Page 89 of Just (Fake) Married
Mrs. McCormick lifted her pencil in acknowledgement and wrote it down.
“Good.” Chuck said, stroking his mile long beard. “In that case, I’ll cook up something for the party.”
Harmony looked thrilled, and even I could get behind some of Chuck’s barbecue.
“Great,” she said. “Let us know what you’ll charge-”
“It’s free,” Chuck said. “A gift. For you, Harmony. For your wedding. You and your family have been good to me. Good to this town. And I’m happy to celebrate your happy day.”
“Oh,” she said. And she started blinking, her eyes wet with tears. “Oh, that’s…very sweet.”
Even I was a little choked up. This was more support than I could have dreamt of. More support than I’d ever had in my life, really. Especially here. I knew all this love was for Harmony and I was just her plus one. But I didn’t mind basking in the afterglow of the affection everyone in this room had for her.
“What about me, Chuck?” I asked, giving Harmony a minute to compose herself.
“What about you, nothing,” Chuck said with a disdainful sniff. “I’m Team Calloway all the way.”
That wasn’t surprising. Chuck had never liked the McGraws and had refused to serve my father anything from his BBQ. It might have had something to do with how Dad had treated Chuck’s somewhat nefarious daughter. I wondered if she still lived in the trailer park on the north side of town.
I’d never paid much attention to the story, but I knew Chuck’s only granddaughter had been in Seth’s class. A pretty girl, but she’d dropped out of school and taken off. Probably to get away from her mom.
Dad had always said they were trouble, much like the Calloway women, and to steer clear.
“T-shirts!” Marion announced. “When the visitors arrive, they’ll have to pick which side of the feud they’re on. Team McGraw or Team Calloway! The school will design and print them.”
“The clinic will help,” Sandra said.
“All right,” Harmony said, taking back control of the meeting. “We are off to a great start. But this festival needs even more fresh ideas. So…” she opened the notebook and clicked the end of the pen. “Let’s hear what else you’ve got.”
TWENTY-ONE
ETHAN
Hours later,Harmony and I collected the animals back from Goods and Provisions and put them in Harmony’s truck. Jenny could still jump up into the backseat, but Bruce needed help and so I got my arms under her and lifted her into the truck. I shut the door behind them.
Harmony had not stopped talking.
“All in all, I think there were five good ideas we can implement this year,” she said.
“Yeah?” I said, and held out my hand.
“What?” she asked.
“Give me the keys. I’ll drive, you can talk.”
“But what about your car?” she asked.
“I’ll get it in the morning.”
“Oh.” She dug her keys out of her purse and handed them to me.
We were the second to last people to leave the meeting. Everyone wanted to come up and talk to Harmony, mostly. They hugged her and told her how amazing she was.
Some of them even shook my hand.
A lot of people asked if I was going to be working at the clinic and I gave them all the same vague answers I’d given Dr. Blackfeather.
“We…ah…haven’t figured it out yet. We’re sticking around here until after the festival and then we’ll make our plans.”
