Page 20 of Faking I Do
“Is that right? What kind of consulting are you doing now, Mr. Mayor?” Pops bit into the homemade chocolate chip cookie then wiped the bit of melted chocolate from his lip.
“Pops,”—Bodie tilted his head in my direction—“Lacey’s mayor now. Mr. Cherish is retired.”
Of course his pops already knew that. The slight was just another barb in his attempt to undermine my authority. He’d been taking potshots ever since they arrived.
“Oh, I know. Just trying to be respectful.”
I bit back my response. This conversation wasn’t going anywhere. At least nowhere productive. “Maybe we ought to wrap up for today and give things more thought.” At that point all I wanted was to get the Phillips men out of my house. All three of them.
“Lacey honey . . .” Bodie’s dad leaned forward, his elbows on the table. “What’s it going to take to get you to see things our way?”
Prickles raised the hair on my arms. “You can start by leaving all that ‘honey’ bullshit at the door. Which, as you’ll recall, is right this way.” I stood, my chair scraping across the hardwood floor. “This meeting is over.”
“Look,”—Bodie put his palms out—“can we all just take a deep breath?”
“That’s a great idea, Deputy Phillips. Why don’t you, your dad, and your pops go do some calm breathing exercises? When you’re ready to be reasonable, I’d be more than happy to get together again.” My own breath came shallow and short.
“This has been a waste of time.” Bodie’s dad got up from his chair. “Wyatt, it was good to see you. We miss you down at the club. Hope you’ll be back to manning your barstool again soon.”
“Dad.” Bodie popped up and muttered something into his dad’s ear. His pops just sat at the table, his cool blue eyes never leaving my face.
I wouldn’t have felt more exposed if he’d been trying to look at me under a microscope. What was it about the Phillips family that made them think they were better than everyone else? My dad had gotten into multiple rows over the years with them. Evidently it was part of the mayor’s job. From what I could tell, they fought dirty and weren’t above doing what it took to get whatever they wanted.
That would stop with me. They might be able to push other folks around, but when I’d taken my vow to work for the good people of Ido, I’d taken it seriously. No matter what they threw at me, I’d be up for facing it.
“You coming, Pops?” Bodie asked.
The older man’s eyes sparkled as he reached out and took two more cookies. “Yeah. But this conversation isn’t over. We all want the same thing, don’t we?”
My hands clamped to my hips. “I don’t really see us working toward the same goals, Mr. Phillips.”
“Call me Monty, will you?” He put his cowboy hat back on his head and tipped it toward me. “Think about it, girl. We all want a fresh start. You give us our inventory so we can strike out new and you’ll have a clear way to start over with your harebrained scheme right here in town.”
“You can call me Mayor Cherish, Monty.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “And based on the way y’all handled things here, I don’t think you deserve a fresh start.”
“Dad, Pops, let’s go.” Bodie herded his dad and grandfather toward the front door.
I followed, more to make sure they actually left than to extend any additional hospitality. Once the front door shut behind them, I whirled around and leaned against the door.
“Dad, why didn’t you say anything?”
My dad made his way from the kitchen to the front room, shaking his head. “I didn’t realize how bad this was. Just give them what they want and be done with it, honey.”
“What do you mean?” I’d never seen my dad look so defeated, so shaken. “They’re trying to bully me into letting them have something that doesn’t even belong to them.”
My dad wrapped his hands around my upper arms and peered straight into my eyes. “Trust me, you don’t want to get involved in a standoff with the Phillips family.”
“What are you talking about?” My heart stuttered at the fear in his eyes. He was scared. The man I’d looked up to most of my life was basically telling me to sell out.
“They have deep pockets and hands that can reach down to the bottom and beyond.” His mouth set in a grim line; his face was devoid of any hint of humor.
“You’re serious.”
“I am. And you’d better start taking them seriously, too. They’re not the kind of people you want to piss off.”
“Wait, what happened?”
My dad moved past me to clear the mugs off the table. “Just let them go about their business and be done with them.”
