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Magda leaned across the gap and whispered, “Are you sure she’s coming?” Her gaze jumped to the crowds of people without seats glaring at the jackets saving the two between them.
“She’s coming,” he said with as much conviction as he could muster. “She wouldn’t miss it. It might be her only chance to stop the plans,” he added in a lower voice.
Raising her pale eyebrows, Magda settled into her chair, arms crossed over her chest. “Unless she saw the exhibition,” she muttered.
Charlie winced. All he’d heard since he arrived was how impressive a show Becky and Tony had put on. This wasn’t going to be easy.
Mayor Jayne Fielding took to the pulpit, Tony and Becky standing to her left, both of them smiling. Where the hell was Mia?
“I hope by now you’ve all had a chance to view the Aberarian Revitalization exhibition in the hall next door,” Jayne said, glancing at its architects sitting to the side of the pulpit, in front of the altar. “I’m sure you’ll all agree it’s very impressive. Now, Becky and Tony have kindly agreed to answer any general questions from the community before they move forward with the council and the land owners in question. So if you’d like to...”
“I have a question.” Mia’s voice rang clear from the back of the church, and Charlie closed his eyes. He’d hoped to talk to her before she went into battle.
With a deep breath, he turned and watched Mia pick her way through the people in the aisle toward their chairs, apologizing when she clipped fingers and stood on toes and skirts, Ditsy trailing behind her along with... Was that Walt?
Charlie had the feeling he’d missed the planning stages of whatever Mia had up her sleeve, and he wasn’t sure whether to be grateful or annoyed.
When the trio reached the front row, Charlie realized Mia wasn’t stopping. Instead, as Ditsy and Walt slipped into the seats he’d saved, Mia pushed past the crowd, and the mayor, and up the pulpit steps to the microphone, ignoring Becky and Tony completely. And then she started to speak.
“I want to ask everybody here a question.” Mia paused, and Charlie felt her gaze pass over the crowd, touching on him lightly before moving on. “How important is your home to you? Not just your house, or your street, or even the town itself. But this community. These people.”
The crowd was starting to murmur now, and Charlie hoped Mia knew where she was going with this. Beside him, Ditsy patted his hand.
“What would you and your family know about community?” someone called from the rear of the hall. Charlie couldn’t see who, but it didn’t seem to have phased Mia in the least.
In fact, a small smile crept onto her face. “If you think what my dad did to this town was bad for the community, you’re going to hate what these guys have planned.”
“More business, new jobs, richer tourists?” The speaker and a few people around him laughed. “Sure, I hate it already!”
“What about not being able to afford your own home? It’ll be more valuable as a holiday home, see, even if it’s empty half the year. What about seeing poor Walt having to sell his dream?” Two seats over from him, Charlie saw Walt wince. “What about losing all the old buildings on Station Road, not just the cinema. What about a town square filled with pubs and stag parties, and all the shops pushed out to some shopping center on the outskirts?”
There was quiet for a moment after Mia finished speaking. She was right, Charlie knew. It wasn’t just the casino–that was the first step of some fundamental changes to the town.
Then somebody else called out, “It’s not like we have any other options.” Charlie turned and recognized Neil, owner of one of the seaside shops down by StarFish. “I’ve got to get some new business from somewhere.”
“Then let’s make it ourselves,” Mia said, the plea evident in her voice. “I’ve seen the plans, I know they’re impressive. But they’ll change our town completely, and not for the better. We might have work, but we’ll all be driving in from flats two towns inland to get to it.” She paused and looked around the room again, and Charlie wondered if she’d ever spoken so honestly, so earnestly before in her life. If she had, he’d never heard it.
Up at the front, the mayor came closer and asked, “Do you have an alternative suggestion?”
“Walt doesn’t want to lose the Coliseum. If we worked together, like a real community, we could save it. And in doing so, raise money and the profile of the town. Bring in more tourists ourselves.”
