Page 74 of A Secret Chance
Chapter 27
THROATS CLEARED ANDwooden chairs scraped on the hardwood floors in the council chambers. Lauren sat in the section reserved for consultants and waited while Mayor Smythe took her seat at the front of the room. The agenda for the meeting was projected on a screen behind the mayor. Up first, the Caldwell Creek project.
Lauren gulped. Even though she knew that the development was going to adhere to her recommendations, she wasn’t going to let herself relax until the ink was dry on the acceptance of the plan, complete with her conditions. Every time the old wooden door creaked open, Lauren glanced over, expecting to see Baxter. She glanced at her watch. It was 12:59 and he still hadn’t shown up.
She felt her phone buzz in her briefcase and pulled it out, her heart in her throat, knowing that it wouldn’t be Baxter, but a small part of her hoped that she would see his name on the screen.
“Good luck, sis!” The message from Charlotte read, followed by three heart emojis. Lauren looked to the spectator section of the crowded council chambers and saw her sister and Logan smiling and waving at her. She raised her hand in acknowledgment, then put her phone on silent and slid it back into her bag.
As the mayor started reading her opening remarks, the chamber doors slammed open and a man in a dark blue suit with a silk pocket square stepped into the room. He was flanked by Thomas and Barry, Baxter’s executives.
Lauren recognized the man from all of her background research, Baxter Caldwell, Senior had just stormed the chamber. The trio excused themselves as they shimmied into the consultant’s section. Barry and Thomas refused to make eye contact with Lauren as she stood from her seat to let them by.
“The first item on the agenda,” Mayor Smythe looked at her notes over her bifocal glasses, “the Caldwell Creek project.”
Lauren shifted in her seat, a sinking feeling growing in her gut. The mayor continued reading, “Caldwell International has applied for an exemption to the density limits set out in the Chance Rapids’ official plan.”
“No,” Lauren whispered under her breath.
The changes to the Caldwell plan should have been submitted prior to the afternoon meeting. The letter that Baxter had written to the council had revoked their application for the exemption. Her heart started to pound. Nothing had changed. Baxter had lied to her and now he wasn’t even here to face her. Her hands clenched into fists, crinkling her notes. She suddenly felt like she was naked in front of a stadium full of people. She had expected to stand up and congratulate Caldwell on their changes to the plan and to tell the mayor that the updated plan had her organization’s full support.
She was an experienced solicitor, one who had just made a rookie mistake. She was unprepared. She folded her useless notes and slipped them into her briefcase. She rubbed her hands together as she listened as the mayor presented the god-awful development plan to the town council.
Mayor Smythe looked to the section of consultants, her eyebrows raised over her glasses. “Is Mr. Caldwell present?” she asked.
“Mayor Smythe,” Baxter Caldwell, Senior stood up. “I am Baxter Caldwell, Senior.”
“Very well,” Shirley Smythe nodded. “Mr. Caldwell, these plans appear to be several years old.”
“That’s correct,” his voice boomed. “I have gone back to the original plans.”
“So, this isn’t an error?” The mayor flipped through the pages of architectural drawings.
“No, ma’am. We are sticking with our original request for exemption.”
Lauren stood up and smoothed her hands down her black shift dress, a hand me down from Charlotte. “Mayor Smythe, in light of the changes to the application, I would like to request an extension to the deadline in order to update my recommendations to the council.”
“That seems like a reasonable request,” Mayor Smythe nodded.
Baxter Caldwell, Sr. snickered lightly. “With all due respect, Mayor Smythe. Your consultants have had three years to prepare for this meeting. Every day that you postpone making the exemptions, costs Caldwell International thousands of dollars. If this isn’t addressed today, I’ll have no choice but to move forward with legal action of my own to address these costs.”
Mayor Smythe removed her glasses. “With all due respect Mr. Caldwell, these plans have been amended countless times in the last three years. The recommendations the council has received are based on the most current version.”
Baxter Caldwell, Senior stepped forward toward the mayor. “Well, then it looks like you’re going to have to go back to the original report. We can wait.”
Lauren couldn’t believe what was happening. The application she had been dealing with was terrible. The original was a monstrosity.
Councilman Larry Lawrence stood up. “Mr. Caldwell is right. We’ve been sitting on this for years. We have the original report and I for one would like to get this over with.” Larry shot his eyes at Baxter Caldwell, Sr. and Lauren caught the old man nod at him in approval. It looked like the serene small-town Lauren had grown to love had just stepped into the big leagues, the kind with corruption.
“Objection,” Lauren shouted, her courtroom instincts taking over.
“Miss Bunkman, this is a council meeting, not a courtroom.” Mayor Smythe said.
Lauren felt ridiculous but stepped forward to stand beside Caldwell Senior. “Mayor Smythe. This is completely unorthodox.”
“I agree with Larry.” Councilman Smit, a wiry old man stood up. “Let’s get on with it.”
“I have the old report here.” Barry handed out bound copies of the three-year-old report to the mayor and the council members. The bloodsucking executives were ready for this scumbag move.
