Page 12 of Fall Into Love

“It’s just weird, is all.” I frown toward the back hallway and that stupid tiny window. And for a second, something itches at the very edge of my brain—the missing rhinestones, the trail of glitter, the small, spaced-wrong smudges, the way it only ever happens out back now…

It’s all connected, I just know it.

Molly asks whether we should split a scone, and the thought lets go before I can wrap my head around it. I let it go. I’ve got a festival to prep for, a new employee to train, and a mayor I am absolutely, positively, with enormous dignity, not texting.

Everything else can wait.

Now or Never

Caleb

It’s 8:15 PM, and I’m still at the office, pretending I’ve got a reason to be.

Spoiler: I don’t.

The budget I’m supposedly reviewing has been open to the same page for forty minutes. My secretary went home at five. The council chambers are dark, the hall’s dark, and the only sounds in the whole building are the radiator ticking and the buzz of the desk lamp.

I could go home. I should go home. Except the only thing at home is a half-built Camaro in the garage and nothing else. And no one in it.

For the last week I’ve gotten real inventive about finding reasons not to go home. Late nights in the shop cutting parts I don’t have orders for. Long routes on the bike before the cold hits and the rain starts. And now…keeping office hours no mayor on earth actually keeps, because an empty office at least has the decency to feel like someone could drop by at any time.

It’s been eight days since I kissed Emma and chose the coward’s special. I haven’t texted her, called her, or dropped by. The first two days I told myself I was giving her space and myself some time to find the right words. Every day since, I’ve told myself it’s for her.

It’s airtight logic, so long as you don’t look directly at it.

So. Late-night office hours it is.

A knock rattles my open door and I damn near come out of my chair.

Danny Vino’s standing in the doorway in a mustard cardigan with a bundle of papers in hand, beaming at me. “Evening, Mr. Mayor. Saw your light on.”

“Danny.” I scrub a hand down my face. “We’re, ah, closed. Have been for a while.”

“Oh, I know.” He ambles in anyway and drops into the chair across my desk as if he owns it, which, knowing a few of Danny’s secrets, he might. He slides a page across to me. “Official business, though. Do I need a permit to hang these around town? Bulletin boards, the diner window, that sort of thing.”

I look at it. APARTMENT AVAILABLE, in Danny’s unmistakable loopy hand, over a photo of an Ivory Heights unit and a row of little tear-off tabs. “You’ve got a vacancy?”

“Fourth floor. One open now, the other…should be soon,” he announces with a wink. “So? Permit?”

I sigh. “Danny. You don’t need a permit to hang a flyer.”

“No?”

“No. You’ve lived here sixty years. You know you don’t need a permit to hang a flyer.”

“Hm.” He doesn’t look the slightest bit caught. He just settles deeper into the chair, laces his hands over his stomach, and takes a slow look around my dim, empty office with the curiosity of a man who has never once minded his own business. “You’re here pretty late for a Tuesday. Big empty building. Just you.” His eyes meet mine, kind and knowing. “This is a sad little picture, my friend. You know that?”

I take a deep breath. “I’m fine, Danny.”

“Of course, you are. You’re always fine. That’s the whole act, isn’t it?” He tips his head. “Mayor Caleb. Fine as the day is long. Fixes everybody’s problems and quarrels around our little slice of heaven. Tell me, when’s the last time somebody fixed something for you?”

I open my mouth to deflect, mildly irritated as he rattles off exactly what I’ve been diligently avoiding, before he lifts a hand.

“I’ve been watching people my whole life, you know. Only real talent I’ve got, that and baking, decorating, cooking for large groups of people… Anywho, for six years I’ve watched you be the most beloved man in this town and somehow the loneliest one at the very same time. I’ve kept my mouth shut because it wasn’t my place, but…” He leans in. “I’m going to say a word now, if you don’t mind. Because I like you and I’ve earned the right to meddle.”

I don’t say anything. And I’ve got a feeling if I do, it won’t stop him either way.

Danny sits back, smiling. “There’s a pretty, young woman not a few blocks from here who looks at you like you’re a person and not a poster child for mayoring done right.”