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The result is visually a bit amateurish, but I got the basics covered as far as explaining how the extra space could benefit the community as well as firefighters. And I’m a half-decent public speaker, so with any luck I’ll be able to cover for my lack of design skills with sheer charm.
Speaking of charm…
Blaze Wilder is sitting close to the front of the room and there’s an empty chair beside her.
Naturally, I slip into it. “Good evening, Miss Wilder.”
“Good evening, Chief.” She gives me a freezingly polite smile. Oh, how I’d like to warm those smiles up…
Professional thoughts only, I remind myself.
“Any clue who our new rival is?” I whisper.
She shakes her head. “All I have is an email from the council from two days ago. I think you were cc’d on it.”
“Yep.” I nod. “That’s all I’ve heard as well.”
The meeting starts. There’s a bunch of other stuff on the agenda, so I’m forced to wait, my hands getting clammier by the moment. I like action, situations where I can solve a problem, or at least get to work on it right away. Sitting in the overly warm room waiting for my turn to talk makes me edgy.
And okay, I don’t love public speaking. I’ve gotten good enough at it to be able to do my job, but I’ll take running into a burning building over giving a speech just about any day.
Finally, the mayor introduces the next item on the agenda, the Addison building, explains that there are three interested parties, and invites me up first to make my case to the public.
It goes okay.
I know that neither my slide presentation nor my delivery is going to win any awards, but I get my main points across: forest fires are becoming bigger and more dangerous every summer and accidents of all kinds are increasing as more tourists flock to town. We need more firefighters, and we need top-notch people with experience. A bigger, better dorm will help attract the right people as well as give us more space for equipment and training.
I make it clear that the Addison’s location makes it the best way for us to increase our space. I don’t want to say the word library out loud for fear of sounding too confrontational, but I hope people will be able to read between the lines: the library can go anywhere. The fire station is stuck where it is.
I wrap up the presentation and take a few questions from the audience, most of which aren’t really questions as much as compliments to the fire station. Relieved that it’s all over, I go back to my seat just as Blaze gets up from hers.
Gotta hand it to her—her slide presentation is miles better than mine, full of sharp-looking graphs, photos of cute kids reading books, and local people, some of whom I recognize in the audience, looking spectacularly happy to be at the library. Her stage presence isn’t bad either. I enjoy watching her anyway, but in this case, it isn’t just lust. She moves around the stage with the confidence of someone who genuinely believes in her mission, just like I do, and she knows how to be charming and even funny.
She goes over a bunch of statistics about the library, and it’s not just about how many books they loan out every year. They have a bunch of programs for kids and teens, there’s a job-finding and career development program, and they offer space for community meetings.
And of course, she talks about the building they’re currently in, how it sucks up too much money in repairs and utility bills and how they’ve had to cut staff hours and programs as a result.
It’s good stuff. Maybe not quite in the same league as saving lives and homes, but the library definitely does good things for the community, and Blaze makes a compelling case for why the current building isn’t serving it as well as it could. The Addison won’t cost the taxpayers anything as the town already owns it and it could help the library expand in all kinds of useful ways as well as paving the way for at least one more full-time job in the community. She includes a handful of testimonials from patrons who’ve found jobs or scholarships thanks to the library’s resources, and she leans into the fact that she grew up in town and understands what the community needs.
She wraps it up by fielding a few questions from the audience. The mayor thanks her, and she steps down and takes her seat next to me again.
“Nice work,” I whisper.
“Thank you,” she whispers back, with just a trace of smugness.
It ought to annoy me but it actually makes me like her a little more. She knows she did a good job and she’s not the type to pretend she didn’t out of false modesty. I can respect that.
The mayor speaks into the mic. “We have one more presentation. Scarlett Rice-Johnson, please come up and share your vision for the Addison building.”
Beside me, Blaze stiffens.
I glance sideways at her. In the space of about two seconds, her expression morphs from fury to uncertainty to grim determination to a mask of polite indifference.
From a few rows behind us, a woman stands and walks toward the stage. She’s tall and slender and dressed in a super-sharp suit cut to show off a stunning figure. Her hair and make-up are impeccable and she’s wearing a big, confident, shark-like smile.
I instantly dislike her because something about her reminds me of Christine. Maybe it’s not fair to hold that against her, but she’s got the same overly polished, overly friendly thing going on. She’s beautiful—beautiful enough to suck a guy like me in if I hadn’t learned that lesson already—but there’s something not quite real about her.
Beside me, Blaze is staring straight ahead, radiating tension. I get the sense that something about this is personal. I’d like to ask her what, but Scarlett Rice-Johnson is already on stage.
