The Book Charmer

by Karen Hawkins

  “Just watch,” Sarah whispered back.

  “You thought right,” Grace said flatly. She pointed to the opposite end of the table, to the empty chair by Nate.

  “Yes, Madame Chairwoman.” Zoe took her things and strolled to the seat, sitting down with a gracious smile.

  Nate looked as if he wanted to laugh but was afraid to.

  Grace stood beside her chair and eyed her committee. “You all won. I’m here.”

  Sarah wasn’t sure what to say. “Congratulations” seemed off target, and sympathy was uncalled for. She realized everyone was looking at her, so she smiled as she sank into her seat. “Welcome back! However it happened, we’re glad you’re here. We’ve a lot of work to do, so maybe—”

  “Stop. Before we go any further, you all owe me an apology.”

  Nate’s brows rose. “For . . . ?”

  “She’s talking to Zoe,” Erma told Nate in an undertone. “I think she is, anyway.” Erma raised her voice. “Zoe, what did you do?”

  “Wait a minute.” Grace examined the face of each member. “Not everyone was in on this.”

  “Just some of us,” Sarah admitted.

  “Not in on what?” Ed appeared bewildered. “What did you all do?”

  “You didn’t know anything?” Grace asked.

  “I didn’t. I mean, I knew they were going to get you back, but I figured they were just going to ask.”

  “Don’t look at me, either,” Erma said. “I have no idea what’s going on. I was just told you’d be back. That’s it.”

  “Well, well, well.” Grace placed her hands flat on the table and leaned forward. “Miss Bell, do you want to tell them?”

  Zoe pursed her lips. “I think it would be better if you did. You are in charge, after all.”

  “Fine.” Grace took her seat. “As some of you apparently don’t know, for one short week, Miss Zoe Bell ran for mayor of our lovely town.”

  Ed, who’d been taking a sip of water, choked.

  Erma thumped him on the back. “Easy, Mayhew. She’s kidding.”

  “I’m not kidding.” Grace arched a brow at Zoe. “Am I?”

  Zoe’s lips quirked, but she managed to suppress her smile. “I might have run for mayor . . . a little.”

  Ava chuckled.

  Grace looked at her. “What’s so funny?”

  Ava bit back her grin. “Zoe doing anything ‘a little.’ ”

  “It defies belief, doesn’t it?” Grace replied. “And that’s what got me to thinking. Mayor Moore has held his job for over twenty years and he’s never once been challenged. Not once. I asked myself why that was, and then I realized that the job is boring and no one but a dedicated fisherman would want it. Zoe, I don’t know you well, but I’ll wager that you don’t fish.”

  Zoe pursed her lips. “That’s a fair assessment.”

  “So I was supposed to believe that all of a sudden, right after you agreed to take on the chairmanship of this committee—”

  “Club,” Ava corrected, wincing when Grace cut her a withering glance.

  “Whatever you want to call it,” Grace said in a cool tone. She turned back to Zoe. “You wanted me to believe that right after you took on the chairmanship of the social club, you also decided to run for a crappy job no one wants. You, the vice president of a bank.”

  Kat tsked. “Zoe, how could you be so greedy? Isn’t one job enough?”

  Grace shot a hard look at Kat. “You were part of it, too. I know you were.”

  Kat flushed and looked down at her notepad as if suddenly realizing she needed to write something very important but couldn’t remember what it was.

  As uncomfortable as the present situation was, Sarah had to admire how well Grace was stating her case. She’s a natural leader.

  Grace’s attention returned to Zoe. “Somehow, over the course of one week, Mayor Moore accidentally heard you discussing polling while he happened to be at your bank, he accidentally caught you discussing a mass mailing to ‘all registered voters’ with the postmaster, and he accidentally got a glimpse of one of your proposed yard signs when Kat, who conveniently lives across the street from him, accidentally dropped it right as he walked past.”

  Nate eyed Zoe with appreciation. “You did all of that?”

  Erma looked stunned. “In one week?”

  Zoe smiled. “Brilliant, wasn’t it? I knew he’d stop at nothing to keep me from running for his office, including order Grace to take back the social club.”

