Page 15 of Holding on to Chaos
Donovan sighed. “We’d better put a call out to the team.”
Over hoagies from Righteous Subs, Donovan did his best to go over Charisma’s scribblings with his team in the conference room. True to Blue Moon standards, the station’s conference and mediation room was five times the size of the “prisoner holding area,” which was basically two glorified cubicles with cots instead of desks. The town’s founding mothers and fathers felt that mediation and education would be more effective than jail. And in most cases, their theory held true.
Layla pointed at the board with the remaining stump of her loaded veggie sub. “I get all the planetary circle crap, but where do the farts and boogers come in?” she asked.
“If you’re not going to take this seriously—” Donovan began, erasing Aurora’s artwork.
“We take farts and boogers very seriously,” Colby assured him. Colby, shaggy and blond, often reminded Donovan of a scarecrow in the field. Big smile, fuzzy tufts of hair, and a scrawny build usually hidden under flannel and denim.
“Ha,” Donovan said humorlessly. “Now, can we get back to figuring out how we’re going to ride this thing out without any loss of life or serious maiming?”
“Yes, boss,” they both nodded.
Minnie rolled her eyes. “Exactly how long is this thing supposed to last?” she asked.
“One month. It should come to a head on Halloween night and then dissipate or stop or whatever the hell planets do.”
That shut them all up. Colby dropped his bacon and bacon back onto the wrapper. “Well, hell.”
Donovan nodded. “My sentiments exactly. Halloween is one of the busiest nights for our department normally. With this thrown in, we could be looking at some serious trouble. Which is why we’re deputizing Minnie and working out two-man shift coverage until this nightmare is over.”
Minnie clapped her hands together. “Do I get a badge and a gun?”
“You can have a badge and pepper spray,” he told her.
“How about a stun gun? I can test it on my husband to make sure it works.”
“No stun gun. And don’t test the pepper spray on Mr. Murkle either,” Donovan clarified.
Layla swore under her breath. “Come on guys. No planets are gonna break us,” she said, rallying their little team.
Donovan liked her delusional confidence.
“So, what’s the next step?” Colby asked.
“We call a town meeting and educate everyone on the fact they’re about to turn into certifiable idiots.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
“This is so much better than the movies,” Emma Merill-Vulkov sighed, happily mowing down her carrot and celery hummus snack from the movie theater’s concession stand.
Eva laughed at her sister. They had commandeered worn seats in the Art-Deco theater’s middle section to make sure they wouldn’t miss any of the action. The screen was hidden behind dusty, crushed velvet curtains guaranteeing all attention would be on the podium front and center.
Emma’s husband Niko was down front in the theater, his camera at the ready. The fashion photographer and reformed ladies’ man had fallen hard for Emma and her adopted town and documented their time spent here in their gorgeous home. As a side hobby, he also fed human interest shots to Summer Pierce for her Blue Moon blog on Thrive’s website. Outsiders loved the blog.
“I freaking love this town so hard,” Eva told her sister.
“Isn’t it a thousand times better than bumming around the east coast?” Emma agreed.
Eva winced thinking about her last shitty apartment in the last crappy town she’d hidden away in. No matter how carefully she’d covered her tracks, her past had always come knocking. She only hoped that the past would be smart enough to stay far away from Blue Moon.
Gia flopped into the seat next to Eva. “Sorry I’m late. Evan weaseled an extra ten bucks out of me for babysitting duty for Aurora and Lydia, even though Lydia’s already asleep. ‘Negotiating’ he called it. I had to find and raid Beckett’s petty cash.”
“You’re so lucky you have an Evan,” Summer groaned as she and Carter filed into the aisle behind them. Carter slung an arm around his wife’s shoulders as they took their seats. “We had to piggyback on Jax and Joey’s bribe for Reva. She’s watching the twins and Caleb at our house,” Summer said, biting into an apple.
“Speak of the devil,” Emma said as the youngest Pierce brother and his wife ducked in beside Summer and Carter.
“Where were you guys? You left before us,” Carter asked, leaning over and helping himself to some of his brother’s popcorn.
