Page 19 of To Have and to Scold

When I heard Mayor Dobbs was buying it after it sat unused for six years, I was happy. I used to hang out there as a kid. It’s like every big, public-facing event in town used to happen at Willow Wood. And though I’m not one to care too much about ceremony, it sorta sticks with you when you get to work on the building that housed your yearly high school basketball and football banquets, school dances, family reunions, and even some family weddings years ago.

Not that I’m a weddings guy. I do not care for them one bit, actually.

Dallas—or Ms. Cardon as I’m suddenly now calling her—frowning and fussing over everything about the venue irked me. I don’t have a problem with strong women. Love them, actually. But I do have a problem with people who stick their noses into my business and try to tell me how to do my job. If you’re a designer? I’ll listen, sure. But a party planner? The structure of the building just isn’t in your wheelhouse.

I didn’t need her to gush over how gorgeous it is…or I guess how gorgeous it will be when I’m done with it. But some respect for the building would have been nice.

I get home from the construction site past six, so I microwave a pot pie, one of those extra unhealthy ones. I didn’t have lunch today because Ms. Cardon’s reaction lit a fire under me, and Ididn’t want to take the time. I’m just running a sponge over my plate under the faucet when Leo walks in.

“Dude. She said yes.”

Leo’s my next-door neighbor. I hired him to work part-time for me this summer at Integrity. Yeah, he’s only sixteen, but he lost his dad to cancer last year and his older siblings have all moved out. He needs something to do besides mowing my lawn and driving his mom crazy.

I give him a high five. “What movie are you going to go see?”

This is the fourth girl he’s asked out since he started dating last year, and he’s always taken them to our one-screen movie theater and out for ice cream.

He slouches into a chair and rests his elbows on the table. “Movie? This is Prom, Beck.”

“Oh. Right.” And then I remember. He was trying to get up the courage to ask his crush. “Wait. She said yes? ‘She’ as in…the‘she’?”

My golden retriever, Ace, is begging for attention from Leo, so he starts scrubbing his snout and head. Leo tips his head back and stares me down. “Ella. Her name is Ella. And yes…she’s the one I’ve been talking about.”

Leo’s father, Byron, was on my city’s adult-league beach volleyball team for years and I haven’t felt quite myself since he died. Leo reminds me so much of him.

I chuckle. “Okay, Casanova. Is she…older than you?

He scowls, his brown eyes narrowing. “She’s in my grade. But it’s different with her.She’sdifferent, you know?”

“I do know.” I nod. An image of Dallas pops in my head. “So where are you taking her?”

Leo gives a wry smile. “That’s whereyoucome in.”

I laugh. “Okay. I like that you’re trusting me on this.” I rub my hands together. “Um. Alright. Let’s think for a minute. You could set up an intimate table on the beach.”

“No.” The way he’s saying it has me guessing he has something completely different in mind.

“Um. You could bring food to the park and have a picnic?”

His eyes get a starry look, one I recognize. It’s the international symbol forHelp. I’m in love…bad.

I remember when I broadcasted that very look when Chloe and I were together. Bad move on my part because when she broke off our engagement, the whole town took it upon themselves to try to heal me.

I quickly realized, after she left, that Chloe wasn’t the right woman for me. We were too different and wanted different things out of life. No amount of reassuring everyone else about that fact worked because I became the town project.

“So you need some ideas on where to take her?”

“This has to be good.” Leo gestures with his hands. “And the other guys in our group don’t know what to do. All they’ve come up with so far is having a big Fortnite playing party.” He grimaces.

“The guys in your group are probably amateurs, Leo. You gotta show them the ropes. Teach them how to take a woman out on a proper date.”

Leo ducks his head. “I was thinking maybe the Willow Wood Mansion? Like, maybe we could bring in some food and eat it in there. Please?”

Oh boy. I was not expecting him to ask that. “Willow Wood is a trainwreck right now. You do not want to have a date there. Trust me.”

“But Prom is in three weeks—plenty of time to spruce it up. And we don’t need anything fancy. I mean, it’s fancy enough. We just need to bring in a table, some chairs, and some food and call it good.”

Images of the chaos of mixing the kids in Leo’s Prom group and construction equipment fill my mind. “I don’t know. It’s a construction site. Kids aren’t supposed to be there.”

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