cracked like tinder wood. Damn knees. “Are you sure Sue-Ann had the right glasses on. You know she has one pair for reading the tape measure and another for long distance.”
“Go look!” She flapped a hand at the chair in front of my desk. Feeling rather sure of myself and my rational approach to the supposed return of Gideon Pierce, I walked around my desk, grabbed the chair, and hauled it over to the window. Up I climbed, smirking at the silliness of it all.
Rising up to my toes, fingers biting into the cold cement casing that held the rectangular window, I cranked it open. A blast of wet air that reeked of fallen leaves hit me in the face, making my nose run instantly. Balancing precariously, I pushed my nose closer to the weathered screen and turned my head to the left. Yes, the Greyhound from Elmira was indeed setting beside the curb by the village green, and yes, a few people were milling around. Well, actually two. One looked like the bus driver in a gray-blue sort of uniform and one was a tall lanky man in a stylish coat that was rippling around him like a superhero’s cape.
It was hard to say who the dark-haired man was from this distance. Nose chilled, I was about to climb down and suggest to Mara that she tell Sue-Ann to check which glasses she had on when the new arrival turned and looked right at our tiny white courthouse. I drew back, stunned. There was no mistaking him. Gideon Pierce had grown up to look just like his father. It was like seeing a ghost. I took a step back, my mind whirling, setting the chair off balance. Down I went to my ass. Mara squealed and fluttered around like a manic goose. I groaned at the impact as well as the fact that as soon as Gideon Pierce showed up in Cedarburg, I was down on my ass again.
Hating to look like a coward, I walked out of the courthouse with my chin high at exactly four p.m. sharp. Just like every day. The bus from Elmira was long gone and praise be to the gods who looked over little bullied gay boys, so was Gideon Pierce. Jamming my hands into my coat pockets, I pounded down the white marble stairs. The clouds overhead were riotous, thickening over the past few hours to blot out the sun without compunction. Rain had fallen on and off, making the colorful leaves on the elms and maples that lined Main Street droop.
I moved at a good clip, the thunderous rainclouds welling up adding speed to my step. Usually, I ambled home, stopping to talk to constituents who would approach me on the sidewalk or call from front porches. That was one of the blessings of being a small-town mayor. I got to talk with the people in my town on a daily basis. I’d grown up here, and so knew most of them or their kids, and the newcomers who had filed in were vocal in politics. My aide, Benton Aubrey, was one of those new arrivals. A young man coming into Cedarburg was a rarity, most kids hightailed after graduating as there was little work here aside from a tannery in Silverwood and a community college in Fisher Lake, a close adjoining county that sat below us. I’d stolen Aubrey from the community college where we’d been working after meeting the bright, energetic black man at a monthly town hall last spring. I’d terribly needed someone to help coordinate my campaign. Most candidates had wives or a small staff. All I’d had was a dream to make my hometown a better, more inclusive, more modern town, and a winning smile. Aubrey had leaped on the chance, him being a political science degree holder like myself, and soon we were thick as thieves. The only black man and the only out gay man in the whole town of Cedarburg were on a mission.
Within a month, I’d announced my candidacy, and we never looked back. Well, a few times we did when we’d been out stumping and knocking on doors. Who knew domestic turkeys could be so mean? Thinking of looking back, I tossed a quick glance over my shoulder, saw nothing, and then returned to my speed walk home. How silly I was being. Gideon was not going to run up behind me and push me to my face. We weren’t in