Page 128 of Everything Has Changed
Mom doesn’t bother to remove her attention from the street below when she responds. “Come see for yourself and decide if they are nothing.”
My father’s stomping feet come from behind us. I know the moment he sees what we are looking at thanks to the expletives that come pouring out of him.
“What is this? What are they doing?”
“I think you call this a protest, my dear.”
And front and center is the girl of my dreams. Her red hair tied back in a high pony, a signature look I know for her means she’s getting down to business. I can’t see her green eyes from up here, but I can imagine they are dancing with excitement as she stands at the front steps of Town Hall. Main Street is flooded with hundreds of people backing her. A mix of familiar faces and strangers as far as we can see.
People hold signs that say things like “Keep Willow Grove Quirky” and “Down with the man!” Others are shouting things not being fair and that Democracy is dying.
As always, my eyes return to Gwen and that pride flares back up within me.
“That girl has become a thorn in my side. Margot, you promised me she wouldn’t cause any problems when I allowed you to bring her into the planning committee. She had one job only, that did not include causing an uproar.”
“She’s just a girl, Richard. Calm down. If anyone should be throwing around accusations and complaints, it’s me. I told you months ago that we needed to bring the town into the plans, but you assured me you were right.” Her hand waves in front of the window with a humorless laugh. “How is that working out for you?”
He sputters, fighting for a comeback to toss in her face. But when he seems to be out of luck on finding the right words, I feel his heated stare on my face as his hostility turns to me. “No, I think the problem here is my son who is clearly not on our side. I’m sure you had something to do with this seeing as how you couldn’t think from your head being so far up your ass from the moment you saw that girl again.”
Removing my sight from Gwen, I whirl on my father. “That girlhas a name, which you should get more familiar with seeing how she’s the only one willing to put her neck out to go against you to be heard.”
“I would watch your tone, Logan.”
Taking a step forward, I level him with a stare. “Or what? You’re going to threaten me and the people I care about? It’s a little late for that. So, what are you actually going to do?”
His face turns red and I wait for steam to start billowing out of his ears at any moment. “Now you feel the need to step up? For her? That’s laughable. You haven’t wanted any part of this, but now that it affects your little girlfriend you give a shit.”
Rolling my shoulders back, I straighten my spine and face my father head on. “I’ve cared ever since I knew about your scheme. Did I careeven more when Gwen became a pawn in your plans? Absolutely. But that doesn’t discredit the way I feel about everyone dealing with the fall out of your greed. You want me to be a leader, right? Here’s me granting your wish, though I’m not willing to wait any longer just for you to take the money and run. We deal with this now.” I glance over my shoulder at my mother who has a smile playing on her lips. An eyebrow quivered in surprise. “Tell everyone downstairs we will hold a Town Hall meeting tonight at seven.”
She nods her understanding and doesn’t waste time as she hustles to the office door, leaning out to tell someone to go give the news.
“You don’t get to—”
I cut my father off with a glare so fierce I catch him flinch before he can cover it up. “This is what you wanted, Pops. You’ve already done enough, it’s time to clean up your mess.”
His nostrils flare. “I don’t know what you expect to happen with this waste of time. It won’t change anything.”
“I expect to ease their minds by telling them we are doing our best to help this town. To explain to them the reasoning, though you’ll need to explain that to me first. Especially considering your expectations were for me to just lay in the bed you made. I’m done sitting back, Father. I gave you a chance to get the affairs in order and inform everyone involved. You did a shit job of that. We are doing this my way now.”
A cheer reaches through the glass and I look back down at the sea of people clapping with excited faces. Gwen hugs Piper—who is standing right next to her—then turns to hug an older man I recognize from around time the last few weeks.
I know she can’t see up here with the tinted windows, but she glances up and locks eyes with me. As if she can feel my stare on her face. I long to run downstairs and beg her to listen to me, but thatwon’t do us any good in the long run. And there would be a long run for us, if I have any say in it. Because the way I ache to reach out and touch her, it’s like I haven’t fully breathed since the last time, and I know the cure would be having her in my arms again.
First, I needed to prove to her that I have her best interest in mind, along with everyone else in town. I wasn’t going down without a fight.
It was time to play the role I was made for.
45
Logan
The usual room we would have used for a town meeting wasn’t big enough, so we decided to hold it in the high school auditorium. Even then it was standing room only a few minutes before we were scheduled to start.
“How are you feeling?” Mom asks from behind me. I drop the curtain keeping us from the view of the public after an unsuccessful attempt to locate red hair and green eyes. I was hoping for a quick glimpse before taking the stage to gauge her feelings tonight before I find out in front of everyone.
Not that I’m expecting anything other than fury, but at least I can prepare myself a little better if I see it from far away first.
Taking a deep breath, I face Mom, who immediately starts fidgeting with my collar, making sure it’s sitting right. I know it is, because I stared at myself in the mirror before coming out here to make sure my appearance showed that I was taking this seriously. But I allow her the time to keep her hands busy. I can only imagine how she’s feeling on the inside. The nerves are probably eating her up. Though, she seemed as calm as could be on the outside.
