Page 86 of His Curvy Distraction

We were less than a month to the first fundraiser for the campground, and I was seeing more and more about it around town. I was determined to do whatever I needed to do to make sure it was a success. Including reaching out to Goldie Spear to check with her on the progress.

Five minutes before my meeting with Goldie was scheduled, Jane buzzed me through the intercom.

“Mr. Mayor, your next appointment is here.”

“Thank you, Jane. She can come right in.”

A knock on the door proceeded Goldie as I stood to greet her.

She approached quickly, her hand extended to shake mine. “Good to see you, Omar.”

“You, too, Goldie. I hope things are going well. Patrick seems to be doing well.”

“We are both good. Thank you. And the tourism department is running as designed. We have a lot of events planned for the summer, and we’re really excited about the fundraiser.”

“I know it’s not within your normal job, but I appreciate you helping out.”

“We’re all happy to. My son worked at the summer camp last year. He adores Natalie. He’s really excited about the idea of moving to the campground. Not that he remembers the campground, but he can imagine the fun things Natalie will come up with.”

“She seems pretty amazing at what she does.”

“She is. And if you’re looking for me to tell you something else, you’re asking the wrong person.”

“What do you mean? Why would I be asking for you to tell me something else?”

“Can I be honest, Omar?”

“Please.”

Goldie took a second, gathering her thoughts. Her blonde hair hung long and loose, tumbling when she moved her head to focus on me once more. “Natalie is a friend. I really like her. I was happy to help her out because I believe in what she’s doing. I think you feel the same, but I also know things between you two didn’t start out that great. I was surprised when Jane called and asked to meet, especially when she said you wanted to know about the fundraiser. Natalie has it well in hand. She’s very organized and methodical. I trust her completely with this. And I’m not sure if you’re asking me about it because you don’t trust her or if there’s another reason, but I’m not going to tell you she’s not doing what she’s supposed to do.”

I leaned back in my chair and absorbed what Goldie said. I laughed softly. “You’re right. I apologize. I know how nervous she’s been about the fundraiser. She didn’t want to do it, and she doesn’t tell me much unless I ask directly because of the conflict of interest.”

“Conflict of interest? Because you’re dating?” Goldie asked, leaning forward and resting her forearm on my desk.

“No, not that. If I’d had a bigger budget for the summer camp, she wouldn’t have needed to do a fundraiser. She made a joke about it, and I got defensive.”

“Ah, I see. So you’re trying to get information out of me because you don’t want her to fall flat on her face but you can’t ask her.”

I chuckled. “Pretty much, yeah.”

“Well, I think that’s sweet, but it’s unnecessary. For one, Natalie is amazing. For another, you should just ask her. She’s probably avoiding talking about it for the same reason, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t.”

“You’re right. And I’m being ridiculous.”

“No, you’re not. You have a lot going on. Speaking of, how are you?”

“I’m fine. What do you mean?”

Her brows shot high. “The article from today? And the last two.”

“Today? I didn’t see one from today.” I unlocked my computer and pulled up the paper.

“It’s not online. Print only.”

“What? I didn’t know that was possible.”

“It’s in the free paper they have out in boxes. I brought it. I figured you were going to ask me about that.”

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