Getting Over It: Sapphire Falls Book Six (17 page)

“They’ll also have to get rid of at least six camping sites at the park,” he heard someone call out.

The camp sites were for tents or RVs and brought revenue into the park’s budget and people into town for gas, food and amenities from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Losing six spots was a lot.

“And they’ll knock out the town’s entrance. That arch is historic,” someone else mentioned.

There were several places people could come into town, of course, but the main entrance was at the southwest corner of the square and was marked by a wrought-iron arch that curved over the street and read
Sapphire Falls, 1892
.

It was, indeed, historic. And the people in Sapphire Falls were very sentimental about it.

“We’ll have to reconfigure and rebuild some things,” Ty said, trying to sound confident.

There was some general grumbling and Hailey looked pleased with his answer. Which made him positive he’d answered incorrectly.

“And do you think the funds for the reconfiguring and rebuilding should come out of the park’s budget or the city-maintenance budget or the discretionary fund?” Hailey asked.

She was setting him up. It was completely obvious. But she was showing the town her opponent’s weakness. Namely that he didn’t have a clue about town government.

But he was a smart guy. He could figure this out. Maybe.

The park’s budget surely had been set prior to all of this and probably included things like maintaining the pool and so on. Shutting down the pool was not a good option. Probably. The city-maintenance budget might work, but again, like in any budget, if you used money for something new, it took money away from something you’d planned for. Discretionary funds, however, were for things like this. He was pretty sure.

“The discretionary fund,” he finally said. “After careful review and consultation of course.”

Hailey gave him a small smile. But said nothing.

She didn’t need to.

The room immediately erupted into conversation. Loud, argumentative conversation.

“That fund is supposed to provide grants for home owners to do energy-efficient improvements!”

“I thought the city was considering a memorial to our veterans!”

“The school needs supplies. Our teachers shouldn’t be paying out of pocket for crayons!”

Hailey looked at Ty with a smug smile. “Probably not the discretionary fund,” she said.

Ty ran a hand through his hair and observed the roomful of people.

So maybe his quiet, happy hometown wasn’t always quiet and happy.

“Clearly I have some things to learn,” he finally said over the din. “I would love to hear how our current mayor plans to fund the reconstruction after the highway expansion.”

Hailey dropped her arms to her side and faced the room with confidence. “The best way to deal with the reconstruction costs is to avoid them. I’m fighting the highway expansion.”

There were murmurings of conversation but also lots of head-nodding.

“The highway past Sapphire Falls is not heavily trafficked. The expansion conversation started with truckers complaining about the narrow lanes and slow-moving farm equipment.”

Just as he’d thought—tractors caused slowdowns.

“I’ve come up with a counter proposal that will suggest widening the existing lanes, without adding any additional full lanes. We
will
lose the sidewalk,” she said to the woman who had brought up the issue. “But we will raise the funds to put in a new one. In fact, we’ll put in a wider, smoother one that will allow for bike and foot traffic at the same time. I’m also going to suggest the addition of a passing lane on the area two miles outside of town to allow trucks to get around any slow-moving traffic safely. That will not affect anything here in the city limits. However, part of my argument is that the speed limit past Sapphire Falls is supposed to be forty-five miles per hour and that the semi-truck traffic often exceeds that. The slowing down behind farm equipment through Sapphire Falls is actually a benefit to the town in that regard.”

Ty knew he was staring but…damn.

He’d never seen her in mayor mode. He’d seen her dressed up and attending events as the mayor, of course. But he’d never actually witnessed her addressing the town about an issue as their mayor.

It was strangely hot.

“If anyone has any further questions or concerns, I’d be happy to answer them,” she said. She started for the door and the crowd parted as if it was choreographed. “Over at my new campaign headquarters at Scott’s Sweets. There’s food and drink for everyone.”

“Food and drink” were the three magic words to get the crowd moving out the door.

The words “Scott’s Sweets” didn’t hurt either.

He had regular old beer. Adrianne had the world’s best cupcakes.

Yeah, he was probably heading over there too.

Of course, that had more to do with the star of the party. He really needed to talk to Hailey.

She solved that for him a minute later.

Ty stepped out the door at the back of the crowd and felt someone grab his arm. Hard.

He caught a whiff of her body spray as she pulled him around the corner of the building, out of view of the crowd.

“What the
fuck
, Ty?” were her first words to him.

“That was
amazing
,” he told her with a huge grin.

She blinked at him, obviously taken back by his reaction. “What are you talking about?”

“The way you were all mayorly in there,” he said. “Impressive. And hot.” He moved in closer and took her hips in his hands.

She shoved him back. “Are you insane?”

“What? You know I love that powerful, confident, kick-ass side of you. I’ve never seen you address the town about serious issues. All I could think was
I’m fucking her
.”

Hailey stared at him for a good ten seconds without saying anything. Then she nodded. “Right. You love me being powerful, because it makes you feel even
more
powerful when you think about how we behave in the bedroom.”

He lifted a shoulder. “Well, yeah.” Then he saw the look on her face and added, “Kind of.”

She scowled.

“Um, you need to get to your party. Don’t you think they’ll be expecting you?” he asked. He was pissing her off and he wasn’t even meaning to. He needed to regroup. He knew on the outside this looked bad. Like he was running against her and wanting to steal her crown. But Hailey knew him. She knew that he didn’t really want to be mayor. Didn’t she?

“Lauren’s got it for a while,” she said. “I have at least five more minutes.”

“Five minutes will be enough time for you to yell at me?” he asked with a smile.

