used to sing, didn’t you? Wouldn’t it be fun to host events there again? And I’m thinking free computer classes for anyone who lives here year-round. Ben, you could learn to Skype with your grandkids, and Olivia, you could teach a scrapbooking class.”
My attempts to appeal to each of them on a personal level were beyond overt, but they either didn’t see it, or they didn’t mind. Interest was beginning to tap at their brains. I could see it in their eyes. I was getting to them. At last.
“I could teach a knitting class,” Gertie offered. “Or we could invite the Nguyens to teach a class on flower arranging. Maybe we could get a chef from the Imperial Hotel to do a cooking class?”
Gertie and I had discussed the new community center at length, and she was fully on board. She’d become a true ally over the past few weeks as we bonded over paper shredding. She’d told me story after story of how frustrating it had been to work with Harry, and how appreciative she was of me for giving her a chance. Each time I’d reminded her that she was doing me a favor. If she’d ever thought to run against Harry on her own, she probably would’ve won, and she would’ve done a great job.
“What about a class on origami?” asked Monty Price, the town lawyer. “I’ve always wanted to learn origami. And I could teach a class about setting up a will. No one ever wants to talk about their wills, but eventually everybody dies.”
“Thankfully,” added Ben Hawthorne—the director of the cemetery board.
The ideas started rolling in, and at last we had a real conversation going. If I could get them emotionally invested in this project, then we’d find the money somehow.
“Don’t forget, we still need money to build my bat sanctuary.” Vera pulled a tissue from the sleeve of her purple cardigan and dabbed at her perpetually runny nose.
“We could have a bat display,” I said, thinking fast on my feet. “You could help design it, Vera, and we could include all the information about white-nose syndrome and your efforts to combat it.”
She stopped dabbing to stare at me. “I could have a display?”
I’m sure she was thinking something huge and interactive with big, attention-grabbing lights and audio. I was thinking more along the lines of a cardboard poster or two and maybe a few pictures, but those were details we could work out after I had her on my side. I was starting to catch on to how this whole politician thing worked.
“There could absolutely be some kind of display,” I said.
“We need a new gate at the South Shore Cemetery. If there’s money for the community center, there should be money for that, too,” Ben added.
“We can absolutely look into that, Ben, but we’ll have to prioritize things. How about if you get some bids on repair costs, and we’ll take it from there? And Vera, you give some thought to that display.”
I turned toward Sudsy as the rest of the group continued talking about all the things they wanted this potential community center to include. I guess they were all on board now. At least until we figured out how much it was really going to cost.
“You’re the council treasurer, Sudsy,” I said quietly. “How much shuffling around of stuff do we need to do in order to have money for a remodel?”
“I guess it depends on what the total cost is going to be, but I’m pretty good at finding money.” He took a sip of his drink. “And hey, if I can’t find it, I can always steal it.”
I reached over and patted his hand. “Let’s not resort to that just yet, but could you and I meet next week and crunch some numbers? Ryan will have some estimates by then, and we can decide if this is at all feasible.”
Sudsy nodded, but his gaze shifted from me to some movement out in the bar. I looked out, too, and saw a tall, slender woman with jet-black hair who’d obviously just entered. She was striking and hard to miss with her sleek pixie-cut hair and dramatic eyeshadow. She slid onto a barstool at the far end and shrugged out of a black leather jacket. Leo turned, and my gut did a half flip with a kick and jab at his expression. It came and went so fast, I might have missed it, but I didn’t. The woman had his full