Page 7 of Rival Hearts

“Shut the front door!” Lila spun on her heel and then pressed her fingers to her temples, groaning. “I shouldn’t have goneto work today.” Gingerly, she removed her glasses. “I’m too hungover. I thought you said Grady Castillo declared himself a candidate for mayor, which would mean I’m in the twilight zone.” Lila gave me a thoughtful look. “Or I’m still drunk. Am I still drunk?”

“Doubtful. It’s more likely we’ve entered the tenth circle of hell.”

“How many circles were there before Grady showed up in town?”

“Nine.”

“Right.”

We stared at each other for a moment before Lila sank into the gray leather chair on the other side of my oversized desk. With her fingers pressed into her temples, Lila winced. “Why would he run for mayor?”

“Who knows?”

“Do you think…” Lila shifted in her chair. “I sort of remember bragging about you being uncontested last night.”

“You did.”

“Is that why he decided to run? Did my big mouth ruin your slam dunk?”

I shook my head and sighed. “I don’t know. But if you being proud of me set him off, there’s not much we can do about that. Grady is Grady. He’s always been hard to figure out.” That was the truth. The whole time I’d been with Trent my final year of high school, I’d had my eyes on Grady. We’d spent weeks, months sparing over this topic or that at Sunday dinners. Despite our bickering, there’d always been a cool aloofness in the way he’d challenged me. For a brief moment, that coolness had burned bright.

Then Trent got arrested, I went to college in Florida, and Grady won a national talent competition.

Now, we were rivals for the mayor of Little Falls. Every time reality entered my mind, the top of my head threatened to pop off. I’d thought he was gone for good.

“Are you worried?” Lila drew me back to the present.

“I can’t decide. I wasn’t that worried until I found out Kelvin Brown witnessed his candidate application.”

Lila leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs. “Geez. Kelvin?” She took a bottle of aspirin out of her purse, shook out two pills, and popped them into her mouth.

“Yep.”

“He cleans my teeth. I’m looking for a new dentist.” Lila grabbed her phone, and her fingers flew over the keyboard. “All right, all joking aside. We need a game plan. I’ll round up Emily, Tyler, your parents, and get in touch with anyone else who was part of your campaign four years ago. Sound good?”

“Yes. Thank you. I know we need to spring into action, but I feel like I got hit by a semi. If Kelvin wasn’t involved, I’d say there was no way Grady was going to take this seriously.”

“But he is, so we have to assume…”

“I’ll get the lawn signs ordered and start talking to the people who did my pharmacy commercials and ads about mocking up some political ones.”

“Are we all set for the Fourth of July? Fireworks are ordered? Parade is under control? We need to kill it this year.”

“Yes. At least it’s all set. We were already planning on going all out there, so no changes are needed.”

Lila headed toward the door, an aura of determination around her. With her hand on the knob, she shifted her shoulders and hesitated for a beat. “Part of me thinks I shouldn’t say this, but then another part of me thinks you might not have considered it.”

“What’s that?”

“The town loves Grady. They spent weeks rooting for him onCenter Stage. It was years ago, but still. I know you were away, but it was a really big deal. Huge. Now, he’s back and running for mayor.” Lila’s dark eyes filled with worry. “He might not know everyone, but they know him. They’ll feel like theyreallyknow him. We have to consider the loyalty vote for some people might not lie with you.”

Lila was right. I’d been remembering Grady as the man-boy I once knew at the end of my high school career. Back then, he’d been a twenty-something handyman who couldn’t figure out how to do life. Why would I ever take that guy seriously? But time had passed, and Grady had found some success both in Little Falls and beyond. So instead of Lila’s warning giving me a shot of panic, it centered me. I knew how to run a campaign against a worthy adversary and win. There were rules of play, strategy.

Grady Castillo was going to have his ass handed to him, and I’d take great pleasure in being the one to do it.

Chapter Four

Grady

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