Elle
“I can’t believe I’m considering it,” I said, nibbling on a piece of lettuce from my salad. I’d mostly pushed my lunch around on my plate, only taking a bite here and there to pretend I was eating. I didn’t have much of an appetite.
“I can,” Josie said, smiling at me across the table. “And I agree with him, you’re perfect.”
“I’m not perfect.” I rolled my eyes. “Far from it, actually.
I have no experience in politics.”
“You’ve attended every single city council meeting.”
“For the paper, yeah.”
“But you know what’s happening in Liberty. Probably more than anyone else.”
“It gives me authority to write on it, but to actually run the city government? That’s an entirely different set of skills.”
“Which you have,” Josie pointed out, taking a bite of grilled chicken.
“I don’t have experience running anything like that.”
“You’ve run the paper for a while now.”
“The paper is different, Josie. It’s totally different.”
“Sure, but you’re a smart woman, Elle. You know how things work in the government, and I think you’d figure out anything you don’t already know fairly easily. Everyone has to start somewhere. Do you think Jeremiah knew anything about city government before taking over?”
“No, but…” I really didn’t have anything to finish that thought with. There was no but. She was right. He’d had no experience and even less knowledge of the government than I did.
“Exactly.” Josie shrugged and offered an all-knowing smirk.
“I don’t know. I’d have to act fast. The deadline to register as a candidate is coming up, and I’d need to get so much support in order to make it possible. Plus, I’d be running against Jeremiah.”
“It sounds like he doesn’t really want it,” Josie commented. “I bet he’d drop out and support your run instead.”
I opened my mouth to argue, to tell her that Jeremiah would never drop out. That he’d never give up on Liberty. And he wouldn’t give up on our town, no, but if he believed in me, I could see him backing me as a candidate.
Which was just too much damn pressure. I rubbed my temples.
“What is it?” Josie asked. “More nagging self-doubt?”
“Always,” I muttered, dropping my hands. “It just seems too complicated. What would I do about the paper? I couldn’t do both at the same time.”
Josie shrugged and gave me a look that said I wasn’t going to like what she was about to say. “Maybe it’s time to let the paper go. No one really reads print journalism anymore.”
“I can’t do that. Liberty needs their local news. The larger sources don’t cover our small-town news.”
“Right, but there are better ways to handle this. Perhaps an online paper?”
“I couldn’t run it if I’m mayor.”
“No, but I’m sure someone else could. Someone else in your office.”
I bit into a cherry tomato, the explosion in my mouth a perfect metaphor for my life right now.
“Come on, Elle. We both know how passionate you are about politics and this town, and even though you don’t say it, you’re looking for something more than writing about high school basketball games and the occasional smalltown scandal. You’re smart, you deserve to do great things – and I think Liberty needs someone like you.”
“You’re my best friend, you’re supposed to say those things,” I muttered.
Josie laughed. “You’re so difficult, you know that? I bet I could get everyone in this diner to vote for you. I bet Felicity would vote for you, wouldn’t you, Felicity?” She called out to the woman behind the counter, another one of our friends. She owned the local diner and was someone I respected very much.
Felicity looked confused as ever, having not listening to our conversation. “Excuse me? Vote for what?”
“For Elle if she ran for mayor.”
“Shh,” I hushed Josie. “Don’t talk so loud, I don’t want the whole diner to know.”
“Why? You afraid they might want to vote for you or something?”
Felicity walked over to our table and sat down across from me beside Josie. “You’re running for mayor? That’s awesome, Elle. And hell yeah, I’d vote for you.”
My cheeks burned bright red, and I couldn’t meet her eyes. “I don’t know yet. I wasn’t really planning on it, but Jeremiah suggested it.” I kept my voice low, not wanting anyone to hear me talking about this seriously. The last thing I needed was for the local rumor mill to pick it up.
The front door of the diner rang, and Felicity’s eyes moved in that direction. A small smile pulled at her lips as she slipped from the booth. “Excuse me, ladies. I need to help this next guest.”
Felicity was the owner and had hostesses to greet the guests. I wondered who the VIP might be. Both Josie and I were curious and looked up at the same time.
Dr. Abel Hammond, Abe as he was called by the locals, walked in. He was an older man, around Jeremiah’s age, and he and Felicity were deep in conversation.
“I wonder what that’s about,” I whispered.
“Maybe she’s working your campaign already.”
“Oh please,” I said and rolled my eyes, turning back to
Josie. “You have a one-track mind sometimes.” “Sounds familiar,” she said and winked at me.
The door to the restaurant pinged again, but I didn’t bother to look up. I was too focused on my salad, pushing the lettuce and tomatoes around on the plate. I wasn’t hungry, though I knew I should be. My stomach was tied in knots.
