Trinity Falls

by Regina Hart

  Leonard scrubbed his face with his palms. His voice was tired. “I was being sarcastic.”

  “I know.” Megan regarded the older man with bewilderment. “What I don’t understand is how you, of all people, could be opposed to Doreen becoming mayor.”

  “What do you mean, me, ‘of all people’?” Leonard sounded defensive.

  “You know how many boards Doreen has served on in Trinity Falls and how passionate she is about the issues concerning the town.”

  “Which just proves my argument.” Leonard spread his arms. “She doesn’t have to become mayor to make a difference in Trinity Falls. She can just keep doing what she’s doing.”

  “Leo has a point.” Ean inclined his head toward his high school coach. “Why can’t Mom just keep volunteering? It’s a lot less responsibility.”

  Megan blinked. Were they serious? “I can’t believe you don’t understand the difference between serving in a legislative office and volunteering for an issue-based organization. Doreen’s work isn’t a social-studies exercise. She’s serious about helping her neighbors and making Trinity Falls stronger.”

  Leonard rubbed a hand over his forehead. “But she’s doing that now. Why does she have to run for office? It will take up a lot more of her time and attention.”

  “There’s a big difference between being an advocate for an issue and being the executive who can actually enact the change.” Megan threw up her arms and returned to the living room.

  Leonard followed her. “Why did you talk her into this? Why is it so important to you?”

  “Why isn’t it important to you?” Megan collected the two empty mugs from the coffee table. She left the coasters behind.

  “What does that mean?” Leonard’s tone was impatient.

  She turned and found Ean and Leonard standing behind her. “This is important to Doreen. She didn’t make this decision lightly. You both care about her—so why isn’t this important to either of you?”

  Leonard rubbed his forehead again. “She’s important to me. Not the town center. I don’t want her to take on this additional responsibility and pressure. It isn’t necessary.”

  Ean nodded. “She doesn’t have to be mayor to serve the community. It’s just more work and aggravation for her.”

  “This is Doreen’s decision.” Megan continued into the kitchen and loaded the mugs into the dishwasher.

  “But it was your idea.” Leonard followed her. “You talked her into it. You can get her to change her mind.”

  “She’ll listen to you,” Ean added. “You could suggest she reconsider her decision.”

  No way. Ean and Leonard apparently thought they could gang up on her. Maybe they could have pressured the old Megan, but recent events had shown her she could stand up for herself.

  “I’ll do no such thing.” She walked past the two men on her way back into her living room.

  “Why not?” Leonard’s question was plaintive as he continued to follow her around her home.

  With regret, Megan stopped her Alicia Keys compact disc and turned off her stereo. “I didn’t coerce Doreen into making this decision. She made it on her own.” She turned to face Doreen’s son and boyfriend. “Listening to your complaints, it sounds to me that you’re more concerned with how Doreen’s new career will affect you rather than what this opportunity will mean to her.”

  Leonard and Ean exchanged looks before Ean responded. “That’s not true.”

  Megan looked at Leonard. “You said the mayor’s position would claim a lot more of Doreen’s time and attention.”

  “It would.” The older man spread his arms.

  “Time and attention that would be taken away from you, right?” Megan asked the rhetorical question before leading both men to her front door.

  “But that’s not the reason I don’t want her to get involved in politics.” Leonard’s stubbornness sounded close behind her.

  “Isn’t it?” Megan had her doubts. “Doreen has spent most of her adult life putting other people first, giving them her time and attention.” She addressed Ean. “She was at every one of your games.”

  “I know.” Ean put emotion into those two words.

  “She made a home for you and your father.” Megan added before turning to Leonard. “And, Leo, when your wife died, the town rallied around you. But they let you put the pieces of your life together the way you saw fit. How could you do any less for Doreen?”

  “That’s not what I’m doing.” Leonard was adamant, but he was wrong.

