Page 3 of His Curvy Distraction

A knock on my office door brought me out of the latest attempt to find the man who took the picture. I called out for Jane, my assistant, to enter.

“Mr. Mayor, you have a visitor. Ms. Rucker from the community center asked if you’re available.”

I nodded and waved for Jane to let Amelia in. Amelia and I had worked together on a few projects and I found her to be friendly and as much of an advocate for the center as she was the kids it served.

“Good morning, Amelia. How are you?” I asked, standing and extending my hand to her. A man I didn’t recognize followed her into my office.

“I apologize for barging in, Omar, but Harry stopped by this morning and I wanted to make sure we spoke to you about his proposal.”

I smiled at Amelia and Harry, curious about what the man had to say. He appeared close to sixty with a sprinkle of gray hair at his temples that circled the back of his head. He wore faded jeans and a flannel shirt, a nod to the chilly winter that sank into the area over the last few weeks.

“Nice to meet you, Harry. What can I do for you?”

“You, too, Mr. Mayor. Um, so I went to see Amelia, and she insisted we come straight here. I didn’t realize this was such a big deal.” Harry glanced at Amelia, who grinned widely at him.

“Tell Omar what you told me. About the campground.”

Campground? They definitely had my curiosity piqued.

“I own the property where Mountain View Campground used to be. It hasn’t been open in a while, a decade maybe?” Harry looked at Amelia to confirm, and she nodded. “Anyway, my wife and I held on to the property, trying to decide what to do with it. We had plans, but we’re getting older, and now we’re moving away, leaving the cold behind and heading out west to where our kids live, but we love MacKellar Cove. We loved having kids up at the campground, and families, and we hate the idea of it just being destroyed and sold to some developer who will ruin everything the place used to be. You know?”

I nodded. It didn’t happen as often in MacKellar Cove, but it still happened. The area was beautiful, but relatively untouched. Perfect for the right developer, and keeping them out of the area and maintaining the quaint, small-town feel was important.

“My wife and I want to donate the campground. Thought it would be a great place for the community center to use. I suggested summer camp, and Amelia got really excited.”

My brows shot up. A former campground as a summer camp? It definitely sounded perfect.

“What I was thinking,” Amelia said, “was we could relocate the new program that Natalie Edwards started up last summer. She did all the outdoor stuff, and her camp was massively popular with the older kids. She wanted to expand, but she’s at the community center, so there’s not a lot of space. But if she took over the campground, she could take a lot more kids, and we could expand what we do at the community center.”

My mind stalled on Natalie’s name, and it took me a minute to catch the rest of what Amelia said. “Is there a need for that?”

Amelia nodded, her smile fading. “We’ve already had some families reach out. It’s more than six months to summer, but the parents who work full-time need options. We had to turn some away last year, and a lot of them had to find spots in other programs out of town.”

“That’s not what we want.”

Amelia shook her head. “No, it’s not. But there’s only so much we can do. With this property, we can do more.”

“Have you spoken to Ms. Edwards about it?”

Amelia shook her head again. “No. I wanted to speak to you first. Make sure you were okay with it. It’s a big plan, and since Natalie’s camp is under our umbrella, it’s a town program. She has her own budget under the community center since she’s fulfilling a part of our need, but she falls under my cost center. There’s no way we can afford all the work Harry said it needs.”

And there it was. The reason they came to me. Money.

“I know, I know,” Amelia said. “There’s no budget. I get it. But this will pay for itself. And since Harry wants to donate the property, all we need to pay for are the repairs and updates.”

I nodded. It was the best deal around. Free land. But if it cost more to update it than we had available, and more than we could get back out of it, did it make sense? “What does the property look like?” I asked Harry.

“It’s just over five acres. There were hookups for thirty campers, but they’re all disconnected. Need to be removed, though. There’s an old camper we used as an office that’s in okay shape. It’s not pretty, but it’s functional. Needs to be cleaned probably since no one’s been there in a long time. There’s a lot of recreation space. A pool that hasn’t been open in a while but was okay when it was last used, sand volleyball court, and basketball court and whatever other games. A few other things you might want to remove.”

“Like?”

“Fire pits, driving paths, picnic tables. There’s no water access, which is why the pool is there. It was fenced, but the fence is not up to code and needs to be replaced. The road in and out is gravel. It’s… The land is the value, Mr. Mayor. I’m not going to stand here and tell you I’m giving you a prime piece of real estate. It’s in rough shape. But I think it could be great. I think it will be great.”

The smile on Amelia’s face told me she agreed. It was going to be a big job, and one that had the potential to cost more than it was worth. If I agreed, it was something that could define my campaign. Something that could win me the election, or something that could sink my chances faster than a failing pool.

But without risk, there was no reward. And this risk was almost as big as the reward had the potential to be.

“I think it can be great, too.”

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