Page 233 of Story of My Life
“You too, Laura.”
They were all grinning at each other like they were in on some kind of joke and I was on the outside.
“Does someone want to tell me what’s going on?” I said.
“Well, Sylvia and I wanted you to be the first to know that the old hospital property finally sold.”
“Oh, God. Did Dominion buy it? For its golf course scheme?”
“Actually, Silver Haven snapped it up on my recommendation. Story Lake is going to be the home of our newest assisted living facility,” Sylvia announced.
I blinked several times.
“But we tricked you into coming here. We made you think we were a thriving small town with an active population and then almost drowned half your residents in the lake. I mean, I take full responsibility. We were just trying to show everyone what we could be, but it was a catastrophic failure?—”
“I know. I read your newsletter,” Sylvia said with a soft smile. “Hazel, what you showed me was that Story Lake goes above and beyond to make everyone feel welcome. Beyond all of the accessibility modifications the whole town had already done for Laura here, you and your town made my residents feel like they belonged here.”
“That’s how Story Lake made me feel too,” I admitted.
“I’m not just in administration. I’m the vice president of land acquisitions, and I was on the phone with my bosses before the bus even left the parking lot. You’re a vibrant small town that has already made so many great strides in accessibility. The hospital grounds are a perfect fit for one of our tiered care centers. It was a no-brainer.”
“But the sewage treatment problem,” I said.
“Turns out the county commissioners were railroaded by Nina into moving up the deadline. Twenty other counties in the state have to make the same upgrades, and they were given five years to do it,” Darius explained.
“I don’t know what to say,” I said, looking through damp eyes at the three beautiful people saying beautiful things in my beautiful new kitchen.
“We’d love for you to consider dropping in and teaching a monthly writing class to residents,” Sylvia continued. “Laura has already volunteered to be our local accessibility consultant. And Darius said he might have an in for us with a local contractor for the fifteen independent living cottages we’ll be building.”
I felt like my heart was trying to somersault its way through my throat.
My front door burst open to a chorus of drunken “Hazel!”
“Would you excuse me for just a minute?” I said, backing toward the doorway.
“Oh, I’m not missing this.” Laura wheeled after me.
“Wait, is the bar stocked?” I came to a skidding halt outside the dining room door.
“Focus, Haze,” Laura said, poking me in the back.
“Right. Focusing.”
“Where did that chair come from?” I asked no one on my way past the parlor door.
I found them in a tangle just inside the door. “Hazy Wazy!” Zoey screeched, waving her arms at me as Gage wrestled her jacket off her. The second she was free, she threw herself at me.
“Hi,” Levi said with a goofy grin.
“Councilwoman Hart, we have a pick to bone with you,” Gage slurred.
Zoey smashed her face to mine and delivered a noisy, alcohol-scented kiss to my cheek.
“You guys smell like a brewery and a distillery and a winery had a ménage à trois,” I noted.
But I wasn’t looking at any of them. I was looking at Cam, who stood in the middle of them. The sober eye of a drunken hurricane.
He wasn’t smiling, and he had a crate under each arm.
