Page 13 of Broken Boundaries

He laughs. “Since I saw you last week? No, ma’am. Still married to the ranch.”

“Well, honey. Your face ain’t gonna be this pretty forever. You better find someone right quick.”

He laughs again. “Noted. Is Eli around? Here on official holiday business.”

“He is. Let me make sure he’s available.” Dorothy picks up her phone while we wait.

When she hangs up, she looks at us and nods. “You can go on in.”

“Thank you, ma’am. Oh, and Ms. Dorothy? This is my new assistant, Aspen. You’ll be seeing her around.”

I wave awkwardly as she greets me when I pass her desk and follow Brooks down a hallway. I am on sensory overload these last few days, meeting so many new people. I have no idea how I’m going to remember them all.

Brooks doesn’t bother knocking as he walks into an office at the end of the hall. A man, who I assume is Eli Cunningham, stands behind his desk.

“Brooks! Good to see you. Ah, this must be Aspen.”

I step around Brooks and reach my hand out. “Yes, Mayor Cunningham. It’s nice to meet you.”

He smiles at me as he shakes my hand. “You as well.”

He’s younger than I expected. Maybe I just assume all mayors are old, I don’t know. But he looks like he’s about Brooks’s age. He’s wearing a suit, which is the first one I’ve seen in Blue Haven.

He releases my hand and gives Brooks a strange look, to which Brooks responds with an annoyed eye roll. I have no idea what the hell is going on, so I just stand there feeling (and probably looking) very out of place.

Brooks grabs a check from his pocket and puts it on the mayor’s desk. I couldn’t believe the amount of money the town is requesting from him. Zach has never mentioned how much money his dad has, but from the number on that check, I can safely assume he’s doing pretty well financially. Which makes me wonder why Zach and I were living in a shitty one-bedroom apartment in a questionable neighborhood in Atlanta when he could’ve just asked his dad for a little help. I would’ve asked my parents if I knew where the hell they were.

“Thanks, Brooks. The town appreciates you.”

“Yeah, yeah. If you need anything else, call Aspen,” Brooks announces as he turns to leave the office. This was a faster trip than I was anticipating.

“Do you have a piece of paper? I can write down my phone number.” Eli grabs a stack of Post-It notes from his very tidy desk and hands them to me with a pen. I quickly write down my number and wave goodbye before I jog after Brooks, who didn’t bother waiting.

“What took so long?” he asks when I finally catch up to him.

“It was like five seconds. And I had to give him my phone number,” I explain. I thought that would’ve been obvious.

Brooks stops walking and looks at me. “You gave him your number?”

What? Did he forget the last thing he said? “You just told him to call me if he needs anything.”

“He can call the desk at the ranch.”

“Ok, and what if I’m not at the desk? It’s just easier. We should probably exchange numbers, too. Just in case,” I suggest.

“Yeah, probably.” He unlocks his phone and hands it to me. Alright, I guess we’re doing this now. I put in my number and then send myself a text so I have his.

As I’m handing him his phone, someone comes up behind Brooks and claps him on the shoulder.

“Brooks Calloway. How the hell are ya?”

I look behind him to see a sheriff decked out in all his gear.

“Donovan,” Brooks greets him.

“What are you doing here?”

“Chattin’ with Cunningham. You here to file some more useless citations?”