Page 11 of Wildly Yours
I open a web browser and start hunting for ideas for funding. There has to be a grant or foundation that can help, and I need to find a solution to at least one problem or my nerves are going to be shot to hell for the foreseeable future.
***
Three hours and a pot of coffee later, I’m wired and haven’t made any progress except towards an increase in cynicism about the world. I click on one last link for a funding opportunity through a federal portal, and cross my fingers. I read through the grant summary and think there’s a chance this could work, but it requires a community match of funds.
Which means I’m back to where I started. Unless…
Chapter Seven: Serena
Ipull the roast chicken out of my oven and place it on the stove top to cool for a few minutes. The air in my house smells like rosemary, garlic, and victory.
I spent an hour down at the Senior Center during their weekly community dinner serving food and talking to people about our town, and what they are hoping for in the next three years. More than one person told me they are already planning to vote for me, even if Blake is promising to lower taxes. I don’t know how he thinks he’s going to do that when we are already spread thin with our fire, school, and administrative services.
The poultry scissors slice through the chicken with ease, and I transfer a few pieces to my plate before adding potatoes and broccoli, and grabbing my glass of red wine.
I walk the food to my small dining table and look around my house. I have everything I’ve ever wanted—a house, a successful family business and important job as mayor, and my friends Zoe, Renee, and Avery. Everything I want, except one thing. My throat catches and my hand wobbles as I set down the plate,covering my mouth to suppress the sob that rises suddenly from my chest.
All my success means nothing without the thing I want the most. But every time I try to find him, to find The One, all I end up finding is another man I can’t trust. Just like I can’t trust Cody.
I splash some water on my face in the kitchen, and dab it with a napkin. There’s nothing I can do about it tonight. I’m too tired to jump on the dating apps and start chatting with someone. So I eat my dinner, turn on a romcom, and try to forget the way it felt to be with Cody again.
***
I wake up with my face planted against my arm. A quick survey of my living room reveals that I fell asleep crying over a meet-cute gone wrong. I drag myself to the bathroom to clean up before I collapse into my big, lonely bed.
Falling back asleep is nearly impossible as I replay my meeting with Cody. Was he about to tell me what happened all those years ago? Who he was with that made him break off all ties with me?
I count the number of minutes I have before my alarm goes off. Not enough time. Never enough time to get it all done, and now I have to worry about tourism, and replacing Hadley, and the fact that Cody waltzed back into my life after seven years of awkward silence.
I blink.
Where is that noise coming from?
My alarm is screeching and as I reach to turn it off, I see that I overslept.
I race through my morning on a mixture of adrenaline and inner conflict, and get to the store to open it when Hadley arrives. She’s still avoiding eye contact with me, and it makes our normal routine awkward.
“Do you mind watching the store while I run down to the bookshop? I forgot something while I was there yesterday.”
She gives me a quintessential teenage half-smile.
“Sure.”
“Coffee?”
“Sure.”
Ever since Zoe took over the bookshop, I’ve been there at least once a week getting coffee at the little cafe inside. It’s important for me to support the local businesses in town, and to be honest I need a friend after the day I had yesterday.
The cherry trees that line the sidewalk to her store are in full bloom, filling my view with pale pink blossoms. Bees are buzzing in the warm morning air, the birds are singing their spring mating songs, and I’m reminded of Cody’s bioacoustic research. I didn't always understand what he was studying, but I always admired that he did it.
Zoe is behind the counter making an espresso when I walk through the door. She’s all smiles and rosy cheeks, and I feel a pang in my gut when I see Cody’s twin, Caleb, planting a kiss on her head and gulping down the shot she just poured.
“Morning, Serena!”
Caleb gives me his dimpled grin. The same grin that I used to live for on Cody’s face.
“Anything interesting going on at Town Hall these days?”
