Page 66 of Story of My Life
“Vodka and fruit punch,” Harriet said with a grin.
“We found the meetings go smoother with cookies and booze. The stronger the punch, the shorter the meetings,” Darius explained.
“Hang on,” I said, and downed my punch in one gulp. I pulled out a fistful of cash from my own wallet. “Hit me again please.” I had a feeling I’d need all the liquid confidence I could choke down.
Harriet refilled my cup. “Good luck up there. Remember, they can smell fear.”
I downed the second cup. “Thanks,” I wheezed.
Zoey gave me a double thumbs-up. “Knock ’em dead. ’Cause we’re in a funeral home.”
“Ha,” I said weakly. I felt the weight of several aggressive gazes as I followed Darius to the front of the room.
“Psst!”
I spotted Frank Bishop waving from the front row, where he was sandwiched between two beautiful women. The younger one was platinum blond with an edgy haircut and perfectly applied smoky-eye makeup. She occupied a wheelchair at the end of the row. The woman on Frank’s other side looked much like the first, only somehow softer.
“Don’t you worry about a thing. The Bishops have your back,” he promised me.
“Thank you,” I whispered, trying to pretend an entire town wasn’t shooting eyeball darts at me.
“This is my wife, Pep, and my daughter, Laura,” Frank said, making the introductions.
“We spoke on the phone, and I apologized for my brother’s behavior. I also may have brought six of your books for you to sign,” Laura said.
“Then I’ll see you afterward…unless I’m chased out of town by a mob with potatoes.”
Laura shook her head. “We haven’t potatoed anyone here in the last two years. You’ll be fine. We’ve got your defense covered. Just remember, be aggressive up there or they’ll eat you alive.”
“Thanks.” I had a feeling the smile I had pasted on my face looked more like constipation pains, but it was the best I could do.
Darius directed me up the step onto the riser. “Hazel, this is Dr. Ace, Erleen Dabner, and I believe you already know this guy,” he said, pointing at Cam. “Emilie’s around here somewhere. Everyone, this is Hazel Hart, our new councilperson.”
“Nice to meet you,” Dr. Ace said in a booming baritone. He was a very tall Black man with fluffy gray hair and a cardigan stretched over his ample belly. He wore half-moon glasses perched on the end of his nose. “I’m the town GP—that’s general practitioner, in case you’re not familiar.”
“Hi,” I said, shaking his offered hand. “Hazel Hart, romance novelist and nervous first-timer.”
“You’ll do fine,” Erleen promised. She was an older white lady with a profusion of freckles, flowy silver-red hair, and an equally flowy dirt-brown dress. She wore a ring on nearly every finger and had four crystals around her neck.
“Thanks,” I said, returning her smile with a weak, wobbly one of my own. I saw there were paper nameplates in front of each seat and took a seat behindcouncilwoman hart. Darius took the chair on my right.
I spotted Gage approaching Zoey and Harriet at the punch table. The other brother, Levi, sat in the back row with a ball cap pulled low and his arms crossed over his massive chest. For all I knew, he could have been asleep.
There were about thirty people in the room. Most of them had funeral cookies in one hand, punch in the other, and scowls on their faces.
Darius leaned into his microphone. “Let’s get this emergency town meeting started, folks. I’ve got a Dungeons and Dragons game in the morning.”
The noisy rumble increased as people took their seats. One by one, the other council members took the stage. Cam was last. He leveled an inscrutable look at me as he pulled out the chair on the end. I felt my cheeks flush and looked away. Frank gave me an encouraging wink from the front row.
Zoey sat behind them, with Gage taking the seat next to her. She put her fingers in the corners of her mouth and tugged them up.
Automatically, my facial muscles reacted with a bright, phony smile. It wavered almost immediately when I saw a woman holding a sign over her head that saidBird Murderer.
Two rows behind her, a man held up a piece of blue poster board that readBingo Killer.
“You’re in my seat.”
I looked up to find myself staring into the face of the woman who’d yelled at me at dinner last night.
