Page 17 of The Library of Second Chances
“What’s up? Just calling to check in. Wanted to see how it’s going down there.”
Logan groaned as he leaned back in the desk chair. “Remember that summer when you interned in Idaho Springs?”
“Yeah, I got stuck in the sticks when you beat me out for the fellowship in Philly.”
Logan remembered how excited he’d been to land the most coveted fellowship of their city planning program. Boy, had his career taken an unexpected detour. He knew Fuller wasn’t trying to rub his face in it, but he felt it all the same.
“Remember how those community groups showed up to picket every meeting and hated the idea of absolutely anything new?”
Now Fuller was the one groaning. “That bad, huh?”
Logan filled in Fuller on his first town council meeting and some of the opposition he was facing. When he told him about Lucy, he intentionally left out that she was so attractive he’d almost asked her out for coffee when he ran into her the first time.
“Professor Parlow knows the mayor, right? So you must at least have that guy on your side.” Fuller was the only person Logan had confided in that he’d needed their old professor to call in a favor after he was passed over for jobs in almost a dozen other cities. And he was right. Logan needed to spend more time with the mayor and check the pulse of the council. After all, they were the ones who would ultimately vote for the plan, not Lucy and her friends. Sure, it was nice to have the support of the locals, but that wasn’t always the deciding factor in a vote like this.
“You really think closing the deal here will erase what happened in San Diego?” he asked Fuller, who was currently the Boston mayor’s chief of staff. “Man, I really want to be up there with you when this is all said and done.”
Fuller assured him that his word carried weight with the Boston mayor and that all he needed was a victory in HeronIsle to put a little distance between him and the one blip on his resume.
He said goodbye to Fuller and ripped his notes off the legal pad in front of him, starting over on a fresh sheet. Boston wasn’t going to be impressed by a few food carts and an open-air market. There had to be a bigger win here on Heron Isle.
“Mayor?” Logan knocked on the open door. “Do you have a minute?”
“Of course.” The mayor motioned for him to come in to his office. “Pull up a chair. What can I do for ya?”
“I thought it might be helpful to talk through the different interest groups that came forward to oppose the previous proposals. I’d like to know what I’m dealing with before I meet with people, that way I don’t get thrown a curve ball.” He’d read through all the minutes from the council meetings over the past few weeks, before he was formally introduced at the recent meeting, but he knew that only told part of the story. “I was hoping you could tell me more about who the power brokers are and what they really want out of this. Deal-breakers are always good to know too.”
The mayor leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands over his middle. “Smart. That’s why we hired you. Small-town politics can be tough to navigate.”
Logan nodded. “I ran into Lucy Sullivan again.”
“I see you’re getting the real Heron Isle experience. Can’t hide out around here.” The mayor shook his head, chuckling to himself. “How’d that go? I imagine she’s gearing up to go to war with us again.”
“She actually had some interesting ideas. Of course, they’re not going to generate the kind of revenue you’re looking for, but maybe there’s a way to work them into our master plan.”
“Lucy’s a little bit like a dog with a bone. I’m sure that’s not the last you’ll hear from her.” The mayor chuckled. “She means well, but she’s not exactly looking at this like the business proposition it is. I heard she’s been trying to negotiate to buy the building where her shop is. I doubt she ever imagined she’d own a business. She was planning to be a librarian, but then Annie surprised her by leaving her the bookstore. She took over the lease and owns the inventory, but it’s not like she’s getting rich off owning the store. She’d probably have to mortgage the beach cottage her dad left her to get the down payment, and even then, I’m not sure she understands what it means to own a historic building like that and suddenly be a landlord dealing with the tenants in the other spaces in the building and the repairs.” The mayor shook his head.
Logan was a little taken aback by the amount of personal information the mayor had just shared about Lucy. It was exactly why he’d gladly left his hometown in his rearview. Small towns were prone to gossip and people always being in each other’s business. He remembered how embarrassed his mother had been when she’d overheard two of her supposed friends in town talking about their farm falling on hard times. She’d come home crying and refused to go anywhere in town for weeks. Although his failure in San Diego had made the papers there, people had already moved on to another scandal before he could even pack his bags and get out of town. He could have stayed there the rest of his life and never had anyone bring it up again apart from those in real estate development circles.
Logan found himself jumping to Lucy’s defense. “You might be selling her short.”
The mayor raised an eyebrow in interest.
“You’re probably right that the bookstore alone isn’t ever going to be a cash cow, but being a landlord in the highest rent district on the island is a pretty smart move, if you ask me.” Hehad a sudden urge to stop by the bookstore later and find out more about her plans to buy the building, see if maybe he could help. Did she know about the substantial tax credits that would be available to her to update a historic building like that?
He cleared his throat to push down those thoughts and get back to the task at hand. He had enough work to do with the waterfront project, he couldn’t be taking on pet projects on the side. Not even for a beautiful woman whose smile was so tender and sweet it physically pained him when it disappeared and was replaced by her disapproving scowl.
Especially not for that reason.
“So other than the downtown business owners, who are we dealing with?” Logan was ready to change the subject and get back to the work at hand.
“Well, there’s the tree conservancy. They put together email campaigns like you’ve never seen. They flood our inboxes anytime there’s any development project on the agenda.”
“But what’s their play here?” Logan furrowed his brow. “There aren’t any protected trees in that area, just some palm trees that we can easily relocate.”
The mayor shrugged. “They’re more of a general conservation group. They started with trees, but when there weren’t groups organized to save the turtles or battle beach erosion, they took on those things too. They’d rather see the land on the waterfront be turned into green space.”
“Ok, so generally environmental. Got it.”