“Eleanor Schaeffer,” a male voice called out.
My head popped up so fast, I could have given myself whiplash. That voice sounded familiar. The tone wasn’t friendly in the slightest either.
“Shit,” I muttered.
Alex Holt was walking right toward me, his silky, sandy blonde hair brushed back, his designer glasses covering his eyes. He looked like he’d walked right out of a California photo shoot for the rich and spoiled. “What does that asshole want?” I had an idea.
I stood as he approached our table, wanting to shield Josie from the man as much as possible. But she stood up, standing beside me with her arms crossed in front of her.
Alex ignored her, instead pointing a finger in my face. “You need to stay out of this. You know nothing about what’s going on.”
I shrugged. “I only told Teddy that you were driving your sister’s car. If you’re innocent of any wrongdoing, what does it matter?”
“It doesn’t,” he spat.
I had to admit, seeing him so unhinged intrigued me. He was normally so put together, always smiling for the camera. Putting on the act of the golden boy, the perfect son. To know he was this angry over such innocent information made me think there was more going on here.
He continued complaining, though I wasn’t paying attention to most of it until he said, “You only dragged me into it because you can’t find any other way to clear that asshole’s name.”
“Wait a minute. Did you just call Jeremiah an asshole? If that’s not the pot calling the kettle black, I don’t know what is.”
Alex scowled, lowering his sunglasses so I could see those creepy ass eyes of his. I shuddered but tried to hide it. I wasn’t going to let him intimidate me.
“He’s not going to win re-election. No matter what bullshit you try to pull, you’re not taking my family down with him. My father will be mayor of Liberty.”
“Oh yeah? You’re so confident about that, but I bet no one here would vote for him.”
Alex scoffed. “Like they’ll have a choice once Jeremiah is behind bars.”
“He won’t be behind bars, but even if he is, your dad won’t be the only candidate.”
“Oh yeah?” Alex chuckled, wiping his face with his hand.
“Why, are you running?”
“Maybe I am,” I stated, speaking louder than intended.
Alex doubled over in laughter, “Sorry, it’s just-wait, you’re serious?”
More laughter. No one else in the diner was laughing, though. And I was beginning to suspect he had more than a few screws loose. I’d always thought he was a douche, but this was a new site for me. He never made such a scene in public. I must have hit a sore spot.
“I don’t see anyone else laughing here, Alex. Maybe you should be more concerned than you are.” I narrowed my gaze and put my hands on my hips. Nobody laughed at me. Especially not a Holt.
Alex stopped laughing and wiped at his eyes. He still looked amused, but I knew his type well. He was trying to intimidate me. If he thought I was afraid of a little embarrassment, he didn’t know me. Truth be told, there was nothing they could do to embarrass or shame me. My history was as clear as the sky on a summer’s day in the mountains.
He had nothing on me. And I knew he knew it. That’s why it scared him.
He steadied himself, cleared his throat and said, “Well, whatever happens, if you decide to run for mayor or not, it would be in your best interest to stay out of my family’s personal affairs, Eleanor.”
“Is that a threat? Because if so, there’s a whole restaurant who heard you.”
“Oh no, it’s not a threat,” he said with a sneer. “It’s a suggestion.” He turned on his heels and marched out of the diner, letting the glass door slam on the way out.
All eyes were on me now.
Was this it, was this how I was going to announce my run for mayor?
“Does this mean you’re doing it?” Josie asked, beaming at me with pride.
“Maybe.”
“Maybe? That didn’t sound like a maybe to me,” Josie said, punching me playfully in the arm.
I wanted it. I wanted it so stinking bad. Not just because I wanted to get back at Alex Holt for laughing at me, but because his family was awful. Truly awful. And I couldn’t even let them entertain the idea of them running my town.
They’d destroy everything Liberty stood for.
That was the moment I decided to go for it. I just had to figure a lot of other things out first. It wouldn’t be easy, but as my daddy always told me – nothing worth having ever was.
Another idea hit me at the same time – what was causing Alex to become so unhinged in public? Maybe my gut had been right; the Holts were behind James’ murder. But maybe it was more than that.
Maybe they were behind all of it.
I grabbed my bag and dropped some money on the table, enough to pay for both of our meals plus a nice tip.
“Can you take care of the check, please?”
“Sure, but where are you going?”
“To register for the race,” I said, speaking low so only Josie would hear me.
I’d announce it to the world later, once I announced it to my friends and family first. And after I talked to Jeremiah too. He deserved to hear it from me.
The Holts wouldn’t win, I’d make sure of it.