To Get Me To You: A Small Town Southern Romance (Wishful Romance Book 1) (16 page)

“Perhaps most important, they’re going to tell you that GrandGoods and other big box stores like it are the only option for saving your flagging economy. Mr. Burgess is focused on big industry, big box stores, big solutions to an understandably big and intimidating problem. And a lot of people think like he does. But the fact is, there
are
other solutions. Solutions that will protect and enhance your businesses and create a climate that will appeal to entrepreneurs seeking viable locations for small business investment.”

A hand shot up from the back row. Sandy hair with purple streaks. The owner of The Daily Grind.

“Yes Cassie?”

“That all sounds great, but it also sounds like a really long-term kind of project. Even with a few weeks’ reprieve from a decision about GrandGoods, how can we possibly make enough of a difference to stop it?”

“You’re right.” Norah nodded. “You’re absolutely right. It
is
a long-term kind of project. And I tell you that because I want to give y’all a hint of the bigger picture. But our goal—I think we’re all agreed on this—is to stop GrandGoods. In order to do that, we need to sway the decision makers to
say
no. That means the rest of the City Council.”

“And how are we gonna do that?” Mama Pearl demanded.

Norah let her smile spread wide. “You’re going to do what you do best. Share your wisdom with anybody and everybody who comes in your door.”

There was a ripple of laughter at that. One corner of Mama Pearl’s generous mouth quirked up. Her approximation of a grudging smile.

“All of you are here because you’re business owners. As such, you have contact on a daily basis with the citizens of Wishful. I’d wager most of you know the majority of your clientele by face, if not full names with family histories attached. You’re influencers in this community. What I need you to do is spread the word. Get people talking about this situation and be frank about your problems with the proposal. Most of all, it will be your job to utilize whatever gossip trees you have in place to make sure that everybody knows that we’re forming a citizens coalition, and we want them to join.”

Pharmacy girl lifted a timid hand.

Norah pointed to give her the floor. “I’m sorry, what was your name?”

“Riley Gower. What exactly will we be doing with a citizens coalition?”

“I’m glad you asked. Apart from pulling together as many like-minded people as we can, the coalition will have two primary goals. The first will be to continue to spread the word and educate the public about this issue. Our country is notoriously inactive when it comes to taking action on a political front. Most people don’t take the time to educate themselves about the issues and prefer their news delivered in a soundbyte. We need to work to change that here. The second goal of the coalition will be to establish an effective Shop Local campaign. We want you to retain the customer base you have and remind everyone else why local is better, in an effort to get them to spend more of their dollars here rather than taking business elsewhere to places like Lawley or Jackson or online.”

Her audience peppered her with questions for the next half hour. Norah answered them, expanding and elaborating as she could, making note of anything she didn’t know so she could research further before the coalition meeting. When they wound down, Norah spread her hands. “Well, troops. I hope I’ve given you a good information base to work from on this and sufficient reason to act. Can I count on y’all to be my front line recruiters?”

“Aye aye, General!” Cassie Callister called.

Not everyone was quite as enthusiastic, but the prevailing consensus was a yes.

Cam stepped forward. “We’ve got information packets on the table by the door if you’d like to do more research yourself before talking to others.”

For the duration of her talk, he’d hung back, generally out of her sight. She’d been relieved at that, knowing that her gaze would’ve strayed too often to him. But it also meant she hadn’t been able to watch
his
reactions to her presentation. It was foolish to be nervous about that. She’d accomplished what she set out to do tonight. But it still felt important that he be happy with her work. He was, after all, sort of her client.

Everybody filed out except Tyler, who stood talking with Cam.

“Nicely done, Wonder Woman. I’m not surprised, but I’m suitably impressed.”

“It’s a start,” Norah acknowledged.

“Well, I for one am looking forward to seeing your plan of attack. And to seeing how well you can herd cats, because that’s totally what that coalition meeting will be.” Tyler seemed faintly amused at the thought.

They wouldn’t be the first cats she’d herded. “One challenge at a time.”

“What’s next?” Tyler asked.

“Individual recruitment of other business owners for the coalition.” Norah turned to Cam. “Do you have that list for me? We can split them down the middle to get done faster.”

“I do, but I think it’s best if we go together. A lot of people still don’t know you. They all know me, so I can get you in the door, smooth the way.”

“Can you afford to take that much time away from the nursery? It’ll probably take a few days to hit up everybody.”

“Violet runs a tight ship and this is a priority.”

Three full days working side-by-side. Oh goodie. “Okay then. We should start tomorrow.”

Cam’s stomach gave an audible gurgle. “You wanna go debrief over food? Figure out the schedule”

Norah felt almost weak with relief. “Can’t. Tyler and I are meeting Miranda and Piper for dinner at Speakeasy.”

“Beer, pizza, and gossip. Pretty sure there will be discussion about who Liam Montgomery is stepping out with.”

“He’s only been back a few weeks. How do you know he’s stepping out with anybody?” Cam asked.

“I don’t, but it’s hella fun to torture Miranda.” Tyler grinned.

“Does she actually still have a thing for him?”

“She says she doesn’t. I’m pretty sure she’d just like the chance to be seen as something other than Randa Panda. If that dress she wore New Year’s Eve didn’t do the trick, I’m not sure anything will.”

“I can’t believe she didn’t murder Mitch for that one,” Tyler said.

“Miranda is a big believer in the idea that revenge is a dish best served cold.” Cam looked back to Norah. “Anyway, you want to do breakfast in the morning? We can go over the recruitment plan for the rest of the week before you take Hush for your play date.”

“Works for me. You make coffee. I’ll bring food.”

