Hudson (Anderson Billionaires #4) - Melody Anne Page 0,35

time. Maybe they’re going to lock us away, never to be found again,” Darla said.

“They can’t do that. Maybe we didn’t catch the national news, but there’s a local anchor over there filming. They wouldn’t take us away as long as there are witnesses,” Daisy said. Though she wasn’t a hundred percent sure of that. Who would really care about two local girls who caused a heck of a lot of ruckus?

A man stepped from the limo who looked vaguely familiar to Daisy. She’d seen him somewhere but she couldn’t quite place him. Darla gasped, her eyes growing wide. Then the news anchor, who’d seemed bored the entire morning and was probably ticked she’d been sent to cover this story, sat up, losing all interest in her nails, which had seemed to fascinate her for the past hour. She shouted to her cameraman, and he stood to attention, his camera focused on the giant of a man with a thick head of white hair, a neatly trimmed white beard, and a suit Daisy was sure cost more than most people’s cars.

“You do realize who that is, don’t you?” Darla asked in a hushed whisper as the man looked at the two of them, not yet moving in their direction.

“He looks really familiar, but I’m not quite placing him,” Daisy said.

“You have got to follow at least one social media platform,” Darla said in moral outrage. “And pick up a magazine once in a while, and not National Geographic or Save the Planet, or whatever other boring crap you read when you aren’t writing articles for them.”

“I have Instagram,” Daisy pointed out with a smug look.

“Yeah, but you only follow like five organizations and they have nothing to do with anything good,” Darla told her. “Boring!”

“It’s not boring to know what’s happening in our world — and it certainly isn’t boring to write those articles. Although you don’t believe me, our planet weeps every time we abuse it, so I like to know how to be a better person. I’m not willing to give up air conditioning, but I can be smart and have open windows and walk or bike instead of driving each chance I get. Did you know that if every person simply drove one percent less in their lifetime, we’d have a huge impact on greenhouse gas emissions?”

“Oh, no, we’re not going there,” Darla said. But she knew it was too late.

“I’m serious, Darla. Just taking three days a month off from driving would save one hundred ten million metric tons of carbon dioxide, which is basically the same as taking nearly thirty coal-fired power plants offline for an entire year. Not only is it good for the environment, but if you walked or biked those days, you’d get valuable exercise. So it’s a win, win.”

“Okay, okay,” Darla said with a laugh. “I’ll pick three days a month to ride my bike if you’ll please stop lecturing me.”

“They have to be days you’d normally drive, not days you’d stay home anyway or it doesn’t count,” Daisy insisted.

“My work is five miles from my house,” Darla said.

“That’s a great bike ride.”

“Ugh, you’re going to follow up on this, aren’t you?” Darla asked, knowing her best friend very well.

“Of course I am. I love you and want you to live forever. We’ll go biking together. You can get one of those carts to hook to your bike so you can grocery shop and everything. Those carts aren’t just for kids. They can hold dogs, groceries, and so much more.”

“I’d better get a bike. Can I at least drive to pick it up?”

“I suppose so,” Daisy said, laughing. She could easily get on her soapbox. But if she made changes in the world one person at a time, then she could have an actual impact on the rest of the planet.

“Okay, let’s save the rest of your lecture for later. Because the man moving forward is Joseph Anderson. I have no idea what he’s doing here, but if he’s the owner of this property, we’re getting evicted whether we want to or not,” Darla said.

“Joseph Anderson?” Daisy said as she swallowed . . . hard. “Oh . . . my . . . gosh! Joseph Anderson.” Yep, they were pretty much screwed. That didn’t mean Daisy was giving up without a fight. The cameras were on, and she’d make the most powerful man in Washington look really bad as he had them escorted off the premises. At least there was a