Page 31 of A Class of Her Own

If I was being deeply honest, these women had mentored me and taught me so much that I’d missed out on by not having a woman’s influence growing up. I was attached to them, big time.

Aryn sat next to me in a pair of chairs, her long legs crossed, and flipped a strawberry into her mouth. “Lizzie, listen, Meredith doesn’t appreciate things that aren’t working how they’re meant to work. The HOA was in total disarray, and she offered to step in and get them moving in the right direction.”

Lizzie made a face. “Sounds painful.”

I shrugged, not bothering to hide my true feelings from my friends. “You guys are my best friends, so you already know that I have certain weaknesses—like patience and charm—but I also have strengths, such as organizing, seeing needs and filling them, and making good use of funds and time. So, I put together a case for how I could revamp the community, and they said they’d think about it and then ran to Brooks.” I scowled. “It’s incredibly insulting.”

“Hurt your feelings, too,” Hailey said softly, and I nodded.

My friends had been told several versions of the same spiel I’d just given, but I hadn’t ever told them the details of the meeting or how humiliated I’d felt when I’d heard they hadn’t even bothered to think about my proposal other than to find someone—anyone really—other than me. I hadn’t dared to ask even Hazel where I’d gone wrong in my presentation. Had I come on too strong? Had I scared them somehow? It was a failure and embarrassment that nagged nearly every day.

“Which is what kicked off the entire feud,” Ruby added as she dumped ice into the punch bowl. “I really think you’re punishing the wrong person. Brooks is as much a victim of this whole thing as you are. How was he supposed to know that you’d offered to take the position?”

“Ruby, you’re missing out on the bigger picture here,” Hailey added from where she was arranging a tray of vegetables.

“What’s that?” Ruby asked, moving back into my kitchen to get the punch itself.

“We’re Team Meredith all the way.”

Ruby pursed her lips as she poured the bright pink punch into the waiting ice. “But Meredith likes logic, and it’s illogical for her to be taking this out on him.”

Aryn slitted a grin my way. “Your response?”

I rolled my eyes. “This has nothing to do with logic. That flew out the window when Hazel and Leland ran screaming away from me and begged someone else to do it.”

“So, punishthem, instead,” Ruby stated.

I laughed. “I am. Rudolph shines directly on both of their houses. All night.”

“How many more tickets have you received?” Hailey asked.

She set her veggies on the table and came to sit by Lizzie on the couch. She was wearing a pearl necklace and reached up to run her fingers along each pearl, a sure sign she was worried for me. It made it hard to meet her eyes as I gave an honest answer.

“Three. One per day,” I replied, tugging down my shirt sleeves and smoothing out my pant legs.

“How much are they, each?” Lizzie’s tone was concerned.

I shook my head and brushed it off. “Not much.” Aryn gave me a knowing look, and I ignored her. “I’ll take the stuff down when the season is over.”

“Is there any chance you could be evicted for this?” Lizzie asked.

“Nah. Don’t worry about me.”

My doorbell rang, and I went to answer it, relieved to set aside this line of questioning. If they kept at it, they’d eventually unearth the truth that the tickets were more than I could afford, and there was actually a chance I could be evicted. It didn’t help that Ruby had a point about the logic behind continuing to punish Brooks. Honestly, I’d take it down that very night if I thought I could, but I felt trapped in this stupid plan, especially since I’d dragged my friends in and caused some sort of social media frenzy. It had gotten out of hand, and I didn’t see a way out. I was going to go bankrupt for pride.

My stomach was heavy as I answered the door to find a handful of Lizzie’s childhood friends smiling in the cold. I did my best to smile warmly and invite them in. I followed them back toward the family room, already suffocating from the conversations I’d be listening to this evening. It was hard for me to pretend interest in strangers. I could listen to Hailey discuss opera, even though I don’t like it, because I love Hailey. Listening to Kathy down the street discuss her horror over rising grocery prices was enough to make my brain melt.

Tonight was definitely going to be a brain melter. Lizzie deserved to be celebrated, though, so I squared my shoulders and pasted on a smile as I followed after the gaggle of giggling girlfriends. However, before I got very far, another knock at the door pulled me away. I was happy to have an excuse to fall back. I was less happy when I opened it to find Brooks standing there. He was holding another ticket, and my stomach met my toes as I took it out of his hand.

His body filled up the doorway, blocking what little light was provided by my porch light, as he said, “This game is getting expensive, Atwood.”

“Cost doesn’t matter when you’re fighting for a cause,” I lied. I lied so hard. My cause was losing its allure. It was a tainted and decaying beast that I had to sleep with every night.

He leaned one shoulder against my door jam and crossed his arms. “And what, exactly, is your cause? Because from where I’m standing, all you’re doing is repeatedly violating HOA codes and racking up some serious fines. How is that helping your platform?”

I managed to keep from stumbling over my words as I thought about how to answer. The facts were that the yard I was tacky, the fines were piling up, and nothing was changing with the HOA board. They still didn’t want to hear from me, and they still wasted time on ridiculous things when there was so much more they could be doing.

“My issue is that I think the HOA board isn’t in tune,” I finally said.

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