  “It worked!” Sarah tried not to sound too happy as she confided, “If the sign trick didn’t push him over the edge, we were going to leave some signed petition-to-run forms in the copier at the drugstore. Mayor Moore goes there every morning on his way to work to buy a chocolate milk.”

  “How would he know something was left on the copy machine?” Ed asked.

  Ava raised her hand. “That was going to be my job,” she said, obviously pleased to have been included. “I was going to be there making flyers for a plant sale, and just as he passed the copier on his way to get his milk, I was to open the lid and pretend to be irked to find Zoe’s petition there. I was to mutter her name out loud and then toss it into the trash.”

  “He was already getting paranoid,” Zoe added. “We knew he’d wait for Ava to leave and then he’d look in the trash to see what she’d thrown away.”

  “Wow,” Nate said. “You guys did a whole Ocean’s Eight thing. I’m impressed.”

  Ava made a face. “I was really looking forward to playing my part, but we didn’t have to do it, as the sign trick worked so well.”

  “He looked ill,” Zoe said with satisfaction.

  Kat chuckled. “It was almost too easy.”

  “What was your slogan?” Ed asked curiously.

  “ ‘Zoe Bell for Mayor: A Fresh Start.’ Ava thought of that.”

  “It was better than Sarah’s,” Ava said. “She wanted ‘Out with the Old.’ ”

  “That was too obvious,” Kat agreed.

  Nate cast an admiring gaze around the table. “Machiavelli, move over. Zoe Bell and company have arrived.”

  “Excuse me.” Grace’s voice cut through the air. “Are you all through congratulating each other? Because if you are, we’ve got work to do.”

  “Of course, but ah . . . don’t you want to know why we wanted you back so badly?” Sarah asked.

  Grace’s cool gaze came to rest on her, and the faintest tinge of regret hit Sarah. She’d worried Grace would be upset. Actually, that wasn’t true; she’d known Grace would be upset, which was unfortunate but necessary. But now, before they progressed, amends must be made. She cleared her throat. “Grace, I know you’re mad, and you have every right to be, but we had a good reason for what we did.”

  “Really?” Grace’s tones were clipped into single letters.

  Sarah winced. “We need your help. We all want the festival to be bigger, better, something it hasn’t been in a long, long time. We need strong leadership for that to happen.”

  “And we couldn’t just ask,” Ava added, “because you would have said no. That was obvious from the last meeting. You didn’t want to do it.”

  “Heck,” Erma said flatly. “You didn’t even want to be here. That much was plain.”

  Grace eyed them for a moment. Finally, she sighed. “You’re right. I would have said no.”

  “So we did what we had to do,” Sarah said. “Which is when Zoe came up with The Plan.”

  “Well, it worked,” Grace said sourly. “And I’m here, although you may wish I wasn’t before the meeting is over.”

  Sarah’s happiness slipped a bit. What did that mean?

  Grace looked around the table. “Before we talk about the festival, we need to talk about something else. Something much more important.”

  “The festival is important,” Erma protested.

  Grace’s gaze slid over her without stopping and then returned to the stack of folders in front of her. “We need to talk about the town’s financial s
tanding.”

  Nate shrugged. “Okay. What about it?”

  “It’s bad,” she said.

  Sarah winced. “The town isn’t doing as well as it should. We know that.”

  “ ‘Not as well as it should’?” Grace gave a curt laugh. “That’s an understatement.”

  Ava frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “It’s bad. Much worse than you know.”

  “Ah,” Zoe said, nodding. “I wondered how long it would take before you looked.”

  “Looked at what?” Sarah asked, growing even more concerned.

  “Grace has seen the town’s financial records,” Zoe said.

  “I have.” Grace spread her hands flat on the table in front of her. “I went through the accounts this morning and what I saw was . . .” She shook her head. “It was bad.”

  Erma frowned. “You work in the mayor’s office and you just today saw the accounts?”

  “I’ve only worked there a month, plus I deal with the revenue side rather than expenditures, so the overall summary doesn’t hit my desk. But today I decided that I should take a look at the festival funding before I came to the meeting, so I pulled out the town budget records.”

