Page 32 of His Curvy Distraction

“I’m not suing anyone,” Natalie said softly. “I was the one who went out there alone. I won’t do it again.”

I got the feeling it was an argument they’d been having and that my presence was simply so Amelia had someone else on her side.

“Now that we have that settled,” I said, attempting to bring the conversation back around, “what is your plan for the fundraiser?”

“We’re going to hold it at O’Kelley’s. Natalie has been in touch with some locals, including Goldie Spear, Hudson Grant, and Trent MacKellar. She’s working with Daisy Lincoln to come up with some plans.”

“What do you need from me?”

“More money?” Amelia suggested.

“I walked right into that one. Anything else?”

“If you were willing to put in an appearance at the fundraiser, I think it would help. Telling the town you support the efforts will help to make it a success.”

“What is your goal with the fundraiser?”

“We have three goals. The first will be to bring in the rest of the money required to do phase one of the work on the campground. Natalie insists she’s going to finish digging out the campsite connections, but I’m not sure it’s possible. At some point, we will need a professional. The tree on the basketball court is something my son said he can take care of. Cleaning up the volleyball court is also easy. The pool is the big thing. The money from the town is going to go toward making the pool safe. The building will be phase one-point-five because we both feel it’s necessary, but it’s way outside the budget. Ideally, that’s what the fundraiser will help with.”

“That’s two goals,” I said. “The electric and pool, then the building. What’s the third?”

Amelia looked at Natalie.

Natalie’s eyes went big, but Amelia didn’t back down. Finally, Natalie opened her mouth. “Scholarships.”

“Excuse me? I thought this was going to make money for the town, not cost us money.”

“Yes, but there are families who can’t afford camp. Parents who have to work in order to pay for their kids to have food, which means the kids can’t go to camp so they’re home alone all day. Ten percent of the students in MacKellar Cove Central School District get free lunch from the state. Another ten percent get reduced price lunch. These families don’t have the money to pay for camp, so the kids are slipping through the cracks. A scholarship would give some families the chance to have their kids at a safe place for the summer and know they are being fed and cared for.”

“How many scholarships do you want to have?”

“I have a donor who agreed to three already. I’d like to start with ten. I want more, eventually, but ten would be great.”

“Done.”

“Excuse me?” Natalie said. She looked at Amelia, then back at me. “What do you mean?”

“I will pay for the other seven scholarships personally. The only requirement is that no one knows they came from me.”

“You can’t… why… how… Mr. Mayor?”

“The money you raise needs to go toward getting the camp set up. We can set up a separate scholarship fund through the town and have people donate to that outside of the fundraiser.”

“You would do that?” Natalie asked. She looked at me like she did the day I kissed her. Like I wasn’t the man she thought I was. Like there was more to me.

I nodded. She worked for me, so I had to stop any hope that things between us could be different. “I would. And I will. We have a charitable contributions chairperson, and I will be in touch with her later today about what needs to be done. Having it go through here also means you won’t have the task of choosing which students should get the scholarships.”

The relief on her face with those words told me it was the biggest worry she had. “Thank you, Mr. Mayor.”

“I think maybe it’s time you called me Omar.”

Her gaze snagged on mine and held. The way her chest rose and fell slowly said she was just as trapped in the moment as I was. “Omar,” she whispered.

Amelia cleared her throat, and Natalie snapped out of the trance that held us both.

“Um, and you should call me Natalie.”

“As you wish, Natalie.”

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