“How?”
Charlie felt his breath catch in his chest. Because this was it, really it. If she didn’t...and Mia had already paused long enough to make him worry.
But then she smiled, one of the wide, all-encompassing smiles he rarely saw, and Charlie started hoping again. “We need to look to the things that have always made Aberarian great in the past,” she said. “What made young families want to visit, or even stay. What made it fun. What gave it soul.” She smiled again. “Starting with the Fish Festival.”
Beside her, apparently reaching the limit of how long she could stay quiet and not interfere, Becky scoffed. “Fish Festival? If you’re relying on a celebration of herrings to save you...”
“Wait.” Jayne Fielding held up a hand. “How do you mean, Mia?”
Mia leaned her elbows forward on the podium and spoke out to the crowd. “When I was a kid, the Fish Festival was the biggest event of the summer. The whole town turned out to make it great. People came from all over to be here.” She paused. Then, “It was the biggest weekend in Aberarian’s economic calendar, too.”
“Dad used to sell more fish on festival weekend than he did for Good Friday,” Joe said, from the other side of the hall. Around him, other locals were starting to nod. Charlie let himself relax, just a little, for the first time that evening.
The mayor wasn’t looking convinced, though. “Unfortunately, this year’s festival is looking...precarious.”
“Then we need to fix it.” Mia’s voice was firm, and around him Charlie heard murmurs of agreement.
“Are you offering to take it on?” Jayne asked.
Charlie held his breath until Mia said, “Yes.”
The hall turned silent for a long moment before erupting in conversations.
“Did you know she was going to do this?” Charlie asked Ditsy, having to raise his voice so she could hear.
Ditsy shook her head. “I’m not sure she knew.” Beside her, Walt was sitting in stunned silence.
Mayor Fielding called the room to order from beside the pulpit, and Mia moved aside so she could reach the microphone.
“That’s a very generous offer, Mia.” Jayne’s tone was just a touch patronizing. “However...”
Tony stepped forward for the first time and Charlie winced. “However there is no guarantee your plan will succeed,” Tony said. “And I think I’m right in assuming that the rest of the town won’t want to pin all their hopes on a summer fete.”
The rest of the town, Charlie guessed from the conflicted chatter around him, had no idea what they wanted.
“But we have to give it a chance,” Mia said. Her voice was still passionate, but she’d lost her audience. Reminded of what was at risk, the locals were a lot less likely to take chances.
Unless there was a way they couldn’t lose.
“Stand up,” Charlie said to Walt, dragging the older man to his feet when he didn’t comply fast enough. Charlie turned Walt so they were both facing the rest of the town and started speaking before he could overthink what he was doing.
“There is another option,” he shouted, but no one was paying him any attention until Ditsy stood up beside him, stuck two fingers in her mouth, and whistled.
Suddenly everybody was listening. “Henry taught me how to do that,” Ditsy whispered before sitting down again.
Charlie started again. “It doesn’t have to be all or nothing,” he said, very aware of everyone staring at him. Him, Charlie Frost, who’d only lived in Aberarian for two years. Who ran a fish restaurant, for heaven’s sake, and
had an obvious vested interest in both options. Still, he’d started now. “The plans for the casino are going to take time to put into place, right? Even the sale of the Coliseum.” Charlie glanced at the stage to see everyone but Mia nodding. Mia was staring at him with a crinkled brow, obviously wondering what the hell he was doing. Wish I knew, he thought.
“The Fish Festival’s just over a month away. If Walt here,” Charlie gave his companion a gentle shake. “If Walt wanted to hold up the sale of the Coliseum by a month or so, he could, right?” Another shake, and Walt started nodding. “So let’s give Mia a chance. Let’s see what we can all achieve in the time we have left, working together. And if, after the festival, we still can’t afford to save the Coliseum, then Walt will sell and we’ll all get jobs at Champion’s Casino. Right?”
