That Man of Mine (20 page)

“I only dialed 911 because I was genuinely frightened.”

“Of a couple of raccoons?” someone yelled.

“They were
armadillos
,” Mimi insisted. “It's a totally different animal.”

Thankfully, Zeke decided to take over here. He stood and everyone instantly went quiet. It irked Mimi that he could do that just by standing up, but she was too frazzled to care much at the moment.

“I think that's about it, people,” Zeke said in a friendly, but firm tone.

And with those simple words, everyone went back to their own business. Disappointed, yes, but it was clear they weren't going to get much more than that with Zeke here.

“Good grief,” Mimi said. She flopped back in her seat.

Zeke shrugged. “What can I say? People are interested in us.”

“Well, I wish they'd get interested in something else.”

“Like what?”

“Like something
other
than our sex life,” she said.

“Be careful what you wish for.”

“That sounds ominous.”

He looked her in the eye. “I've been chief long enough to know that public life has its ups and downs and, believe it or not, this is an up.”

B
ettina was the first
one to arrive for this week's meeting, besides Mimi of course, because she'd been waiting at The Bistro since her lunch with Zeke. To say her nerves were shot was putting it mildly. Zeke had proclaimed her proposal brilliant, but he had no idea what she was up against in  Bettina and Sherry and Wendy, or as Mimi liked to think of them—the witches of Whispering Bay.

Be nice, Mimi.

This week Bettina wore yoga pants and a fuchsia sports bra and Tofu wore a matching colored bandana around her neck. As per her usual routine, she greeted Mimi with a snarl (Tofu, not Bettina), but this time, Mimi was ready for her.

“Look what I have for you, little girl,” Mimi said, waving a dog biscuit in front of Tofu's nose. Tofu snapped it up faster than Bettina could blink.

“What did you just give her?” Bettina demanded.

“Relax. It was only a biscuit. Toby loves them. They taste like bacon.”

“You mean that mutt you got from the animal shelter?”

“He's not a mutt,” Mimi said. “He's a...pug mix.”

“Exactly, he's
mixed
. Which means he's not a purebred like Tofu. Who knows how many preservatives are in that
bacon
biscuit?” Bettina made the word bacon sound synonymous with cyanide. “Toby's proletarian stomach can handle that kind of poison. But Tofu is very delicate. She only eats one hundred percent organic dog food and treats that are specifically approved by both her vet
and
her groomer.”

“Okay, well, she doesn't look like she's suffering right now. How about—
wait
. Where did you see Toby?” They'd had the dog almost two months now, but Mimi was certain she'd never seen Bettina when she'd taken Toby for a walk. Had Bettina run into Cameron and Toby at the park?

“That mongrel was at the fishing cabin the other weekend when I brought Zeke dinner. Cameron was there, too.”

Mimi must have heard wrong. “When you
what
?”

“I'm on the committee that brings our chief dinner every night,” she explained in a slowly insulting tone. Then her eyes widened in mock surprise. “
Wait
. You didn't know? You didn't think we were going to let Zeke go hungry? He's an integral part of what makes this community tick. You might not care what he eats, but the citizens of Whispering Bay certainly do.”

Her heart began to pound.
Of all the
… Mimi itched to knock that smug expression off Bettina's face. “Who else is on this committee?” she choked out.

“Betty Jean Collins organized it, but I'm co-chair. Let's see, Sherry and Wendy are on it, of course, as well as the rest of the Bunco Bunnies and a few of the Gray Flamingos. Your neighbor, Mrs. Manley, and there's Trudy who teaches over at the high school. Zeke is absolutely crazy over her pecan pie.”

Mimi grit her teeth. “Naturally.”

“We were going to put a halt to it after the 911 call, because we all assumed that had done the trick getting you back together, but you were so vehement that it wasn't the case, and of course, Mrs. Manley just confirmed it. She sent a group text saying that you made a public service announcement just an hour ago that you and Zeke are still splitsville.”

“Lovely,” Mimi muttered.

So Zeke was
crazy
about Trudy's pecan pie, huh? And to think she'd actually been worried he'd been eating too much fast food! She wished she could tell him exactly where he could stuff those pecans now.

