Page 25 of Choosing Forever
It doesn’t make sense. How have they figured this out in less than twenty-four hours when the drive-in has been abandoned for almost ten years? And to create such an elaborate plan?
“What exactly are we volunteering for?” Daisy asks.
There are a few hums in agreement with her question before Penny answers. “The mayor can only allocate enough funds from the town’s budget to cover a little over half of the rebuild. For the remainder, there will be a series of fundraisers and community events with the goal of collecting enough to cover the rest. The volunteers will include as many people from town as possible.”
“So, we’ll be volunteering to host a few fundraisers?” Claira, the fifth-grade teacher, asks.
“Amongst other tasks. I don’t have all of the information quite yet, but once enough volunteers have been gathered, therewill be a meeting at town hall to further explain. For now, what I can share is that there will be basic cleanup groups and others in charge of organizing fundraisers and reporting to the mayor’s team.”
It’s the most unusual thing I’ve heard in a long time. Don’t get me wrong, Bryce’s father isn’t the worst mayor we could have been given for Cherry Peak. While he’s done great things for the town, he’s also let us down. I could write a list of things he could be choosing to focus on right now instead of the drive-in nobody cared about.
“If you’re interested in signing up to help, you can do that on your way out. Starting tomorrow, I’ll have the form in the staff room for a week,” Penny explains.
The clipboard in her hands is set on the table at the front of the room, right beside the carafe of coffee. Daisy leans into my side, eyeing the table.
“Do you think she put that there on purpose?” she whispers.
“Maybe it’s been her stealing all the coffee.”
Her gasp is so loud Penny turns to us, not saying anything. I struggle to hold back a laugh while Daisy pops off her seat.
“If nobody else is going to write their name first, I guess I will.”
I look up at her. “Adding Bryce’s name too?”
“And yours,” she announces with a sly wink.
Without waiting for me to reply, she slips through the chairs and, like she said, is the first to sign the form. I watch closely as she writes one name, then another, andanother. Mine, no doubt about it.
Another two staff members join her once she’s finished and spun around. The rest of the teachers stand, until nobody is left sitting but me.
Feeling awkward as hell, I get off my seat and adjust my jeans, pulling them up despite them already sitting perfectly on my hips. Nobody’s watching me, but I feel like they are. Watching,judging, analyzing why I wasn’t up at the table with Daisy, excited about this project.
Too many of my peers remember me from high school, and those who don’t have been reminded by gossip. Time doesn’t really do much to make people forget about the mistakes you’ve made or the drama you caused when you live in a small town. Everything lingers in Cherry Peak, and right now, there are too many faces in here that remember who I was when I left for university and refuse to let that woman go.
At one time, that was Darren’s girlfriend. Now, it’s the girl he tossed aside.
They’ve never cared about Delaney the person. The woman who hadn’t spoken to Darren for the entirety of his marriage. Hell, I ignored his entire family because I was too afraid to see them, let alone interfere in a marriage that broke my heart savagely in half.
“Ready to go, Della?”
I blink, clearing my head. Daisy’s standing in front of me now, trying and failing to hide a frown.
“Yeah. Did you sign us both up?”
“Of course. But I can scratch it off if you don’t want to volunteer. I’ve gone and pushed you into something again, haven’t I?”
I shake my head, rubbing her arm. “No. It could be fun.”
“You’re sure?”
“I’m sure.”
Her eyes glow, telling me how she’s feeling before her words do. “Then I’m excited. I wonder how long we’ll have to wait before the town meeting.”
“Considering how fast the mayor got things rolling here, I doubt very long at all.”
“You sound suspicious.”
