Page 76 of The Lighthouse at the Cove
Kaiah turned to Cash beside her. “I don’t have a good feeling about this meeting.”
“I don’t think I do either,” Cash agreed.
“And what about the school?” another woman hollered. “We were going to save the school, and now we’re just going to lose money.”
“That’s the truth!” a man exclaimed. “We have guests arriving tomorrow. If they look at the weather forecast, they’re going to cancel their reservations, and we’ll lose all that revenue.”
“Why are we having the festival this early anyway?” another hollered. “It would make more sense to have it in summer when it’s warm and you can actually swim!”
A murmur of conversations swept around the hall again, and the dissatisfied buzzing grew louder and louder.
The mayor spoke into the microphone, but her voice was lost in the crescendo of complaints echoing around the hall.
Reid came up behind the mayor, touched her shoulder, and whispered something before she moved to the side and he took command of the microphone. His mouth moved, but his words weren’t audible over the angry protests. His gaze slid around the room before he stuck two fingers in his mouth and blew out a whistle that pierced over the loudspeaker, instantly silencing the voices.
“Thank you.” Reid’s smooth voice was calm despite the heightened stress in the room. “Now, I know everyone is concerned about the weather, but I need you to listen.” He rested his hands on the podium. “I’ve seen the forecast. I know it’s supposed to rain until late next week. We can’t control the weather, but wecancontrol our attitudes. If we keep up our enthusiasm for the event, then our excitement will spread to others. Energy is infectious. Peoplewantto be somewhere others want to be. Our festival is still going to be dynamite, even if it rains. Think about it: We can still have our lighthouse illumination ceremony. The tents are set up for the market, and the vendors are ready to go. The stage is covered, and we can play up the rainy concert as having a ‘music fest’ vibe—theweather never drowns out the crowds at Bonnaroo or Lollapalooza, does it?
“Y’all, I know this isn’t the festival we expected,” Reid continued. “But if we’re excited about this event, people will show up. We can show guests a good time and encourage them to come back to see us again. If we keep our spirits up, I promise this festival is not going to be a waste of time or money.”
He paused, and his wide chest rose and then fell. “Someone asked why we plan this festival for April instead of closer to summer. I think we all need a reminder about our town and its history. Some of you may have forgotten why we have this festival every year. It’s about Coral Cove and why we live here. It’s because of our beloved lighthouse, the symbol of our town, that was built in 1805. One windy day in early April, it saved a ship full of sailors from running up on the shoals during a storm. One of those sailors was my ancestor. So if it weren’t for that lighthouse, I wouldn’t be here. My sister, Becca, wouldn’t be here. Mydaughter, who I love more than anything in the world, wouldn’t be here. I’m sure some of y’all are in the same boat.”
Reid’s gaze darted around the room until his eyes collided with Kaiah’s, and a slow smile lifted his lips, accelerating her pulse. “The lighthouse represents light through the darkness. That’s why someone much smarter than I am suggested we name the festival ‘Light the Dark.’ That lighthouse has been a beacon of light for our community for more than two hundred years. We need to honor what it represents and be a light for folks in our town and beyond. So I say we see this thing through. It’s who we are as a community.”
His dark eyes roved over the crowd again. “We can’t give up now. We’ve come this far. So let’s put everything we have into this festival. If we all believe in it, I think—no, Iknow—it’ll be a success.”
Reid stood at the microphone, scanning the crowd. Kaiah could’ve heard a pin drop as the crowd absorbed his words. Her stomach crackled with nerves.Please, please go for this, you guys.
“He’s right,” someone called from the middle of the room.
A waterfall of relief cascaded through her head to toe.
“We can’t give up now,” another voice said.
A woman stood. “I’m putting everything I can into my market booth. We can’t shut this thing down. Not yet.”
“Let’s do this!” a man called.
Claps started at the back of the room and then spread out until every pair of hands was sounding their agreement. Pride surged through Kaiah’s chest as she took in the way Reid’s words had changed the tide.
She tapped Cash’s arm. “He’s good.”
“I told him that he needs to run for mayor, but he always laughs at me,” Cash said. “Seriously, people respect him.”
Becca moved to the microphone. “Thank you, Reid,” she told her brother before facing the crowd. “I think we can all agree we should move forward with our plans for the festival.” She began reciting the schedule of events before taking questions from the crowd.
At the end of the meeting, Kaiah and Cash moved to the side of the hall while the townsfolk filed out and into the pouring spring rain. Turning toward the podium, Kaiah waited while Reid and Becca spoke with the mayor before they made their way off the stage.
Before brother and sister arrived, Kaiah turned to Cash. “Do you really think we’ll be able to pull this off?”
“Knowing those two,” he began, nodding at the twins, “it’s going to be just fine.”
Reid could feel Kaiah’s eyes watching him while he drove through the gusting wind and pounding rain to his house. The windshield wipers swished as he slowed to a stop at a red light, and he gave Kaiah a sideways glance. “You look like something’s on your mind. Wanna talk about it?”
Kaiah tilted her head and rested her hands on her lap. “I want to know when you’re launching your campaign to run for mayor.”
He barked a laugh. “I can tell you’ve been talking to Cash. I can’t tell you how many times he’s told me to hang up my uniform and go into politics.”
“He’s not wrong.” She moved her fingers over his shoulder. “You could do both, right? You only work ten days a month, so you could be Lieutenant Turner for ten days and then Mayor Turner the others.”
