I know you know Pearl, but have you met everyone else?”
“Eiko Anzai.” The woman next to Pearl waved. “We met at the salon your first day in town.”
“You’re the newspaper editor.”
“And you’re the new doctor who was supposed to contact me about an interview.”
“Right. Sorry about that. I hit the ground running trying to get the clinic ready to open, and things have been busier than I expected now that I am open.” But actually, maybe now would be a good time for an interview. She and Amber and Wynd were starting to hit their stride, and work was feeling slightly less all-consuming. And the exposure a newspaper article would provide would be good.
But, thinking of Jake’s warning about the town busybody network, she kept her mouth shut.
Karl gestured to the other man sitting on the patio furniture display the group was occupying. “This is Arthur Ramsey.”
“Oh! You’re Jake’s dad!” He looked a little like Jake. They had the same green eyes and big build.
“You know Jake?” Art’s brow furrowed in a way that made Nora wonder if he didn’t approve of her.
“Um, yes. He’s doing some work on my house.” And my clinic. And my ridiculous vaccine-mobile.
And I was totally platonically cuddling with him at his house Saturday night.
“What can I do for you?” Karl asked.
“Well, I’m not here for hardware. I’m actually here to ask you a favor. I understand this is sort of the unofficial community center in town?” Karl flashed her a huge grin—he seemed to like that interpretation. “I’m planning a flu-shot clinic at the Anti-Festival, and I was hoping I could leave some flyers here to let people know about it.”
Karl started to take the stack of flyers, but Pearl laid her hand on his arm and halted his progress. “Dr. Walsh, did you know there’s a town bachelor auction as part of the festival?”
“I heard something about that.”
“This year it’s going to be a bachelor and bachelorette auction,” Eiko said mildly, but she looked at Karl while she spoke, and he retracted his hand without taking Nora’s flyers.
“Oh,” Pearl said. “And she’s a catch.”
Uh-oh. “It’s nice of you to think of me, but I’m not really looking for—”
“It’s very casual,” Eiko said. “Entrants have lunch with the suitor who wins them. So you don’t have to do anything but stand there and watch the gents compete for your favor. And then they feed you!”
“Suitor”? “Gents”? Had she time-traveled back to the nineteenth century?
“Or ladies,” Pearl said. “You tell us which, and we’ll do our thing.”
So maybe not the nineteenth century.
“The auction is how I met my wife,” Art said.
“I’m so glad we took Maya’s advice and widened the proceedings to include bachelorettes,” Pearl said. “She was right last year when she said we were being sexist.”
“I totally agree, Pearl,” Karl said. “And I happen to know that Dennis Bates is already working on his lunch hamper.”
“I’m not going to be in the auction,” Pearl said. “I’m running the whole festival. I don’t have time to be in the auction. Anyway, I’ve told you a thousand times, I will never date anyone in this town.”
“Dennis Bates has an enormous crush on Pearl, but she continually rebuffs him,” Eiko explained matter-of-factly to Nora.
“Dennis Bates who runs the lift bridge?” Nora asked, though she wasn’t sure why. Her aim here was not to get sucked into the town gossip network, merely to leave her flyers. “Anyway,” she said before anyone could answer, “could I leave these here?”
“You can leave those here if you stand in the auction,” Karl said.
Uh, what? She blinked. Was this sweet old man bribing her?
“He’s bribing you,” Art said helpfully. “He does that.”
“You really won’t let me leave these here?” Nora said.
“I will let you leave those here if you stand in the auction,” Karl said.
So much for a simple favor.
“It’s for a good cause,” Art said. “It raises money for the town library and food bank.”
“Still, I—”
“Who doesn’t love a picnic?” Eiko said. “You could meet some nice local boy.”
“Or girl,” Pearl said.
“I’m really not looking to get involved with anyone. I’m only planning to be here two years.”
“I’ll give you a free ad in the newspaper if you stand in the auction,” Eiko said.
Oh, for God’s sake.
Although she was a little bit impressed. She’d thought she was playing these people. That she would come here and exploit their goodwill and their desire to keep her in town and get them to give away her flyers.
But who was playing whom here?