12. Rook

12

ROOK

“ W e only have three weeks!” Melanie, Kitty’s best friend in the entire world and owner of The Anchor, threw her hands up in the air in exasperation, sending trickles of alcohol spilling over the edges of the glasses in her hands.

“Three weeks is nothing,” Kitty countered with a grin, following Melanie as she weaved toward the next table. “You’ve done greater things in less time.”

“Maybe so,” Melanie replied. “But back then, I had the barn and could afford double the staff I have now. In case you haven’t noticed, things are a little bare bones around here now.”

“Exactly!” Kitty wasn’t giving up and she continued to follow Melanie from table to table. “That’s why this is perfect. The more people we get involved in this, the better. And having people from town? That’s infinitely better because we want to show my dad that this place is thriving and absolutely against his deal.”

“Can’t we just sign a petition?” Melanie snorted.

From the bar, I kept a close eye on Kitty as she followed Melanie like a little puppy, doing her very best to persuade her that catering for the Yuletide Ball would be in her best interests. The ball was three weeks away, and it was asking a lot, but Melanie was a salt of the earth kind of woman. If anyone could do it, it would be her.

“Please,” Kitty pleaded. “Look, I already spoke to Agnes and she is more than happy to do all the flowers. I’m going to Terry’s after this to see if he can help me with a cake, and as for the decorations and everything—well, the point is, you won’t be alone, but your food is famous, Melanie. People don’t just come here for the drink. Your pies? Your pasta? Even your sandwiches are melt in the middle.”

“Girl, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were trying to butter me up.” Melanie chuckled. Her laugh was rough around the edges from a youth of smoking two packs a day, but it was also charming. She was part of the structure here. The Anchor was nothing without Melanie, and knowing she wasn’t immune to the effects of the struggling town stung just a little deeper.

In my time here, I’d learned that her bar was a safe haven for everyone, whether you were a drunk needing your latest fix, a stressed out worker on lunch, or a teen just needing a place to go. She had a place for everyone.

“Is it working?” Kitty asked with a wide smile when they made it back to the bar.

Melanie had swapped fresh drinks for empty glasses on her walk around the bar, and she quickly deposited them all in the sink, then braced both hands against the aged, chipped mahogany.

“If I say yes, what’s in it for me?”

“Well…” Kitty clasped her hands together and shot me a nervous look. “You get to feed the town you love so much. You’ll get paid a pretty hefty amount. You’ll get to come to the Yuletide Ball, and you can help me say a gigantic fuck you to my dad with the rest of the town.” Kitty’s face twisted to try and make herself look as innocently appealing as possible.

“Honey, why didn’t you lead with that?” Melanie chuckled. “I thought you were here at the behest of your lovely mother.”

“Oh, God, no.” Kitty laughed, and she slid onto the stool next to me. “This is all me. And Rook?” She nudged her shoulder into mine, and I had to fight to keep the smile off my face.

“You’re in on this too?” Melanie pointed at the both of us. “I didn’t have you pegged as a ball type of guy.”

“Technically, I’m whatever Kitty wants me to be,” I replied. “And if the Yuletide Ball is where her attention is, then it’s where mine is too.”

“You know, after six months, I would have thought you’d loosen up a bit.” Melanie smirked. “Okay. Fine. I will cater the ball?—”

“Yay!” Kitty screamed and launched herself over the bar to give her best friend an awkward, tight hug over the beer pumps. “Yay, yay!” She peppered kisses all over Melanie’s cheek, and Melanie, after a glance at me, gave in to the affection.

“Okay, okay, watch it, girl. You’re gonna get seltzer all over your shirt.” Melanie laughed, hugging Kitty back.

After a few minutes, Kitty slid back onto her stool and grinned. “This is amazing. With you on board, things are going to be ten times easier. Plus, if you said no, it would have made the posters look weird.”

Melanie paused, one hand on her dirty glasses. “I’m sorry, the posters?”

Kitty sheepishly dug into her pocket and pulled out a crumpled poster containing the design she’d spent all night making. She unfurled the paper and spread it out on the bar. Melanie snatched it up the moment she saw her name under Catering .

“How many of these did you make?”

“Five hundred.” Kitty smiled.

“And you knew I’d say yes?”

“I knew you couldn’t say no.” There was a smugness on Kitty’s face born from knowing exactly how her friend worked. “Or I at least had a lot riding on your saying yes.”

“You bitch.” Melanie laughed, balling up the paper and tossing it back to her. “One day, I’ll turn you down.”

“But not today!” Kitty declared in a song-song voice, then she grasped my hand. “Come on, Rook, we’ve got posters to hand out. See you later, Melanie!”

I said goodbye with a wave and allowed Kitty to drag me out of the bar.

