Page 30 of Kissing the Beach Town Fire Chief
“But Aunt Maggie…?” he asks hesitantly.
“I know I can show her how much I love her with your help.” I tell him, my eyes hopeful.
Ethan’s eyes light up at my words, and I wonder. All the time that we spent competing as kids, maybe we would have been better off as partners in crime.
***
Ethan and I spend the next two days planning the forum. We add more ideas and come up with enticing ways to explain them. We want people to understand the importance of culture and how to take culture and development hand in hand. And despitethe first time when we sat down and worked on our campaign, this time around Ethan had a lot of ideas that were perfect.
I finally got to see the version of him that is so into this whole thing. I could see just how determined he is to work hard to make this town better for the people. That makes me feel better about the whole ordeal. It makes going against my aunt at least a little worth it.
When the day of the forum finally arrives, I’m filled with anticipation and worry at the same time. Even though I can’t wait for people to hear us out and learn about our ideas, at the same time I can’t help but worry about their response.
This town is full of older people who can be difficult to convince. In fact, most of Aunt Maggie’s supporters are these people, and I know just what they think about change. They’ve spent their entire lives living here, following a certain lifestyle and when they hear all our ideas that promote changing quite a lot of things, I can only imagine how thrilled they will be. Not!
But that doesn’t mean we won’t try.
I jump out of the shower and quickly dress. I settle on a formal white shirt and pair it with a pair of flared blue denim jeans. It looks semi-formal, which is exactly what I am going for. I quickly dry my hair and style it before dabbing on some makeup and putting on a pair of gold earrings.
Once I’m dressed, I look in the mirror and make sure I look fine before leaving the house. Ethan is waiting outside my house, dressed in a formal blue shirt and beige pants. He looks as handsome as ever, although I can tell he is nervous from the way he keeps moving his hands.
“Hey,” I say as I walk up to him.
“You look nice,” he tells me, and I can’t help but smile even as blush.
“You don’t look so bad either.” I joke and he chuckles. “So…. ready for today?” I ask him as we start walking together.
“I guess so. Honestly, I don’t even know what to expect. All I know is that you’ll be there and that’s my only hope for things going smoothly.” His words make my heart flutter. He says it so casually as if he is stating nothing but facts. But knowing that my presence means so much to him makes me giddy.
“Trust me, your ideas will win everyone over. You won’t even need me.” I tell him, waving my hands.
I feel him pause and look at me for a moment before he answers in a low voice, “I don’t think that’s even possible anymore.” he murmurs. And his words hold such depth that I don’t dare ask him what he means. Instead, I stay silent as we walk together until we reach the town hall. Before we enter Ethan surprises me as he turns me toward him and leans down to kiss me. It’s gentle to begin but soon becomes more urgent. I’m left breathless and ask him what that was all about. His grin tells me everything. But he says it's to let me know what I mean to him.
With that, we enter the room to find all the seats already filled. I scan the room and find Aunt Maggie sitting in the second row, a somber expression on her face. I take a deep breath as I feel Ethan brush his hand against mine. Looking up he gives me a supportive smile that I try to return.
With a deep breath, we both walk up to the podium and take our seats. Everyone’s attention turns to us, and I briefly make eye contact with Aunt Maggie before she looks away. That fills me with emotions I don’t want to process right now.
Ethan stands up first to address the crowd. “Welcome, everyone. Thank you for your presence here. I’m grateful that you are all here to give me a chance to explain my vision for this town. Even though this is the second time we are doing this, I promise this is also the last time. But today is your opportunity to raise your questions and concerns. After this, the fate of thistown is left up to your decision and votes.” he says before turning to me.
“As I have already mentioned, Ami has been a valuable companion in this journey. She has helped me build this new campaign and come up with ways to make it better. So tonight, she will be co-hosting with me.” I take that as a cue to stand up.
Everyone’s focus diverts toward me, and I try to smile as I start.
“It’s surprising that I am about to say that Ethan is being a bit too humble here, but it’s true. I might have helped him but it’s his vision that you will be seeing here tonight. And before we continue, I want to make it clear that even though I have helped Ethan with his campaign, at the end of the day, I am no different than you guys. I too am just another concerned citizen who wants what's best for this town.
So, tonight I sit here, not as a supporter of Ethan but rather as someone who wants nothing but the best for this town and its people. I might not live here, but Seabrook is just as much of a home to me as it is to you. I grew up here, my dear aunt who helped raise me is here, and now I want to see it return to its true glory.”
Ethan meets my eyes for a moment, and I can see the proud look in them that makes me want to beam. He continues to speak. “As I’ve already mentioned, discovering the true history of this town has changed everything for me. We are well known for being a tourist spot, and we’re all aware that tourism brings in significant revenue for Seabrook. But the fact this town was originally a haven for art and talent makes me want to capture that again. I believe that moving in this direction will align beautifully with our tourism business. And that’s why change must come, and for the better.” Ethan is in his zone, and it’s always so intriguing seeing him like this.
I’m here as the voice of the citizens, and there are questions that need to be answered. More for other people’s sake than mine. That is the plan Ethan and I came up with. I’ll be voicing all the right questions, the kind of information that people need to learn to understand that we can bring this town back to its old ways while staying in the present. And we will also open to questions from the floor.
“Ethan, I have a few questions if you don’t mind.” I interrupt and Ethan nods. “We all heard you speak about change and the past but how exactly do you plan to change things around here? People here have spent their entire lives living a certain way and asking them to change is not fair.” I tell him and there is a murmur of agreement in the crowd.
Ethan smiles at that, “You’re right. It will be too sudden to change everything all at once, which is why I want to take any transformation slowly. This town is home to many like me, and nothing will change that. I want to start by opening galleries and supporting artists who want to start their own businesses. That means that the revenue that we spend on tourism every year will decrease to some extent to fund things like these. But the effect will be financially positive as these new businesses contribute and themselves bring more tourists.”
“Another thing, Ethan is that although the history of this town is rich with culture, that was a different time. Those people were different. It’s been decades since the artists died and this new town, with new traditions, has come into existence. Do you really think we should return to what this town used to be even though there are chances that not many people who live here now are artists? We have been making earnings from tourism and if that ends, many people will find themselves jobless.” I voice out, and this point seems to bring a lot of approval.
“That’s a good point you bring forth, Ami. The truth is that times have changed and nobody can fight that. Even thoughnobody wants to admit it, making good money is crucial and tourism does help with that. Which is why I don’t intend to end it. But rather, I think if we focus more on our own culture, on our art and traditions that is likely to promote more tourism as I said.