Viola and Sherry both came through the door at the same time. A few minutes later Wendy hustled in, out of breath like she'd just been running. The meeting was about to start and Mimi needed to keep a cool head if she was going to get this proposal voted through.

Like last week, Bettina took over the meeting before Mimi could begin. “I believe the first order of business is the proposal we asked Mimi to write up.”

Doreen pulled out a pad of paper and began taking notes.

Mimi handed out copies of the proposal. She went through each item, step-by-step, explaining anything that might need clarifying. When she finished, she looked each member in the eye and smiled. It was easy to be pleasant with Viola and Doreen, both of whom seemed genuinely interested. Even Wendy seemed to be following along as Mimi spoke. But every time Mimi caught Bettina's eye all she could think about was that all this time Zeke had his own personal version of the welcome wagon at his cabin every evening. And Mimi had never even stepped foot in the place. Of course, that was no one's fault but her own.

“Anything else?” Bettina asked.

“No, that's it. I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have,” Mimi said.

Wendy was the first to respond, which surprised Mimi. “So, you think we should use social media to advertise? Like what? Facebook?”

“Exactly. The festival already has a Facebook page, but it's mostly pictures of past years' events, and it hasn't been updated in months. I propose that one of us take the page over and begin posting daily and start encouraging other businesses in the community to do so, as well. We can list the entertainment schedule and of course, if you all approve Fatback Bubba we can link back to their fan page, which has like twenty thousand followers.”

“Twenty-thousand?” Wendy said. “That's really impressive.”

“I know. Right?” Mimi smiled at Wendy, who tentatively smiled back at her.

“This all sounds really good, but how about that ten thousand dollars?” Bettina said. “How creative were you able to get? Because without that money you can kiss this whole proposal good-bye.”

“Actually, this is the really exciting part. Now, I would appreciate it if we kept this among the committee,” Mimi began.

The rest of the group murmured their consent, except Bettina, who just stared at her with her arms crossed over her chest. Mimi glanced down at Tofu, whose head was once again poking outside Bettina's designer bag. For once, though, Tofu didn't bare her teeth at Mimi. Maybe that toxic proletarian biscuit actually did the trick and Tofu was beginning to see her in a friendlier light.

“I've talked to Doug Wentworth, the city manager, and he agreed to lend the committee the seven-thousand five hundred dollars we'll need to pay the band two days before the festival. If the rest of my outline goes as planned, we'll have more than plenty of money to pay the city back. Plus…now, I can't promise this, but I think we'll also be able to slash most of the security budget.”

“How?” Sherry demanded.

“I showed this proposal to Zeke and he knows the festival coffers are in pretty bad shape. He thinks maybe he can get the off-duty cops we normally hire for the event to do it this year pro-bono as a give back to the community.”

Viola looked impressed. “Now
that
would really help.”

“What about the tickets you plan to sell for the concert?” Bettina asked. “I just don't see anyone paying an extra twenty dollars to see this Fatback Bubba band.”

“Well, I do,” Doreen said. “After last week's meeting, I looked them up. They're really popular, just like Mimi said.”

“I know there are a lot of things in this proposal that are different from the way we normally operate, but the way we've been doing things isn't working anymore. It's time for a change. A big one. I think we can really turn this festival around and make it something that all of north Florida is going to want to be part of in the years to come.”

Viola nodded enthusiastically. “Well said.”

Bettina made a big show of looking at her watch. “If we're done talking, then I say it's time to vote. I'll start.” She smoothed out her features and made a pleasant, but sad looking face. “First, I think all the work you've put into this proposal is just…well, it's just
darling
, Mimi. I can't tell you how much we all appreciate it. We really do. But this is your first year on the committee and I'm afraid beginner's enthusiasm has gotten the best of you. We simply have to stick to the formula. It's true, the formula hasn't worked so well in the past few years, but I for one am ready to go out and give it the old Whispering Bay try.”

Doreen looked up from her pad of paper. “So…does that mean no?”

“Yes, hon, that's a no,” Bettina said.

