Page 60 of Check You Out

He nods. “Have they accepted bids on the project?”

I peer at him. “I don’t know. Can we figure that out?”

“The process is public, so yes. We can.” He taps his temple. “Our bid process was always public. If there really is some sort of fraud or embezzlement going on, then that construction company is likely connected to Gott somehow.” He points a finger at me. “I can look it up if you want.”

“What happens if we find something?” I ask, anxiety building up in my stomach.

“We send an anonymous tip to the authorities and hope they investigate.” His eyes are shining with excitement. “Let them handle it. You don’t want to get involved with whatever this is.”

“I agree. Thank you for your advice,” I say with genuine warmth and feeling. Feeling anxious that my father now doubts my intentions for this coffee, I add quickly, “I want to reiterate that I didn’t bring you out here under false pretenses.” I take a breath and meet his gaze. “Maybe we won’t play catch or go fishing, but we can at least talk about this stuff.”

“Baseball’s not really my sport, and I don’t like fish.” A smile blooms on Dan’s face, and I notice that there are two dimples on each side of his cheeks. “I’m glad you brought this up with me, Aidan. I think it shows that we’ve made progress, or at least there’s hope for us.”

“Oh,” I ask, my attention piqued. “Why is that?”

“Because you’re starting to trust me.”

25

Charlotte

19 Days until the Council Meeting

“We have a problem with the protest,” Aidan remarks right after I open the Save The Library Committee meeting.

Our committee has grown again since the last meeting. Georgie of Little Bennett’s and Spike, who owns the record store, Drum Roll Please, are present. The leaders of the local Scout Troop emailed me this morning and promised to attend our next meeting.

“What kind of problem?” I ask. I pick up the thermos of cinnamon herbal tea that Aidan brought for me and take a sip. It seems like every time I see him he brings me some sort of tea.

If he keeps this up I’m going to start salivating when I see him.

He takes in a bit of air. “Our permit was denied.” He is met with a chorus of groans and dismay. “The county is repaving the road in front of the county offices, and they aren’t letting anyone on the property that day. They told me we could apply to protest about a month later, since there is going to be a summer festival there the following week, a leadership conference the week afterward, and a Fourth of July ceremony after that.”

I press my lips together.

Johnny answers before I do. “So, we could protest after the budget is finalized and the county has closed our library?”

“That’s, unfortunately, is correct.”

Georgie leans back in his chair. “That kind of defeats the point of protesting, doesn’t it?”

Karen shakes her head in dismay. “But I want to have my Jane Fonda moment.”

Johnny reaches over and pats her back. “There, there. We’ll find another location to protest, and then you can set something on fire or punch a police horse and get yourself arrested. Or maybe we’ll just take a trip to DC and protest something there.”

I let out a sigh. “No one is going to DC, and we all agreed that no one was going to get arrested.” I open my mouth and tilt my head. “What is it with your obsession to get arrested, anyways?”

Karen shrugs. “I’m retired and have lots of free time. I was very law-abiding citizen as a young woman, and I feel like I missed out on a lot. What is it you young people say? YOLOFOMO? I don’t know what it means but I want to live it.”

Trying not to roll my eyes, I reply, “YOLO means ‘you only live once’ while FOMO means ‘fear of missing out.’ So, you are using it in the correct context.” I tap my pen against my notepad. “I don’t think we can reschedule the protest. We’ve got too many people committed to coming. We need an alternate location. One that will get us some visibility with at least the public and won’t require us to get a lot of permits.” My gaze travels to each person. “Any ideas?”

Nicole shifts in her seat. “Well, we already ruled out the library last time. Somewhere else around town, perhaps?”

“That hill overlooking Wickersville Road and Main Street?” Johnny muses. “We’ll get traffic with the people who live here. And the tourists driving in.”

“That’s a state road, and we’d have to deal with the state in order to set up there,” Spike adds, running a hand through their spiky blue hair.

“What about the town square?” Nicole suggests, slapping her hands against her knees. “We can set up on the other side of the Farmers’ Market, and we’ll get lots of interest from those people, and maybe additional customers for the businesses. Win-win for everyone.”