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Blaire’s cheeks reddened, and she immediately put the menu back on the table.
“Not really. I just picked up the menu out of habit.”
Before I could comment, Nancy stepped back up to the table, bringing with her two glasses of ice water and straws.
“Guess I’m playing double duty tonight. I’ll be serving y’all as well. Can I get you started with something to drink?”
“Sauvignon Blanc, please,” Blaire replied, handing her menu over and then immediately grabbing one of the straws Nancy had put on the table, continuing to keep her hands busy and her eyes away from mine.
“I’ll have a draft beer please, an IPA, whatever you have on tap,” handing my menu over too, deciding to follow Blaire’s lead on not ordering any food, keeping things just to the drink she had agreed to. That way, either of us could make a quick escape, though I was surprised to find I didn’t want to be anywhere else at this moment.
“I’ll have those right out,” Nancy smiled, bounding over to the serving station to put in our orders before heading to the bar to shoot the breeze with the bartender.
“So,” I started, “that meeting was really something, wasn’t it?”
Blaire snorted out a laugh before burying her face in her hands. “Oh my goodness, it was a total fucking disaster,” she groaned before lifting her face to meet my eyes. “I had imagined a million different ways that town hall could have gone. A lot of them were negative, but none of them were that bad. I thought we were going to have a full-out brawl on our hands before you stepped in and silenced them.” She swallowed. “Thanks for that, by the way...you know, for taking charge and cutting them off before it got even more out of hand.”
It was my turn to avoid her eyes. I took a long sip of water before responding.
“It was nothing. I didn’t want to be liable if Mrs. Krazinsky had a heart attack right there in the community center and she was transported to the county hospital by Holly Ridge EMS services. I never would have heard the end of it.”
Something flickered across Blaire’s face as she digested my response. But before I had a chance to investigate any further, Nancy was back with our drinks. “One glass of wine, one IPA, both nice and cold for you kids!” Nancy sing-songed. “Just flag me down if you need another round or decide you want to put in a food order.”
Blaire and I both took several quick swallows of our drinks as Nancy walked away.
“What if we did the next two town halls as virtual webinars?” I suggested. “We could host the next one on the Winterberry Glen account and the final on Holly Ridge’s account, so it still fulfills the hosting terms laid out from the beginning, but then we have some control and moderation over the questions and outbursts?”
I watched as Blaire considered this.
“That’s actually a pretty good idea,” Blaire admitted. “If this was pre-pandemic, I would be worried about access and user knowledge, but everyone knows how to video conference at this point, plus we won’t have to worry about muting and unmuting if it’s webinar style.”
“Okay, great.” I responded, ignoring the warmth in my chest at Blaire saying I had a good idea. That had to be the IPA setting in.
“I’ll get one of our summer interns set up for moderating the Q&A section for the next town hall since that’s ours to host, and we can circle back on how that goes before you host again this fall.”
“Sounds good,” Blaire affirmed, tucking her long, brown hair behind her ear.
“So, with that out of the way, can I ask you something? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, but I can’t say I haven’t wondered a lot over the past few months. It’s clear you hate Holly Ridge and the festival, which isn’t that unusual for someone from Winterberry Glen, but what is unusual is that I don’t get a ton of hometown pride from you. Why are you still in this area, working for the town, if you don’t love it here?”
I can’t say I was surprised that Blaire managed to suss this out about me. She was far too observant for my comfort level. What did surprise me was that she felt comfortable asking me. I thought it was clear I preferred to shut down personal conversations. She must have been feeling her own warmth from her almost empty glass of wine. What surprised me even more was that I wanted to give her some sort of answer.
I spoke slowly, trying to decide how much of myself to give away to this woman.
“My mom still lives in town. I’ve always thought that numbers made sense, and I interned with the Winterberry Glen government in college. When a job opened up the summer after I graduated, it...made sense to stay.”
Blaire nodded, processing and seeming to accept this explanation as all she would likely get on that for now.
“Okay, and then the festival oversight? What made you agree to take that on when the state audit office called?”
“Well,” I responded, “it’s not like I had much choice in the matter when they called.”
I wasn’t sure I wanted Blaire to know about the job offer. Why? I wasn’t sure about that either. But before I had too long to think about it, I was saved by Nancy.
“Another round for you kids tonight?” Nancy asked, stopping by with her tray propped on her hip.
Blaire and I made eye contact, and I shook my head no. Blaire nodded her head in agreement and said, “Just the checks, please!”
Nancy smiled.
