Page 68 of Lovewell Lane

I whipped my head around to look at Lila, who I was sitting next to. “Are these always full of so many people?”

She shook her head. “They get more attendance when big events are coming up. Like the Honey Festival.”

“Ah,” I sighed. That was why I was here for my first meeting, so that checked out. The mayor himself stopped by the diner yesterday to formally invite me and persuade me to give him a promise that I’d be here. I was curious what the big deal was.

The opening minutes consisted of a lot of yawning from the crowd and repetitive stammering on the mayor’s part. Finally, he said something that caught everyone’s attention.

“Now, onto the Honey Festival,” he said nervously. The mayor pulled his wire-framed glasses off of his face and wiped his forehead with the back of his dress shirt sleeve. “I know a lot of you are interested as to how ticket sales are going. We are only a month out after all.”

He took a deep breath before speaking again, “We haven’t sold many tickets.”

Someone dropped their phone from a pew and it clashed to the floor before deafening silence followed.

Derek stood up, looking like this was an inconvenience rather than a massive economic issue for the entire town. “How many have we sold?”

The mayor slid his glasses back over the bridge of his nose. “Uh, it says here. Twenty-four.”

My eyebrows shot up my forehead. People had spoken about this Festival as if it was Honeyfield’s claim to fame. Sam said people drove from all over the state. And there were only twenty-four tickets sold?

“I was planning on making hundreds of baked goods,” I murmured to Lila.

Her face told me this was just as much of a shock to her as it was to me. “Now, everyone, let’s not get riled up,” the mayor said over our whispers. “We have had some recent success in terms of bringing new interest in town.”

“Margo,” he called. I sat up straighter in my seat. “Would you mind coming up here?”

Feeling like the kid who got called on unexpectedly in class, I shot Lila a look before standing up. We were sitting in the back of the room, so I had a long and damning walk up to the frontwhere the mayor was standing. He gave me a heartwarming smile as I approached him.

I felt his arm wrap around my shoulders as he pulled me into a tight side-hug while I turned to face the crowd of familiar faces. “I didn’t realize you were going to call on me,” I stage-whispered to him.

A few people in the front row chuckled.

“For anyone that’s been living under a rock these past few months, this is Margo,” The mayor introduced. I looked at him like he had three heads. What was I doing up here? “She has brought new life into this town.”

Oh.

“Our Dreamers program, while hit or miss, has brought in great minds like Margo here and Lila,” the mayor paused to gesture in Lila’s direction. She shrunk into her seat like she was the one being held against her will instead of me. “Margo, how would you replicate the success you’ve had with your diner in terms of the Honey Festival?”

I took a deep breath. That was a lot of pressure to put on one person. “My friend, Scarlet, helped a lot with planning for the launch of Lucky’s. I’ve made a lot of great connections with all of you that have helped. She’s also posted online for me to create buzz.”

I stared right at Derek. “I can ask her if she has ideas for the Honey Festival, but in general I think it would be a great idea to put up flyers. What are we doing now to tell people the Festival is happening?”

“Usually, they just know,” said a man I didn’t recognize in the front row. “Happens at the same time every year.”

“That method probably won’t work if every year less and less people are showing up,” I said. “Just a few months ago, we weren’t sure if the Festival would be happening, right?”

A few people sat up straighter in their chairs. “Then we’ll need to take a different approach,” I continued. “Flyers across town, tell people you know outside of town, get the word out.”

I looked to the mayor, hoping to be relieved of my duties. He smiled and patted my shoulder before letting me go from his chokehold of a side hug. “Great idea, Margo. We will spread the word. Go old school.”

“I’ll ask my friend about the new school stuff, too,” I added. Before he could ask me anything else, I hurried back to my pew next to Lila. We shared a look. What had I just gotten myself into?

The rest of the town hall meeting was a snooze fest. I understood why people just showed up for big events because the mayor seemed happy to have a captive audience for his meaningless ramblings. We were held for another forty-five minutes before he concluded the meeting and let us all get back to our day jobs.

I rushed back to the diner to check on Mike and Sarah. They seemed to be in high spirits, so I walked to the back to my office to call up Scarlet.

“I need your big beautiful brain again,” I started.

Scarlet sighed playfully. “What is it now? World peace? Are we stopping global warming?”

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