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A tall silver-haired man in a dark three-piece suit that looked a bit wilted from the heat strode across the stage to take the mic from the mayor. He looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place him.
“It’s the new bank president,” Jude supplied helpfully.
“The one that bought all those buildings down on the square?”
“Yeah. He’s a finance guy from New York by way of Dallas.” Jude wasn’t the only one in Elmer who held New Yorkers in contempt on principle alone.
“What the hell is he doing?”
“No clue.”
On stage, three men and a woman dressed in matching dark suits had flanked the banker who was smiling at the room. But rather than the warm welcome Amaryllis had conveyed, I half expected this guy was about to try to scam us into buying a timeshare condo in Aruba.
“Think I should stop this?” I looked at Jude and he shrugged.
“Fine people of Elmer, I wanted to take this moment to introduce myself. I am Oscar Ferguson, and I want to be your next mayor.” He stood tall and smoothed his tie.
Applause did not greet his announcement. An uncomfortable silence filled the hall; only a few awkward coughs broke the stillness. On stage, one of the dark-suited men leaned over and whispered in Ferguson’s ear. The banker nodded and reached into his jacket pocket for what had to be a check.
“He has staff. Are you shitting me? There are only a couple thousand people in this town. Why does he need political mercenaries?” Jude’s gaze wasn’t on Ferguson. He’d fixated on one of the navy-suit-wearing campaign operatives—the woman.
“Mayor Graves, if you’d come back up here?” Ferguson said into the mic.
Amaryllis didn’t waste any time. She hopped up the steps and jogged over to Ferguson, taking the mic back. “How can I help one of our newest residents of Elmer?” she asked, looking up at the much taller man.
Ferguson blinked, taken aback. He’d not expected our mayor to have claws. Poor guy was in for an ass-kicking.
“I wanted to present you with a check for the high school football booster club.” He preened like a peacock as he extended the slip of paper. Man had about the same size brain as a bird too if he thought a few donation checks would get him elected.
“Oh, bless your heart. I’m not the right person to give that to. Coach Walker, can you come up? I think I saw Coach out by theThai food truck. He loves something spicy, right y’all?” Amaryllis held a hand up like she had to shade her eyes from a spotlight and scanned the room. It was totally cheesy and so like the mayor to turn something awkward into a joke.
The crowd laughed.
“I’m over here, Amaryllis.” Coach stood. He was a former University of Texas linebacker, big and hard to miss, wearing an Elmer High gold and blue polo shirt. “Mr. Ferguson, if you could come by my office at the school next week, I’d be real happy to take your check, but this isn’t the time or place.” Coach punctuated his sentence with a wave of his chopsticks.
“Nice work, Coach,” Jude shouted.
The crowd agreed, and the coach got a solid round of applause. Elmer’s football team had made the third round of the state championships last year, so everyone loved Coach Walker.
On stage, Amaryllis started walking away, mic in hand, when Ferguson grabbed her shoulder to spin her back toward him. The room held its collective breath. You didn’t manhandle an older woman in Texas, and you sure as shit didn’t manhandle our mayor in Elmer.
The red-haired woman on Ferguson’s team sprang into action. She grabbed Ferguson’s hand and pulled it from Amaryllis’s shoulder with a scowl. She then offered the mayor her arm and, with the deference afforded the queen mother, led her from the stage. Along the way, Amaryllis passed the mic back to the lead singer.
“Guess the show’s over.” I turned to Jude. “You alright? It looks like someone walked over your grave.”
“More like terrible déjà vu.” He chugged the rest of his water bottle and pushed away from the bar.
“Where are you going?” I’d seen Jude in a lot of situations. Stressed from work, recently divorced, tired, and even tipsy. Butwhatever or whoever he’d seen on that stage had rocked him to his foundation.
“To volunteer as the manager of Amaryllis’s new reelection team.”
Chapter 35
Rae
“So, what are yourplans for the day?” Atley asked me.
He was up, dressed, and had been out of the house, possibly for hours. I’d slept like the dead after one of the longest days of my life. I was tired from the bottoms of my feet to the ends of my tangled hair, but it had been worth it—The Stomp kicked ass.
