Page 189

“It’s hard not to.” He sat next to me. “What’s going on?”

I shook my head. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Don’t try to hide things from me.” Gabriel’s voice was flat. “We said we would be different this time.”

“We are. We’re communicating.”

“You’re upset about something and you’re keeping it to yourself. That’s what you’ve always done.”

I blinked. I wasn’t expecting to get called out, but he was right.

“Hugh sold his land.”

“Thank you, I—wait, he did what?” His voice was harsher now.

“Yeah. A developer approached him about it. He needed the money.”

“So he sold it to someone random? What about the grant? I’m sure they would have bought it!”

I sighed. “He doesn’t trust it. He never has.”

“It had to be better than this.”

“That grant owns most of the town. A stranger has managed to take over nearly all the upper apartments and the square. Yes, they seem nice now, but will that always last?”

He paused. “I guess you guys aren’t sure about that.”

“Of course we’re not. What if this person gets the idea that they want to develop us? They can do it, no questions asked.”

“But they don’t seem interested, they⁠—”

“Does it matter?” I shook my head. “They’re not involved in this. They don’t know about it and they won’t.”

“Then what are you doing?”

“What I can. I’m opposing this at every turn. I’m making a plan.”

“What plan?”

“To protest. To go to every town meeting and fuck this up.” I growled the last part. “This is an email planning to go to everyone in town.”

“Not the Facebook group?”

“I bet that fucker has spies in there,” I muttered. “It can’t be trusted until all the other accounts are removed.”

“You’re removing accounts?”

I blinked. My voice came out hard. “Why do you care?”

That seemed to get him out of his thoughts. “I . . . It’s the spring.”

“You care about it?” I asked.

“You do.”

I was tempted to push him. To get him to admit he also cared.

But I shoved myself out of it.