Page 13 of Rival Hearts

“What’s she think of him running?”

“She’s his mom.” When my phone buzzed, I dragged it out of my pocket. “The parade starts in half an hour. I have to go.”

“I’ll see what I can do about getting us more fireworks.”

A deep sigh escaped. So far, today wasn’t going as I’d expected. It could only get better, right?

Chapter Six

Grady

The horrified look on Kelvin’s face told me I hadn’t quite hit the mark. “You don’t like it?” I stared at the sign on my float. The wind kicked up for a moment, reminding me we were out in the country surrounded by open fields.

“Taste the new, quit the old,” Kelvin said the words slowly, as though that might make them different.

“Yeah. Maggie is old. I’m new.”

Kelvin narrowed his eyes and tilted his head. “Aren’t you supposed to be good at this?”

“At coming up with a slogan? Nope. That’s got nothing to do with my job.”

“No, I mean at arranging words.”

“Well, it was either this or ‘The new game in town.’ I thought you’d like this better. Sabrina said you’d like this better.” I wasn’t quite as baffled as I was making it sound. Yes, I’d let Sabrina pick my campaign slogan, and I knew it wasn’t a good one. I’d had to give her something in exchange for helping me, and the slogan was it. I wasn’t taking the chance of sleeping with her now that I knew she had three kids.

“I mean.” Kelvin scratched the back of his head. “You’re inviting the town to eat you.”

“Yeah,” I said, nodding. “There is that.” We stared at the incredibly large words emblazoned on the float for another minute. “I thought about going with ‘If Bush can do it, God knows I can too,’but it seemed a little long.”

Kelvin rubbed his face with his hand. “You promised. I even gave you a list to choose from.”

“It’s a fucking slogan. I could have put up there—This time, Vote Castillo for Mayor.” I gestured to the large decals. “At least this is memorable.”

“Sure, if you were a high school senior obsessed with eating things.”

I grimaced. Sabrina had labeled all of Kelvin’s suggestions as too boring. So, I had let Sabrina pick from a website devoted to student council slogans. Those options had seemed as good as anything else I could find on the internet. “You told me I needed people on my team. I got people.”

Most of my team were women. I’d tried to talk some of my old buddies from high school into helping, but they’d laughed at me in a good-natured way. Run against Maggie Sullivan? Fat chance. They wanted to save themselves the embarrassment. So, I’d approached their sisters and mothers instead. They’d been more agreeable. One of the benefits of my short stint with fame was my ability to switch on the charm. I lived in someone else’s skin when I slipped the charming mask on, a personaCenter Stagecultivated and taught. Helpful, for sure, but it always felt a little slimy too.

“I was hoping—I don’t know what I was hoping for—but it wasn’t this.” Kelvin sighed and pulled himself onto the float.

A pang of regret pierced my chest. “Look, Kelvin. This is going to work. I promise. Today will be better than you expect. If there’s one thing I learned, it’s how to put on a show. It’ll be fine.Is it a shitty slogan? Sure. But when I’m done, it won’t matter. You gotta trust me.” I hopped onto the float beside Kelvin, and we stood staring at the rolling countryside. I didn’t want the float to be in town until the last minute. For that, I figured Kelvin was probably grateful. Everything about the float was loud, designed to be noticed, to shake things up.

Kelvin walked around the bed of the truck, surveying all the details. I hadn’t skimped on them. Lights, neon colors, huge lettering for my name and slogan. The stage would raise and lower as the float went down the town streets depending on the song I was singing. There were bubble machines, and some of my female helpers would pass out badges with my campaign slogan on them. My crew agreed to meet the float in town.

“What’s in these boxes?” Kelvin gently kicked one with his foot.

“Fireworks.” I also managed to recruit the summer students working at city hall with Pete. Both of them were in their early twenties, aspiring musicians looking for input into the industry. Talking them into borrowing the fireworks to give back at the end of the parade had been too easy. Technically, the two boys had stolen the fireworks, but they hadn’t been bright enough to make that leap. Imayhave told them it was a prank. It was, sort of. Mostly, the theft was a way to make myself look good.Grady saves the fireworks display, would be the headline.

“Please tell me you’re not setting those off on here.”

“You are correct,” I said. “I am not. You’ll see. It’s a grand gesture of a sort. One that’ll be sure to get Maggie’s panties in a twist.” An unfortunate choice of words.

Maggie’s panties.

The mental picture almost made me groan. A thong? A piece of lace? Simple cotton? For years, I’d done my best not to think about her. Deep under the surface, her hooks were secured. During my travels, I’d wake up soaked from a dream, those darkeyes, auburn hair, and the smattering of freckles across her nose the feature attraction. I’d sit on the edge of my bed, head in my hands and wish I’d dreamed of anyone but her. In some ways, the insane pull toward her was half of the reason I disliked her. My desire for her had overshadowed any loyalty to Trent.Unforgivable.

“Where’d the fireworks come from?” Kelvin gave me a skeptical look. An expression I was used to seeing.

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