Page 29 of I Love a Good Challenge

I shake my head, but before I can get out a protest, Clark lifts his hand.

“All in favor,” he says.

No one raises a hand. In the brief time I’ve lived here, it is clear this town loves Liam and his cat too much to do anything that would hinder him from making the supposedly viral videos I have yet to see. I’m intrigued, though, and make a mental note to look up his account, especially since I’m going to need to ask him if I can guest star in one of his posts. Gladys told me that he might be starting a merch line soon.

“Next order of business,” Clark continues. “We’ve spotted a seal lingering near the river's edge for the past week. The rescue station for marine animals has been called. They are happy to report they believe the little one is doing well. Now, all we need to do is name her.”

“I’m sorry, what? How did we end up here from LA?” I mumble the words just loud enough for the seats around me to hear.

From beside me, Rafe just grins at my question and tips his shoulder as if to ask if I can believe how great this scene is. I feel as if I’ve entered a portal to another world. The individual with the gavel should definitely be examined—and the rest of the town too, for going along with it.

“All in favor of Carol?” Clark suggests.

A few hands lift about the space. I don’t know whether to be horrified or impressed that not only are people voting, but they already know the meeting agenda enough to have an opinion on the name they’re voting for.

“All in favor of Louise?”

A flurry of hands fly up, with the exception of mine. Before I can register what’s happening, Lily’s arm wraps around my sleeve. She lifts my hand high in the air.

“If you’re here, you have to vote,” she demands.

I refrain from rolling my eyes, but only just barely. Between the effect of her proximity on my head and the fact that I can now add voting for a wild seal’s name to my life experience, I’m waiting for a UFO sighting to be reported next.

Clark lifts both palms in the air in a swaying, conductor-of-a-symphony-orchestra motion. “Louise, it is! Oh, Louise and Clark, how grand!” he yells to the accompaniment of a few laughs and a whooping noise in the corner as he writes the name on a rolling chalkboard beside him. The chalk piece taps a staccato rhythm. I’m picturing all the ways this town would go viral if word of this got out. Birch Borough could pen a TV show with the cast of characters around me. I would make sure I managed the contract somehow, of course.

“It’s Lewis and Clark,” I reply under my breath. As I say the words, I lean back in the chair. My movement causes the seat piece to fly up, nearly knocking me backward. The pitch in the back has me at a strange angle that my spine is having a hard time adjusting to. That’s what I get for letting my all-too-literal side out in public.

“He should go exploring to find out,” Lily mouths in return. She takes a satisfying bite from a chocolate cupcake that she somehow snuck into Town Hall. She pulls a second one from a to-go box tucked beneath my seat and passes it to Grey from the bookstore, who is sitting in the row behind us.

“Honestly.” Clark directs the word sharply toward us, his alarmingly bushy eyebrows lifting at the horror that people are eating during his town meeting. Lily takes an extra-large bite of the cupcake just to throw him off and grins when he shifts his attention to me.

It’s ironic how deeply I fell for Lily, considering she is the opposite of me—usually slightly disheveled, always speaking her mind, fiery in the best of ways. She’s wild and free and always wears black.

I’m analytical, an overthinker, value my alone time (though Lily is welcome to intrude), and keep my true feelings close to my chest. But from the day we met in the movie theater, and she asked if I was British because I looked to her like a man she’d find walking across the English countryside, I knew it was love. As much as she used to drive me crazy, I know Lily saw me. As much as she teased me, she also grounded me. As much as she used her wit against my defenses, she helped me view the world differently. She made me a better man.

She’s still making me a better man, even though she doesn’t know she still affects me now. I may have been successful at my previous job in corporate law, but it wasn’t fulfilling. Before moving to Birch Borough, I knew a change was needed. While I won’t say my encounter with Lily was entirely to blame, I will say that I started to lose my passion for my work around the time we met. After our version of a meet-cute in LA, I realized I wasn’t living. I was getting a paycheck and beating my own record of winning cases and making investments, but I was alone. Everything felt . . . empty.

When I met Lily, that all shifted. A greater sense of purpose entered my life. I knew then the “why” behind all my decisions to be a better man than my father. It wasn’t only for me; it was so I could be the man she needed. The man she could depend on. Suddenly, the accolades and security associated with my job didn’t matter as much if I wasn’t happy. I felt like there had to be a way to make the world better while also improving the state of my inner world.

Even surrounded as I am now by this quirky town that makes my head spin, I wouldn’t trade that truth for anything.

Clark finally stops glaring at us and resumes the meeting. “Next up! Mrs. Fiore’s flowerbeds extend two feet too close to the public park, creeping beyond her property line. The powers that be are concerned that if we don’t address it immediately, others will begin to take advantage of violating our town’s bylaws. However, if we get rid of the flowers, that’s not only wasteful but is also downright irresponsible.” His bushy eyebrows lift in thought. “So, all in favor of keeping the flowerbeds in the event Mrs. Fiore continues to care for them, raise your hands.”

The vast majority raise their hands. Again, I’m wondering if the next order of business is going to be about the price of canned goods going up ten cents at the store or the flag outside of the burger place blowing in people’s faces as they walk past.

“Now, let’s see, let’s see,” Clark continues, bending and staring intently at the notes before him on the folding card table. He doesn’t have a podium, which is making this judicial procession even more of a puzzle.

“I—for one—would like to have them vote on the lawnmower that starts every Saturday morning at eight o’clock,” I admit under my breath.

“Oh, quiet, you,” Lily hisses beside me in a muffled tone. A crinkling noise and the smell of chocolate tell me without looking at her that she’s not only opened a chocolate bar, but she’s also thoroughly enjoying it. “But you’re right. That is annoying,” she concedes.

I’m waiting for the next topic, unnerved by how quickly I have become riveted at the events unfolding tonight, when I see Clark’s eyes searching the room. They land on me.

“Ah, what a shame,” he says. “With Sparrow and Rafe’s wedding coming up,” he begins with a smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes, “another issue has come to light.”

I look at Rafe and Sparrow. Their brows are furrowed. I turn to Lily. Her mouth is hanging open, with her teeth marks evident in the mini candy bar hovering in front of her face.

“What in the . . .” she begins.

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