  “How far back did you go?” Zoe asked.

  “The last ten years. It was grim.”

  “Does Mayor Moore know about this?” Ava asked.

  “I spoke to him and he knew the gist, but no more. He’s filed the exact same budget request every year since he’s been in office.”

  Sarah blinked. “It’s never changed?”

  “Not once.”

  “God, that man is lazy!” Ed said with disgust.

  Grace didn’t argue. “The town’s accountant does an annual audit, but the mayor hasn’t familiarized himself with the details.”

  “That’s some A-class avoidism there,” Nate said.

  “Tell me about it.” Grace eyed the committee. “Here’s the deal. I’m willing to come back and chair the committee, but on my own terms.”

  “Which are?” Sarah asked.

  “I don’t plan on staying in Dove Pond for more than a year. I’ve made no secret of that, but I want to be up front about it. I moved here from Charlotte, and I’d like to move back once I can afford it.”

  “One year?” Kat frowned. “That’s not long.”

  “No, it’s not. But before I leave, while I can’t solve the issues plaguing the town, I can at least get you moving in the right direction. And in order for that to happen, this committee will have to do more than just plan festivals.”

  “Festivals are good for our economy,” Erma said stubbornly.

  “For one weekend, yes, but it’s not enough. This town is drowning in its own debt, and if we don’t do something soon, it’ll be caught in such a downward financial spiral that it’ll never recover.”

  “Spiral?” Ed swallowed loudly. “It’s that bad?”

  “It’s that bad,” Grace said.

  “But how?” Erma asked, her voice choked. “I mean, I know people have been leaving and some businesses closed, but that happens every now and then. The economy can’t always go up, you know.”

  “It’s more than that,” Grace replied. “I spent the past few hours thinking this through. Dove Pond doesn’t have a town board of directors or a council, or anything like that, so if the mayor won’t address a situation, that leaves the social club or no one.”

  Silence filled the room. Sarah wondered if Charlotte Dove’s journal knew about this. The cranky old thing had to, and yet it hadn’t uttered so much as a word to her.

  Zoe clasped her hands together and rested them on the table in front of her. “What do you want us to do?”

  “We need to plan something more important than the Apple Festival. Something that could help the town.”

  “Like?” Ava prodded.

  “A business outreach. We need to invite potential business owners to town, let them see Dove Pond the way you see it. The way Sarah sees it. And we need to convince them to invest in the town. In you. In this community. And fortunately for all of you, if there’s one thing I know how to do, it’s sell an idea to a business.”

  And there it was. The reason Grace had come to Dove Pond. Sarah had been wondering what Grace could do for their town that Sarah couldn’t, and now she knew.

  “Geez.” Kat pushed back from the table. “Look, I don’t mean to be a killjoy, and I really want to help, but I only signed up for this committee to plan festivals. I didn’t sign up to do business outreach, or whatever you call it.”

  “Neither do I,” Nate said.

  Ava hadn’t stopped staring at Grace, and now she asked cautiously, “You think it will really help Dove Pond?”

  “It can,” Grace said without hesitation. “If we do it right, it could save the place.”

  “And there’s no other way?” Ava asked.

  “No,” Grace said.

  Ava shrugged. “Then we don’t have any choice.”

  “Great,” Kat muttered. “How much more work will this business outreach be?”

  “A lot.” Grace tapped the stack of folders in front of her. “Before we go any further, let me explain how Dove Pond got into this position to begin with. That will help you understand why an outreach program is the only way to turn the tide. After that, we’ll make some decisions.”

  Several people glanced at Sarah, as if seeking her opinion. Such was the burden of expectations. She nodded. “Let’s do this.”

  “I’m in,” Zoe said.

  “Me too,” Ava agreed. “I’m curious to know why things have gotten so bad, although it’s no secret the town’s fortunes are sagging.”

  “That’s true,” Kat admitted. “We see it every time we walk down Main Street.”