“Don’t smile at me.” She scowled again. “And, no, that’s not nearly enough time. But I’m not going to be yelling.
You’re
going to be talking,” she said. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Making you do exactly what you did in there.”

“Lose my cool in front of everyone? Thanks.”

“Show off that you’re the best person for this job.”

She crossed her arms. “I was the
only
person for this job, until you got this wild hair to run.
What
is going on?”

“Making sure you’re number one.”

“Number one?”

“Mayor. That you are the top dog, the top pick, the woman of the hour, the—”

“Oh my God, stop.” She put up a hand to stop his rambling and then used it to rub the center of her forehead. “You’re making sure I’m elected mayor?”

“Yes.”

“By running
against
me?”

“But not just elected. Elected against a strong opponent.” He stepped forward and ran his hands up and down her arms. “You’ve been elected twice running unopposed. That doesn’t feel as good as winning a
real
election. I want you to know that you’re the best, and that the town knows that and trusts it, that they’ll elect you no matter what.”

“You
are
insane,” she said.

“No.” He grinned. “
Brilliant
. I’m making a grand romantic gesture
and
proving to you that you are absolutely capable of winning this election. I believe in you. Enough to run against you and show you that you are loved and trusted by this town.”

Hailey pressed her lips together and took a deep breath. “Okay, you’re not insane. You’re stupid.”

“Hey.” He frowned.

“Or if not stupid, so wrapped up in yourself that you don’t really see anything except the way you want to see it.”

“What are you talking about?”

He hadn’t expected her to be excited about running against him. But he’d expected her to see the gesture for what it was—and be touched by it.

“I can’t win against you,” she said, as if it should have been obvious.

“Of course you can. They
like
me, Hailey, but what do I know about running a town? They all realize that. We’ll have some fun with the campaign, give you a stage for really showing them what you know and what you already do for this town, and you’ll walk away with it.”

“I don’t want to really show them anything, Ty. I like it how it’s been. I
like
running unopposed!”

He frowned. “But if there’s no opponent, does it really feel as good winning?” He didn’t understand that.

“
Yes
,” she said adamantly. “If there’s no opponent there’s no debate, no Q&A, no get-to-know-your-candidates crap. If there’s no opponent, no one is trying to find my flaws or figure out any dirt on me.”

“This is Sapphire Falls,” Ty argued. “They wouldn’t try to dig up dirt. And they already know you.” But he supposed that debates and Q&A probably were a good idea when putting people up against one another.

“They know what I want them to know about me,” Hailey countered.

“And that’s not the same thing?”

That made her pause and swallow before saying softly, “No.”

He didn’t really know what that meant. Sapphire Falls saw the tough, cool and confident side of her. His mother had said she’d suspected a softer side, but Hailey didn’t show that side to everyone. That didn’t mean the side she
did
show wasn’t real. “Then we’ll do the Q&A and show them how great you are,” he said. “We’ll spend time together and the contrast between us for the position will be obvious.”

“It’s all a game to you,” she exclaimed. “This back and forth with us, this constant tug-of-war we have going on. And now you’re making the election just another of our bickery fights. You think it’s fun, that it’s
foreplay
. But it
matters
to me, Ty. I haven’t been insisting on keeping our relationship a secret because it makes for great sex. I’ve been doing it because I don’t
want
them to see that side of me.”

“Why not?” He stepped closer. “Show them your softer side. Show them that you can relax and laugh and can be romantic and in love. Show them—”

“They don’t want to see that side,” she said stubbornly. “They want the take-charge, coolheaded woman they elected.”

“Of course, but if you spend time with me and we get up in front of them, like we did in there,” he said, gesturing at the Come Again, “they’ll see that you’re the best one for this town.”

He thought back to what his mother had said Sunday morning about how nice it had been to see Hailey rumpled and rattled. Maybe more people needed to see that.

“And then,” he said, thinking out loud, “they’ll see our chemistry and see you softening and not only will that show them your nice side, but then we can naturally transition into a more public relationship. They’ll all think we got together during the campaign and fell in love and—”

“I can’t spend
more
time with you publicly, Ty,” she said. “That will ruin everything.”

He frowned. “How so?”

“Because I don’t really have a tough, kick-ass side!” she said, clearly exasperated. “Because that’s all a mirage. And when I’m with you, I get soft and lose my edge and I’ll never be able to keep up with who they think I am. Who they
want
me to be as mayor.”

“I make you soft?” he asked, feeling something shift in his chest. It was a warmth and tenderness he wasn’t used to feeling. Mixed with worry.

“You make me
me
.” She stopped, as if stunned she’d admitted that, and pressed her lips together.

Ty studied her face. “What does that mean?”

“They elected the kick-ass, bitchy Ice Queen. Twice. They don’t want
me.
They don’t want the woman who takes two hours to get ready in the morning or who would
much
rather be reading Cassandra Clare novels than boring city reports. They don’t want the woman who wants to cuddle in bed all day and hold hands and write love notes with her boyfriend!”

“But the kick-ass, bitchy Ice Queen
is
you too,” he said. Then he held up a hand quickly. “In a good way. That’s what I love about you—you’re a fighter, you’re in charge, you’re amazing.” Not that he didn’t love her confession about wanting to hold hands, cuddle and write love notes. But that was a conversation for another time.

She shook her head. “I’m not, Ty. It’s all an act. I started running for things because it was the way to get my dad to spend time with me and pay attention to me. But, as my stepmom constantly pointed out, I’m not really smart or creative enough or organized enough to be in charge of anything, certainly not to be mayor. So I put on this persona. This in-charge, smart, creative, organized persona. And as long as no one gets close, they don’t know it’s all fake.”