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"I'll protect you."
She smiled but looked at her lap. "I know you will."
He opened his door and stepped down to the ground, then hurried around and opened Everleigh's door. He held his hand out to her and she waved him away. "I thought we weren't supposed to act like we're together."
"I can still use my manners." He hissed.
She complied and he squeezed her fingers slightly then let them go as they moved slowly toward Craig.
A group of kids, around eight, nine, or ten years old were working in a circle. It looked like they were processing vegetables. Peeling potatoes and chopping carrots.
Another group of younger children were being taught how to wash clothes. Everleigh's intake of breath caused him to turn to her. "Don't react."
"But they should be in school. Not laboring away."
"Don't react." His voice was especially stern.
Craig refused to look at them as they approached which he thought was incredibly rude. But Craig was Craig and there was no dealing with him and his bad behavior. Hopefully this would be over soon.
He approached Craig. "Craig Howard, this is Everleigh Hayes, the negotiator."
Craig turned his head. The up and down look he gave Everleigh made him want to pluck his eyes out. Slowly. Painfully.
Everleigh held her hand out to shake, but Craig refused to shake it. Everleigh sat across the table from him, folded her hands on her notebook and waited.
They sat in silence for what felt like a long time and finally, Gerard Weston and his son, Jasiah, entered the meeting area. They were more cordial. Gerard held his hand out to Everleigh and shook it. Jasiah did the same. They introduced themselves and Gerard asked Everleigh if she'd like tea. She smiled and said she'd love some.
The smirk Craig made gave Henry the impression he wanted her to have tea, which in turn caused Henry to intercept the tea and leave it on an empty table behind her. Myles carried a small pack and opened it up and pulled a cold water bottle out for Everleigh. She smiled then nodded.
Opening her laptop, and notebook, she started asking questions.
"Mr. Howard. I've recently met with the sheriff, the mayor, and the town council to get their ideas of what they'd like out of these negotiations. I'm here today to ask what you'd like from them."
Craig slowly turned his head and stared directly into her eyes. To Everleigh's credit, she didn't flinch, which made him so fucking proud of her. "I want the whole lot to go away and leave us alone. I don't want to pay taxes. I don't want my people to blend with theirs. I don't want our kids going to school. We're fine the way we are."
Everleigh wrote on her notebook, then typed in her laptop. She glanced at Gerard, "Mr. Weston, what do you want from these negotiations?"
Gerard folded his hands together and looked into Everleigh's eyes. "I'd like us to have a fair and equitable dividing of our responsibilities and theirs. We understand there are taxes due and some of our members have already found jobs in town. We'll start paying, but not until some utilities are brought up the mountain. If we pay our taxes, there's no enticement for the town to actually bring the utilities up here and we've lost our leverage."
Everleigh continued to type. "We'd like water brought up first. Then, electricity. In the future, we'd like the ability to have our own medical clinic up here so our people don't have to travel down so far, and our babies can be born up here. And, we have some talented people up here. Construction, carvers, bakers, artists, and more. We'd like them to be able to open their businesses up here if they want and not have to travel down to town. In the winter, the roads are treacherous, and it would be nice if the women didn't have to make the trip."
Everleigh smiled, "Isn't that possible now?"
"Who will come up here?"
"We can't force the townspeople to come up here. From what I'm told the biggest deterrent to them coming up here is the feeling they aren't safe. Only you can change that."
Gerard looked at Craig, the scowl on his face visible from a mile away. "Yes. I completely understand that."
"Have any of your people been harmed in town?" Everleigh asked.
Jasiah shook his head. "No. Actually right now we have five men working on a farm and they've said, while it was a bit rough in the beginning, they get along with everyone and the farmer is respectful and nice. We have Kent working in a computer shop and he likes it. A couple of the women have found cleaning jobs and they seem happy. And a couple of our women are working at the flower shop in town and they are happy."
Craig turned toward Jasiah. "How do you fucking know a damned thing?"
"Because I personally spoke to them to find out."
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