Page 24 of Rival Hearts

The old redbrick building was one of my favorite places in Little Falls. Every time I’d ridden my bike past or come here in any of its various incarnations, I’d longed to own it. Something about the history of the station made me feel solid, secure. Assuming Joseph Goldtooth was as good as Kelvin said, I was sure he could get this building to strike a balance that honored the past but projected toward the future. It was time I set down roots, whether I won this mayoral race or not.

Kelvin burst into the train station, cracking my thoughts. “Maggie’s GoFundMe for the town hit another milestone.”

“Maggie set up a GoFundMe?” My pulse jumped at her name crossing my lips. “Send me the link. How long has it been up?”

“A few hours ago. Clever what she did, though.” Kelvin typed into his phone, and my pocket vibrated with the incoming message.

“What’s that?” I asked, amused despite myself. No matter what else I believed about Maggie, she wasn’t a quitter. I’d run around town during the flood helping anyone who asked. I’d been exhausted afterward, but I’d become reacquainted with so many people I hadn’t seen in years, remembered names and events I’d thought long forgotten. Getting one over on Maggie had been good, but connecting with my community had been a pleasant reward.

“She took that photo of you in the Superman outfit and attached the GoFundMe to it somehow. Then she posted it all over your fan pages and sent it to major entertainment outlets. The fund has gone viral. Your famous friends are donating.”

Every muscle in my body tensed in a mixture of panic and anger. Many of those famous people I’d never met in person. Online meetups, Facetime videos, phone calls, email exchanges, yes, but face-to-face? Nope.

“They’ve done what?”

“Donated.” Kelvin pointed at his pocket. “Check your phone. I sent you the link. God, she’s brilliant.”

“She made it seem like I’d lost something in the flood?” Anger floated to the surface, overtaking my initial panic. Lies. Again. There were few things I was protective about, but my business reputation was one of them. I was never going back to doing odd jobs when I could do something I loved.

“Nah,” Kelvin said, shaking his head. “That’d be too simple. Her post is this moving message about how important the town and its people are to her.” Kelvin pointed to the corner of his eye. “I might have spawned a tear.”

My mind strayed to an image of Maggie, her clothes plastered to her, highlighting all those curves. The look in her eyes beforeI’d turned to help Sabrina haunted me, even though I couldn’t pinpointwhatwas there. I’d been stuck on the meaning behind her expression for days.

A text from my agent, Jack, appeared on my screen asking aboutthis GoFundMe and flooding businessfor an official comment.

Running a hand through my hair, I swore under my breath. Fucking ridiculous. She was going to turn my life into a shitstorm and a PR nightmare. As distractions went, itwasbrilliant. Kelvin was right. The viral post probably made her look as inviting and nostalgic as her vanilla-scented perfume, but since the photo was of me and I was the one with all the famous friends, I’d be the one fielding all the calls for comment.

“I need to talk to her. Can you drop Zeus and Hite off at my place? I can’t leave them in the truck in this heat.”

“Uh.” Kelvin eyed them. “Will they bite me?”

“Doesn’t your new boyfriend have a dog?”

“Yeah, but it’s like a puffy little thing that barks a lot. It’s not”—he stared at the two dogs circling him—“these things.”

“Fine,” I said, impatience winning out. “I’ll do it myself before I head over to Maggie’s.”

“Maybe walk them home, give yourself time to cool off. We can work with this!” Kelvin called as I headed out the door, my dogs trailing behind.

The pharmacy windows had taunted me for weeks. Each time I walked past, it took everything in me not to peer in, to hope for a glimpse of auburn hair, a swish of a white lab coat. Now, I stood outside the scope of those windows, taking some deep breaths. If there were other people in the pharmacy, I couldn’t go in verbalguns blazing, or we’d end up with casualties and maybe another story in the paper. I didn’t need more press.

One way or another, Maggie Sullivan was the most likely candidate to ruin my life. But I didn’t want her to know that. I didn’t want her to know any of it. A few people called out a ‘hello’ as I stepped from the shadows of Maggie’s building to open the door. With a smile and a wave, I landed inside the pharmacy. When I glanced up, Maggie looked startled from behind the high counter at the back, her coal eyes wide.

We were the only people in the place.

“I see business is booming.” I smirked.

“Not all of us need a harem following us around from place to place validating our existence.”

“Is that what you think they do? You know what a harem is, right?” I wandered closer to where she stood, the two counters still separating us.

She flushed. “You’re right. Your house isn’t nearly big enough to keep them all.” Almost under her breath, she continued, “I hear you sleep on the floor.”

“Asking around about me, are you?”

“You’re running for mayor. People talk.” She raised her chin.

“People are talking. Mostly about a GoFundMe attached to my name.” The reminder sent another shot of annoyance zipping through.

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