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“I’m fine; it was just hot out. Not that in here is any better,” she said as she fanned herself with her shirt for a second and sat down.
“I know I gotta get a company to come out and check out the AC. We should pick up some standing fans and bring them in tomorrow.”
“With our luck it will blow the power,” she said with a soft chuckle.
“You laugh, but that might actually happen.” I had no idea what the electrical situation was like here. The lights worked, but that was as far as we had really gone. “Why don’t we go and sit down. You look like you could use some time off your feet,” I suggested. I didn't like how pale she was looking. Thankfully, she agreed, and we both moved over to my office, and I sat down in the seat next to her, just in case something were to happen to her.
“What was your family like?” she asked, completely out of the blue.
“What?” I asked, looking to stall for time. I didn’t like talking about my family. It was something I had only discussed with my grandpa or Lucas. I wasn’t comfortable with discussing my parents with her. We barely knew each other, and I knew she had opened up to me about her past. However, her situation was completely different compared to my own.
“Your parents, your family; you haven’t mentioned them really. I know about your grandfather and some things about your ex, but I don’t know anything about your parents. You know my childhood; it would be easier to sell our relationship if I knew you better.”
It was a valid reason. I knew we needed to make sure it appeared that we were madly in love, and that wasn’t just with PDAs but knowing the other person. People who truly love each other and dedicate the rest of their lives to them, know the other person completely. There should be no secrets between them. She should know my childhood in case anyone asked her anything. I knew all of that, but at the same time, I wanted to tell her it was none of her business. I didn't know how to tell someone that I couldn’t talk about it. That it was still too painful, and it might always be.
“There’s nothing to really say,” I was hoping that would end the conversation, but I should have known better.
“There’s nothing to say? Seriously? I told you that I was practically born into foster care, and you have nothing to tell me about your parents? You were with your grandfather from the age of ten, so I am assuming you had them in your life for the first ten years of it. I saw the photos of you all together. Obviously there is something to tell,” she countered with a slight edge to her voice that I knew was more betrayal than anything. She had every right to feel that way. She had been vulnerable with me in a sense, and I wasn’t returning the favor.
“I don’t talk about it. Accept it and move on,” I snapped.
I knew I shouldn’t have done it. It wasn't her fault that I felt this way, and I should have just told her it was too difficult to speak about and that it wouldn’t come up in conversation. I should have kept my voice calm, but once again I was snapping at her with an anger that she didn’t deserve. I wasn’t mad at her. She wasn’t the one that had hurt me, and I needed to try and remember that. Everyone that knows; they just don't talk about it. I guess I hadn’t truly dealt with my feelings on the matter, but I didn’t see any point in doing that now at my age.
“Sorry I asked,” she relented, but there was no heat in her voice which had me concerned. I had been expecting for her to snap back at me like she had been doing, but for the second time today, she backed down far too easily. Something was going on with her, and I was gonna have to get down to the bottom of it. For right now, I was going to let it go and focus on something else that would be safer for us to discuss.
“Did you get the flyers put up?”
“I did. A few people seemed interested, but I guess you will have to see who shows up.”
“Did you talk to anyone?”
It wasn’t that she wasn’t allowed to talk to people, obviously she was. I was just curious if someone approached her or not so I would know what people are saying and if we needed to be on the same page.
“Kelsey Lansdowne; she is the kindergarten teacher at the school. She’s also recently pregnant. She wasn’t feeling well so I was checking up on her. She did mention that she was surprised to see that you were married. That I wasn’t in any of the press photos with you. I handled it how we discussed it, and she seemed to accept it. She did mention how the town went from being beautiful to how it is now. When I asked her for more details as to how this happened, she finally told me.”
“Really? What did she say?”
This was the first time anyone was willing to give us an answer to that question. Most blamed it on the economy and people moving away etc., but no one really gave the truth. It always felt like they were towing the company line, as if they were worried about speaking out against Mayor Campbell even though he was dead.
“There’s no proof; it was just rumors. However, she said the last mayor didn’t seem to care about the town. That when people paid their property taxes, he kept them.”
“He stole from his own town? From his own people?” I didn’t know why that was so surprising. I guess it had a lot to do with the fact that it was a small town. These people typically looked out for each other and to hear that the mayor of all people was stealing from them, it was just wrong and cut on a deeper level.
“Apparently. I guess when people started to figure it out and stopped paying the property taxes, he would threaten to evict them because they weren’t paying the town what was owed. Those that still refused to pay, he would have the state police show up and evict them without any notice practically. Most people continued to pay the taxes because then they could live here. Kelsey said people started to leave pretty quickly for a better town. That shut down a lot of businesses which drove more people away. Now the ones that stay are basically die-hard fans that just wish to see this town brought back to its former glory.”
“Wow, I don’t even know what to say to that. You could tell there was a hurt within the town; you could see it, but I had no idea there was a deeply rooted trust issue as well. It was going to take us a lot of time and hard work to show these people that they can trust us. That we want to turn this town around and better it for everyone.”
It wasn’t going to be easy. It didn't matter that I was a new mayor; the pain was still there. The betrayal was still fresh. They didn’t truly know me. Those that knew my name knew it from my NFL days; they didn’t know who I was at my core, what type of person I was since I had retired years ago. I was going to have to build up that trust one piece at a time and hope that I didn't lose any along the way. I knew enough to know that rebuilding this town was a delicate process. I couldn’t make the townspeople feel like I didn’t appreciate them, but I also couldn’t have the newcomers being alienated. I needed the town on my side so we could keep building it and bettering the lives of everyone here. If people had more money coming into their businesses, then they could spend more at other businesses. It would fuel the economy, and that was exactly what Rose Falls needed. Just like it needed to get back into the tourism industry. I had to bring people here that wanted to spend money and look around before going back to their homes. People that would take photos and share them across social media and tell all their friends about us. That was what would make this town thrive and the people within all. But it all started by getting these people to agree to helping us build that future. It was going to be exceedingly harder now that I knew the last mayor had no problem with stealing and threatening people.
“I think they will see that. It’s just going to take some time. It’s only the second day that you have been mayor. Once this place is cleaned up and organized, then you can be out there meeting with people, and they will get to know the real you.”
I really wanted to believe that, but it was hard considering everything that was standing against us. It didn’t matter though. Eventually I would win them over. I just had to keep pushing through and hopefully it would all pay out in the end.
Maya
ThesecondIwalkedthrough the door I beelined it for the bathroom. I closed and locked the door behind me before I opened my purse and pulled out the pregnancy test. I was praying with everything in me that this was going to come back negative. That I was being paranoid and a crazy person. It was just as likely that I wasn’t pregnant. That my period was late because I had been sick and stressed out. Lots of women are late and end up not pregnant. This was just so I could cross it off my list and stop being a crazy person.
I quickly opened the package and went and sat down on the toilet. You know what wasn’t easy? Peeing on demand. I hadn’t gone in two hours, and I made sure to drink water and yet I couldn’t seem to go. I closed my eyes and tried to will my body to listen to me and to just freaking pee. It wasn’t like I needed a lot; at least I didn’t think I did. My heart was racing as I tried to get my body to calm down enough to even be able to pee. I felt like an idiot though sitting on the toilet with my eyes closed to try and not distract my brain from what I wanted it to do. To top all of that off, I had my legs open while holding this ridiculous short stick between my legs with a rough guess of where the pee would shoot down. How has this not been improved over the decades? There had to be an easier way for a woman to determine if she was pregnant or not.