“If you want something other than Frosted Flakes, that’s probably best.”

“Frosted Flakes? What are you, ten?”

“Hey, they’re grrrrreat! Besides, what’s the point of being a grown up if you can’t eat all the stuff your mom wouldn’t let you have when you were a kid?”

“I can think of a few other better reasons to be a grown up,” Norah said.

Cam shot her a look so full of heat, she almost took a step back.

Jesus, that’s so not what I meant
. But, of course, now the thought was in her head. She needed to get out of here before she broke into a sweat. “We should probably get going, Tyler. We’re going to be late.”

“Y’all go ahead. I’ll lock up here. I’ll see you in the morning, Wonder Woman. Say seven-thirty? Violet’s got a thing, so I need to be at the nursery to open by nine. Then we can hit the streets around noon.”

“Sure. Tomorrow.”

The cold night air was a relief. Tyler had left her truck at the hardware store, so she hitched a ride with Norah to the pizzeria.

Tyler tugged her seatbelt into place. “So, how long has that been going on?”

Norah tightened her hands on the wheel, hoping she misunderstood. “How long has what been going on?”

“You and Cam.”

Norah kept her eyes on the road. “There is no me and Cam.”

“If there’s not, then there should be. The pair of you are throwing off enough sexual tension to power the county for a month.”

God, she felt it. Focusing on not reacting, Norah kept her voice even. “That would be very complicated considering my life isn’t actually here beyond the temporary.”

“Maybe, but it’d sure be a helluva lot of fun.”

“I didn’t come down here looking for fun.” She hadn’t come down here looking for a relationship of any kind.

“Maybe not, but it’s worth grabbing while you can. You never know when you’ll lose it.” Her tone didn’t change, but there was some subtle thread of pain underlying Tyler’s words that distracted Norah from her own problems.

“I’m thinking there’s a story behind that wisdom.”

“One for another time. Tonight is for girls only.”

As she followed Tyler into the pizzeria, Norah wondered if she was right. Was it worth grabbing onto while she could, even knowing the whole thing had an expiration date? Was the pleasure worth the ultimate pain?

If she’d had only herself to consider, maybe she could believe that. But she couldn’t,
wouldn’t
knowingly put Cam in a position that would build false hope for a future they couldn’t have. He’d been through enough.

~*~

“And that’s another one ticked off.” Norah made a triumphant and dramatic check on the legal pad in her lap.

Cam turned his eyes away from that lap and the slim black skirt that’d had “Barracuda” running through his head since she’d slid into his truck that morning. Why had he thought this was a good idea?

“You knew exactly how that would go before we even walked in there, didn’t you?” He cranked the engine. “Down to the fact that Abe wasn’t going to listen to a word I said.”

“Yep.”

“And you let me walk in there and try to talk to him anyway.” Figuring old school Abe wouldn’t respond well to Norah’s city slicker suit and fancy shoes, Cam had thought it best to take the lead.

“I did.”

“Was that to prove a point?”

Norah smiled, and it was almost a real one. “A little. But it also set up a little good cop/bad cop. You went in there expecting him to see you as an enemy, and he did. I was a sweet little gal in need of rescuing by a big, strong, experienced man. I was no threat.”

“No threat, my ass. That was a friggin’ work of art how you herded him around to volunteering like it was all his idea. You got him to do exactly what you wanted.”

“Yes. Yes, I did.” Her lips curved in an expression of smug satisfaction that shot his internal temperature up a good ten degrees.

Cam shifted in his seat. “Objectively, I knew you were good, but I don’t think I really grasped what that meant. I honestly did
not
expect you to pull that off.”

“Abe Costello is hardly the first good ol’ boy I’ve ever had to deal with. The South doesn’t have the market cornered on old school male chauvinists. I made it out of there without getting my ass pinched, so I call that a win on multiple fronts.”

And that just made him think about palming her ass.
Business. Stick to business.
“Who’s next?”

She consulted the ever-present list. “Brister Construction.”

“That’ll be Burt Brister. Another of those good ol’ boys.”

Norah crossed her legs in that slim black skirt, drawing his eye. “Then I’ll charm him just as easily.”

Cam found that the mantle of optimism didn’t rest so comfortably on his own shoulders. In his experience, nothing worth having came easy, so he kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. But despite their personal differences, he did trust Norah, and she
had
just successfully talked Abe Costello into coming to the coalition meeting to hear her out, so for her sake, he was trying to rein in his natural skepticism.

The huge doors of the garage that housed all the heavy equipment were closed and only one aging work truck with the Brister insignia was parked in the gravel lot when they pulled up.

“Think they’re out on a job?” Norah asked.

“Not likely this time of year. Personal vehicles would be parked around back.”

Not even a receptionist sat at the front desk when they stepped inside.

“Maybe we should come back later.”

Cam moved further inside. “Somebody’s here if the door’s unlocked. Hello?”

The clatter of plastic wheels sounded from the back and someone stepped out of an office. Burt Brister had always reminded Cam of General Custer, with the long, sandy mustache framing his mouth, a mouth that was very definitely unsmiling as he stepped forward. “Can I help you?”

“Campbell Crawford, sir. I believe you know my mother, the mayor.”

Burt angled his head in acknowledgment and took Cam’s offered hand.

“And this is Norah Burke. We were hoping you had a few minutes to talk to us.”

“Got more free minutes than I’d like just now. Come on back.” He shifted some files out of the two chairs in front of his battered metal desk and gestured for them to sit. His own chair creaked as he sat and looked the two of them over. “Y’all lookin’ to build a house?”

Norah, who’d opened her mouth to start whatever spiel she’d been planning, looked startled. “Sorry?”