Page 20 of Hottie on Her Shelf
Felicia deserved a tad more respect. So, instead, Hallie waved her arms at the semi-circle of stacked books. “What do you think I’m doing? This isn’t me sloughing off reshelving. This is all research.”
“On what?”
“Anything and everything that could give me a leg up when it comes to strategy.”
The wince was so big it was easily visible behind her iridescent purple frames. “I suppose we do need to backtrack. My dear, you didn’t enter into this race actually planning to beat my nephew, did you?”
Not so much planning as righteously indignant and thus momentarily certain of being rewarded thusly with a win.Aka,impulse rather than intellect, which very well might end up in ignominious defeat.
Hallie couldn’t exactly come clean with that as her rationale, seeing as how it made zero sense. Luckily, she’d crafted a much better, albeit fake, thought process to share with people in her sleepless night between committing to running and the debacle of a kickoff breakfast.
Interlacing her fingers in a pose that might play better behind a podium, she said, “Taking a stand without being prepared to follow through is pointless. So, yes, I’m going to try to crush the opposition.” Except, Fitz wasn’t any run-of-the-mill opposition, not where Felicia was concerned. Her foot was so far in her mouth it was practically back down by her other foot at this point. Hallie bit her bottom lip. “Sorry that it’s your nephew, but that’s politics.”
Felicia’s hand covered her mouth. “Goodness. I don’t want to laugh and insult you, but…honestly, I am inclined to laugh.”
“That’s fine. Truly.” It wasn’t even worth explaining how Megan had initially gotten her into this mess. It’d been Hallie’s decision to stand up to Fitz and his toady Derek and not back out. She’d shoulder all the fully deserved mocking for it.
“I came here to offer you help in saving face. By getting a few key people to smile favorably on you—not enough to give you any shot at winning, I’m afraid that simply isn’t in the realm of possibility—but so you wouldn’t be…what was the word? Crushed.”
“You’re very kind.”
Felicia had looked out for her from day one, at Hallie’s interview. Felicia had castigated the former head librarian for making a snide comment about how Hallie’s summa cum laude wasn’t very impressive from Crow Harbor High.
An unlikely friendship…mentorship?…had sprung up between them. She reveled in her wealth, but didn’t look down at all on those who had less. Blunt and unconventional, she was probably the bane of her brother’s existence. Hallie knew the older woman was truly sympathetic to her plight—and certain of her inevitable loss.
Felicia nudged away one book stack with a hand adorned with a diamond and sapphire encrusted watch. “You won’t need these. Just leave it to me. I’ll introduce you to a few people who aren’t judgmental jackasses. They might not vote for you in the end, but they will help shut down the potshots people are taking at you for your background.”
Her background. Right. Not the full scholarships, not the graduation with high honors. Her “background” meant coming from Crow Harbor. That was it. People sneered at her for her childhood zip code. How inane!
Accepting Felicia’s offer was tempting, all right. As tempting as mozzarella sticks at midnight, drenched in marinara.
It was also just as bad for her.
Hallie only felt the tug of temptation for taking the easy way out for the length of a slow double-blink. That righteous indignation that had cemented her name on the ballot still burned just as hot in her belly.
Now, on top of proving to the rest of the town that she could be mayor, she needed even more strongly to prove it to herself.
Without any greasing of the skids by a Montgomery.
Without even the slightest help from, well, anyone.
Her gratitude for the offer, however, was boundless. “I can’t thank you enough. I realize that your helping me might make things uncomfortable between you and Fitz. I couldn’t be the cause of any family disharmony.”
This time, there was no discreet palm to the mouth. Felicia dropped her head back and guffawed. “Our family wouldn’t know harmony if the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sang to us. We’re a disharmonious mess. Most of us. I adore Fitz. I believe the feeling is reciprocated.”
That was incredibly sweet. Hallie tried to picture the slickly charming man getting all gooey over his stoic aunt. It was a pairing that couldn’t be conjured into a mental image.
Mostly because every time she thought of Fitz, she thought of The Near-Kiss.
Felicia very much did not need to know the extent to which Hallie wished that she had reciprocated with Fitz.
“That’s all the more reason for me not to put so much as a twig between you two. Besides, you helped me get the job here as librarian. That was a big enough favor to last a lifetime.”
“I nudged a few ancient and stubborn fuddy-duddies who wouldn’t recognize the future if it was laid out on their bed in La Perla.”
“Felicia!” Hallie whipped her head around, checking to see if anyone was close enough to have overheard.
“Is there a rule against talking about lingerie in a library?”
