Page 14 of Ocotillo Kisses
Chapter Five
Whatthe hell was Britt Fraser doing at a town council meeting? Con was running late because, well, he hadn’t wanted to come, so he kept squeezing in one more chore until his mother called down to the barn and insisted they had to go, now.
He never would have come if he’d known Britt was going to be here.
She looked like she was in a big hurry to get out of here, too.
“What’s going on?” he asked despite himself.
She lifted a hand to indicate the room behind her. “Just need some air.”
Seemed like she was worked up about something that had happened in there. He didn’t know what it was, or why she would care about anything that went on in Broken Wheel, enough to come to a town meeting. Maybe she’d brought Millie, but Con didn’t see her.
“Are you okay?” his mother asked Britt, putting a hand on her arm.
Con had almost forgotten the whole reason he was here himself—he didn’t usually take time for town meetings, but his mom had expressed an interest, and honestly, he was jumping on anything that she was interested in right now. He just wanted to make her happy, to keep her mind off missing his father.
“I’m fine,” Britt said, then maybe realizing she sounded brusque, she offered a weak smile. “Thanks for asking. How are you?”
“Running late,” his mother said with a sideways look at him. “Trouble getting this one to stop working.”
“There’s always something that needs to be done.”
Britt’s smile was a bit more grim when she looked at him. “I’m just going to go sit in my car until the meeting is over. If you see my grandmother, will you let her know that’s where I am?” Without waiting for an answer, she edged around them to the exit.
Con looked after her. He couldn’t help himself. She was still so pretty—prettier now, if possible, those high cheekbones and blue eyes and her long blond hair with a few extra highlights that he was sure she paid for. Well-fitted clothes, heels that she wore with confidence, which, God help him, was sexy as hell.
His mother nudged him. “Go talk to her if you want. I’ll be fine on my own.” She nodded her head toward the door.
He could see the color rise in her cheeks, though, and knew she was a bit more anxious than she’d let on. She didn’t go out in public much. When Claudia had died, all the well-wishers had overwhelmed her, and she became more and more of a recluse. Then she started finding solace in food, and as she gained the weight, she lost her confidence. She’d lost some weight the past few months under Austin’s, the town doctor’s, supervision, enough to improve her mobility and boost her confidence, but she was nowhere near where she needed to be in order to be healthy. And Con would never say anything, but he knew the people of the town enough to know they probably talked about her behind her back.
He just dared someone to say something to her face in his presence.
“I don’t have anything to say to her, Mom.” He reached for the door.
His mother looked like she wanted to say more, but instead pressed her lips together and walked into the meeting room.
The place was much more crowded than he anticipated, and while there were a few available seats, they were in the middle of some of the rows, and no way could his mother access them. She could stand against the wall, as others were doing, but not for long. Even a metal chair wouldn’t be great for her for long, but she needed to rest a bit after walking from the truck.
He bent to Mrs. Anders, who was sitting in the back corner seat. He didn’t know the woman well, and she was a little bit older than his mom, but he figured she could probably go sit in the middle of the row in front of her.
“Hey, Mrs. Anders, do you mind if I could get your chair for my mom?”
The looks she gave him made him cringe inwardly. “No. I got here early so I didn’t have to be in the middle of the crowd.”
Fair enough. He nodded, though he wanted to say more, and straightened, to see Caleb Pearson walking toward them, his chair folded in his hand. Without a word, he unfolded it in the corner for Con’s mom.
Both Con and his mother stared at him a moment.
“Thank you,” his mother said, a little breathless, holding onto the back of the chair as she lowered herself into it.
“No problem.” Caleb stood back against the wall by Con. “You missed Britt essentially telling the town where they could shove it.”
Con stared, eyes wide. “I missed her doing what?”
“Apparently she got talked into helping the town with the Fourth of July celebration, and they kept asking her to do more and more, and she set her boundaries, man. It was something to see. Sorry you missed it.”
So was Con, but he would never say that out loud. “She’s helping with the Fourth of July? I thought she was just here a few weeks.”
