Page 205 of Love Arranged

I take a seat and watch as Trevor’s team goes on to include pictures and short clips of Lorenzo over the span of his adult life. Most of the photos are from his time before he moved back to our town, and if I weren’t annoyed by the blatant attempt at a negative ad, I’d roll my eyes.

Because oh, how scandalous of Lorenzo to go out on a date with another woman.

And wow, Lorenzo was caught playing poker? Must be a gambling addict, then.

There are a few photos of him at the Moirai, two of which were taken after the hotel was destroyed. It breaks my heart to see Lorenzo standing in front of the resort with sunglasses on his face despite the gloomy day.

Doesn’t take a genius to guess why that is.

In the middle of the ad, it takes a turn, and the focus switches to Trevor Ludlow and all his contributions to the town, including his time as city commissioner before he dropped the position to run for mayor. His list is short, and his photo montage is giving major out-of-touch nepo-baby vibes, down to the final clip of him driving his cigarette boat across the lake, waving at the camera like he won an Academy Award.

“Who told him driving around on a half-million-dollar boat was a good idea?” I ask.

“I don’t know, but they deserve a handwritten thank-you note from Lorenzo because that was incredible.” Dahlia dabs at the corner of her eyes. “The way he picked up a few pieces of trash on the shore? Someone hand that man a community service award.”

“There’s no way Ludlow’s focus groups actually had positive feedback about that.”

“What if they wanted to secretly sabotage him?”

My eyes light up. “You’re a genius!”

“I thought we established this decades ago.”

I grab a pillow and launch it at her head. “I’ve got to call Willow.”

“About what?”

“We need to see what people think of the ad.”

“Why?”

“Because if they hate it as much as we do, then we need to find a way to run it around the clock.”

Dahlia looks impressed. “Oh my God. That’s diabolical.”

I flick my hair over my shoulder. “I know.”

“Go! Get to it, my evil little protégé!” She practically pushes me off the couch, and I run back to my room and call Willow to explain my plan.

Turns out three different focus groups had a ton of feedback about the ad, most of it in line with our own opinions of Trevor. So, Willow pulls a few strings at the local station to have it played every hour across multiple channels.

Everyone is talking about it by the end of the week, and although the Ludlows were able to have the ad completely removed from the television, the damage is already done.

Trevor Ludlow is officially deemed out of touch, and today’s Sunday special of theWisteria Weeklyhighlights thedivide between Trevor and his constituents by noting his achievements—or lack thereof—when compared to Lorenzo.

A Tale of Two Locals, the title reads.

One man was born and raised here, and the other was forced to leave.

Nicole briefly covers Lorenzo’s backstory, including how he started Healing Hearts two years ago as a passion project, before she dives into what has happened since then.

She also met with a professor at our community college who analyzed the kind of economic impact Lorenzo’s investing business has had on the town.

Even for someone like me who hates statistics, the answer is an obvious one.

To remain unbiased, Nicole dives into Trevor’s past and discusses his accomplishments as city commissioner. I had no idea he took credit for the town’s budget cuts, so I’m sure everyone will be surprised to hear that he was the one who suggested to reduce funding for schools and the rec center so the town could finally break ground on the country club project.

The Historic District is hardly mentioned in the article, which is a bummer, but I suppose Nicole can only fit so many bad ideas on one page before it begins to look biased, although it clearly isn’t.