Page 212 of Banter & Blushes

“Yes. But, I’m not sure if it can get the green light.”she winked at Josephine.

“If anyone can get it done, I’m sure it’s you. I’ve seen you set your mind to things and move mountains.”

Biting her bottom lip, Jill hesitated telling her the project. “The thing is, well.. it’s about you?”

Lines appeared on her forehead as her eyebrows raised. “Me?”

“I think we need to get you a love story of your own.” Crossing her arms in front of her, leaned back with satisfaction and anticipation of how Elva would take the news. “You know, a second chapter for your life.” Josephine nodded along with her thought.

“A second chapter, at my age?” Elva shook her head. “Honey, the chapters are finished. The book is closed.”

Jill smiled at Joe. “We’ll see about that.”

CHAPTER 3

“We were very lucky no one was injured last July,” Bob scooted his chair in around the long table while he addressed the committee.

“We were lucky for a lot of things that day,” Tom smiled at his wife, Melanie. “Everyone’s safety was the most important.”

The way the community pulled together the previous summer made them all proud to be from the Landings as they faced the storm of the century. Everyone rallied behind one another, taking charge of boarding up houses and businesses, making sure the community center was filled with enough food and even put on a wedding that no one expected. In the end, no one was hurt and other than a few downed trees, they were extremely lucky to miss the brunt of the storm. After the clean-up, they began the conversation of having more emergency preparedness for their town. More plans in place and more access to care if the need arose.

“I think we all agree, at this point,” Elva glanced at Bob, who previously opposed this project. Before she continued, he held his hand up toward the group. “I agree.” Nodding toward him, she continued right where she left off “that the Landings needs a station. We have the land, the plans and the permit. I met with four contractors earlier this week. Each had a great resume. A few were well outside of our proposed budget and didn’t seem interested in adjusting anything, unfortunately.” She pulled off her readers and sat them on the notebook in front of her before she clasped her hands together. “Luckily, Mitch said he’s happy to adjust his numbers to work within the grant we receive, even if that means donating all of his own time.” She smiled, happy with her selection. “I’m happy to share that as of this afternoon, we’ve hired him.”

Everyone clapped. “We knew you were the woman for this job.” Melanie flashed a smile at Elva.

“I didn’t do it alone. Each one of you has helped along the way. And we still have quite a ways to go. Now, Mitch has assured me he’s ready to get this project started asap.”

“I’m sorry, but who’s Mitch?” Bob looked at her over the rim of his thick black glasses.

“Oh,” she felt her cheeks blush, “Mr. Mitchell., uh… John Mitchell?” She started shifting through her papers. “I have his proposal here to share.”

Bob’s head nodded up and down. “On a nickname basis with ‘em already, huh?” He teased, hoping she’d find it funny. “I’m kidding,” he added, hoping he didn’t embarrass his friend.

“Anyway,” she ignored his comment and continued, “it’s up to the committee, of course, but my vote is to give Mr. Mitchell the job and see where he takes it. He promises a quick turnaround time once permitting is ready. He seems very committed to our cause already as if it’s his own. And even better, his cost was well below the others.”

“I can vouch for Mitchell.” Cal sat up straighter. “Good guy and a great contractor. I’ve had a lot of interaction with him at the lumberyard over the years. He comes with a lot of experience for large projects like ours and good references. I can probably collect some if anyone needs to be convinced.”

“No. No,” Bob shook his head back and forth before adjusting his self-branded hardware hat on his head. “If you are both singing his praises, I think we’ve found our man.”

Josephine tried to hide a smirk growing across her face, “here, here!” She added in unprompted, causing everyone on the committee to look at her. “Oh, I just meant, I agree. He seems very well, uh… equipped for our particular project.”

Now it was Jill trying to hide a smile. “He is absolutely our man.”

Catching on, Cal couldn’t help but ask, “okay, what’s that all about?”

“About? Nothing at all. Just saying he seems to be a good man and worthy of our project.” Jill smiled through her answer.

Elva sensing what they were getting at shook her head back and forth and let out a loud sigh, “okay, ladies. Let’s get back to the station project, shall we?”

Bob looked from Miss Joe to Jill to Elva before asking, “have we been talking about anything other than the station project?” Making Jill and Joe laugh.

“No,” Elva answered for both of them at once, “we are all business here, Bob.”

“Yep. We are,” Jill agreed with a wink to Joe. “Okay, seriously though,” clearing her throat, she tried to push on. “I think we can all confidently agree to Mitchell.”

“Good, good.” Bob made a note on his pad of paper. “Jill, how’s the grant going?”

“Ready to be hand delivered tomorrow. I brought copies for everyone to read over. If you see anything that needs to be changed, please let me know as soon as possible.” Taking a copy, she passed them to her left for each member to take one. “If it looks okay I’ll drop it off to the right office in the morning.”

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