  “Yes, it is. You’re trying to tell her what’s important to her and what she can do. Those are absolutely her decisions.” Megan unlocked her front door. “I want you gentlemen to consider what we just talked about. But do it from the other side of this door.”

  The two men exchanged another look. Ean moved first. He stepped in front of Megan and cupped his large hand around her upper arm. “Good night.”

  Megan nodded, unable to speak. Heat radiated from her arm across her breasts and deep into her abdomen. She sighed inwardly when Ean released her.

  Leonard paused before her, too. “I’m sorry I interrupted your evening.”

  “So am I.” She meant it to the bottom of her soul.

  Megan locked the door after them and exhaled. She pressed her hand against the cool maple wood. Damn, this was not the way she’d envisioned her evening ending.

  CHAPTER 28

  Megan walked into the bakery’s kitchen early Friday morning to find Doreen kneading dough at the table. The room already was full to bursting with warm, mouthwatering scents.

  Her friend glanced up. “Nice suit.”

  “Thank you.” Megan glanced down at her woolen turquoise skirt suit. It was another successful find in her efforts to bring her wardrobe from the darkness into the bright.

  “You’re here early. Paperwork?” Doreen’s greeting lacked its usual energy.

  Not surprising. Megan wasn’t very energetic this morning, either. Flashes of her argument with Ean and Leonard had kept her awake last night. She swallowed a sigh of regret over the previous evening.

  Megan sank into the chair near the corner table, the same chair Ean had used when she’d first seen him again. “I was anxious to check on you this morning. I should have called you last night.”

  “Why?” Doreen seemed distracted. Her movements were unusually tentative as she manipulated the dough. Was that because of her argument with Leonard?

  She studied the older woman’s profile. “Leo came to my house last night.”

  “Oh, Lord.” Doreen froze, squeezing her eyes shut.

  “He accused me of coercing you into running for mayor.”

  Doreen’s eyes snapped open. “Does he think I’m your puppet?”

  “Of course not.” Though Megan could understand how Doreen had come to that unflattering conclusion.

  “You just told me, he said you put words in my mouth.” Doreen’s temper was building steam.

  “That’s not what he said, Doreen.” Last night, Megan had wanted to slap Ean and Leonard until they came to their senses. This morning, she was working overtime to defend them.

  Doreen persisted. “He asked you to get me to change my mind, didn’t he?”

  “They’re concerned that you might be taking on too much.”

  “They? Was Ean there? Did he want you to get me to change my mind, too?”

  Megan hesitated. “Yes.”

  “What did you say?”

  “I told them that whether you run for office is your decision. No one could make it for you.”

  “Thank you.” Doreen tried a smile. She failed. “Why can’t Leo and Ean understand that?”

  “In fairness, Doreen, Ean returned to Trinity Falls to find his football mom had become a career woman, with a boyfriend and political aspirations. That’s a big adjustment.”

  Doreen seemed to relax by degrees. “You have a point.”

  Megan crossed her legs, adjusting her skirt. “I think it’s understandable that Ea
n would feel a little unsettled.”

  Doreen went back to kneading the dough. “When I was younger, my greatest satisfaction was making a home and raising a family. Now my son has a life of his own and my husband is dead. I need to find out what the next chapter of my life is supposed to be.”

  “Do you really want to run this town?”

  Doreen picked up the rolling pin and began flattening the dough. “Yes, I do. I’m going to file my application Monday morning.”

  Megan wanted to jump from her seat and cheer. Instead, she stood and contented herself with a satisfied smile. “We’ll work on your campaign talking points.”

  Doreen grimaced. “I’ve got a lot of ideas, but none of them would sound interesting in a fifteen-second sound bite.”

  Megan crossed to her friend and wrapped her arm around her shoulders. “Don’t worry. I’ll call Darius about an interview with you for the paper. We’ll schedule it for after you file your application. There’s no sense to do it beforehand.”

  “An interview?” The look of horror that crossed Doreen’s still-youthful face was priceless.

