Page 5 of Lucy Loves Him Not
My phone rang, waking me from my thoughts. A local number I didn’t recognize.
“Hello,” I answered.
“Hi, is this Lucy Rhodes?” a gruff male voice asked.
“This is her,” I said, distractedly scrolling through my inbox as we spoke.
“Hi, I’m the new city manager here for Sweet River. I’m running our local summer festival this year and I was given your number to reach out to for the information on our sponsors and vendors. Is that right?”
“Um, you’re right that I have the contacts for the festival. I actually haveeveryfile for the festival—” I got a sense this guy could be a nuisance to my usual festival workflow. I needed to nip this in the bud right away.
“Oh, great?—”
“Because Irun the festival. Are you…Do you know that? Did anyone tell you that part? That’s why I have that information.” I looked away from my laptop, putting my full attention on the call.
“I know you’ve hada handin running the festival, that’s what I was told. I also know, correct me if I’m wrong, that you’re not a city employee. This is a city event.” His voice sounded as dry as pavement on a summer afternoon.
“I’m a cityresident.”
“This festival needs to be run by a cityemployee.”
“It hasn’t been run by a city employee for over a decade. It’s a festival for the city by the city,” I said the last line cheesier and more emotional than I intended.
“That’s nice and all, but while I’m manager there will be a city employee overseeing the festival. That’s me. I will be overseeing it from now on. These contacts and files need to be overviewed and kept by our offices. I’m calling to ask you to please share them with?—”
“No one in your offices has ever had a problem with me running this festival before.” I snapped my laptop shut angrily. “I think it was seen as a giant favor!” Honestly, they treated mygrandma and me like downright heroes for handling the event for them.
“Well, it’s not a favor. It’s an important event that I would like to oversee with an eye on every detail. I also have to say, you don’tactuallyhave every file on the event, as you said before. I have the reports—and based on the reports from the last couple of years, I see a lot of room for improvement. It’s my job to see to those improvements.”
I was standing up now at my little table by the window. “You’ve obviously never attended this festival. You think you can march in here?—”
“Miss Rhodes, I am not intending to insult you,” he cut me off.
“No, you’re just taking over the festival I’ve poured my heart into since I was a little girl!” My voice was getting higher. I could see Katie’s eyebrows shoot up behind the coffee bar.
I grabbed my stuff, too outraged for decorum, and angrily shuffled outside with my arms full and my phone wedged between my shoulder and cheek.
“Okay, I-I think I went about this—” he started to stutter.
“Is Jeff Parks there? He’s been my point of contact the past couple of years and I think he could help straighten this out.”
“Well, I have Jeff’s job now. I’m the new Jeff.” He cleared his throat.
I wanted to scream. Jeff always simply thanked me for my love for the community and the time I devoted. He called me his volunteer of the year. He gave me my budget and let me run the show. He didn’t feel the need to oversee every detail and make it all about the city office instead of the community.
I suddenly felt an onslaught of hot tears. I heard Olivia’s voice from last night warning me against making the festival my life.This was one way to make that happen.
I sat down on a bench outside the coffee shop.
“I’ve done a great job running this festival!” I said, refusing to give up. “I could get a reference from every single vendor and sponsor vouching for me and my grandmother, Clara Rhodes. I bet some of them would?—”
“Okay, listen. I am not kicking you out of this festival, I think there has been some major miscommunication. Can you come to the city offices? Let’s meet in person. Come up with an arrangement.” I could hear him pointedly trying to sound calming. Like he could soothe me out of caring, out of disrupting his workday, out of the festival.
“Okay, I’ll come right now. I’m only a few blocks away,” I said, immediately leaping off the bench.
“Oh, well, actually—” I heard him shuffling some papers.
“Are you busy?” I asked, already walking toward the city offices.
