Page 58 of Hottie on Her Shelf
Raquel loved being smarter than everyone. Or she loved believing it. Bruce didn’t suffer fools. Ravi just wanted his ecosystem restored no matter what. And Wendy—it was better to tell her what to do and get her enthusiastic about it as if it were her own idea.
Noneof them were partial to compromise.
Fitz glanced at the clock on the opposite wall. He needed to wrap this up, get changed, and get over to the high school. Coaching sessions were back-to-back-to-back with the tryouts for the travel club lacrosse team in a week.
An idea slammed into his brain with the pinpoint accuracy of an ice-cream headache. The high school…it was the answer. To everything.
This could end up being one of those days where Fitz felt proud to be mayor, rather than just trapped by family legacy and responsibility. He sat up straighter. “What you’ve all brought to me as a problem is, in fact, an opportunity. Summer school will start soon. Those kids hate being cooped up all day.”
Wendy giggled. “Mainers all hate being inside once the sun’s shining.”
“Not all.” Ravi dusted the crumbs from his fingers. “At Cygnet, we have phototherapy boxes at every desk to combat seasonal affective disorder. With those, you never need to go outside.”
Scientists sometimes went too far to find a technological solution for everything. It was May now. Just freaking walk outside! Fitz couldn’t wait to tell Hallie. She’d get a laugh out of Ravi’s avoidance of nature.
Unless it meant telling her the entire story, which included the reference to her and where he’d fallen down on the job. That wouldn’t leave either of them in a laughing mood.
Hell.
Bruce’s scowl broadcast that he didn’t like where Fitz was going—even though he’d barely begun. “Why do we care about delinquents who couldn’t be bothered to do their work during the school year?”
“Nope. None of that.” Fitz didn’t raise his voice, but it was as cold and sharp as an icicle. “Summer school’s to give extra help. It isn’t a punishment.”
“My niece Charla missed a whole month from a serious case of mono.” Raquel spoke with a ferocity that had Bruce edging away from her. “She’s not a bad student. She’s simply trying to catch up.”
“Sorry.” Bruce bobbed his head, thick white hair waving over his forehead. “Guess things were different in my day.”
“That must be it,” Fitz said with a forced calm. Raquel could be a force when riled up and he didn’t have the energy to referee. “Look, teachers try alternative methods of reaching students in summer session. More interactive, more out of the box. We’ll take advantage of that.” He pointed both index fingers down the table. “Ravi, could you find someone at Cygnet who’d be willing to do a lesson on why dams are both good and bad? What the trees are doing in their unfamiliar environment?”
Rubbing his hands together like, well, a mad scientist, Ravi said, “That won’t be a problem.”
Fitz didn’t want him to randomly recruit. He’d sat—well, zoned out—through too many of his sister’s lengthy opuses on science factoids. “Someone who’ll make it fun, and not just a recitation of facts,” he specified.
“Scientists are fun, Mr. Mayor.” Another gleeful hand wringing. “You have no idea the hijinks we get up to in the lab.”
“I’m sure I don’t.” Ravi was a nice guy, and wildly passionate about his work, but what did he consider hijinks? Shadow puppets in front of the light boxes? Yeah, Fitz wanted to pass that nugget on to Hallie, too.
Wendy broke a donut into quarters, then took about three crumbs off of one piece. “How does a science lesson get my trees planted?”
Fitz planted his palms on the table and slid them forward until his chin barely cleared the wood. “The students will do it, with a botany lesson attached, and a little P.E. credit for the sweat equity. Heck, we could even cover mythology, too, with Persephone and Demeter.” He jerked upright, counting off his points on his fingers. “It slashes the labor costs, educates the students, and maybe even gets a couple of them excited about some part of the whole process.”
Raquel beamed. Wendy clapped. And Bruce crossed his arms, as if giving his blessing to the whole thing. “That’s a more than acceptable solution, Mr. Mayor.”
“Your committees will need to do the work.” Fitz shoved back his chair and stood, slipping on his suit coat. “Come up with people to do the lessons, get the equipment, chaperone. You should all meet again to hammer out the details as soon as possible. Or, you’re welcome to stay here and continue. If you’ll excuse me, though, I’m out of time.”
There was a round of handshakes, an increased buzz of enthusiasm, and smiles as he closed the door behind him and wiped a hand across his forehead in relief.
What a great day. Man, he loved it when he could mediate to an equitable compromise. He couldn’t wait to share the story with Hallie. This was politics the way it was supposed to work—without the bullshit, without the angles. Simply helping the town to be a better place to live, which made him think about the proposed marina deal again. It really would be good for Swan Cove.
As good for his town as it’d be bad for Crow Harbor. Technically, that wasn’t his problem. Technically, he should be laser focused only on the benefits to Swan Cove. That was his job as mayor.
As a member of society, though, the idea now sat in his belly as heavily as a caliente burger and chili cheese fries from Tommy’s back in his undergrad days. One town shouldn’t flourish by pushing down another.
All his good feelings from the meeting resolution fizzled away. He and Hallie were on opposite sides of this thing. How would they get past it? And all the emphasis on legacy—Fitz didn’t want to go down as the Montgomery mayor who wiped out dozens of Crow Harbor jobs as a side effect to this epic expansion.
He slapped out a frustrated rhythm on the polished wood of the balustrade. It echoed all through the open stairwell.
“Fitzwilliam. What do you think you are doing?”
