Page 18 of The Christmas Eve Delivery

Evie certainly didn’t look like she had eaten a week’s worth of food in only a few days.

I needed to go shopping too. I had plenty of prepackaged pastries. I bought them in bulk. But I did not have anything to make a decent side dish for a spaghetti dinner.

“Does garlic bread count?” I asked.

She shrugged. “Go get dressed, and we can figure stuff out when we get to the grocery store.”

“Fine,” I said with a sigh. “Go scrounge up something for breakfast, will you? This is going to take a minute. I need a shower.”

Evie headed off toward the kitchen while I went in the opposite direction and took a quick shower and got dressed. I was bundled up in a thick sweater and flannel lined slacks when I found her again. She was still in the kitchen, sitting in front of a plate full of cheesy scrambled eggs.

“You’re dressed like you think it’s cold outside or something,” Evie said.

“Oh, ha-ha, you’re funny,” I responded. “It’s been freezing for days.”

“I know, but it’s positively balmy out there right now. Didn’t you notice what I was wearing?” She looked down at her outfit. Evie was in her standard non-work clothes of jeans and a T-shirt. The hoodie she had been wearing was draped over the back of her chair.

“So this is too much?” I asked, gesturing at my own clothes.

“You’ll be dying of heat exhaustion. It’s in the fifties out there, and getting warmer. Eat something, and then go change.”

10

MILES

Two months later…

The pretty librarian sat across from me, her mouth pinched into one of those sneering smiles. The expression said, ‘I don’t like you but I’m going to be pleasant about it so if you’re rude, you look like the bad guy.’

And in her eyes, I was definitely the bad guy. She sat next to the mayor. He had no recollection of having met me before. His smile wasn’t forced or fake. But he didn’t like me, either. It was too bad. They had both been so nice the first time I had met them when they had no idea who I was.

“I believe there is one more we are waiting for?” I asked.

“My co-chair isn’t joining us today,” she said.

“I’d like to present to them. Maybe I could arrange to meet with them at a convenient time?” I suggested.

The librarian shook her head. “That won’t be happening,” she said with that fake, sweet smile on her face.

“Shall we begin, then?” I suggested.

Jackson pressed the keys on his laptop and spun the device around so that our presentation was displayed to the mayor and the librarian.

“I’d rather not,” she said.

“Evie, we agreed to hear them out,” Mayor Breaker said.

“Why? He wants to buy up the town for profit.”

“I want to revitalize Brookdale,” I countered. “I want to show you how bringing in an upscale hospitality property can breathe new life into this town.”

“By getting rid of our historical heritage,” she snapped.

“No offense, Miss,” Jackson began, “but your historical buildings are falling down. The ones that are standing are doing so out of spite and determination. It would take a Herculean effort to restore several of the properties in question. This town doesn’t have that kind of money in reserve.”

“What makes you so certain about that?” she snapped.

“Because if you did, Brookdale would have already begun the restoration processes that are so obviously in need,” I answered.

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