When he could keep the humor out of his tone, he promised her, “They’ll be sorted, Faye.”
“I hope so,” she muttered, wiping down the cutlery.
“They’ll be sorted.”
She nodded to the sink, rinsed the cutlery and put it in the drainer. Then she moved to the stove to get the skillet and it occurred to Chace she felt this depth of emotion for a kid she didn’t help create, she didn’t carry in her womb, she didn’t bring into the world.
Which meant when they eventually got down to making a family, she’d give this and likely more to their brood.
Something she had, always.
Something he never did.
Something he’d always wanted.
Something their kids would take for granted.
He’d f**ked up, not sharing his secrets, not trusting in the strength she’d displayed since he met her, transferring on her in her shyness his mother’s frailty. It might have been an understandable f**k up but it was a f**k up.
But they had it out, she helped him let it go and then she let it go. The next day it was Chace and Faye, no rehashing it, no searching comments, no penetrating looks. She was over it, she’d helped him over it, she was moving on and she took him with her. Except for the fact that they both understood the depth of their feelings for each other, their commitment to their relationship and that bringing them indelibly closer, drama over, onward.
That was going to be his life. Faye at his side. Faye at his back. Dramas, fights, they’d happen, they’d end and they’d move on. And his kids would have that too, all of it, her devotion, her strength, her brand of quiet but fierce protection and her ability to sort through the shit, lay it out and move on.
He put the last plate away feeling his lips tipped up as she scoured the skillet and he grabbed the cutlery to dry it as he watched her rinse the skillet, the water running over her hands.
Naked hands.
Yeah, he needed to put a ring on her finger.
Soon.
* * * * *
“I’m uncertain why you have a voice in this meeting, Mrs. Maxwell, you don’t even live in Carnal,” Mary Eglund asked, snippy and impatient.
It was eight seventeen in the evening and Chace was sitting in the Town Hall next to Faye and trying with decreasing success not to laugh his ass off.
This was because it was no longer a mystery and also not a surprise that it was Mary Eglund, known as a Jesus Freak and not the handing out daisies and pamphlets kind, was behind the attempted library closure. This was also because, after a few opening comments by Cesar followed by a few inflammatory remarks from Mary, the floor was opened up.
Krystal Briggs got there first and tore the Council a new one, swiftly and succinctly and managed to do it without any cursing.
On her heels stepped up Nina Maxwell whose wrong side Chace decided never to get on because she might be passionate but she was also eloquent and she had an English accent so all that sass was tied up in some serious class.
She was also very pretty and when Chace could stop watching her, he watched Max watching his wife. Most of the time, Max was grinning. Some of it, he was shaking his head but doing it grinning. Some of it, he was trying to control the active toddler he had at his knee at the same time holding a sleeping baby cradled in his arm. All of it denoting he was pu**y-whipped in that good way like Tate, Ty and now, Chace.
Cesar, Chace noted right off the bat, was playing this smart. He had no intention of shutting down the library. Mary had minimal support from the other Council members, none of whom had said that first word. He was keeping his mouth shut, letting Mary have her meeting at the same time letting her dig her own grave.
Mary was digging it but Nina had handed her the shovel.
“You sit on the City Council,” Nina retorted. “Therefore I can only assume, as part of your duties, that you are aware of the funding sources of local amenities including the fact that taxpayer dollars from the entire county go to Carnal in order to keep the library doors open. Therefore, the citizens in Gnaw Bone, Chantelle and every town in this county have a right to be heard at this meeting.”
“This is true,” Mary shot back. “But the bulk of the funding comes from Carnal.”
“I’d hardly describe the funding provided by Carnal as ‘bulk’ in any sense of the word considering your library is drastically under-resourced, needs new computers, is unable to keep on top of periodicals, purchasing books at the time of their release and their DVD collection is woefully dated,” Nina returned. “If public records and my calculations are correct, the Town of Carnal will have a surplus in their budget this year so as I see it, they shouldn’t be closing down a resource but funneling more funds into the resources they already have.”
“Jeez, she must have taken notes during our conversation,” Faye muttered from beside him and Chace pressed his lips together, using his arm already around her to pull her closer.
“Not to mention,” Nina went on, “We’re extremely fortunate to have a librarian managing our facility who has a Master’s in Library Science. She’s worked there seven years. The Library Board has given her nothing but glowing appraisals and she gets paid on the lower spectrum of the salary range for someone who works five hours a week less than she does.”