Page 20 of Under The Meh-stletoe

"I think Manuel— the second one— he might do it if we can't get María's dad to agree. Otherwise… you might have to do it."

"The fuck I am. What about you, Ms. President?"

"Mr. President, I don't have the voice for it. Listen to this— ho, ho, ho."

It sounded pitiful. He snorted, then laughed. His frown relaxed.

He shook his head. "I'm not the president. I'm the liaison for the local government."

"Then… am I the boss?"

The road was rough in this rural section; trees spotted the land around us, breaking the farmland landscape of rolling hills, crops, and animals.

"No," Daniel replied. "You're the president of the volunteers, but we co-chair. We're equals."

"I can be the boss if you prefer it. Only then I'd consider wearing the Santa costume."

The skies opened with no warning. Rain fell fast and heavy on the windshield. The evening darkened swiftly; Daniel turned on the headlights.

"Fuck. The lights are dim," he said.

"That sounds bad."

"It means the battery is probably dying. Shit. I hope we don't get stuck."

"As long as we make it back home, we'll be fine. Let's be optimistic."

"I know we haven't known each other for long, but what part of this—" he waved a hand in front of his face— "depicts optimism?"

Rain obscured the windshield. Daniel upped the speed of the wipers.

I laughed. "Okay, guilty. But you moved here with an optimistic plan, and I'm pretty confident saying that."

"And see how well that's going? I knew it would be tough, but I didn't know the town was in this much trouble."

A flutter of worry gripped my stomach at the road ahead of us, both figuratively and literally.

The frown made a return. It was scary to think the town was doing this poorly, but also not surprising. Since its glory days in the 90s, Laguna Island had lost people and resources in equal measure.

"There has to be a way out of this," I said.

"Out of running out of battery? Nothing but crossing our fingers."

"No. Out of this spiral of decline the town is caught in."

"I'm trying, Ale. I really am. But we need to suddenly make everyone richer for extra tax income, get grants, a benefactor, or straight up sell the town."

For a moment, the sound of rain on roof and glass overtook everything else.

"How bad are things? Actually?"

"Bad. After the boom in the 90s, with those waves of recession and people leaving…" he sighed. "Laguna Island has suffered for the past couple of decades. But Eva and I have a plan. I'm targeting the local government, and Eva has the townspeople. I'll write so many money applications at the start of next year that I'm going to wear out the keys on my laptop. We just need a few million dollars to appear from somewhere."

"That's the only thing, huh? No wonder you're grumpy all the time."

He chuckled. "I make no promises. Those millions don't guarantee a great mood for the rest of my life… but it would help. If you hear anything, let me know."

I scoffed. "I wish. If I find a billionaire with a good heart somewhere, I’ll let you know."