copy in my truck. I got it out of the Mimosa Key Library right after our first meeting. If the one she has doesn’t match what was on record, that’ll take some of the teeth out of her bite.”
Glo beamed at him. “That’s exactly what you need to do. But Lacey has to do the talking because this is Mimosa Key and strangers count for nothing.”
“I will.” Lacey reached over and gave Glo a quick hug. “Thanks for this.” Then she turned to Clay. “Guess we better get those bylaws and kick some town council ass.”
As they walked away, he put his arm around her shoulder and nestled her closer. “I like your new attitude, Strawberry. Is it the shoes?”
“And the company.”
Lacey didn’t let go of Clay’s hand all the way back to the truck. She had no idea how to kick town council ass, but when he looked at her like that, she was ready to use these heels for more than making him notice her legs.
So what if the good ol’ boys and girls of Mimosa Key were not her favorite people? Not all of the current town council members were in that clique. She and Clay would have to focus on the newer members and hope for the best. Surely she’d baked for some of them over the past few years. Didn’t that count for something?
“All you need to remember, Lacey,” Clay said as they crossed the Fourway Motel parking lot after retrieving his copy of the bylaws, “is that we have one single objective.”
“To build?”
He laughed softly. “We are so far from building it isn’t funny. There are about six thousand pieces of paper we need first, and the most important one from this group is a zoning permit. But we aren’t ready to get that yet.”
“Will we be by tomorrow?”
“No,” he said, making her heart slip a little.
“But if they call an emergency meeting—”
“Page fourteen, section three.” He held up the binder. “Nothing can be decided in an emergency session of the council that impacts the bylaws without a written notice that is posted a full two weeks in advance.”
“You memorized the bylaws?” She couldn’t believe it. “I’ve never even looked at them.”
“You should. They’re fascinating and totally old school. Of course I read the bylaws regarding building. Oh, and there is no such thing as a secret council meeting. In fact, according to page four, section five-A, if all five members of the town council are in a room together, any citizen of Mimosa Key has the right to call order and take notes, then publish those notes in the Mimosa Gazette the next day.”
“Seriously?” She slowed her step, looking up at him, knowing there was awe on her face and not caring.
“What?” He laughed. “Did you think I wasn’t a legit architect just because I didn’t take some stinkin’ exams? I’m doing my job. Although I like when you look at me like that. It’s hot.”
“Yeah? So are you.”
He took the time to share a sexy smile with her. “Hold that thought for later. Now we have to concentrate on our goal.”
“And you still haven’t told me what it is.”
“Buy two more weeks. If they want to call an emergency meeting tomorrow, they can. But our little book here says that they can’t do anything in that meeting except set an agenda for another meeting two weeks later. We need those two weeks to find a loophole in the law that lets us build whatever we want. Which”—he squeezed her arm and reached for the door—“I think I’ve found.”
“Really?”
He didn’t answer because about ten sets of eyes greeted them on the other side of the door. The small group sat in an informal circle of chairs, as innocent as a church meeting but with a lot more guilt on their faces.
“Lacey!” Charity stood up, her arms planted on her narrow hips, her long nails crimson like blood drops against ill-fitting white pants. “This is a private meeting.”
“No such thing,” Lacey said, her voice cracking as she felt the weight of so many gazes on her. For a moment she had a flash of walking into the kitchen to greet her mother and getting a different version of the same comment every day.
You’re wearing that to school?
And then she’d start to back down. Change her clothes. Question her decision. Doubt herself.
She cleared her throat. “I came to take notes that will be published in the next issue of the Gazette.”
“What?” Three people asked the