusive to Crow Harbor residents? They don’t have anything like it. It’d be a great lift to getting through the long winters. You’d be helping their mental and physical health with increased socialization. It’d establish more of a community between the two towns.”
He’d thought Hallie was going to suggest something fun but expensive, like a heated connecting skyway to the library. Fitz hadn’t expected that. Letting her down sucked, but he wouldn’t give false hope, either.
“I don’t have that power.”
“Come on. If not the mayor, then who?”
Talk about a naive viewpoint. “I’m mayor, not emperor. Not Thanos, either. I can’t snap my fingers and do whatever I want.”
Hallie swept her legs off his, then scooted to the opposite end of the couch, sitting upright as though presenting an argument at an event. “You don’t know how much you can do until you try pushing the needle. This town welcomes thousands upon thousands of tourists every week, from cruise ships to day trippers. It can be welcoming.”
“Sure. And the Queen allows tours of Buckingham Palace, but only a few rooms. Not her private sanctum.” Fitz didn’t understand why she was pushing so hard. Nobody had asked for this. Crow Harbor residents weren’t petitioning to join. Yeah, in theory it was a good idea, but trying to make it happen would be downright ugly, especially with the downtown marina expansion muddying the waters at the same time. “Opening up a private perk of residents to outsiders would cause, well, a ruckus is downplaying it. There’d be an outcry loud enough to be heard all the way up in Canada.”
She jumped up, pacing to the empty costume racks and back. Her arms flailed out and up. “Owning the town isn’t enough. Raking in the extra profit from the expansion, from the extra jobs, that can’t be your dad’s only contribution. You and your family have got to lead it, not let snobbery get in the way.”
“You’re calling me a snob?”
Hallie paused, then pursed her lips. “Not you, per se.”
“Gee, thanks. Glad we haven’t devolved to name-calling.”
Hallie seemed…mad. This casual mention of the community center had escalated to a full-blown fight and Fitz didn’t know why. It was like there was a bonfire all laid out at her feet that he’d accidentally struck a spark to.
