Page 25 of Between Desire and Denial
“Fine. Fine.” He draped an arm around my shoulder, and we walked in together.
“This is a private meeting, Mr. Hardy. You can’t bring—” I recognized Lucille’s voice just as I stepped around Dimitri so she could see me. “Olive Bee?”
Her frown immediately burst into a smile. Lucille extended her arms to me in her white wool suit jacket that matched her wool skirt. She’d always been a vision of timeless elegance, I recognized that while growing up. It hadn’t looked like she’d aged at all in the last few years, either, as she’d always been a woman who regularly went to the spa and took care of herself.
I walked toward her with a genuine smile. Lucille was a staple of the community but also had been a friend of my mother’s and grandmother’s. She’d never had children, but she’d also been a sort of mother hen in Paradise Grove. “Oh, Olive Bee, it’s so good to see you home. Did your father send you to fill in since he’s not going to be here again, or…” She trailed off and frowned at the fact that Dimitri was still standing beside me.
“I’m actually here because Dimitri invited me.”
Lucille huffed and patted her perfectly dyed blonde bun. Her blue eyes were focused solely on me as I said the words. She straightened her jacket, trying to piece together how I would be here with him.
“She’s my guest, Lucille.” He smiled at her. “She’s in town to stay with me.”
“Why I…” She trailed off as her eyes ping-ponged between us. Finally she came to her own conclusion. “Where?” Lucille’s eyes narrowed. “You must be moving back home, right, Olive Bee? Technically, Mr. Hardy has already agreed that no more employees would be moving into the condo building until next year or until we approve a revision of city ordinances. If you’re working for him—” She cleared her throat and patted her hair, glancing around at the other board members before murmuring, “Well, we could make an exception, but you know how everyone is.”
“She’s not working for me. She’ll be moving into my place for—”
“Oh.” Lucille’s eyes widened and then got bright. “Oh!”
“No. Not like—”
“Well, that shouldn’t be a problem at all then. Oh, Olive, your mom would have been so happy. And this will actually be quite a great addition to the community with all that Mr. Hardy is doing. We haven’t completely understood it, and you know howit is, we just want someone we can trust to sort of buffer these things. No offense, Dimitri.”
He smiled, and I saw how his beautiful, stupid emerald eyes twinkled like he’d just struck gold. He even nodded along with her, and then he put his hand on the small of my back. “Yes, yes. Olive and I have been together awhile now, but we’ve been keeping things quiet until… Well, I really missed her, and we’ve decided it’s time she be around more often. Right?” He wide eyed me. “Olive?”
This wasn’t the place to make a scene even if I wanted to. Plus, Lucille didn’t need to feel as though she’d been lied to at the moment. So, I pasted on a fake smile and nodded before she clapped her hands together to wave us in. “Reggie, would you get Olive a seat?”
She pointed at me and Reggie, the sheriff of New Haven, who nodded at me. “So good to see you here. You here for your dad or—”
“She’s here with Dimitri, Reggie!”
Dimitri maneuvered us over to the conference table while Lucille informed most everyone. I whispered to him, “This is not going to stick. Especially if I’m not here.”
“We’ll work it out.” He chuckled like he enjoyed a challenge. “Just go with it for now.”
“So ridiculous.”
And that’s how the meeting went. Ridiculous in every way. The board members discussed lawn care, then they discussed the dry cleaning that was picked up weekly because Renata, a woman who’d moved in five years ago, still didn’t like how they dropped off her clothing.
Finally, Lucille looked over at me, and I saw the genuine happiness on her face when she said, “I think it would be a great idea for Olive to give us some information on Dimitri’s updates. She’s now back home, where she’s been missed.”
Reggie, who’d been a part of pushing me out years ago, huffed in his chair.
Lucille’s eyes cut to him, and her tone hardened. “I also think it’s a good idea for Olive to work with me on writing up our quarterlyParadise Grove News. She can contribute a couple articles going over the changes we’re so worried about. You’re about to graduate with that degree in journalism, right?”
“I am but—” How could I tell them that I wouldn’t be here that long?
“She’d love to do that, wouldn’t you?” Dimitri squeezed my thigh as I glared at him. But he didn’t give me a chance to answer. He rolled right on. “Also, I can answer any questions you have today, as I know there have been some concerns you all have shared with the city.”
He continued on, answering questions and going over his plan for implementation of the office spaces in the new building he’d already constructed. They’d moved in some HEAT employees, but renting out more office space was prohibited after a new city ordinance was passed. “It’s clear that you all worked to block that with the city.”
“Don’t point fingers, Mr. Hardy. Everyone is just trying to understand what this will mean for the community,” Lucille said quietly, like maybe she could be the peacemaker. “With Olive here now, well, I think we’ll see.”
A few others agreed, but it was begrudgingly and under their breath, and I felt the tension in the room. I knew Lucille’s husband, Earl, used to stare down any car that even looked like it remotely didn’t belong in the neighborhood. And Reggie had stopped people walking into the community if they weren’t recognizable.
“You say that, Lucille, but, Olive, you know how nice it is to keep things small here. Why would we want that large building to be corporate office space next to our homes?” Walter, anolder gentleman that was the father of my younger brother’s friend, Esme, rubbed his bald head and then his large belly in frustration. “I don’t know who’s going to be in there.”
I glanced at Dimitri as I tried to recall parts of the packet I’d skimmed on the plane. Dimitri tried to help me, “Well, as you know, it’s an opportunity for new businesses to—”
