Page 35 of No Good Deed

“I don’t know if you’d want a slogan or tagline for the town. But I came up with Phail Better and Phail Forward. Welcome to Phail, where we don’t and Without Phail. I ran out of ideas after that, but I’m sure you can come up with something better.”

Troy pulled her in for another kiss. “We often use Phail Better because of that Samuel Beckett quote. For now, I’d say that one, but I like the idea of having input from the town. You’re amazing. Show me what else you got.”

The following slide showed photos of other small towns that she’d pulled off the internet. In each photo, the town was showcasing a theme. Christmas, Independence Day, Valentines, summer, frogs, and more. “These aren’t of Phail, but they show an easy way for the town to pull together and create theme days or months. If everyone puts out similar flower pots in the summer, it ties the whole area together. Same with adding banners to the light posts, or snowmen outside each shop.”

Troy leaned back on his stool. “That’s so simple. I bet everyone would get behind that idea.”

She nodded. “None of it would cost much money at all, especially when you have some creative people in the area.”

Warmth filled him as he studied the screen. He could see how easy it would be to improve the town visually with these ideas. She had a few similar pages and a list of themes and decorative ideas on another. Not only were these easy changes that would have a big effect, they showed Piper understood the town and its people. “I love it all. I bet you even have polls set up for picking themes and decorations.”

Her laugh filled him up too and he had to kiss her again. “Anything else? Or is that everything?”

She grimaced a bit at that. “Those things so far are pretty low cost. You’d need to build the website and find hosting for it. Make a decorating committee and get town input. Some of my other ideas aren’t quite so cheap to implement.”

He nodded. “I figured that. Tell me what you’re thinking.”

“The first thing I considered were festivals and fairs. Do you have any already?”

“We do one in the late summer. It has kids’ rodeo stuff, artisan and food booths. Music by local artists, too.”

Her face lit up. “That’s perfect. It would be easy to tweak what you already do with logos and slogans once the town decides things. How about a Christmas festival? Do you have any town traditions for that?”

Huh. “Not a damn one.”

“There are still a few weeks before Christmas. We could make a town tree and have a tree lighting. Bloo Moose has a Merry MooseMas Days festival with fun events like obstacle courses and snowman building contests. I’m sure we can put together a few low-cost events. Then each year you can grow it if it works.”

“I like it.” Even if he’d have preferred her to say we can grow it as opposed to you. He wanted her here in the future. Wanted her to stay.

To distract himself from demanding she move in with him permanently after only knowing him for days, he asked. “That’ll be fun. And none of that is high in money. You’ve made me curious. What else are you thinking? And does it involve a splash pad?”

A pretty flush covered her cheeks as she clicked to another new page. This one had an aerial view of the town.

Piper pointed at Phail Way and the spot almost directly across from Phail General. “I think the town needs a few spots for residents to gather. The old saloon attached to Doc’s is an obvious one if you can get someone to set up business there. It’s central, and a bar or restaurant would also be great to pull in more people from nearby towns as well.”

Her words stirred something within Troy. An idea that had been niggling in the back of his mind for months. One that might just pull his team together. Give them a project to work on right here in Phail.

Piper tapped another area. “You’ve told me no one uses this group of buildings and they’ve been empty for a while.”

He nodded. “A few people tried different businesses, but nothing has stuck.” And the empty storefronts reminded him of that failure every time he walked outside his store.

Piper took a deep breath. “I haven’t seen the land behind it, but if you tore down these buildings, there should be a fairly large space there for a central park for the town. This park has a ton of potential, and there are dozens of ways to use the space, but I don’t know what’s under all that snow out there.”

Tear down part of Phail’s history? “A park?”

She tilted her head. “I know taking down buildings isn’t something you’d probably want to do, but I wanted to mention the option. A park could incorporate a lot of things. A walking or jogging path that would meander through it and to various ponds and creeks throughout the woods beyond. A few play areas for kids. Maybe a scavenger hunt theme for those Phail mascots or native flora and fauna. A gazebo for outdoor music or events. An outdoor screen for town movies. A softball field. And, of course, a splash pad.”

Piper clicked through a few slides, showing him her visions. It was all incredibly well done, even if it overwhelmed his brain.

Troy shook his head and stared at her. “How did this even occur to you? I’ve looked at those buildings and seen nothing but failure for years.”

Her eyes softened, and she took his hand. “I can’t tell you how to feel, Troy, but as an outsider looking in, I haven’t seen a single sign of failure in this town.”

His heart filled again, and he tucked her into his side as he looked back at the screen. “Show me again.”

CHAPTER 13

Up To No Good

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