The Christmas Pundit (Laurel Holidays #2) - V.L. Locey Page 0,6

women’s book club at the library, followed by…something. Aubrey would know. I tended to lose track.

“Mayor Griffiths, a quick question?”

I glanced up from an enchanting young lady who was missing two front teeth to look right into Gideon’s face. My first instinct was to throw my arms over my head to shield myself. Thankfully, I quickly got over that reaction and straightened my shoulders. Gideon was quite the lanky bastard. I had to tip my chin to speak to him. Which was an odd sensation as I was an inch over six foot, so I rarely had to look upward at anyone. Good Lord the man had grown up well. Still big, still wide in the shoulders, but now with those Tony Curtis late 50s smoldering looks courtesy of Mr. Pierce. A few sprinkles of gray in his ebony hair to complete the sin-on-a-stick look.

“Good to see you again, Gideon,” I said as every eye—or the eyes that knew of our history—zeroed in on our first meeting. I offered him my hand. His gaze flicked down to the open hand then to my face. He placed his phone into his left hand to shake. His grip was strong, sure, confident. As was mine. I hoped. “What brings you back to Cedarburg?”

“Prodigal son and all that. I’m taking over as editor-in-chief of the Cedarburg Gazette.”

“Oh.” That was unexpected. I threw a questioning look at Aubrey, who shrugged. “I wasn’t aware that Linda Calhoun had stepped down.”

Gideon nodded just once. “It will be announced in next week’s paper. So, Mayor Griffiths, I was wondering how you were planning to pay for this proposed expansion of the Christmas Carnival. And then there’s the parking situation. As it stands now there’s nowhere for city employees to park in front of the courthouse, yet you’re planning on expanding the Christmas Carnival. Where will all those people park? Out at Mike Stanford’s pig farm?” He held his phone between us, his green eyes glittering like gemstones from Satan’s earrings.

Damn the man. Guess he couldn’t shove me into the dirt physically so he planned to do so politically. A good kick in the shins was required here, but since I wasn’t eight anymore, I flashed a broad grin and replied in my best mayoral way.

“I’m glad you brought that up, Mr. Pierce, and welcome back home. I’m sure your unbiased and thought-provoking editorials and articles will enhance our small-town paper. Now, as for parking. While I know that we’re sorely in need of additional parking up and down Main Street, until we can get the zoning commission to approve the new parking lot that I’ve proposed beside the courthouse, anyone coming to the carnival will be directed to the tree farm just down Route 8 and will be brought into town via horse-drawn sleigh, snow on the roads permitted of course!” I chuckled and the crowd oohed and ahhed at the thought of sleigh rides and jing-jing-jingling bells. “If there’s no snow we’ll have buggy rides. All with a small fee of say fifty cents or a dollar per head to help offset the cost of having someone bring in the horses and all the festive accoutrements. That’s just one of a hundred ideas on the table for the carnival. I’ll be whittling things down over the next two weeks, and then we’ll announce our plans mid-November.”

Principal Morris showed up then and led me from Gideon, who was eyeing me like a leopard appraising a sick gazelle. Flipping him off would have been sweet, but I kept my middle digit down, and when the finalists had been chosen, I was pleased to see that Gideon Pierce was nowhere in the vicinity.

After handing out the prizes and tiny bags of candy to everyone who participated, Aubrey and I were out the door. As soon as we were in my beautiful—to my eyes anyway—1975 Range Rover, I turned to my aide who was fiddling on his ever-present tablet.

“I need to know everything the internet has about Gideon Pierce,” I said, hating how underhanded I sounded. Truth was I should have been less bitter and followed up on the guy when he’d been whisked off. But that was just too much nice even for Mr. Congeniality here. Plus, I had been ten. Granted, I’d not stayed ten but sue me I’m human and Gideon had been a boil that I’d been pleased had been lanced.

“Already on it,” Aubrey replied, his nose an inch from the tablet screen. Obviously, he’d misplaced