Page 53 of A Class of Her Own

“That’s a lot of new things,” I squeezed her hand.

“I know you hate sappy things, but tonight is my night, so you have to accept it. I think it will surprise you to learn that I needed you as much as you needed me,” Lizzie said. “You taught me how to be stronger and fight for my cause.”

I shook my head. “I’m lucky you guys let me tag along. I know I’m not always easy.”

“We do it strictly for entertainment,” she replied.

“Yeah, I’m a barrel of laughs.”

She squeezed her fingers against mine again. “Don’t sell yourself short, Mer. We know who you are on the inside.”

A cork popping stole our quiet moment, and I let go of Lizzie’s hand as she sat up a little straighter. Little plastic fluted cups were passed around along with some sparkling cider and chocolates. Lizzie clapped and made a comment that had everyone laughing along with her as I leaned back in my chair and felt my shoulders give up some tension for the first time in a long time.

As far as bachelorette parties go, this one hadn’t been bad at all.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

The clubhouse smelled like fish when I entered the next night. Not good fish, either. Fish that had been forgotten in a garbage can. I scrunched up my nose as I made my way into the large central room where the monthly HOA meetings were held, wondering why it always smelled like bad food but no one thought to mentionthatat these meetings. Brooks was already there, dressed in a black button-down shirt and dark jeans. His sleeves were rolled up, and I caught sight of that tattoo that I really wanted a good look at. He was talking quietly near the front table with Leland and Hazel. Shayla, the treasurer, was in her seat and working to open the metal box she always had with her at meetings.

Brooks looked up as I walked by to a seat on the front row. His dark eyes followed me, and I remembered the open and curious way he’d taken me in the other night. Tonight he looked sort of okay with me being there, unlike how he’d been in the past. The realization pleased me, which then worried me, which made me feel grumpy, which he noticed. He quickly looked away, and I couldn’t help but sigh on the inside. Start war with a guy, warm up to the guy, scare the guy away—the Meredith playbook, ladies and gentleman.

I took a seat and waited as more people filed in. It was slim pickings tonight, which was no surprise in December. People had plans. Well, most people had plans. Lizzie’s wedding was the next day, so I could have been steaming out my bubble-gum pink dress or painting my nails or something, but those things weren’t going to take all day. Brooks and his committee took their seats, signaling that it was time to begin. No one was sitting near me. In fact, there was a definite circle of emptiness around me, which probably should have hurt my feelings but didn’t at all. I found it oddly amusing, and a small smile lifted the corners of my mouth. Brooks saw, and his lips softened before he opened his mouth to call the meeting to order.

“Leland, do you have the minutes from last meeting?” Brooks asked.

Leland frowned. “I don’t take minutes. That’s Hazel’s job.”

Hazel began vehemently shaking her head. “No, Leland. Last month I had hurt my right hand when I accidentally shot it with a nail gun, so you took minutes.”

Wait. I looked around the room, and no one else seemed to catch the fact that Hazel had been using a nail gun and shot herself. Were things so strange around here lately that this wasn’t even worth blinking at?

Leland was shaking his white head before she’d finished. “You have no business using nail guns.”

Thank you, Leland, I thought.

Hazel’s blue hair shook with fury. “Leland, don’t you lecture me about power tools. How else was I supposed to build my indoor gazebo?”

“We don’t care what odd contraption you’re building this month. I didn’t take minutes in November,” Leland harrumphed and folded his arms across his chest.

Brooks looked at me as though to commiserate, and I was so caught off guard by him wanting to have a little eye conversation with me that I missed the cue and left him hanging there. In my defense I was used to him giving looks to others when I was the one talking. I fidgeted in my chair, wanting to get his attention back so that I could send him a ‘these people are losing it’ look, but the moment was gone, and he was working to regain the room.

“Leland, Hazel, how about we move on?” he said kindly. “Shayla, do you have any business from last month to discuss?”

Shayla looked up at Brooks and immediately blushed. She smiled big, and I expected her to deliver something earth shattering. But she only shook her head and said, “No, but thank you so much for asking me, Mr. President.”

“Mr. President?” I scoffed under my breath.

The committee heard me, and I got scathing looks from Leland and Shayla. Hazel rolled her eyes, seemingly at Shayla. And, well, Brooks’s expression wasn’t scathing, exactly. If I was reading it right, he seemed amused. This whole thing was suspicious.

“Please, call me Brooks,” he said to Shayla, who seemed to take this the same way she’d take a request to go out with him—extreme joy. Addressing the room at large once more he said, “I believe we have a few items on our agenda tonight.”

“Can we start with the fish smell in here?” someone interrupted from the back.

“It’s like a mildewy skunk carcass,” another called.

At the word skunk Brooks looked at me and a full smile bloomed on my face as I remembered Rocky. Had he been rescued from my place only to take up residence here? It would almost be too much beautiful justice. Brooks fought an answering smile of his own.

“I haven’t smelled anything this bad since I went into a high school locker room,” Hazel agreed.

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