Page 28 of Misbehaving With Minotaurs
Hours later, I’m standing at the corner of Main Street and Sycamore as a bell tolls, ringing throughout downtown. Hordes of monsters exit every building and the homes back behind downtown. Catherine mentioned earlier that town hall meetings typically happen either in town hall or at the gazebo, so I’d guess that’s where everyone’s headed.
“You lost, big guy?”
Turning toward the voice, I smile at finding Morgan Hector standing behind me with her arms folded at her back.
I jerk my head down the street. “Town Hall’s that way, as I recall?”
She smiles. “Walk with me?”
I hold my elbow out for her, and she slips a hand through it, curling her fingers around my forearm.
She squeezes my forearm. “How are things going?”
Oh, she’s nosy. I kinda like that.
I glance down with a smirk as I guide us along Main. “In what way?’
She shrugs as if it could be any old thing. “Your time here. Thoughts on our expansion.” She clears her throat and looks up at me. “Catherine.”
The shortest version of the truth is probably best. Morgan knows Cath and I dated—we covered that much at family dinner.
“Ever’s lovely. I’ve got concerns about how widely the skyball expansion will be supported, but there’s a plan for that. Catherine’s an excellent hostess, as I expected. She’s literally made for that, you know.”
Morgan’s smile grows. “You know that’s not what I meant. You dated. There’s obvious chemistry. What’s up there?”
“Why?”
“‘Cause I wanna know.”
“Why?”
“I’m nosy.”
“We’re just friends,” I confirm as we pass by Ohken’s store, Fleur. “If you’re worried our past will at all affect who’s chosen for?—”
Morgan snorts out a laugh. “That’s not it, and you know it. If you don’t wanna spill the beans, that’s fine… I’ll just bug Catherine instead. I will find out though.” She looks ahead with a soft sigh. “On another note, what do you make of our expansion? Isit in line with how you’ve seen other havens do it over the years?”
I look at her with curiosity. As far as I know, she doesn’t sit on the town’s leadership committee even though her mate does.
“Nosy,” she says like she’s reading my thoughts.
I glance down the street, checking for cars as we cross over toward the big white gazebo in front of Town Hall. “Well, there’s usually an order of things. Infrastructure planning is typically first, but it’s harder in havens like this one that are fairly small. Ever’s actually one of the smallest havens in the network, if you can believe it.”
Someone shouts Morgan’s name, and we turn. Her sisters and aunt jog up the street toward us. By the time they arrive, it seems like Morgan’s moved on from her line of questioning.
Interesting. I wonder if she’s just asking out of curiosity or what.
Ahead, the gazebo creaks, groans and begins to grow to accommodate all the Evertons. Even so, some monsters opt to stand just outside the tall white structure. Arkan and Hana stand at the front with the rest of haven leadership, including Catherine.
Gray eyes flick to me and wrinkle in the corners as I walk into the space with the Hectors. The girls find seats toward the front, but I lean against a railing. Normal-sized chairs were never meant for males my size. Catherine glances at me again and smirks as I cross my arms over my chest.
It takes a few minutes for everyone to file in and quiet down. I find this process fascinating. Hearth HQ doesn’t do anything like a town hall meeting. Evenia emails updates to residents, and that’s pretty much it. Hearth HQ is gorgeous and cultured and fascinating, but it’s tiny and tucked away and stiff, too. It’s wildly different from Ever in every possible way.
Once the gathered group falls quiet-ish, Arkan opens his arms wide. “Welcome, Evertons! Thanks for joining our biggesttown hall meeting to date! I’ve got a couple topics to cover with you this evening. The first is the proposed expansion of downtown. I’ll be emailed detailed plans this week, but I wanted to make you all aware of the discussions happening with myself and town leadership.”
He points to his right, where a wide swath of grass covers the space between the gazebo and the nearest building. “I think it’s safe to say you’ve all felt the pinch as Ever grows. Our restaurants are full, there’s never any parking on Main, and the Shifter Hollow folks are running out of space.”
A few grumbles sound like they agree with him.
