Page 82 of Guilty as Sin
“Oh.” She did, and reminded herself,Lily,when Jace lifted her down with both hands around her waist like she weighed nothing. Then she wrecked it by saying, “You could at least pretend you aren’t enjoying getting the chance to do it.”
He laughed. “As you’re pretending you aren’t enjoying having me do it, I’d say we’re even.”
“Points,” she said, and he grinned again, said, “I know,” and got out the walking stick he’d made for her.
“I still say it’s overkill,” she said, even though it actually did help.
“No. You’re wounded, but brave. Work on it. You have about two minutes.”
The meeting was in the commissioners’ chambers, which were set up auditorium-style, with a rectangular table on a dais up front. They’d left their entrance until five minutes before the meeting was set to begin in order to maximize the impact, and it was working. At least, a buzz started and grew as Paige limped down the aisle on her stick, her left arm in a sling, her upper lip still swollen, and the bruising on her face now a violent red. A woman a little older than she was, whom she hadn’t seen before, stood up and said, “Oh, honey. I’m so sorry. I was just going to call you to see if you wanted to go to the craft fair in Kalispell, and then I heard. Your poorface.”She held out her arms, stepped forward, then hesitated. “Are you huggable?”
“Not really,” Paige said. “But thank you. I’d smile, but it hurts.” Good thing she hadn’t had to go to the craft fair. She was sure that would’ve been a major fail. When she looked at crafts, she didn’t think,I could make that.She didn’t even think,I could buy that.She mostly thought,Who cares?
Hailey was there now, too, saying, “I can’t believe you actually came.”
“I told you I would,” Paige said.
“I know. And I told everybody you were going to, like you asked. Sweetie, you’re so brave. But first the shop, and now this? Why would somebodydothat?”
She was about to go off again, Paige could tell. Jace said, “We’d better sit down. Meeting’s about to start.”
“I’m glad you’re with her, anyway,” Hailey told him. “There’s nothing like having a big, strong man around to make you feel safer.”
“That’s so true,” Paige said in as Lily-like a tone as she could manage. “I’m thanking my lucky stars that he’s here to protect me.”
Jace put a light hand on her lower back and whispered in her ear as they made their slow way down the aisle, “All right. That may have been going too far.”
She didn’t answer, because she was looking around. Most of the parties in question had shown up. Good. Raeleigh the motel owner, with a man who must have been her husband. The gas station guy. Jennifer from the gym, of course, andherhusband. Sergeant Worthington standing near the back with another cop, prepared for trouble. None of them looked thrilled to see her, and neither did most of the other hundred or so souls in the room.
Paige found the kind of seats they’d planned on. Front row, on the aisle. Nice and visible. She got herself sitting down, which didn’t feel fabulous, and told Jace, “I always wonder what they think a big, strong man can do that a twelve-gauge can’t. Nothing says, ‘Argument’s over’ like a shotgun.” Which Jace had gone out and purchased today, too. Ostentatiously.
Up on the dais, the commissioners were doing some rustling. Over to one side, Brett Hunter gave Paige a wave. A “Hi, how’re you doing” thing, not a “Sorry you got beat up because of my project” thing.
“I’d think it was him,” Paige told Jace,notwaving back, “but it would be way beneath him to get all passionate like that.”
“It’s business to him, that’s all,” Jace said. “People like that don’t want to get passionate.”
“I don’t get it,” Paige said.
Jace gave her that almost-smile that was more of a deepening of the lines around his eyes. “I know you don’t. That’s part of your charm.”
Nice, but then the commissioners were talking. About the project, about feasibility studies and sewer and water and the Forest Service and land use, and Paige may have zoned out some. Finally, the chairman, a heavyset gray guy with jowls, said, “I’m pleased to see that Lily Hollander has come tonight. We were all sorry to hear about what’s happened to you,” he said to her.
Four of the five commissioners looked like they were either sorry, somewhat sorry, or might consider being sorry at some future date. One of them looked nothing like sorry.
“Who’s that guy?” Paige whispered to Jace. “The one who especially hates me?”
He could read the name plate, apparently, because he said, “J. Knightley. Mean anything?”
“Oh. My shoplifter’s father.” Somebody had said her name, though she couldn’t remember who. “You must have eyesight like an eagle.”
“I do. It’s useful. Do you think he’d bash you for catching his daughter nicking the stock? Seems extreme. Also, he wasn’t there.”
“No,” she said with a sigh. “Unfortunately, because I didn’t like her, and I bet I wouldn’t like her dad, either.”
Knightley was glaring at her now, and she realized,Oh. Talking during the presentation. Too bad, buddy.She shut up, though. She wanted to hear what came next.
The chairman was saying, “We’d like to invite Brett Hunter to come up and talk about the project, along with giving us some revenue projections.”