“I'm afraid it's a no for me as well,” Sherry said.

What a surprise
! Mimi bit her tongue.

“I think this proposal is just fantastic,” Viola began. “I do have a few reservations about how all the ticket sales will go, but I say yes!”

“I say yes as well,” Doreen said.

“Well, you all know my vote,” Mimi said. “It's my proposal, so of course my vote is yes.”

Bettina placed her hand in the air. “Before we go any further, let me just remind you that committee rules specify that any new proposals or ideas must meet majority approval.”

In other words, no ties. Which meant once Wendy voted no, the vote would be three to three and the proposal would die a quick and clean death, and all of Mimi's work would have been for nothing.

“Your turn to vote, Wendy,” Doreen reminded her.

Everyone turned to look at Wendy. Poor girl. Her brow was covered in sweat and her right eyelid twitched nervously. Mimi sighed. She supposed she couldn't blame her. Bettina was a bully and Wendy was simply too weak to stand up to her. Mimi tried to think of any local bands besides Harry Tuba who might want to play for free, but right now her mind—

“
Yes
,” someone squeaked. But it was so soft that Mimi wasn't sure she heard right.

“What did you say?” Viola asked.

Wendy's eyes went round. “I said…yes.”

Bettina made her scowly face. “Wendy, hon, I think your blood sugar is too low. It sounded as if you said yes, when I know what you
meant
to vote was no. Isn't that right?”

Sherry nodded. “I'm positive I heard no.”

“I vote
yes,
” Wendy said in a voice loud enough that no one could dispute.

Bettina and Sherry stared (or rather gawked) at her as if they couldn't believe it. Mimi could hardly believe it herself. Thanks to Wendy's vote, her proposal had just been passed by the committee!

“Well! That settles it, then.” Viola rubbed her hands together gleefully. “The vote is four to two, so Mimi's proposal is voted in.”

Doreen made some final notes in her pad and glanced around the table. “Now that the vote is settled, I say we adjourn this meeting.”

*~*~*

T
his time, Mimi was
careful to watch where she stepped. The parking lot was once again empty, except for her and Bettina, who always seemed to be the last to leave. She had hoped to have a chance to talk to Wendy and thank her for keeping an open mind on the vote, but Wendy had practically run out the door the second the meeting had adjourned. Mimi didn't blame her. She was probably hoping to escape the wrath of Hurricane Bettina. Sooner or later though, Mimi was afraid it would catch it up to her. She could only hope Wendy had the fortitude to stick to her guns and keep following her conscience.

Mimi put her key in the car lock.

“Congratulations.”

She whipped around to find Bettina standing a few feet away. Tofu blinked at Mimi with those dark, soulless eyes of hers (okay, so maybe she was actually kind of cute when she wasn't snarling).

“Thanks, Bettina. I know you and Sherry weren't on board with my proposal, but I hope we can all work together for the good of the festival.”

“Of course we can. And I don't want you thinking my vote was anything personal now. Just give me a job and I'll do it. You're in
charge
, Mimi. The fate of the festival is all on your shoulders now.” Bettina walked off toward her car. Tofu turned her head and kept looking at Mimi with a sad, almost wistful expression.
Sorry, no more bacon for you, Tofu.

The fate of the festival is all on your shoulders now
.

The way Bettina said it sounded almost ominous. Mimi had wanted to be mayor. She'd promised during her campaign that she'd do what was best for Whispering Bay. It looked like it was now time to make good on that promise.

*~*~*

T
he house seemed empty
but Claire's car was parked outside. “Hello?” Mimi called, dumping a bag of groceries onto the kitchen counter. She'd stopped by the Piggly Wiggly to pick up the ingredients for dinner. A part of her wanted to make something and bring it by Rusty's cousin's cabin to surprise Zeke, but he was probably already swimming in casseroles. Mimi still got all itchy whenever she thought of it.

Toby ran up to greet her, leaving a big drool stain on the side of her black linen pants. “Hey, boy.” Mimi opened the door to the backyard and let him outside.

Claire walked into the kitchen and began poking inside the bags. “What did you get?”