  Megan let her arm drop. “You’re in the big time now. Imagine. This town will have a choice between two candidates for mayor this election. Trinity Falls hasn’t had that in eight years. Darius will be so excited.”

  “I’m glad someone will be.” Doreen sniffed as she flattened the dough.

  “Don’t worry about Ean and Leo. They’ll come around.” Megan hoped.

  Tuesday morning, Doreen smiled at Darius as she rose from her seat behind Megan’s desk. “That wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.”

  Her friend and employer had encouraged Doreen to use her office for the newspaper interview. Doreen had appreciated the privacy. Armor-clad butterflies had been battling in her stomach since she’d filed her application yesterday to get on the ballot for the mayoral election next November. They’d settled down midway through the interview, though.

  Darius turned off his audio recorder and stood. “You did well, Ms. Doreen.” He closed his reporter’s notebook and capped his pen. “I’ll probably leave out the part about you playing the judge in Ean, Quincy and my mock court, though.”

  Doreen saw the twinkle in his dark eyes and laughed. “You were only nine years old. I think people would understand.”

  Darius shook his head. “I’m glad the town will have two qualified candidates to choose from for mayor this election.” He opened the office door and stepped back to allow Doreen to precede him. “This should be interesting.”

  Sporadic chitchat about the day and the weather kept them occupied as they crossed the short hallway to the main bookstore and bakery.

  “Would you like another cup of coffee before you leave for the newspaper?” Doreen asked as Darius walked beside her.

  “If you add a slice of hot apple pie, you’ve got a deal.”

  “Didn’t I serve you breakfast before our interview an hour ago?”

  “I always have room for pie.”

  Doreen grinned at Darius’s playful tone. The reporter had been susceptible to her pies since he was six.

  Her smile froze when she saw Ramona seated at the counter. The mayor rarely came into the bookstore this early. Stares from the few customers at the bakery tables, including Darius’s parents, warned Doreen that any words she and Ramona exchanged would be all over Trinity Falls before noon. She made a mental note to prepare for a large lunch crowd.

  Doreen squared her shoulders. “Good morning, Ramona. What can I get for you?”

  Animosity gleamed in the younger woman’s ebony eyes. “An answer. What makes you think you can beat me in the election?”

  Doreen tried to keep her voice down. “I’m more in tune with the needs of the town than you are.”

  “Oh yeah?” Ramona folded her arms on the counter. The volume of their conversation didn’t appear to concern her. “What are you going to do about those needs, especially since we don’t have any money?”

  Darius shrugged off his jacket and hung it on the chair beside Ramona’s before folding his tall frame onto the seat. “What have you done during your four-year term to raise money, Mayor?”

  “Ramona’s done a good job for this town, Darius.” Darius’s father, Simon, spoke from one of the tables.

  Seated beside her husband, Ethel nodded. “Doreen, you should be grateful for all Ramona’s done, instead of running against her.”

  Doreen struggled not to let her jaw drop. Didn’t this same couple criticize Ramona’s first term in office just two months ago? Now that she was within earshot, they were giving her their full support.

  Doreen filled a mug of coffee and offered it to Darius. “If the people of Trinity Falls are satisfied with Ramona’s performance, we’ll have four more years of the same. If they’re not, then they can vote for me.” That was pretty much what she’d told Darius during her interview.

  “I’m sure you’ll do your very best, Doreen.” Ramona leaned into the counter. “The problem is, running a town is a little harder than running a bakery.”

  Simon’s guffaws almost drowned out his wife’s twittering giggles. Doreen sensed the customers straining to hear every word that passed between her and Ramona as they lingered over their pastries and drinks. She wished she could respond to Ramona in kind. However, Doreen had never been one to deliver denigrating comments.

  But she could learn.

  She gave her young opponent a cool look. “We both know I have more to offer Trinity Falls than my business experience. After all, during your term, the town council enacted several of my suggestions for improvements.”

  Ethel again came to Ramona’s defense. “That’s part of being a good leader, knowing when to take ideas from other people.” The bakery’s silence seemed to drain her confidence. She looked to her husband. “Isn’t that right?”

