Page 41 of Undone

An hour later, we’d finished the photos and stashed everything back in the shed. Carol handed me an envelope.

“It’s cash. I hope that’s okay. I know you young tech people like those money app things.”

“Cash is great,” I said, stuffing it in my back pocket without looking at it. “And I’ll be in town for a few more weeks, so let me know if you need help with that house on Elm you mentioned.”

“Oh, I’ll keep you busy before you leave.” Carol studied me. “How would you feel about meeting my Women in Business group?”

“What, to photograph them or something?” I said, holding up my camera.

“No, no, as an honored guest! You taught me so many great tips today. I bet they’d love to pick your brain. And we’d buy you dinner, of course. We meet at The Bite and Brew once a month. It’s half business and half gossip. We’ve got all types of women in the group, from a bookstore owner to a landscaper, to little old me.”

My first instinct was to say no, sure that they’d look at me as some sort of weird outsider and make me feel awkward. But then I realized that Carol wouldn’t hang out with people like that. They were probably as quirky and accepting as she was.

I broke into a smile. “Thanks, I’d love to.”

TWENTY-SEVEN

JOSH

The town hall was almost filled to capacity as we entered. Shannon and Zoe circled around to look for some seats and I spied Jake Thorne—Brian’s twin brother—leaning up against the far wall. I went over to join him. The Thornes, like the Caffertys and other families in the area, bred horses for different uses. According to my granddad, the climate around Poplar Springs was perfect for both horse and baby rearing. While I could speak to the former, I couldn’t to the latter, even as my imagination went to Zoe standing in front of the kitchen window, heavily pregnant with our child.

No. Not now. Probably not ever.

“Josh. How are you?” Jake said as we shook hands.

“Good. You?”

We made small talk as the room continued to fill. It’d been three days since the summer storm had rolled through, and the mayor’s office had been busy collecting information on the amount of damage the town and residences sustained.

“Can I get your attention please?” Amy stood at the front at the microphone. “Folks? If you’d quiet down, we can get started.” Still nothing.

“This might take a while,” I said to Jake who shook his head.

“Nah, just wait. Amy will handle it.”

Amy Thorne was the widow of Jake’s older brother, so he was well aware of what she was capable of. Sure enough, she pinched her lips with her fingers and let out an ear-splitting whistle that made the mike squeal. The result was instant silence.

“Thank you for your attention,” she said with a sweet smile. “I know I’m probably not who you were expecting, but our mayor is home sick with a stomach bug, so you’ve got me running things tonight.” She then proceeded to read off a list of area damage, pausing every once in a while when the grumblings from the meeting attendees got too loud. When she got to the community center and school, she pressed her notes against her chest. “I’m sorry to inform everyone but the center and school are a complete loss. We’re working on alternative classroom options before school starts back up in August.”

“What about the center?”

“My AA meetings are there.”

“So’s my painting class.”

The comments and questions flew so fast Amy couldn’t answer them fast enough and every time she tried to silence everyone, more questions would erupt. It was only once she made a show of putting down the mike so she could whistle again that things quieted down.

“If you all would stay quiet long enough, I can finish. Some of those activities will be on hold—temporarily—and others, like the AA meetings will move over here. We are also asking for help from anybusinesses with space to host some of the community center events. Now?—”

“What about the community center? When will it be rebuilt? I’m missing bingo,” someone shouted from the middle of the room.

At this point, Amy had to take a deep breath to keep from losing her temper.

“I’ve got good news and bad news,” she said. “The bad news is that the insurance company has deemed the loss an ‘act of God’ because the community center was struck by lightning first, which is what caused the fire, and they’re refusing to pay out on the insurance policy.”

“That’s ridiculous!”

“They can’t do that!”

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