  “It’s more than that,” Zoe said sharply. “Grace isn’t kidding when she says our town is dying. The bank used to have over a hundred business accounts, and now we’ve less than forty, and some of those are inactive.”

  “It’s tough to make it here,” Ed said. “If it weren’t for the pension I get from the twenty-two years I worked for the paper mill, Maggie and I couldn’t live off what we make from the pet store. It wasn’t that way when we first started, but now . . .” He shook his head.

  “You all sound like the voices of doom,” Erma huffed. “Dove Pond is experiencing a downturn, but so are a lot of other places. Give us a year or two and things will turn around. They always do, and the mayor knows it. In the meantime, we should focus on the festivals, as is our duty, and nothing more.”

  Nate grimaced. “Erma, it’s more than a mere downturn. My revenue has dropped every year for the last four years, maybe five. I know yours has, too, because I’ve heard you complain about it.”

  Erma sniffed.

  He raised his brows.

  She flushed and snapped, “Fine! My revenue has dropped. And yes, the town is in trouble. But what can we do to fix it? We’re just eight people!”

  “Eight smart, capable, determined people,” Grace said. “Before I moved here, I worked for a financial group in Charlotte that helped companies facing bankruptcy reorganize into leaner, more profitable models. Then we’d set up a smart, effective investment structure to help them plan for expansions and upgrades down the road. I’d think that if a business could do that, so could a town.”

  Sarah looked at the ceiling. Fate, thank you for sending this woman to us.

  “First things first,” Zoe said. “Technically, I’m still the chairman until we vote for Grace’s return.”

  Sarah raised her hand. “I make a motion to accept Grace’s conditions, whatever they may be, and that she be reinstated immediately into the position of chairman.”

  “I second that,” Nate said.

  “All in favor?” Zoe asked.

  Everyone said “aye” except Erma.

  Zoe raised a brow. “Is that a nay?”

  “No,” Erma blustered, looking miserable. “I vote yes, of course I do. I just wish I understood things better.” />
  “That’s why we’re having a two-part meeting.” Grace flipped open the top folder and pulled it forward. “First, I’m going to explain how the finances of the town have gotten so upside down.”

  “How long will that take?” Ed asked.

  “A half hour. Perhaps a little more, depending on how many questions there are.”

  “Okay.” He pulled out his phone. “I’d better text Maggie and let her know I won’t be home for a while.”

  “Do that,” Grace said.

  Ava eyed Grace curiously. “What’s the second part of our meeting?”

  Grace paused and Sarah could feel the tension even from across the table. “We’ll discuss that after we hold the vote to cut the festival budget.”

  “What?” Sarah couldn’t believe she was hearing this. “But the festival is what we do. It’s why the social club exists.”

  “We have to have the festival,” Erma said, her face flushed.

  “We’re still having it,” Grace said impatiently. “But it’ll be a stripped-down version.”

  Ed shook his head. “No way! We barely have enough to do a decent job as it is.”

  Grace’s cool gaze locked on him. “Need I remind you that there will be no Dove Pond Social Club if there’s no Dove Pond? We have no choice. We’re going to gut the festival budget and use the money for an outreach program where we invite potential businesses to visit our town.”

  Erma sniffed her outrage. “I will not vote to remove any money from the festival budget!”

  “Maybe we shouldn’t have a festival at all,” Zoe said. When Erma looked shocked, Zoe added regretfully, “It’s an expense. It hasn’t been a moneymaker for years.”

  “We’re still going to have it,” Grace said. “The mayor has demanded that much, at least. But we can only afford a scaled-back version.”

  “How scaled back are you talking?” Kat asked.

  “A few booths, maybe a parade, some hot dogs and balloons, but not a lot more.”

  Ed’s face had turned a dull red. “I don’t like this. And neither will Maggie.”

  “Some of my best memories are of the festivals.” Ava looked sad. “I’d hate to see it get pruned back like that.”

  So did Sarah. “Grace, surely there’s money somewhere else?”

  “I’m afraid not. I looked through the budget several times and there’s no other money. Here. I’ll show you what I mean.” Grace pushed the pile of folders forward. “There’s one for each of you.”