Page 52 of As They Are
Strawberry Springs Neighborhood Watch
Kerry Winsor:IT’S OFFICIAL!Renovating with Loveis coming to Strawberry Springs for season two to renovate the library!
Comments:
Marjorie Brown:Listen, I know I’ve been a pain in your ass, but this is just mean. The library is closed. It always will be.
Kerry Winsor:It’s not a joke!!! I happen to know firsthand that it’s real!
Jade Clark:HOLY SHIT! SHE’S NOT LYING!
Marjorie Brown:NO FUCKING WAY.
Jade Clark:I’m finally gonna read again!
Nicole Rudder:When will it be done? By the next school year or so? I need to see if I can take the kids there for more books. The school one has an awful selection!
Dale Garrett:@Henry ConnorDid you see this?
Kerry Winsor:Oh, we know he knows. He knows EVERYTHING.
Henry Connor:Guys, please. Whatever you’re thinking, it’s NOT gonna happen.
Kerry Winsor:But you’ve known all along, right?
Henry Connor:. . . Yes.
I had just finished plantingmarigolds in the garden when four cars drove by. One of them was a sports car with a rumbling engine that I could hear coming from miles away. If I were anywhere else, I wouldn’t think much of it. But this was not normal for Strawberry Springs.
Filming would be happening soon, though I had no idea when it would start. Since I’d been outed as the one who knew this was coming, people had been incessantly asking me to tell them what I knew, which was next to nothing. Wren had all but disappeared in the last few days, and I assumed she was getting the final details worked out. I wasn’t sure when I would be ready for the chaos of a show to start, but I was happy the town was getting the library back.
The cars returned as I watered the rose bushes in the front of my house, and I found myself growing annoyed.
“Hey, you!” a male voice called.
I slowly turned and saw a man with dark hair leaning out of the sports car. Of course he would talk tomeof all people.
For living so close to town, it was always quiet here.
Not anymore, apparently.
“Yes?” I asked. I put on my polite face, ignoring the churning in my gut.
“Can you tell me where the square is? This little town has terrible signage.”
That was because they’d faded a long time ago. “Most people don’t need them. Are you visiting?”
He laughed. “Did you not hear? We’re filmingRenovating with Lovehere.”
“I did, but I didn’t think it would be starting so soon.”
“We’re too popular. Gotta strike while the iron is hot. Now, where’s the town square?”
“Go two roads that way and turn right.”
“Cool. Thanks, man. Tell your wife I said those are some nice flowers.”
He drove off, the loud engine of his car rattling every single one of my brain cells. My grip on the watering can grew tight. He’d saidwe’re popular.
