Page 9 of That Kind of Guy

I rolled my eyes with a snort and tossed the magazine in the recycling as Div left to answer the phone.

My email pinged with a newsletter from the town journalist. He was retired but periodically sent a condensed version of the town events and news. I enjoyed reading it and staying up to date on what was happening in my town.

Will and his family were mentioned. My gaze snagged on a picture of Kara, holding a stuffed toy that I bought her. A panda. I grinned. She looked so damn cute, missing that front tooth. My chest tightened as I realized that this was my relationship with Will and his family for the foreseeable future—photos, texts, emails, and FaceTime.

It wasn’t right, Kara growing up in the city three hours away. Both Will and Nat’s parents lived here, all her friends at school were here, and my heart broke every time I thought about her not having the carefree, small-town childhood that Will and I had had.

I thought about Nat and I felt a pang for her. Kara was her world, and she was trying so hard to create a great life for her. Although she hadn’t spoken to me about this, I knew moving was hard on her. She didn’t want to leave either, but it was the right choice for their family.

I had to fix this.

I kept skimming the newsletter, and something caught my eye.

Mayoral election scheduled for July 2.

I frowned, trying to remember the last election we had, but came up with nothing.

“Hey, Div,” I shouted out the door.

“What?” he called back, appearing at the door moments later.

“When was the last mayoral election?”

“About four years ago.” He shrugged. “This town has a really low voter turnout.”

“Why?”

“Isaac doesn’t campaign because no one ever runs against him.”

An idea struck me. Money poured into the town in the summers—it was a hot tourist destination with world-class accommodations, dining, and the most beautiful, scenic nature in the world. Businesses couldn’t keep up with the crowds in the summer. Residents and businesses alike paid millions in taxes to the city every year and yet nothing had been done about the power outages.

If Isaac Anderson continued on as mayor, nothing would ever change. The old, outdated electrical grid would continue to endure power outages and Will and his family would never return to town.

I had one of those feelings, like I was on to something, and I grinned at Div.

He looked concerned. “What? What is it now?”

“I have a great idea.”

His nostrils flared. “Emmett, whatever it is, I’m going to caution you to think about it for a moment. You can sometimes be a little impulsive—”

“I’m going to run for mayor.”

His head fell to his chest. “There is it.”

I nodded, mind racing with ideas. “Yep. This feels right. I’m going to run for mayor. Call the printers, call the graphic designer, and let’s get some campaign swag going. Oh, and I guess we should tell city hall.”

Div gave me a long look before he sighed. “I’m on it.”

“Thanks, Div,” I called after him as he returned to his desk.

Suddenly, this day didn’t feel so awful. So Will left town, sure, that was a bad start, but I had a plan. I was going to fix this.

3

Avery

“They turned you down?”Hannah asked later, her blue eyes wide behind her glasses as we sat in the back of Pemberley Books, the bookstore she ran with her dad.

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