  Ramona’s expression tightened. “You may be good at coming up with ideas to spend the town’s money, but how are you at coming up with ideas to raise money without raising taxes?”

  “We won’t find out until next January.” Megan stopped beside Doreen.

  “Don’t you think you should wait for the election before predicting Doreen’s win?” Ramona’s voice was cool, but Doreen thought she saw a flash of hurt in the younger woman’s eyes.

  “No.” Megan’s gaze moved from Doreen to Darius. “How did the interview go?”

  Doreen marveled that her friend could appear so calm while she felt as though her nerves were about to snap. “It went well.”

  Darius’s dark eyes danced with amusement. “The article should make the front page of tomorrow’s Monitor.”

  Ramona’s cream skin flushed pink. “The town’s losing its tax base because people keep leaving.”

  “People like you?” Megan asked.

  “I’m running for reelection.” Ramona’s voice was tight.

  Megan lowered her voice to a barely audible whisper. “But will you serve all four years?”

  Doreen held her breath for Ramona’s response. The other woman’s face flushed darker. Without a word, she rose from her chair and marched from the bookstore.

  Doreen watched her leave. “Was that a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’?”

  Megan crossed her arms. “It was a ‘no.’ But I don’t think my cousin realizes that yet.”

  Darius lowered his mug of coffee. “Do you think she’ll realize it before the election?”

  “For her sake, I hope so.” Megan lowered her arms and turned to Doreen. “You did a great job holding your own against Ramona. You’ll do well during the debates.”

  “‘Debates’? Plural?” Doreen swallowed. “Do we have to have more than one?”

  Megan turned to leave, waving a hand over her shoulder. “You’re in the big time now, Doreen.”

  CHAPTER 29

  What jackass is leaning on my doorbell at seven-thirty in the damn morning?

  Ramona flung her sheets off and threw herself from the bed. She wrenched her robe from the closet
and shrugged into it as she stomped down the hall to her front door. She braced her fingertips on the cold blond wood and rose up on her bare toes.

  Quincy, that vindictive psychopath!

  Ramona jerked the door open. “What the hell is your problem?” When he didn’t immediately respond, she stomped her bare foot. “Well?”

  “You look so much younger without any makeup.”

  That growling was coming from her throat. “What do you want, Quincy?”

  He lifted a copy of The Trinity Falls Monitor chest high. “You’re free to leave Trinity Falls now.”

  Ramona snatched the newspaper from him. “Take off your shoes if you’re coming in.”

  She turned and marched into her living room. A photo of Doreen smiled up at her beneath the headline FEVER ENTERS RACE FOR MAYOR.

  “Do you always wake up in such a bad mood?” Quincy’s words followed her.

  Ramona spun on her bare heels. “Do you always lean on people’s doorbells at such an ungodly hour of the morning?”

  Her gaze dropped to Quincy’s feet. He’d better have taken off his shoes before he’d lumbered across her white carpet. She relaxed as she noted his long, narrow feet covered in black dress socks. It was a sexy look for the bookish professor. Ramona pulled her gaze up past his black pants and gray jacket over a white dress shirt and black tie.

  “It’s after seven o’clock in the morning.” Quincy walked farther into the room. “Most people are on their way to work, if they haven’t already arrived.”

  “I’m. Not.” Ramona froze with the sudden realization of just how scary she must look.

  She wasn’t wearing makeup. And she was certain her hair was matted and pointed in all different directions like a weather vane in a storm.

  She closed her eyes. This was her worst nightmare. She dragged her fingers through her tangled hair and scrubbed a hand over her face.

  In contrast, the university professor looked as though he’d been up for hours. His rugged features were clean-shaven. And his business clothes loaned his tall, bulky form the scary elegance of a Chicago mobster. Ramona’s body heated.

  “How would I know your sleeping habits, Ramona?” Quincy’s voice had deepened. Its texture stroked her skin.