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“I don’t doubt it,” she said. “I’ve heard nothing but praise about Potter Landscaping from my neighbors.”
“That’s good to hear.” I hesitated. “May I ask you a question?”
“Go ahead.”
“Why did you originally go to Riverton for your landscaping needs? I’m curious if there’s some aspect of service they offer that we don’t.”
“Nothing like that,” she said. “When you’re an elected official, you walk a careful line between supporting your town and not wanting to be accused of having special interests or favoring one local business over another. When we first bought the house, All Seasons Lawn and Tree Care was still in business.”
“And our competitor,” I said with a nod. “You didn’t want to choose.”
“Exactly.”
“All due respect, Mayor, but I think if you’d asked us or All Seasons, we’d have preferred you chose one of us—even if it meant losing out to a competitor—rather than see your business leave town altogether.”
“You’re probably right about that,” she said. “I’m going to consider that the next time I have a choice like that to make. I care about Granville, and above all, I want its businesses to succeed.”
“Well, I appreciate your consideration now,” I said. “Thank you.”
We parted ways, and I headed for the truck, feeling confident about my presentation but a little worried I might have put off the mayor by questioning her choices. This was why Wes was the client charmer, and I was the guy who did the research and planning. I’d just have to hope my landscaping plans really were impressive enough to win her over.
We needed all the wins with Dad that we could get.
CHAPTER11
WES
Beckett swungby to pick me up at the end of the workday, our shifts too off-balance to share a lunch break. We’d stayed in touch via texting, so he knew exactly how much I’d suffered through Paul Minner’s rambling, and I knew he felt pretty good about the presentation with Mayor Michaels. I’d saved the best news for seeing each other face-to-face though.
I hopped into the truck and held out my fist. “Way to bring it home today.”
“You mean…”
“You locked down the mayor,” I confirmed.
He tapped knuckles with me. “Hell yeah, I knew you’d close her for me.”
I scoffed. “She was already closed. She loved how knowledgeable you were. We definitely made the right choice, sending you over there.”
“I guess so,” he said, almost shyly.
He was always so modest, as if he didn’t know his value. So I amped it up a bit. “We’re killing it out there! I had to say it. I don’t even care if it jinxes us.”
Beckett chuckled, sounding pleased, and shifted the truck into drive. “I’m not going to argue.”
“Good.” I rested my arm on the window sill, feeling content. Today had been a good day. Beckett seemed more at peace too. Maybe Andi pushing us into the same bed hadn’t been all bad, not if it helped Beck trust me and my intentions to respect his boundaries.
“Actually…” Beck said.
“Hmm?”
Beckett flicked a quick glance toward me but quickly refocused on the road. His hands tightened on the steering wheel just enough to send a flash of foreboding through me.
“I did some research on the divorce issue.”
“Oh, did you find a lawyer out of town? I don’t know when we can make time to get over there, but—”
“No, actually.”