We spent the entire afternoon walking around the town and handing out the posters to everyone we met. Each poster served as an invitation to the ball, although they weren’t a requirement to attend. The Yuletide Ball was now a free-for-all, and that was the hardest thing to get past her mother. Giving up that kind of exclusivity was difficult, but luckily, Kitty had charmed her mother with nostalgic talk of the old days. Bringing the town together one last time seemed to be the key to getting her to say yes.

What posters we didn’t hand out to people in the street were delivered to every shop still open. Most were happy to hang the posters in their windows and even take a few to give to customers. Unfortunately, there were a few places not happy to see Kitty, and they were so disenchanted with her father that they had no desire to have anything to do with the ball.

It was hard to see each rejection crush her a little more, but they also seemed to make her more determined that we were doing the right thing, and that was all I could ask for.

The smile on her face when we handed out the last poster was unmatched.

“I’m proud of you,” I said as we headed back to The Anchor. “You’ve put your soul into this in just a short time.”

“Thanks.” She smiled widely and her cheeks flushed red. “I feel like I’m actually doing something this time, y’know? Rather than sitting back and just sending a few emails. This feels like something could really change.”

“I hope so.” If only so Kitty could feel accomplished. She was my only personal connection to this town, and seeing her happy made me happy.

We reached The Anchor and walked inside to find that quite the crowd had turned up for the meeting scrawled at the bottom of each poster. It was a last-minute thing, but Kitty wanted to address as many people as she could in person. She wanted them to know she was genuine.

We approached the bar, and Melaine instantly slid two lemonades toward us. “I heard you guys were walking around town all day. You’ve earned these.”

It wasn’t until the first sweet sip of tart lemon that I realized how thirsty I was. “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.” Melanie smiled. “You’ve drawn quite the crowd, Kitty. Would have been doubly awkward if I said no, huh?”

“Right?” Kitty giggled around her straw. “I never would have let you live it down.”

“Gee, thanks. Can’t I make a bad decision every once in a while?” Melanie affectionately rolled her eyes.

“Nope,” Kitty declared. “You have to be perfect all the time to live up to the image in my mind.”

“Woe to anyone who dates you.” Melanie snorted.

Heat shot down my spine like a bullet, and it took all my strength not to look Kitty in the eye.

“Fuck you.” Kitty laughed. “Now, can I get the karaoke mic? It’ll be the only thing able to let me be heard.”

As Kitty leaned up, her hand brushed my thigh, and I chose to take that as her way of comforting me for the dating comment. It wasn’t that I minded. I’d always been private, but after a taste of Kitty, all I wanted to do was show her off. Instead, I had to remain on the sidelines as she took the microphone and headed up to the stage. After an impressive yell from Melanie, the noise in the bar fell to a low hum and Kitty began.

“Thank you all for coming on such short notice,” Kitty began. “Especially those of you I handed a poster to about twenty minutes ago!”

Laughter rumbled around the room.

“I’ll keep this short and sweet because all the info is on the posters, but let me say, I hear you—all of you. I hear your complaints, I see your pain, and I understand the destruction and turmoil that have landed here ever since construction started on the highway. The floods alone in spring should have brought everything to a halt, but the mayor is a stubborn man.”

It interested me that in this scenario, he was no longer her father. Was that for her benefit or to keep the peace with the townspeople?

“He is blinded by money, and I am out of ideas. I have done everything in my power to make him see sense, and he just doesn’t care. Which isn’t what you all want to hear, but it’s as honest as I can be. So I had an idea, and it took some persuading, but I got my mom on board. The Yuletide Ball, what used to be everyone’s favorite time of year? It is now back, and you are all invited! That’s right, every single one of you. And I know what you’re thinking. It’s been years since anyone here went to a ball.”

“Been years since anyone here even went to a party!” croaked up an elderly voice, drawing another rumble of laughter.

“I know, I know.” Kitty chuckled. “But this year? It will be amazing. We have Melanie catering, for one.”

A cheer rose up, and Melanie paused her drink pouring to take a couple of quick bows.

“And I have left my credit card with the seamstress, so if you’re having trouble getting a dress or a suit, it will be taken care of for you. But this isn’t just a party.” Kitty sighed and gazed around the room. “This is our last chance to stand up, as a town, and make the mayor see sense. This is our last chance to get him to listen to the pain he’s bringing down on us all. Face to face, he can’t turn us all away, and he can’t ignore us!”

The silence in the bar was different. People were actually listening. Pride swelled in my chest as I watched Kitty pace back and forth. Standing up to her father was difficult, and doing it in front of everyone? Even more so.

She was amazing.

“We can show him the beauty he’s overlooking. We can force him to look business owners in the eyes. We can spread this over social media, to every corner we can think of, and then?—”

Suddenly, the door to the bar slammed open and several of our security team stormed inside. I surged forward toward Kitty while grabbing my radio, fearing that an emergency had flared up and I’d missed it.

But there was nothing on the radio.

I reached Kitty at the same time as her father’s security, and just as they dragged her off the stage, I caught sight of him.

The mayor stood in the doorway, his face thunderous.