Page 57 of One Small Spark
She rolls her eyes but doesn’t hide her smile. I’ll tell her as many times as it takes for it to stick. Wren isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, and I would never want her to be. But just like yesterday at the park with her nephew, this glimpse of her softness makes me crave more.
Lila Parrish walks in as I’m finishing up Wren’s purchase. She comes straight to the counter and turns to her friend. “What are you doing here?”
It’s an innocent enough question, but Wren’s cheeks take on a hint of pink. Her gaze darts from Lila to me and back again. “Getting a bell for August’s bike.”
Am I imagining the higher pitch in her voice?
“Aww.” Lila flips her attention to me. “Do you have a minute, Shepherd?”
Not when I’d rather spend all of them on Wren, but I’m not at liberty to say that yet.
“Sure.”
Lila clasps her hands in front of her chest, grinning up a storm. “The town council wants to hear your presentation about the bike trails expansion at a special town hall meeting next month. Open it up to discussion and get interest building for it. Isn’t that great news?”
I pass the dinosaur bell to Wren along with her receipt, alarms clanging in my head. “A town hall meeting?”
Lila’s thrown herself into her new job drumming up tourism for Sunshine. She’s organized all our major events this year and spearheaded new ways to both draw in visitors and boost community involvement. She’s been pushing for my trails expansion project since she first heard about it over the summer, but somehow, I assumed she would take over convincing the town council on her own.
“It’s the perfect way to help us get backing from the community,” she says. “The more residents we have invested in this, the easier it will be to get approval.”
We’ve already got one resident invested—Wren’s not shy about listening in.
“Is this about the trail expansion you were talking about the other night?” she asks.
Lila nods, both of them watching me with wide, expectant eyes.
“What, uh…” I swallow hard and try to keep my thoughts together before they slip through my fingers. “What kind of presentation do they want?”
“We need to create a slideshow that includes everything from your plans for the trail connections, data on other towns that have made similar conversions to their fire roads, a loose estimate of the cost breakdown.” She waves a hand in the air. “And, you know, something about how fun it will be.”
From all I’ve seen, Lila is about as outdoorsy as Wren. Maybe a little more now that she’s dating the guy opening the outdoor store a couple of blocks down. But she’s willing to be eager about anything if it will help out local businesses.
I just figured she would turn that eagerness on the towncouncil.
“I have a lot of that information already. I can send all the docs to you.”
Please let me send the docs to you.
She smiles even wider. “We can work on it together. I’m thinking I’ll do a five-minute intro and hand it over to you for a twenty to twenty-five-minute presentation to hit all the major points. That’s how much time they’re giving us, so we might as well use it all and hit them hard.”
I clench and unclench my clammy hands, imagining myself on stage. Everybody’s eyes on me. While I choke. “What kind of attendance are you expecting?”
“Meetings like this tend to get fifty to a hundred community members involved. I’ll aim for more to really drive enthusiasm.”
She’s currently doing the opposite.
“Uh-huh.” A cold sweat breaks out beneath my double-layered shirts. A staccato beat thumps in my chest. “I’ll think about it.”
Lila’s eyebrows tug down. “It’s not really optional.”
Wren keeps glancing from me to Lila, probably trying to make sense of the weirdness that has to be emanating from me like a toxic cloud.
“It would be better if you handle it all,” I tell Lila. “Isn’t this your area of expertise?”
She laughs lightly. “Not exactly. This will go better withactualexpert testimony. That’s you. You’ll be able to explain about the trails firsthand and what it will mean for your business, the community, and Sunshine’s tourism. They don’t want to hear from me. They want to be wowed by your compelling presentation.”
They won’t want to hear from me, either. I’m pretty sure I’ll fall short on thecompelling presentationpart. Especially if I’m trying not to throw up the entire time I’m on stage.
