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“Of course he did. He loves this town.”
“He loves you,” LeRoy said. “Don’t take it for granted. Love is precious.” He glanced toward his boyfriend. “Right, cupcake?”
Eugene blushed but nodded. “It is to me.”
“Aw, you’re so cute it’s disgusting,” Beckett teased.
“I do feel a bit queasy,” I added, before making gagging sounds.
Someone threw a balled napkin at me while Beckett elbowed me in the ribs, which was pretty much par for the course. It wasn’t much of a meal if I didn’t annoy someone.
Tucker chuckled. “All right, I think we’ve covered enough for today. Beckett, can you work up some numbers on the Ball-Sack garden.”
There was a phrase you didn’t hear every day. I didn’t miss the fact that Tucker was asking Beckett, rather than me. It had been Beckett’s idea, and he was the creative force behind Potter Landscaping. I’d accepted that a while ago. But it still made me feel like a pointless accessory at these meetings.
“And then we also need an idea of what sort of investment it would take to improve those side streets. I think the downtown square has to be our primary goal,” Tucker said, “even if not everyone likes it. It’s essential to our growth, and we only decided to improve and expand Beaver Hole because of its proximity to Dix.”
“Dicks,” LeRoy said with a giggle.
Tucker shot him an annoyed look but didn’t allow himself to be sidetracked this time.
“The point of the plan is to grow Granville, and as much as our historic neighborhoods are an important part of our past, we need to look to the future.”
“So why am I working up numbers on the garden proposal?” Beckett asked.
Tucker snorted. “Because knowing my fool husband, he’ll want to foot the bill if the city doesn’t. So we’ll look at all our options and see what we can pull off within our budget.”
“Okay, I’ll work up some plans,” Beckett said.
“I need some idea for the downtown plans too,” Tucker said, sounding apologetic.
“Wes can do those,” Beckett said.
I glanced at him in surprise. He was generally the plan guy, and I was the client whisperer. He’d present landscaping designs, and I’d sell people on working with us. We both obviously put a lot of sweat labor into the business, too, but those were sort of the roles we’d fallen into.
“I can?”
Beckett elbowed me in the gut again. “Don’t play dumb so I have to do all the work. You were your dad’s right hand when we did the Main Street project. You’ve got a lot of experience in that.”
That was true. Beckett had been with Potter Landscaping then too, but he’d been in the process of taking courses at the college in Riverton, so he wasn’t working as much. Plus, Dad had a much larger role back then, actively managing the crew. It was later, after Beckett finished those courses and Dad saw how much he’d learned and what a good team we made, that he stepped back and let us take the lead.
“All right, I’ll work on it,” I said, still a little skeptical. I’d worked up a landscaping plan or two in my time—there was software to help, so it wasn’t too difficult—but it wasn’t my comfort zone.
“Great,” Tucker said, pushing his chair back. “Let me know when you have more info for me. We have a town hall coming up to update the community on the strategic plan, and it’s going to be an utter nightmare.”
I laughed. “Tucker, I didn’t know you were such a drama queen.”
“Just wait until half the town is glaring at you for making choices they don’t like,” he grumbled. But then he smiled. “At least Laurie will be there to have my back.”
“And Iola,” Hunter said with a chuckle. “She can shut down any rabble.”
“Let’s just hope she’s on our side,” Tucker said with a grin. “I don’t ever want to face down that five-foot ball of indignant fury.”
As we all stood, I nudged Beckett. “Why’d you volunteer me to do that? You know I’m not good at that stuff.”
“Bullshit,” Beckett said. “You sell yourself short, but you have tons of experience in this field, Wes. I like landscape design, so I don’t mind doing more, but you’re not incapable of anything.”
“I mean, I’m glad you’re confident…”
